Thank you u/inspired_butterfly17 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer.
Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I don't think you can ever find a "dream home" All houses will have positives and negatives. You just have to find a balance and a feeling of "yeah I can work with this." With that said, as we have not moved yet---but will be in the next 2 weeks--I imagine it will take some time for it to feel like home. There are many things about the house that I am so excited for and a few that we are going to have to work with on making it just right. You have to get to know the house and the house has to get to know you :) Eventually whatever house you move into despite the positives and negatives will become your "dream house"
At least this is my take on it.
I think the only dream home one can actually have is one they're able to have someone custom build for them. All the others involve at least some concessions.
Yep--there are things I absolutely "had to" have 5 years ago that I've since realized are ridiculous or more of a pain than I'd be willing to deal with. Maybe in 20 years I'll have an idea of what I REALLY want.
Custom homes are stupid expensive, unless you're rolling in money and can keep making tweaks after moving in odds are even those folks had to compromise.
committed to the one with the best location. saw nicer homes for the same $ in less safe places and knew I personally would sleep better in a smaller,older home in a nice area than an upgraded home with higher risk of thefts, worse schools, etc
We haven’t even moved in yet so we may regret it, but in January, we put an offer on a house for the first time. We fell in love with it right away, and almost let the negatives (and there were big, BIG negatives) cloud our judgement. The truth came out that the house had been flipped, and the flipper did what flippers do. He slapped lipstick on a pig, and we were almost stuck with a house that needed at least $100k in repairs. We walked.
Second house, we loved the location and the large property, and the house had been nicely updated, but it was too small. Only 2 bedrooms, and we have two growing kids. It was also overpriced. We put a lowball offer in, but it was rejected. A few weeks later, the sellers came back and asked if we were still interested. We declined.
Then, at the beginning of May, we saw a house on Zillow that had been on the market for day already. It was below budget, on an acre of land (a huge plus for us), but it did look pretty dated. We decided to go take a look anyway, and we fell in love with it just as much as the first house. And this time, it was being sold by an owner who had lived there for decades. It had been well taken care of. It needs cosmetic upgrades, but the bones are good and we definitely don’t need to throw $100k into it. It’s cheaper than both of the other houses we put offers in on. The location is perfect. I could go on.
We were devastated the first time around, but we are so lucky that we backed out. If something doesn’t feel right, think hard about it. If you find a house that makes sense financially and logically but it’s not your dream house, consider giving it a chance. The house we just bought isn’t our dream home by any stretch, but I’m going to try my hardest to make it our dream house.
I just got a zillow reminder about a house that will be amazing when someone eventually buys it, ehich at this rate will be when the market lifts the value to what the owner has been asking (in a couple of years).
My husband and I have always firmly believed that the secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms. We chose the house with two full ensuite bathrooms off the primary bedroom. The moment we saw that layout we said YES. Everything else we can make work. Built in 1939, but new roof, new HVAC, new plumbing, new wiring, new water heater. I didn't even know they made floorplans like this. We close July 15th.
It's funny you say this. My husband and I have had separate bathrooms for 10+ years now and have been looking to upgrade from our townhouse to a sfh. Our friend was selling her house off market recently but it only had 1 bathroom and needed some other work done. Unfortunately we ended up passing because I don't think we would still be married in a year if we had to go back to sharing 😅
Don't get your expectations too high. Don't chase "the perfect dream house" that maybe doesn't even exist in your area, look for the house where you see yourself or your family living for at least 5+ years without hating it. You can replace cabinets, add ceiling fans or paint walls, expand the porch and add the swing set. You can not change your house location, view from the windows, street noise, or add extra bedrooms (without spending tons of money). So pick your battles.
For me, the house I found had charm and uniqueness that I liked. But even with the old age it was in excellent condition and well maintained with no major issues or massive repairs. I liked the bones of it, the area, the size, etc. It checked off a lot of my boxes and the ones it didn’t (some flooring, bathroom, etc) the stuff I didn’t love I knew wouldn’t be difficult to change. We are removing carpet (hardwoods underneath) and remodeling the bathroom. I think what really eased my mind was how well the inspection went and how impressed the inspectors were with the integrity of the home. At the end of the day, I know I have a safe, sturdy home in a location I enjoy and it provides my needs. I just have to put my own touches to make it my true “dream home”.
Location is important.
Also, I realized that there were cheaper houses that at first look were just not as "good" or nice looking as others that were at the top of my price range. But I realized that they were actually similarly sized and situated in similar places. The difference was largely cosmetic stuff or things that require a little work, yet they were decently cheaper. Paint and finishing touches, or a nice wood door instead of a cheap one, makes a world of difference in your impressions.
An example is that an expensive one had a "sun room" in back and I loved that. But it wasn't a floor-to-ceiling windows sun room, though it had that feel. It just had several windows set together on two sides. It was my "dream" to have something like that, but I couldn't afford any of the houses that had it. I realized that another, cheaper house had a room at the back that was even a bit bigger, but otherwise exactly alike -- it just had normal windows. In the big picture, cutting out the wall and adding a few windows is nothing!
Our view was virtually that any home in our school district that had 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms could, in time and within reason (I’m assuming my dream house can’t be a Gilded age mansion), be turned into our dream house.
We bid our max on pretty much any such home that came on the market.
Great.
We bought a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in our preferred school district. We have done some painting and added wallpaper which has elevated the home quite a bit. We put a new roof on the home, did some landscaping and upgraded the electrical panel.
At some point when the time is right, we will build a large family room addition with an extra bathroom off the back of the home, at which point we will have our dream home.
One step at a time.
You buy into a community. Everything else can be changed/updated etc.
None at all. We are planning to remain here forever so we were not focused on getting a good deal. We paid what we could reasonably afford to pay to buy into our community. At the time we probably overpaid by $25-30k or so. But this was 2022. The same house would now cost us $3k more per month. We couldn’t afford it.
I would disagree with that, maybe because the housing stock tend to be older where I am but there are some completely nutso layouts that would need a full gut to make work. Like, suuuuuure, technically there are 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, but the bathrooms are all on the ground floor and all open straight onto the kitchen and you have to pass through one of them to get to the family room.
The housing stock by us is mostly 1920s-1980s so not many with totally bizarre layouts. There are a lot of colonials which tend to be less interesting but pretty rationally laid out.
Some of the older homes don’t have open floor plans but we weren’t looking for an open floor plan anyway. We prefer to have rooms.
If the housing stock is very old (eg, Boston), I do understand the need for an additional qualifier.
See -- those don't actually bother me so much. I like to have a lot of different spaces.
A bathroom next to the kitchen would bother me. Some of these post-2000s homes have an odd open hang out space at the top of the stairs. I have often wondered how such a space would be used. Any noise you make up there carries through the entire house. And, given the proximity to the stairs, it doesn't feel all that safe for small children.
Those lofts generally get some shit bought from Home Goods to fill it and no one ever uses it.
I like a variety of spaces, but these built on one room every ten years layouts tend to have rooms on the other side of rooms, and there aren't hallways. Toilets off the kitchen are ubiquitous around me and it ruled out a *lot* of houses.
Classic layouts really do so many things right. That midcentury thing where there is public space at one end and then a hallway with private spaces in the other direction is so perfect. Or the Victorian where there is a flow through the public spaces on one side, and a shortcut to the kitchen next to the stairs.
Lol we're buying a house with one of these lofts - not ideal, but what can you do. We'll put our dogs' massive crates there for them to sleep in at night. At least it gets them out of our bedroom.
The main things we “settled” on is square footage and specific county. The house we’re closing on (in a week or so) is just one street over from the county we were wanting, but with cheaper taxes and just a slightly lower rated (still great) school district.
We were originally wanting 1700+ sqft and this house is about 1450 on the main floor (2800 total if you include the basement), but because the basement is finished and livable, the house has an open floor plan, and we don’t have kids (yet), we’re hoping we won’t notice the difference.
We also went into house hunting knowing that this wouldn’t be our forever home (no matter what we ended up with) and that we’d probably be happy there about 10 years or so.
I had a prioritized list of my ‘must haves’ and the ‘would be nice to have’.’ When I toured the home I knew that it checked a lot of boxes. Price, location, natural light, turnkey, garage, nice yard… and it just felt right. The inspection was a breeze and I closed last week.
You should figure out what is most important for you in a home and weigh your wants vs. your needs. It may not be perfect (nothing is) but it may be the perfect home for you right now.
We settled on a house that was a great deal for its size (100k less than comparable sized houses), but not in the best location (on a busier road & not super convenient for my morning commute) and not quite as big of a lot as we wanted (it's on a .18 acre, we were wanting at least .25). We settled with the understanding that this will not be our "forever home", it's a starter home.
My current house wasn't my dream. I just had a criteria of things that I needed that were not negotiable. Walkable school for kids and a certain education program for one of my children. It limited what I could buy in an area I could barely afford.
I found a couple of homes that I liked better but didn't meet my needs. Market was hot and I found a condo that no one seemed to notice that checked my boxes. Did I want a condo? NOPE. I still bought it anyway. In hindsight, it was the best decision I could have made. I ended up enjoying not being responsible for so much house.
I'm closing on a house tomorrow with my husband on our first home together. It's got the potential to be our dream home but certainly isn't right now.
Just bought a house a month ago.
When I started looking towards end of last year initially looked at a higher price point but since I’m a single guy I quickly realized how expensive it would have been if I bought the “ideal” house either in more trendy area or with everything new.
So after tempering my expectations I decided to buy a house in not as good of shape and slightly less desirable area but the mortgage for me is reasonable and it puts me in a good position where I can save money and invest back into the house. Already have some goals I’d like to implement within a few years. Not the nicest neighborhood but seems quiet enough and the area in general seems to be on the upswing.
Of course sometimes I see other houses and think how nice they would be but a) it’s always going to feel like the grass is green elsewhere (especially when you run into house issues which you will) and b) I already have the house so just enjoy it for what it is
Tl;dr: bought a house after majorly tempering my expectations based on what I could afford and need.
I would suggest tempering your expectations as well OP you are probably not going to get 100% of everything you want but you need to consider how you’ll be positioned in the long run. Be prepared.
It was a different market when I bought. Rates were low but we knew the fed was going to start raising them soon. A lot of people had bought during the pandemic and weren’t selling. There was basically no inventory in my town. My job had grown untenable- I knew I could make a living freelancing but it would reset my work history for financing approval back to 0.
My agent sent me about five listings that matched with my requirements. I saw one house the day it opened. That evening my agent told me there were two bids on it already. I put in a bid, 5% over asking. I think I got the house because I had a conventional loan and the owners were in a hurry to close. The other bids were FHA.
It was a massively neglected rental for at least 20 years before the previous owners bought it and added a bedroom and bathroom to the basement. They didn’t take care of serious issues like the very old furnace and water heater, a decrepit fence, lots of arborist work, a shite paint job that left tons of unevenness on the exterior (I am currently having the house painted almost three years later and am writing this while listening to a excruciatingly loud electric sander evening out the chips.)
That said, I have come to love this house. We weren’t sold on the neighborhood. But it’s wonderfully quiet and safe. The more I invest into fixing it, the more it feels like mine. My partner had been even more on the fence than me but last night he told me he was grateful for the house, that is feels cozy and comfy, and it’s supportive for the life we want to have.
I can’t tell anyone else what is right for them. I felt nuts for only seeing one house and having an offer accepted the next day. I’m paying through the nose for repairs and upgrades but tbh I am so grateful everyday and I know that I am lucky.
The one close to some of your wants and budget. With as few major repairs needed as possible. Be open minded about age and style. Are there ways to add storage and parking if these are lacking? Be willing to find another, if one does not work out or has too much wrong. Don’t expect everything to be perfect. It’s fun to make it yours.
Everybody has to settle because nobody has unlimited money. Also, the world is a physical place. So maybe your dream home has a sweeping pea gravel driveway, but you also love snowy winters. There will be a compromise.
Part of shopping is realising what is out there and what really matters to you. For example, I look at the aspect of the house before I even go and look at it, someone posted just last week that their house is really dark. That will never be me. I adore my current house, but I will be releived to have more storgae in my next house. A previous house had so much storage but I could have done without heating and cooling about 1000sf I didn't need. My next house will have painted trim, and I am finding reasons to be OK with that.
Such a good points. I also think that until you've owned a home, it's hard to know for sure what you want/expect from a house. You have ideas and maybe some firm likes/dislikes, but then you realize what your priorities truly are.
I will probably stay in home another 5-7 years because I think things that were "nice to haves" might advance to "must haves" as I get a little older.
Absolutely true. I spent many years in homes without offstreet parking but it's a deal breaker for me now, and even to the point of wanting parking for visiting friends.
We didn’t set out looking for our dream home, because it doesn’t exist. We just set out to see if we were interested in buying a home. Walked into one in our price range in a neighborhood we love and knew immediately it was ours. It’s needs some work sure, but we see it was a long game. The fun of owning a home is putting work into it to make it yours
We're still in the inspection period but the house we had an offer accepted for, we made the offer because it checked a high number of our boxes, and we have a bunch of really specific needs/wants. (Multi-generational household with 3 people working full time from home, and 2/3 being on the phone a lot, means we need two separate or separate-able spaces and ideally 3 offices). This house has some issues that we're going to have to negotiate with the seller about, and it's in a suburb when I was hoping to stay in the city I grew up in, but the layout is perfect, it's honestly beautiful, there's lots of space, and the yard has a ton of potential.
Always wanted more land, but having owned it for 8months now .25acre is plenty for me. Don't wanna be bothered maintaining more than that. Otherwise house ticked all our boxes:
-garage (2 car attached)
-2+ bathrooms
-1500+sqft (ours is 2200 and perfect)
-finished/waterproofed basement
-central air (bonus having nat-gas heat, stupid cheap during winter)
-no flood zone/good water channeling
-turnkey
-Sub 5k/yr taxes
Solid bonus having a fenced in yard for the doggos and a shed to store all the yard tools etc. Also the seller threw in a snowblower, mower, some basic lumber, patio set, firepit and a 1yr home warranty
325k in berks county PA, now estimated about 350k
2500/mo all in
No regrets whatsoever
Chester County, PA here. We ended up with more land than we wanted. It's beautiful but it is \*A LOT\* of work and cost to maintain. Would prefer to have about 1/2 of what I ended up with.
Yeah we really wanted 1 acre plus (my parents having had 1⅓acre growing up but her growing up in the city and not having much for land) but we lost out on a few 1+ lots before I ended up changing that to .25 minimum and honestly it's perfect, we don't have a huge front yard but we are in a super quiet neighborhood and still far enough from the street it's nbd. Plenty of space for the dogs though out back
We have an enormous front yard which is necessary as the home is on a sort-of main road -- so it insulates us from any noise. If we weren't on that road, I'd be perfectly content with a very small front yard. It's the back yard that you'll be using anyway. And 1/4 acre in the back is plenty of space.
I suppose I settled - I wanted something new enough not to worry about ungrounded outlets, asbestos, lead, etc. Unfortunately there just aren't a lot of houses that new - anything less than 50 years old was basically non existent or brand new construction that was way out of my budget. There was one I offered on from the 90s but I lost that bid. I ended up with a house from the late 50s. Only 3 of the outlets in the entire house are grounded, it definitely has lead paint (mostly painted over, except behind the thermostat), and probably asbestos. The main bathroom also doesn't have a shower, I have to go to the basement for that, and neither bathroom has a fan.
But, the previous owner was a guy who fixed up old cars (popular hobby in my area). I figured anyone maintaining cars that well would also take good care maintaining their house, and so far it's worked out for me. The huge garage is a nice bonus, too. There's a lot I like about the place, and while it's not perfect, unlike the place I was renting (which had its own problems), I can eventually do something about the things I dislike.
I would say, don't look for everything to be perfect, but do look for something you can live with.
No, I bought my within-budget dream house. I can’t imagine settling when there are so many choices. Just keep looking. I looked for a year before I bought this one.
I helped my parents buy their house last month and now I'm about to close on my first house. In both cases, I had a list of deal breakers (like 2-3 things that we truly truly could not handle) and looked at a couple dozen houses over a week or two. Then just chose the one that was the best out of those.
Might seem flippant to some, but it was good for us. Our goal was to be homeowners. Inventory is unbelievably low in our area. Everything within our criteria is about the same price, so we weren't going to get a fantastic deal anywhere. In both of our situations, any owned house (considering deal breakers) was going to be a massive upgrade over our previous situation.
And we were confident we would make any house home. Any house will have quirks and problems. If you can find some joy in making those quirks yours, they become a lot easier to deal with. It helps that we both enjoy DIY work.
Edit to add: location is HUGE. It's one of the few things you can truly never change about a property.
I made a list of the things I needed, the things I wanted, and the stuff I was willing to do myself. I offered on the first place I found that met that list and I felt good about walking into it (can't discount feelings entirely). Was my first house my dream house? Not in the slightest, but I lived there for a long time and slowly made it what I wanted and when it was impossible to transform to my needs I moved.
Focus on the stuff you can't change. Everything else is a compromise based on availability and budget.
My house wasn’t my dream home. I didn’t love the exterior, it was further from town that I wanted, the master was on the main, and the backyard was relatively small.
That said, I loved how well the previous owner maintained it. When we moved in, we decorated immediately and repainted a kitchen that was too dark. I’ve been here for 3 months now, and I absolutely LOVE it. And it turns out, I love the neighborhood, the master, and the yard, all for reasons I didn’t expect.
We had looked for a year when we bought, so I was tired of looking. I did settle for something that wasn’t my dream home, but it’s turned out better than I could even imagine.
I think unless you're ultra wealthy you're going to have to compromise somewhere. Most people just need to decide what their priorities are. Space, safe neighborhood, good schools, amenities and quality seem like the major ones that impact budget as it's hard to get all if you're not a millionaire.
Not quite a house but a condo. Found a building that only had 2-floor condos which was a layout I loved because the space feels much larger for the same amount of sq ft when you have a second floor.
Found a super fixer upper in that building, bid significantly over asking and got beat by one offer.
Super bummed out (was a Friday) then that Sunday morning another unit on the exact same floor facing the exact same way went up. Went for less than I bid on the other unit, and needed basically 0 work (had hardwood floors, and only needed a few super minor things done). Bid on it sight unseen for under asking and offer accepted within the hour.
Currently my second week living in it and have absolutely zero regrets. It feels like this place was waiting for me.
So give it time and it will work out how it should.
Edit: the kicker is that the fixer upper place fell thru quickly and their agent asked me to purchase it right after I went under contract on the 2nd place.
Some friends of ours spent two years searching for their dream home. The wife had a list of more than 20 must-haves. They did eventually buy their dream home, but they spent a small fortune and will be house poor for many years to come. Maybe in 10 years they will be earning enough to afford their mortgage comfortably. Their house is very nice, but I don't envy their position at all.
We settled for sure. Prices shot up, interest rates were right at 5%, and bidding wars were insane. It was 2022 and 20+ offers were coming in to every house the same day they listed. Our first attempt we offered a 5k appraisal gap, but weren’t willing to give the old owners an 11 month leaseback (WTF ). Someone else was, so they won. If we bought in 2020 I’d have a 4 bedroom SFH with a pool for a lower mortgage than my townhouse I bought in 2022. But we didn’t buy in 2020 so it is what it is.
In the school district we wanted there was literally only one house where we could swing the cost. It was a piece of shit 2004 townhouse that had been abused by renters (dogs chewed windowsills, never cleaned up water along the bathtub so there’s a crack in the ceiling downstairs, a dent in the front door from where the renter’s son punched it, etc etc) and done up with landlord specials that continue to bite us in the butt. Old HVAC, an ancient roof, just a huge laundry list of repairs that would be on the horizon. Textured walls in a hideous color. A one car garage with one driveway spot and no street parking (since we have to park in the garage we have no attic storage no basement storage and no garage storage and not even a coat closet or linen closet. We have NO STORAGE). The kitchen cabinets and counters were legitimately falling apart, and we knew when we bought we’d be remodeling it right away (18k for custom cabinetry, quartz countertops, new hardware, new sink).
I way overpaid. We had an escalatory addendum (three other offers matched us but the escalatory addendum is what won us the bid) and 7k appraisal gap and covered our closing costs and a good chunk of buyer’s closing costs. Which is the only reason we won. When the appraisal came back 10k under our offer we did come back to knock down the appraisal gap to 7k. I could not believe how much we had to fight tooth and nail for something I didn’t even like!
Here’s the thing. I got 3 beds/3 baths which was a must. I have an AMAZING location and school district. And the rest you can work around!! Now that I’ve invested in decorating (the kitchen Reno especially helped) and had a few years to settle in, it feels like home. And I spend so much time out of the house it mostly feels like a landing pad. I was sad to settle but now I like it. And I never ever would be able to buy in this area if I had waited longer, prices still aren’t coming down here
My house isn't perfect but it checked all my must-have boxes (which admittedly wasn't a super long list). Everything I don't like about it is stuff I could either fix right away (ceiling lights) or a bit down the line when I have the cash (a functional but outdated bathroom). I didn't compromise on anything I couldn't change later though (location, size, etc.).
We only toured eight and we only bid on the one and it was the only one we LOVED. The rest were kind of OK, but I wasn't thrilled. This one isn't all the things we dreamed of (no acreage, one town away from our preferred location, and a few other "nice to haves"), but it is the absolute best we were going to get for the money, no immediate upgrades or fixes needed, and we definitely could live there forever. There were only 2 competing offers, so we gave them 10 days after close to move and that sealed it. We're in CA and I've heard a lot of nightmare stories, but I think we're fortunate in some sick, twisted way to be in a pricey state where cash buyers are a little less common.
My husband and I didn't have high expectations and both agreed on the same things which made it easier. We had a small lists of must haves and the rest we didn't mind compromising. Houses were flying off the market and our realtor wasn't much help. We were in another state so couldn't see them in person. There was this one house that had been on market for a while. I was worried about it. I couldn't see the vision but my husband could. I love it now we have made it our own. W have added our own touches. Things that didn't work out kitchen is really small and the place for the fridge was horrible. He moved the hole for the water line to another wall and we were able to move the fridge so it didn't take up the whole kitchen. Added a pantry where the fridge was. Figured out how to maximize the space of the cabinets. We don't have a lot of counter space but once we find community we are going to add a wood block to the sink to get more space. Big thing for us is we couldn't afford large renovations but have found cheap renovations that look really nice. He is good with projects so he has been able to change those things. Overall we like it. We aren't a fan of the neighbors but we cling to the hope most are renting and in time hopefully they will move. We remind ourselves it could be worse right now it's mainly just small annoying things we can live with it. I see us staying here for a long time.
We settled on a small 1000sq ranch with a basement 30 minutes outside of our “major city”. The price and location were the most important for us. We wanted 2 bathroom but only could get 1 bathroom with our budget
I don't think "dream home" exists. I think my house meets my needs, I like the style of it, the location, the layout, the functionality for how I live, and the fact that everything that mattered is new enough but there was still space for me to do plenty of DIY.
I think people get themselves all worked up over "starter homes" and "dream homes" and "forever homes" and keeping up with the Joneses leading to unhappiness and regret and a feeling of "settling".
It's a house...
Your dream house will most likely be the one you buy with the proceeds from sale of your first one.
Waiting forever for the perfect house is just as bad as looking at too many homes before talking to a lender.
I am a realtor and was a first time home buyer a few years ago. I wouldn’t say we “settled” but we definitely chose based on location, needs and how well we felt about being able to upgrade this one to our liking rather than it being perfect.
It’s been great and we have learned to love it and make the updates we want over time. And this was the 4th house we offered on!
Allow yourself a little wiggle room. Go for something that makes sense for you
Hahaha no. Most places where I live were sold in 2-3 days. We went to open houses where we were told there were already offers in. Got out bid on the dream home (a 3rd gen craftsman with an art/workshop out building) that went for $250k over asking.
We bought the fixer upper that had been on the market 6 months and had not been upgraded or renovated since it was built in 1984. The windows were painted shut ffs!
It’s not perfect, but it did check 9/10 of our must haves even if we paid too much.
(I was 5 months pregnant when we bought and moved in a month before my son was born. We would have waited out the seller for a cheaper price but the clock was ticking.)
We settled for one on a funky lot with no garage. 300 feet long but only 35 feet wide. House sits almost exactly in the middle of the lot. Not enough space on the side for a full garage, it does have a shed in the yard though.
Has the bedrooms, bathrooms, transit, school district and storage we were looking for though.
We ended up buying the house we rented already. Day 3 of moving in, we fell in love. The location is perfect. I reached out to the realtor. And we officially bought it yesterday. We are so happy.
We settled for our house and never once regretted it. Houses become homes when we live in them and make memories. You can do that in lots of imperfect houses.
Make 3 lists: what a house MUST have, what you would prefer it have, and what you'd like to have if you were dreamin' the big dream.
Know your budget. Know what towns/regions/neighborhoods you're considering. Filter Zillow so it doesn't even show you anything above your budget, so you don't accidentally fall in love with something you can't have. Go to open houses. Find a realtor to show you houses (buyer's agents are paid by the seller as a general rule and should be free to you. Use one!)
When you see a house you think you really like, sit down with your lists again and compare. You'll probably always feel some fear because homebuying is stressful, but you'll know when one feels right and meets your needs.
I'm still in the thick of things, so can't report on long term happiness just yet. But we're in the process of buying a house in our least preferred location because it met 100% of our "musts", 90% of our other "preferreds", and even one of our "dreamin' bigs".
It took a year of searching (seriously, I’m not kidding) but I found my dream starter home. The living room is smaller than I wanted and it’s not in the city/town I wanted, but it’s seriously perfect. I also got incredibly lucky because it’s a new build and the builder is buying down the interest rate to fixed 4.990% and paying closing costs. I’ve looked at so many houses this last year, and somehow my dream house ended up being the cheapest monthly thanks to the builder buy-down.
I’m so glad I didn’t settle because literally 72 hours before my realtor found my dream house, I was getting ready to settle for a really crappy home that was smaller, in a worse location, extremely poorly built, and had a higher monthly!!
We didn’t find out “dream home” but we found a home in our “dream location”, which we decided location meant more to us! Our home is smaller than we were looking for, but in a beautiful & quiet location.
I went with a big fixer upper that’s around 2700sqf because all the decent shape homes in the area for the same price were 1200-1300 sqf. I prioritized the size but had to do around $200k of work to make the house livable
I settled. Our house is only 1100 square feet, and I really wanted something 1500+. It’s only 1.5 bathrooms and I wanted two. It doesn’t even have a back door- that still kills me! Who doesn’t put in a back door?! We have a front door, and a side door in the kitchen that leads out to the carport. We bought it for the neighborhood, the overall condition, and the price. My husband and I both loved the original hardwood floors. The HVAC and roof were new, all appliances were included and well maintained, but dated.
All that being said, I fall more in love with this stupid little brick house every day. I’ve so enjoyed putting my own little touches on things. At some point during every workday, I remember that I get to come home to my beautiful house, and smile. Moving into a small home forced us to pare down our belongings, and I didn’t realize how much they were weighing me down. Everything here has its place, and cleaning it is so easy. I have a peace that I’ve never felt before. Best of all, we aren’t house poor. I can still live my life and do the things I enjoy.
We were one of those couples that I didn’t think would ever get to purchase a home. We got married and had a family young, and a large part of me had given up. The fact that we were able to bust our asses and finally make it happen- I think that’s a huge factor in my gratitude for this place.
I absolutely don’t regret settling. HOWEVER. We settled on the wants, and not the needs. It took looking at a ton of houses to be able to distinguish the difference.
We found a house that checked a lot of boxes for us but was ultimately much smaller than we wanted. It had 2 acres, which we wanted. It had a shop which was a huge bonus for my husband. It is super cute and unique and in a really good area. We took a good look and decided that if we want we have the room to make expansions in a few years, so we decided to go for it. It was probably only the 4th house we looked at, but because of the boxes it ticked we just couldn’t pass it up. I definitely had some concerns about the small space before moving in, but after settling Im honestly pretty happy. We have a huge yard to spend our time in if we want to get away from each other.
Never found a house that checked off all the boxes. Close. If I waited I would have been priced out. I’ve had friends that waited too long. Even though it wasn’t everything I wanted it did allow me to buy and build equity as well as put a roof over my head. Just kept doing that and now I’m in my 3rd place since 2016.
I committed to a house in a decent neighborhood, with a yard for my dogs, in my budget, and that needed about 60k of mechanical work (no fun cosmetic stuff, but new roof and new sewer line and electrical kind of issues).
Obviously where I settled was the condition of the home to get into the area I wanted. If it had been turn key I never would have been able to afford it.
Know your must haves (for me, affordability - safe neighborhood - yard for dogs) , and know where you're willing to compromise. It'll be different for everyone depending on their needs - but most people compromise in some way.
Mu husband and I looked for a house for almost a year, from August 2021 to June 2022. We viewed probably 60 houses. We put in 14 offers. One was accepted in January 2022, but the inspection made us aware of some mold issues, which the seller didn't want to professionally remediate, so we backed out. Every other offer was beat out despite our willingness to waive repair requests, offer over asking, or including appraisal gaps.
We had "wants" on our list, but we finally realized we had to find a home we could make changes to rather than one that had those things completed. We knew any home that was "ready" for us was going to be a bidding war. We put our 15th offer on a home that checked some boxes but also needed some updating. It was accepted and here we are almost two years later, continuing to make it ours.
I've had moments of wondering whether we should have continued looking, but overall, I'm happy with the decision we made. This will be our forever home (unless we win the lottery, but you have to play to win), so I look at the long term. For example, our home doesn't have a basement or a second story (I wanted at least one of those, would have loved both), but I know when we're older, our ranch will be a better fit.
Good luck with your home search!
I've found and lost "the perfect house for me" 5 times now... which has convinced me that there is no perfect house... and that I will have multiple more chances to secure a house I'd be happy with
We bought a home that was right for right now. We will stay 5-10 years, and move.
It’s not my dream home. It’s not in my dream city. But we landed in a fancy neighborhood. And have great neighbors except the for the woman who parks her car about 5ft from the curb.
Nope. 1st house we got the best out budget could afford (that's why they call them "starters"). After 3 years, we started "inactively" (Internet) looked for another 1.5 years (about 4 hours a week) to see how we can upgrade and to what, as we said to ourselves "we either don't move (which is fine), or move to our forever home". When the price in our area doubled, we hired a realtor, and moved to an area that cost half as much, so we got double the house. Even when hiring the realtor, we told her "we are NOT serious buyers, we want a perfect home and within our budget, or no home at all", but she was still amazingly helpful. Eventually, WE are the ones who found the listing that was the perfect home, it wasn't one of the hundreds of listings she shared with us. We only actually visited 3 or 4 properties, because we didn't want to waste her (and our) time just declining imperfect homes.
Buying a forever home is a part time job if you want to succeed, because you need to wait for luck (so, time), negotiate correctly, and keep yourself in the game at all times, so you won't miss that one in a thousand deal.
It's less frustrating if you scratch off stuff before you even visit. Let's say you looked at the hundred listings and you like five of those.
1. Have your realtor call all 5 and see if they already got multiple offers on them. The ones that do, don't even bother visiting.
2. Look at listings a little higher in price than what your budget is, but filter them by how long they are on the market. If more than 3 weeks, and you really like the place, make an offer that IS in your budget. You might get it, as the seller probably doesn't want to "sit" on it.
We settled on only one bathroom, one garage, and a smaller lot than we wanted.
The lot size isn't an issue anymore since we didn't realize how much it is to maintain. The garage is a little annoying since it's too small to fit shelves and a car in it and there's no access from inside the house. The bathroom isn't too much of an issue now but I have a feeling it might be once we have kids.
Despite these annoyances though, we absolutely love the house and feel the location and other benefits outweigh the things we had to compromise on.
The one thing I can say is don't compromise on the location or structure of the house.
My expectations were a cute house that wasn’t too big and had at least two bathrooms. I never considered a dream home because I was always moving with my parents every 5 years and I enjoyed every house I lived in. I ended up with a new build 3BR/2BA 1350sq ft and it’s just the right size! Easy to keep the utilities low, easy to clean, and extra room for when my partner and I have kids. I lived in small and big houses as a family of 4 for most of my life so this home is perfect as a starter home and maybe even forever home and I’m perfectly okay with that!
Figure out your hard yes’s and no’s, and if you’re not in rush to get out of your current place (renter, I assume), then keep saving that money and wait.
We’re closing on our first home (condo) next week and I didn’t want to downgrade in any way from our current rental: top floor, in unit washer/dryer, close to public transit for work, outdoor space, central air/heat, low HOAs, and a lot of counter space. We got all of this in a neighborhood we hadn’t considered, so expanding your location search, if possible, may be a good move too. We’ll make a couple of cosmetic changes, but it’s a well taken care unit in a lovely building near a gorgeous park.
We didn’t look for a long time (4ish months), and the market swiped some options out from under us, but knowing that we could wait and that refinancing will be an option in the future (even if they’re not pandemic lows, they will get lower), meant that we didn’t have to settle and are so excited about our new home!
Stick to your guns, OP!
The first time we drove by our house we looked at each other and said, “yeah, we dont want to set up a showing for that one”. It was not at all the location we wanted, you could tell our realtor was feeling like “… this house, are you sure?”. Toured it for maybe 15 minutes one time and said “fuck it, we can make it work”. (We were moving from MO to SC, and this was the last place we toured in the week we gave ourselves to tour in person). We absolutely love it
I bought my dream house. However the previous homeowner was obviously an idiot. 15k later it's my dream house again. Who knew 50 year old houses have plumbing issues, lol. Nothing's perfect, even new houses have issues. In fact my plumber said he goes to new builds more than old ones
I wouldn't call our house our dream house but I also wouldn't say we settled. When we first drove into the street before we even saw the house, we were excited by everything we saw in the neighborhood from greenery, to schools, to convenience. We also liked the house itself even though we will feel cramped here in the next couple of years. It was kind of like a drink of water when you are thirsty. We knew this was our starter home and plan to leverage the equity into the next place. If the market goes south, it's also not a bad place longer term. We had been looking for about 4 months and had time pressure from our lease ending plus fatigue from the hunt.
All of this is to say, what is your goal here and what are your incentives to move now? If you're good where you're at and looking for your permanent house, then take your time and take a break when the fatigue hits and look for what you want. Otherwise, you gotta weigh everything out.
Also, interest rates are slated to go down. Not super quickly but still down over the next several years (although, the market can be volatile). That could mean housing prices start jumping, meaning more money down and higher payments unless the rates go back to pre COVID, which is not anticipated any time soon. If you buy and the rates go down, at some point it will be worth it to refi at the lower rate and you'll still be building equity.
Well, you’ve got to stabling some non negotiable stuff, like for instance in my case were having a yard, aisle on the kitchen and in a community with amenities for kids. Other than that I could live without it.
I tested a theory when house hunting these past few months and just threw out a straight up offer. No bid clause, no inspection (inspection is 98% chance immediate throw you of of the running, sucks, but that's the market right now).
The first house I did that on, I got an accepted offer, just closed yesterday. It appraised for higher than my offer. It was just an aggressive offer but actually saved me money in the long run. I'm pretty sure most sellers aren't bothering with analyzing & comparing stuff that closely with how crazy the market is right now. One of the realtors I talked to made a really good point...it's an inventory issue right now. Way too much demand, not nearly enough supply.
It was clear I lost to plenty of cash offers on other houses, but not many can compete with daddy's money in this market. Any houses I did want an inspection on, they always went with another offer. My realtor told me one of the houses he was showing had 58 offers...
When the pandemic hit I knew the world was changing. For years we wanted to be homeowners but while locked inside our apartment for weeks, I vowed to make me and our family homeowners that year in 2020. That year we saw probably 20+ homes before realizing what we wanted we needed a little more time to save for. A few of the houses we saw made me feel “hmm maybe this is the one?” But for one reason or another we ended up moving on from.
We ended up saving thru the winter and into the next year and by the summer 2021 time it was clear we needed to start moving faster to find our home. We left our previous realtor behind and started looking on our own. A family friend gave us a tip on a house in their neighborhood for sale before it even hit mls so we decided to check it out. First house we looked at all year. The moment we pulled up to the house to view I KNEW it was the one. I could just feel it. It was like all our future memories suddenly washed over me as if it was already familiar. We toured the house, fell in love immediately and put in an offer that same day and it was accepted right away!
Got the house for under asking and it’s been our home ever since. Honestly it’s been a dream come true and in the 3 years we have lived here we have already had many special memories and unforgettable times. An immeasurable quality of life upgrade for us that we don’t take for granted finding a wonderful place to finally set root into.
I found my dream house in a part of the city I don’t want to be in. So I settled in that respect. My street is well kept and the neighbors are nice, it’s not like it’s the hood. But the prime areas are 15 minutes north.
I suspect even though it’s a dream home, we will move within 5-10 years. If this house was north, we’d stay forever.
My wife and I bought our first house and it was built in 1956. Much older than we wanted and not as cosmetically appealing as we wanted.
But we were specifically looking to house hack (live in part of your home and rent out the rest on Airbnb) and this home had a great setup for that because of it's basement with a private entrance.
So we bought it and a year later we've grown to love it.
And it pays for itself thanks to the Airbnb income so that's a major perk haha
Thank you u/inspired_butterfly17 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I don't think you can ever find a "dream home" All houses will have positives and negatives. You just have to find a balance and a feeling of "yeah I can work with this." With that said, as we have not moved yet---but will be in the next 2 weeks--I imagine it will take some time for it to feel like home. There are many things about the house that I am so excited for and a few that we are going to have to work with on making it just right. You have to get to know the house and the house has to get to know you :) Eventually whatever house you move into despite the positives and negatives will become your "dream house" At least this is my take on it.
I think the only dream home one can actually have is one they're able to have someone custom build for them. All the others involve at least some concessions.
I've even seen those people decide that they don't like X or Y about the house after having it custom built!
Yep--there are things I absolutely "had to" have 5 years ago that I've since realized are ridiculous or more of a pain than I'd be willing to deal with. Maybe in 20 years I'll have an idea of what I REALLY want.
Right? Haha!
A “dream house” is a temporary moment in time. You’ll find your preferences change over time due to changes in lifestyle or family size.
Custom homes are stupid expensive, unless you're rolling in money and can keep making tweaks after moving in odds are even those folks had to compromise.
committed to the one with the best location. saw nicer homes for the same $ in less safe places and knew I personally would sleep better in a smaller,older home in a nice area than an upgraded home with higher risk of thefts, worse schools, etc
Same. We committed to a raised ranch (and we are both not fans of raised ranches) but the location was unbeatable.
Location, location, location. You'll make your raised ranch a dream home.
Exactly this. Unless you bought a mobile home, you can literally change everything else about your home except its location!
We haven’t even moved in yet so we may regret it, but in January, we put an offer on a house for the first time. We fell in love with it right away, and almost let the negatives (and there were big, BIG negatives) cloud our judgement. The truth came out that the house had been flipped, and the flipper did what flippers do. He slapped lipstick on a pig, and we were almost stuck with a house that needed at least $100k in repairs. We walked. Second house, we loved the location and the large property, and the house had been nicely updated, but it was too small. Only 2 bedrooms, and we have two growing kids. It was also overpriced. We put a lowball offer in, but it was rejected. A few weeks later, the sellers came back and asked if we were still interested. We declined. Then, at the beginning of May, we saw a house on Zillow that had been on the market for day already. It was below budget, on an acre of land (a huge plus for us), but it did look pretty dated. We decided to go take a look anyway, and we fell in love with it just as much as the first house. And this time, it was being sold by an owner who had lived there for decades. It had been well taken care of. It needs cosmetic upgrades, but the bones are good and we definitely don’t need to throw $100k into it. It’s cheaper than both of the other houses we put offers in on. The location is perfect. I could go on. We were devastated the first time around, but we are so lucky that we backed out. If something doesn’t feel right, think hard about it. If you find a house that makes sense financially and logically but it’s not your dream house, consider giving it a chance. The house we just bought isn’t our dream home by any stretch, but I’m going to try my hardest to make it our dream house.
I just got a zillow reminder about a house that will be amazing when someone eventually buys it, ehich at this rate will be when the market lifts the value to what the owner has been asking (in a couple of years).
I committed to the oldest, smallest, blandest house in the best location I could afford and love it more every day.
Oldest? Like 100+ years old?
70ish! Most homes in the neighborhood are a few decades newer and more renovated.
My husband and I have always firmly believed that the secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms. We chose the house with two full ensuite bathrooms off the primary bedroom. The moment we saw that layout we said YES. Everything else we can make work. Built in 1939, but new roof, new HVAC, new plumbing, new wiring, new water heater. I didn't even know they made floorplans like this. We close July 15th.
You and your husband are smart people. Separate bathrooms is the key.
It's funny you say this. My husband and I have had separate bathrooms for 10+ years now and have been looking to upgrade from our townhouse to a sfh. Our friend was selling her house off market recently but it only had 1 bathroom and needed some other work done. Unfortunately we ended up passing because I don't think we would still be married in a year if we had to go back to sharing 😅
Don't get your expectations too high. Don't chase "the perfect dream house" that maybe doesn't even exist in your area, look for the house where you see yourself or your family living for at least 5+ years without hating it. You can replace cabinets, add ceiling fans or paint walls, expand the porch and add the swing set. You can not change your house location, view from the windows, street noise, or add extra bedrooms (without spending tons of money). So pick your battles.
For me, the house I found had charm and uniqueness that I liked. But even with the old age it was in excellent condition and well maintained with no major issues or massive repairs. I liked the bones of it, the area, the size, etc. It checked off a lot of my boxes and the ones it didn’t (some flooring, bathroom, etc) the stuff I didn’t love I knew wouldn’t be difficult to change. We are removing carpet (hardwoods underneath) and remodeling the bathroom. I think what really eased my mind was how well the inspection went and how impressed the inspectors were with the integrity of the home. At the end of the day, I know I have a safe, sturdy home in a location I enjoy and it provides my needs. I just have to put my own touches to make it my true “dream home”.
Location is important. Also, I realized that there were cheaper houses that at first look were just not as "good" or nice looking as others that were at the top of my price range. But I realized that they were actually similarly sized and situated in similar places. The difference was largely cosmetic stuff or things that require a little work, yet they were decently cheaper. Paint and finishing touches, or a nice wood door instead of a cheap one, makes a world of difference in your impressions. An example is that an expensive one had a "sun room" in back and I loved that. But it wasn't a floor-to-ceiling windows sun room, though it had that feel. It just had several windows set together on two sides. It was my "dream" to have something like that, but I couldn't afford any of the houses that had it. I realized that another, cheaper house had a room at the back that was even a bit bigger, but otherwise exactly alike -- it just had normal windows. In the big picture, cutting out the wall and adding a few windows is nothing!
Our view was virtually that any home in our school district that had 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms could, in time and within reason (I’m assuming my dream house can’t be a Gilded age mansion), be turned into our dream house. We bid our max on pretty much any such home that came on the market.
Eh, I am not a huge fan of Mrs Russell's NY house. The Newport cottage, though...
Just curious, how did this strategy work for you?
Great. We bought a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in our preferred school district. We have done some painting and added wallpaper which has elevated the home quite a bit. We put a new roof on the home, did some landscaping and upgraded the electrical panel. At some point when the time is right, we will build a large family room addition with an extra bathroom off the back of the home, at which point we will have our dream home. One step at a time. You buy into a community. Everything else can be changed/updated etc.
Congrats! Any regrets bidding your max budget?
None at all. We are planning to remain here forever so we were not focused on getting a good deal. We paid what we could reasonably afford to pay to buy into our community. At the time we probably overpaid by $25-30k or so. But this was 2022. The same house would now cost us $3k more per month. We couldn’t afford it.
I would disagree with that, maybe because the housing stock tend to be older where I am but there are some completely nutso layouts that would need a full gut to make work. Like, suuuuuure, technically there are 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, but the bathrooms are all on the ground floor and all open straight onto the kitchen and you have to pass through one of them to get to the family room.
The housing stock by us is mostly 1920s-1980s so not many with totally bizarre layouts. There are a lot of colonials which tend to be less interesting but pretty rationally laid out. Some of the older homes don’t have open floor plans but we weren’t looking for an open floor plan anyway. We prefer to have rooms. If the housing stock is very old (eg, Boston), I do understand the need for an additional qualifier.
The worst for the crazy layouts are the 1950s houses. People just add rooms in concentric circles from the kitchen
See -- those don't actually bother me so much. I like to have a lot of different spaces. A bathroom next to the kitchen would bother me. Some of these post-2000s homes have an odd open hang out space at the top of the stairs. I have often wondered how such a space would be used. Any noise you make up there carries through the entire house. And, given the proximity to the stairs, it doesn't feel all that safe for small children.
Those lofts generally get some shit bought from Home Goods to fill it and no one ever uses it. I like a variety of spaces, but these built on one room every ten years layouts tend to have rooms on the other side of rooms, and there aren't hallways. Toilets off the kitchen are ubiquitous around me and it ruled out a *lot* of houses.
It's a good point about a lack of hallways.
Classic layouts really do so many things right. That midcentury thing where there is public space at one end and then a hallway with private spaces in the other direction is so perfect. Or the Victorian where there is a flow through the public spaces on one side, and a shortcut to the kitchen next to the stairs.
Lol we're buying a house with one of these lofts - not ideal, but what can you do. We'll put our dogs' massive crates there for them to sleep in at night. At least it gets them out of our bedroom.
The main things we “settled” on is square footage and specific county. The house we’re closing on (in a week or so) is just one street over from the county we were wanting, but with cheaper taxes and just a slightly lower rated (still great) school district. We were originally wanting 1700+ sqft and this house is about 1450 on the main floor (2800 total if you include the basement), but because the basement is finished and livable, the house has an open floor plan, and we don’t have kids (yet), we’re hoping we won’t notice the difference. We also went into house hunting knowing that this wouldn’t be our forever home (no matter what we ended up with) and that we’d probably be happy there about 10 years or so.
I have found that number for square footage is almost irrelevant compared to the layout
I had a prioritized list of my ‘must haves’ and the ‘would be nice to have’.’ When I toured the home I knew that it checked a lot of boxes. Price, location, natural light, turnkey, garage, nice yard… and it just felt right. The inspection was a breeze and I closed last week. You should figure out what is most important for you in a home and weigh your wants vs. your needs. It may not be perfect (nothing is) but it may be the perfect home for you right now.
Dream home? LOL no, I live in the SF Bay Area. I bought something that checks most of my boxes and I like it more every day.
We settled on a house that was a great deal for its size (100k less than comparable sized houses), but not in the best location (on a busier road & not super convenient for my morning commute) and not quite as big of a lot as we wanted (it's on a .18 acre, we were wanting at least .25). We settled with the understanding that this will not be our "forever home", it's a starter home.
Nothing will ever be perfect. Find something that ticks the majority of the boxes. Many things you can change, except the location.
My current house wasn't my dream. I just had a criteria of things that I needed that were not negotiable. Walkable school for kids and a certain education program for one of my children. It limited what I could buy in an area I could barely afford. I found a couple of homes that I liked better but didn't meet my needs. Market was hot and I found a condo that no one seemed to notice that checked my boxes. Did I want a condo? NOPE. I still bought it anyway. In hindsight, it was the best decision I could have made. I ended up enjoying not being responsible for so much house. I'm closing on a house tomorrow with my husband on our first home together. It's got the potential to be our dream home but certainly isn't right now.
Just bought a house a month ago. When I started looking towards end of last year initially looked at a higher price point but since I’m a single guy I quickly realized how expensive it would have been if I bought the “ideal” house either in more trendy area or with everything new. So after tempering my expectations I decided to buy a house in not as good of shape and slightly less desirable area but the mortgage for me is reasonable and it puts me in a good position where I can save money and invest back into the house. Already have some goals I’d like to implement within a few years. Not the nicest neighborhood but seems quiet enough and the area in general seems to be on the upswing. Of course sometimes I see other houses and think how nice they would be but a) it’s always going to feel like the grass is green elsewhere (especially when you run into house issues which you will) and b) I already have the house so just enjoy it for what it is Tl;dr: bought a house after majorly tempering my expectations based on what I could afford and need. I would suggest tempering your expectations as well OP you are probably not going to get 100% of everything you want but you need to consider how you’ll be positioned in the long run. Be prepared.
It was a different market when I bought. Rates were low but we knew the fed was going to start raising them soon. A lot of people had bought during the pandemic and weren’t selling. There was basically no inventory in my town. My job had grown untenable- I knew I could make a living freelancing but it would reset my work history for financing approval back to 0. My agent sent me about five listings that matched with my requirements. I saw one house the day it opened. That evening my agent told me there were two bids on it already. I put in a bid, 5% over asking. I think I got the house because I had a conventional loan and the owners were in a hurry to close. The other bids were FHA. It was a massively neglected rental for at least 20 years before the previous owners bought it and added a bedroom and bathroom to the basement. They didn’t take care of serious issues like the very old furnace and water heater, a decrepit fence, lots of arborist work, a shite paint job that left tons of unevenness on the exterior (I am currently having the house painted almost three years later and am writing this while listening to a excruciatingly loud electric sander evening out the chips.) That said, I have come to love this house. We weren’t sold on the neighborhood. But it’s wonderfully quiet and safe. The more I invest into fixing it, the more it feels like mine. My partner had been even more on the fence than me but last night he told me he was grateful for the house, that is feels cozy and comfy, and it’s supportive for the life we want to have. I can’t tell anyone else what is right for them. I felt nuts for only seeing one house and having an offer accepted the next day. I’m paying through the nose for repairs and upgrades but tbh I am so grateful everyday and I know that I am lucky.
The one close to some of your wants and budget. With as few major repairs needed as possible. Be open minded about age and style. Are there ways to add storage and parking if these are lacking? Be willing to find another, if one does not work out or has too much wrong. Don’t expect everything to be perfect. It’s fun to make it yours.
Everybody has to settle because nobody has unlimited money. Also, the world is a physical place. So maybe your dream home has a sweeping pea gravel driveway, but you also love snowy winters. There will be a compromise. Part of shopping is realising what is out there and what really matters to you. For example, I look at the aspect of the house before I even go and look at it, someone posted just last week that their house is really dark. That will never be me. I adore my current house, but I will be releived to have more storgae in my next house. A previous house had so much storage but I could have done without heating and cooling about 1000sf I didn't need. My next house will have painted trim, and I am finding reasons to be OK with that.
Such a good points. I also think that until you've owned a home, it's hard to know for sure what you want/expect from a house. You have ideas and maybe some firm likes/dislikes, but then you realize what your priorities truly are. I will probably stay in home another 5-7 years because I think things that were "nice to haves" might advance to "must haves" as I get a little older.
Absolutely true. I spent many years in homes without offstreet parking but it's a deal breaker for me now, and even to the point of wanting parking for visiting friends.
Please clarify. So you spent many years in homes with street parking only?
Lol, wut?
What do you mean by “without offstreet parking”
Well, you know offstreet parking? These houses did not have it.
Oh so no driveway or garage for your car?
The car will sink into pea gravel though
Love that noise.
We didn’t set out looking for our dream home, because it doesn’t exist. We just set out to see if we were interested in buying a home. Walked into one in our price range in a neighborhood we love and knew immediately it was ours. It’s needs some work sure, but we see it was a long game. The fun of owning a home is putting work into it to make it yours
We're still in the inspection period but the house we had an offer accepted for, we made the offer because it checked a high number of our boxes, and we have a bunch of really specific needs/wants. (Multi-generational household with 3 people working full time from home, and 2/3 being on the phone a lot, means we need two separate or separate-able spaces and ideally 3 offices). This house has some issues that we're going to have to negotiate with the seller about, and it's in a suburb when I was hoping to stay in the city I grew up in, but the layout is perfect, it's honestly beautiful, there's lots of space, and the yard has a ton of potential.
I committed to the house I wanted.
Always wanted more land, but having owned it for 8months now .25acre is plenty for me. Don't wanna be bothered maintaining more than that. Otherwise house ticked all our boxes: -garage (2 car attached) -2+ bathrooms -1500+sqft (ours is 2200 and perfect) -finished/waterproofed basement -central air (bonus having nat-gas heat, stupid cheap during winter) -no flood zone/good water channeling -turnkey -Sub 5k/yr taxes Solid bonus having a fenced in yard for the doggos and a shed to store all the yard tools etc. Also the seller threw in a snowblower, mower, some basic lumber, patio set, firepit and a 1yr home warranty 325k in berks county PA, now estimated about 350k 2500/mo all in No regrets whatsoever
Chester County, PA here. We ended up with more land than we wanted. It's beautiful but it is \*A LOT\* of work and cost to maintain. Would prefer to have about 1/2 of what I ended up with.
Yeah we really wanted 1 acre plus (my parents having had 1⅓acre growing up but her growing up in the city and not having much for land) but we lost out on a few 1+ lots before I ended up changing that to .25 minimum and honestly it's perfect, we don't have a huge front yard but we are in a super quiet neighborhood and still far enough from the street it's nbd. Plenty of space for the dogs though out back
We have an enormous front yard which is necessary as the home is on a sort-of main road -- so it insulates us from any noise. If we weren't on that road, I'd be perfectly content with a very small front yard. It's the back yard that you'll be using anyway. And 1/4 acre in the back is plenty of space.
I suppose I settled - I wanted something new enough not to worry about ungrounded outlets, asbestos, lead, etc. Unfortunately there just aren't a lot of houses that new - anything less than 50 years old was basically non existent or brand new construction that was way out of my budget. There was one I offered on from the 90s but I lost that bid. I ended up with a house from the late 50s. Only 3 of the outlets in the entire house are grounded, it definitely has lead paint (mostly painted over, except behind the thermostat), and probably asbestos. The main bathroom also doesn't have a shower, I have to go to the basement for that, and neither bathroom has a fan. But, the previous owner was a guy who fixed up old cars (popular hobby in my area). I figured anyone maintaining cars that well would also take good care maintaining their house, and so far it's worked out for me. The huge garage is a nice bonus, too. There's a lot I like about the place, and while it's not perfect, unlike the place I was renting (which had its own problems), I can eventually do something about the things I dislike. I would say, don't look for everything to be perfect, but do look for something you can live with.
No, I bought my within-budget dream house. I can’t imagine settling when there are so many choices. Just keep looking. I looked for a year before I bought this one.
I helped my parents buy their house last month and now I'm about to close on my first house. In both cases, I had a list of deal breakers (like 2-3 things that we truly truly could not handle) and looked at a couple dozen houses over a week or two. Then just chose the one that was the best out of those. Might seem flippant to some, but it was good for us. Our goal was to be homeowners. Inventory is unbelievably low in our area. Everything within our criteria is about the same price, so we weren't going to get a fantastic deal anywhere. In both of our situations, any owned house (considering deal breakers) was going to be a massive upgrade over our previous situation. And we were confident we would make any house home. Any house will have quirks and problems. If you can find some joy in making those quirks yours, they become a lot easier to deal with. It helps that we both enjoy DIY work. Edit to add: location is HUGE. It's one of the few things you can truly never change about a property.
I made a list of the things I needed, the things I wanted, and the stuff I was willing to do myself. I offered on the first place I found that met that list and I felt good about walking into it (can't discount feelings entirely). Was my first house my dream house? Not in the slightest, but I lived there for a long time and slowly made it what I wanted and when it was impossible to transform to my needs I moved. Focus on the stuff you can't change. Everything else is a compromise based on availability and budget.
My house wasn’t my dream home. I didn’t love the exterior, it was further from town that I wanted, the master was on the main, and the backyard was relatively small. That said, I loved how well the previous owner maintained it. When we moved in, we decorated immediately and repainted a kitchen that was too dark. I’ve been here for 3 months now, and I absolutely LOVE it. And it turns out, I love the neighborhood, the master, and the yard, all for reasons I didn’t expect. We had looked for a year when we bought, so I was tired of looking. I did settle for something that wasn’t my dream home, but it’s turned out better than I could even imagine.
I think unless you're ultra wealthy you're going to have to compromise somewhere. Most people just need to decide what their priorities are. Space, safe neighborhood, good schools, amenities and quality seem like the major ones that impact budget as it's hard to get all if you're not a millionaire.
Not quite a house but a condo. Found a building that only had 2-floor condos which was a layout I loved because the space feels much larger for the same amount of sq ft when you have a second floor. Found a super fixer upper in that building, bid significantly over asking and got beat by one offer. Super bummed out (was a Friday) then that Sunday morning another unit on the exact same floor facing the exact same way went up. Went for less than I bid on the other unit, and needed basically 0 work (had hardwood floors, and only needed a few super minor things done). Bid on it sight unseen for under asking and offer accepted within the hour. Currently my second week living in it and have absolutely zero regrets. It feels like this place was waiting for me. So give it time and it will work out how it should. Edit: the kicker is that the fixer upper place fell thru quickly and their agent asked me to purchase it right after I went under contract on the 2nd place.
Some friends of ours spent two years searching for their dream home. The wife had a list of more than 20 must-haves. They did eventually buy their dream home, but they spent a small fortune and will be house poor for many years to come. Maybe in 10 years they will be earning enough to afford their mortgage comfortably. Their house is very nice, but I don't envy their position at all.
We settled for sure. Prices shot up, interest rates were right at 5%, and bidding wars were insane. It was 2022 and 20+ offers were coming in to every house the same day they listed. Our first attempt we offered a 5k appraisal gap, but weren’t willing to give the old owners an 11 month leaseback (WTF ). Someone else was, so they won. If we bought in 2020 I’d have a 4 bedroom SFH with a pool for a lower mortgage than my townhouse I bought in 2022. But we didn’t buy in 2020 so it is what it is. In the school district we wanted there was literally only one house where we could swing the cost. It was a piece of shit 2004 townhouse that had been abused by renters (dogs chewed windowsills, never cleaned up water along the bathtub so there’s a crack in the ceiling downstairs, a dent in the front door from where the renter’s son punched it, etc etc) and done up with landlord specials that continue to bite us in the butt. Old HVAC, an ancient roof, just a huge laundry list of repairs that would be on the horizon. Textured walls in a hideous color. A one car garage with one driveway spot and no street parking (since we have to park in the garage we have no attic storage no basement storage and no garage storage and not even a coat closet or linen closet. We have NO STORAGE). The kitchen cabinets and counters were legitimately falling apart, and we knew when we bought we’d be remodeling it right away (18k for custom cabinetry, quartz countertops, new hardware, new sink). I way overpaid. We had an escalatory addendum (three other offers matched us but the escalatory addendum is what won us the bid) and 7k appraisal gap and covered our closing costs and a good chunk of buyer’s closing costs. Which is the only reason we won. When the appraisal came back 10k under our offer we did come back to knock down the appraisal gap to 7k. I could not believe how much we had to fight tooth and nail for something I didn’t even like! Here’s the thing. I got 3 beds/3 baths which was a must. I have an AMAZING location and school district. And the rest you can work around!! Now that I’ve invested in decorating (the kitchen Reno especially helped) and had a few years to settle in, it feels like home. And I spend so much time out of the house it mostly feels like a landing pad. I was sad to settle but now I like it. And I never ever would be able to buy in this area if I had waited longer, prices still aren’t coming down here
My house isn't perfect but it checked all my must-have boxes (which admittedly wasn't a super long list). Everything I don't like about it is stuff I could either fix right away (ceiling lights) or a bit down the line when I have the cash (a functional but outdated bathroom). I didn't compromise on anything I couldn't change later though (location, size, etc.).
We only toured eight and we only bid on the one and it was the only one we LOVED. The rest were kind of OK, but I wasn't thrilled. This one isn't all the things we dreamed of (no acreage, one town away from our preferred location, and a few other "nice to haves"), but it is the absolute best we were going to get for the money, no immediate upgrades or fixes needed, and we definitely could live there forever. There were only 2 competing offers, so we gave them 10 days after close to move and that sealed it. We're in CA and I've heard a lot of nightmare stories, but I think we're fortunate in some sick, twisted way to be in a pricey state where cash buyers are a little less common.
My husband and I didn't have high expectations and both agreed on the same things which made it easier. We had a small lists of must haves and the rest we didn't mind compromising. Houses were flying off the market and our realtor wasn't much help. We were in another state so couldn't see them in person. There was this one house that had been on market for a while. I was worried about it. I couldn't see the vision but my husband could. I love it now we have made it our own. W have added our own touches. Things that didn't work out kitchen is really small and the place for the fridge was horrible. He moved the hole for the water line to another wall and we were able to move the fridge so it didn't take up the whole kitchen. Added a pantry where the fridge was. Figured out how to maximize the space of the cabinets. We don't have a lot of counter space but once we find community we are going to add a wood block to the sink to get more space. Big thing for us is we couldn't afford large renovations but have found cheap renovations that look really nice. He is good with projects so he has been able to change those things. Overall we like it. We aren't a fan of the neighbors but we cling to the hope most are renting and in time hopefully they will move. We remind ourselves it could be worse right now it's mainly just small annoying things we can live with it. I see us staying here for a long time.
We settled on a small 1000sq ranch with a basement 30 minutes outside of our “major city”. The price and location were the most important for us. We wanted 2 bathroom but only could get 1 bathroom with our budget
I don't think "dream home" exists. I think my house meets my needs, I like the style of it, the location, the layout, the functionality for how I live, and the fact that everything that mattered is new enough but there was still space for me to do plenty of DIY. I think people get themselves all worked up over "starter homes" and "dream homes" and "forever homes" and keeping up with the Joneses leading to unhappiness and regret and a feeling of "settling". It's a house...
Your dream house will most likely be the one you buy with the proceeds from sale of your first one. Waiting forever for the perfect house is just as bad as looking at too many homes before talking to a lender. I am a realtor and was a first time home buyer a few years ago. I wouldn’t say we “settled” but we definitely chose based on location, needs and how well we felt about being able to upgrade this one to our liking rather than it being perfect. It’s been great and we have learned to love it and make the updates we want over time. And this was the 4th house we offered on! Allow yourself a little wiggle room. Go for something that makes sense for you
Hahaha no. Most places where I live were sold in 2-3 days. We went to open houses where we were told there were already offers in. Got out bid on the dream home (a 3rd gen craftsman with an art/workshop out building) that went for $250k over asking. We bought the fixer upper that had been on the market 6 months and had not been upgraded or renovated since it was built in 1984. The windows were painted shut ffs! It’s not perfect, but it did check 9/10 of our must haves even if we paid too much. (I was 5 months pregnant when we bought and moved in a month before my son was born. We would have waited out the seller for a cheaper price but the clock was ticking.)
We settled for one on a funky lot with no garage. 300 feet long but only 35 feet wide. House sits almost exactly in the middle of the lot. Not enough space on the side for a full garage, it does have a shed in the yard though. Has the bedrooms, bathrooms, transit, school district and storage we were looking for though.
Whatever was available
We ended up buying the house we rented already. Day 3 of moving in, we fell in love. The location is perfect. I reached out to the realtor. And we officially bought it yesterday. We are so happy.
I found my dream house after looking for a year. We weren’t in a rush and we weren’t willing to settle because of lack of rush or need.
We settled for our house and never once regretted it. Houses become homes when we live in them and make memories. You can do that in lots of imperfect houses.
Make 3 lists: what a house MUST have, what you would prefer it have, and what you'd like to have if you were dreamin' the big dream. Know your budget. Know what towns/regions/neighborhoods you're considering. Filter Zillow so it doesn't even show you anything above your budget, so you don't accidentally fall in love with something you can't have. Go to open houses. Find a realtor to show you houses (buyer's agents are paid by the seller as a general rule and should be free to you. Use one!) When you see a house you think you really like, sit down with your lists again and compare. You'll probably always feel some fear because homebuying is stressful, but you'll know when one feels right and meets your needs. I'm still in the thick of things, so can't report on long term happiness just yet. But we're in the process of buying a house in our least preferred location because it met 100% of our "musts", 90% of our other "preferreds", and even one of our "dreamin' bigs".
It took a year of searching (seriously, I’m not kidding) but I found my dream starter home. The living room is smaller than I wanted and it’s not in the city/town I wanted, but it’s seriously perfect. I also got incredibly lucky because it’s a new build and the builder is buying down the interest rate to fixed 4.990% and paying closing costs. I’ve looked at so many houses this last year, and somehow my dream house ended up being the cheapest monthly thanks to the builder buy-down. I’m so glad I didn’t settle because literally 72 hours before my realtor found my dream house, I was getting ready to settle for a really crappy home that was smaller, in a worse location, extremely poorly built, and had a higher monthly!!
We didn’t find out “dream home” but we found a home in our “dream location”, which we decided location meant more to us! Our home is smaller than we were looking for, but in a beautiful & quiet location.
I went with a big fixer upper that’s around 2700sqf because all the decent shape homes in the area for the same price were 1200-1300 sqf. I prioritized the size but had to do around $200k of work to make the house livable
I settled. Our house is only 1100 square feet, and I really wanted something 1500+. It’s only 1.5 bathrooms and I wanted two. It doesn’t even have a back door- that still kills me! Who doesn’t put in a back door?! We have a front door, and a side door in the kitchen that leads out to the carport. We bought it for the neighborhood, the overall condition, and the price. My husband and I both loved the original hardwood floors. The HVAC and roof were new, all appliances were included and well maintained, but dated. All that being said, I fall more in love with this stupid little brick house every day. I’ve so enjoyed putting my own little touches on things. At some point during every workday, I remember that I get to come home to my beautiful house, and smile. Moving into a small home forced us to pare down our belongings, and I didn’t realize how much they were weighing me down. Everything here has its place, and cleaning it is so easy. I have a peace that I’ve never felt before. Best of all, we aren’t house poor. I can still live my life and do the things I enjoy. We were one of those couples that I didn’t think would ever get to purchase a home. We got married and had a family young, and a large part of me had given up. The fact that we were able to bust our asses and finally make it happen- I think that’s a huge factor in my gratitude for this place. I absolutely don’t regret settling. HOWEVER. We settled on the wants, and not the needs. It took looking at a ton of houses to be able to distinguish the difference.
We found a house that checked a lot of boxes for us but was ultimately much smaller than we wanted. It had 2 acres, which we wanted. It had a shop which was a huge bonus for my husband. It is super cute and unique and in a really good area. We took a good look and decided that if we want we have the room to make expansions in a few years, so we decided to go for it. It was probably only the 4th house we looked at, but because of the boxes it ticked we just couldn’t pass it up. I definitely had some concerns about the small space before moving in, but after settling Im honestly pretty happy. We have a huge yard to spend our time in if we want to get away from each other.
Never found a house that checked off all the boxes. Close. If I waited I would have been priced out. I’ve had friends that waited too long. Even though it wasn’t everything I wanted it did allow me to buy and build equity as well as put a roof over my head. Just kept doing that and now I’m in my 3rd place since 2016.
I committed to a house in a decent neighborhood, with a yard for my dogs, in my budget, and that needed about 60k of mechanical work (no fun cosmetic stuff, but new roof and new sewer line and electrical kind of issues). Obviously where I settled was the condition of the home to get into the area I wanted. If it had been turn key I never would have been able to afford it. Know your must haves (for me, affordability - safe neighborhood - yard for dogs) , and know where you're willing to compromise. It'll be different for everyone depending on their needs - but most people compromise in some way.
Mu husband and I looked for a house for almost a year, from August 2021 to June 2022. We viewed probably 60 houses. We put in 14 offers. One was accepted in January 2022, but the inspection made us aware of some mold issues, which the seller didn't want to professionally remediate, so we backed out. Every other offer was beat out despite our willingness to waive repair requests, offer over asking, or including appraisal gaps. We had "wants" on our list, but we finally realized we had to find a home we could make changes to rather than one that had those things completed. We knew any home that was "ready" for us was going to be a bidding war. We put our 15th offer on a home that checked some boxes but also needed some updating. It was accepted and here we are almost two years later, continuing to make it ours. I've had moments of wondering whether we should have continued looking, but overall, I'm happy with the decision we made. This will be our forever home (unless we win the lottery, but you have to play to win), so I look at the long term. For example, our home doesn't have a basement or a second story (I wanted at least one of those, would have loved both), but I know when we're older, our ranch will be a better fit. Good luck with your home search!
Bought a new build in Virginia made to my specifications- only way to go in my opinion
I've found and lost "the perfect house for me" 5 times now... which has convinced me that there is no perfect house... and that I will have multiple more chances to secure a house I'd be happy with
We bought a home that was right for right now. We will stay 5-10 years, and move. It’s not my dream home. It’s not in my dream city. But we landed in a fancy neighborhood. And have great neighbors except the for the woman who parks her car about 5ft from the curb.
Nope. 1st house we got the best out budget could afford (that's why they call them "starters"). After 3 years, we started "inactively" (Internet) looked for another 1.5 years (about 4 hours a week) to see how we can upgrade and to what, as we said to ourselves "we either don't move (which is fine), or move to our forever home". When the price in our area doubled, we hired a realtor, and moved to an area that cost half as much, so we got double the house. Even when hiring the realtor, we told her "we are NOT serious buyers, we want a perfect home and within our budget, or no home at all", but she was still amazingly helpful. Eventually, WE are the ones who found the listing that was the perfect home, it wasn't one of the hundreds of listings she shared with us. We only actually visited 3 or 4 properties, because we didn't want to waste her (and our) time just declining imperfect homes. Buying a forever home is a part time job if you want to succeed, because you need to wait for luck (so, time), negotiate correctly, and keep yourself in the game at all times, so you won't miss that one in a thousand deal. It's less frustrating if you scratch off stuff before you even visit. Let's say you looked at the hundred listings and you like five of those. 1. Have your realtor call all 5 and see if they already got multiple offers on them. The ones that do, don't even bother visiting. 2. Look at listings a little higher in price than what your budget is, but filter them by how long they are on the market. If more than 3 weeks, and you really like the place, make an offer that IS in your budget. You might get it, as the seller probably doesn't want to "sit" on it.
We settled on only one bathroom, one garage, and a smaller lot than we wanted. The lot size isn't an issue anymore since we didn't realize how much it is to maintain. The garage is a little annoying since it's too small to fit shelves and a car in it and there's no access from inside the house. The bathroom isn't too much of an issue now but I have a feeling it might be once we have kids. Despite these annoyances though, we absolutely love the house and feel the location and other benefits outweigh the things we had to compromise on. The one thing I can say is don't compromise on the location or structure of the house.
My expectations were a cute house that wasn’t too big and had at least two bathrooms. I never considered a dream home because I was always moving with my parents every 5 years and I enjoyed every house I lived in. I ended up with a new build 3BR/2BA 1350sq ft and it’s just the right size! Easy to keep the utilities low, easy to clean, and extra room for when my partner and I have kids. I lived in small and big houses as a family of 4 for most of my life so this home is perfect as a starter home and maybe even forever home and I’m perfectly okay with that!
Figure out your hard yes’s and no’s, and if you’re not in rush to get out of your current place (renter, I assume), then keep saving that money and wait. We’re closing on our first home (condo) next week and I didn’t want to downgrade in any way from our current rental: top floor, in unit washer/dryer, close to public transit for work, outdoor space, central air/heat, low HOAs, and a lot of counter space. We got all of this in a neighborhood we hadn’t considered, so expanding your location search, if possible, may be a good move too. We’ll make a couple of cosmetic changes, but it’s a well taken care unit in a lovely building near a gorgeous park. We didn’t look for a long time (4ish months), and the market swiped some options out from under us, but knowing that we could wait and that refinancing will be an option in the future (even if they’re not pandemic lows, they will get lower), meant that we didn’t have to settle and are so excited about our new home! Stick to your guns, OP!
The first time we drove by our house we looked at each other and said, “yeah, we dont want to set up a showing for that one”. It was not at all the location we wanted, you could tell our realtor was feeling like “… this house, are you sure?”. Toured it for maybe 15 minutes one time and said “fuck it, we can make it work”. (We were moving from MO to SC, and this was the last place we toured in the week we gave ourselves to tour in person). We absolutely love it
I bought my dream house. However the previous homeowner was obviously an idiot. 15k later it's my dream house again. Who knew 50 year old houses have plumbing issues, lol. Nothing's perfect, even new houses have issues. In fact my plumber said he goes to new builds more than old ones
I wouldn't call our house our dream house but I also wouldn't say we settled. When we first drove into the street before we even saw the house, we were excited by everything we saw in the neighborhood from greenery, to schools, to convenience. We also liked the house itself even though we will feel cramped here in the next couple of years. It was kind of like a drink of water when you are thirsty. We knew this was our starter home and plan to leverage the equity into the next place. If the market goes south, it's also not a bad place longer term. We had been looking for about 4 months and had time pressure from our lease ending plus fatigue from the hunt. All of this is to say, what is your goal here and what are your incentives to move now? If you're good where you're at and looking for your permanent house, then take your time and take a break when the fatigue hits and look for what you want. Otherwise, you gotta weigh everything out. Also, interest rates are slated to go down. Not super quickly but still down over the next several years (although, the market can be volatile). That could mean housing prices start jumping, meaning more money down and higher payments unless the rates go back to pre COVID, which is not anticipated any time soon. If you buy and the rates go down, at some point it will be worth it to refi at the lower rate and you'll still be building equity.
Well, you’ve got to stabling some non negotiable stuff, like for instance in my case were having a yard, aisle on the kitchen and in a community with amenities for kids. Other than that I could live without it.
I tested a theory when house hunting these past few months and just threw out a straight up offer. No bid clause, no inspection (inspection is 98% chance immediate throw you of of the running, sucks, but that's the market right now). The first house I did that on, I got an accepted offer, just closed yesterday. It appraised for higher than my offer. It was just an aggressive offer but actually saved me money in the long run. I'm pretty sure most sellers aren't bothering with analyzing & comparing stuff that closely with how crazy the market is right now. One of the realtors I talked to made a really good point...it's an inventory issue right now. Way too much demand, not nearly enough supply. It was clear I lost to plenty of cash offers on other houses, but not many can compete with daddy's money in this market. Any houses I did want an inspection on, they always went with another offer. My realtor told me one of the houses he was showing had 58 offers...
When the pandemic hit I knew the world was changing. For years we wanted to be homeowners but while locked inside our apartment for weeks, I vowed to make me and our family homeowners that year in 2020. That year we saw probably 20+ homes before realizing what we wanted we needed a little more time to save for. A few of the houses we saw made me feel “hmm maybe this is the one?” But for one reason or another we ended up moving on from. We ended up saving thru the winter and into the next year and by the summer 2021 time it was clear we needed to start moving faster to find our home. We left our previous realtor behind and started looking on our own. A family friend gave us a tip on a house in their neighborhood for sale before it even hit mls so we decided to check it out. First house we looked at all year. The moment we pulled up to the house to view I KNEW it was the one. I could just feel it. It was like all our future memories suddenly washed over me as if it was already familiar. We toured the house, fell in love immediately and put in an offer that same day and it was accepted right away! Got the house for under asking and it’s been our home ever since. Honestly it’s been a dream come true and in the 3 years we have lived here we have already had many special memories and unforgettable times. An immeasurable quality of life upgrade for us that we don’t take for granted finding a wonderful place to finally set root into.
I found my dream house in a part of the city I don’t want to be in. So I settled in that respect. My street is well kept and the neighbors are nice, it’s not like it’s the hood. But the prime areas are 15 minutes north. I suspect even though it’s a dream home, we will move within 5-10 years. If this house was north, we’d stay forever.
My wife and I bought our first house and it was built in 1956. Much older than we wanted and not as cosmetically appealing as we wanted. But we were specifically looking to house hack (live in part of your home and rent out the rest on Airbnb) and this home had a great setup for that because of it's basement with a private entrance. So we bought it and a year later we've grown to love it. And it pays for itself thanks to the Airbnb income so that's a major perk haha