House hunting...

Glowconsin

Currently, DH and I living in a townhouse.  And I'm pretty sure that the association is gauging us, and everyday I get a little bit angrier.  I like my neighbors ok, and we do have a lovely field right in front of our house...but I am still thoroughly pissed off that they tore up my beautiful tulips the other day without previous warning.

At any rate, we saw a perfect house online and went and looked at it last night.  It was perfect!  4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, living room, dining room, nice kitchen, mudroom (yahoo!), large garage, lovely patio and deck (good for parties), awesome finished basement with like a bedroom suite, decent schools (not crazy about the HS, but let's be honest, I'm not even KU yet), great neighborhood with the forest preserve right across the road.  The ONLY problem with the house is that the backyard is kind of small and DH and I REALLY need/want a backyard for the dogs.  The price is right on this house.

Since the housing market is kinda crappy, we could always rent out our townhouse (or sell if we could).

What do you think?  Would you take the plunge?

bobbidall

If it were me, I'd get what I really wanted.  If you really want a backyard, wait for that.  This market isn't going to pick up any time soon, so there is no hurry!  GL!

katyanne

bobbidall:

If it were me, I'd get what I really wanted.  If you really want a backyard, wait for that.  This market isn't going to pick up any time soon, so there is no hurry!  GL!

Ditto this.

If you decide this IS what you want. You can also put in an offer with a contingency that you need to sell your place first.

ToshaGirl

Sounds very promising. I'd be strongly considering it.

MrsDT

It sounds great, but I'd probably wait for a house with a big back yard. Having a very active dog, I can't imagine not having a big yard for her to run around in. Also when I have kids I want them to have a big yard to play in, and we are thinking about putting in a pool one day. I guess it just depends how important the yard is to you; obviously it was very important for us!

JrzyMeeba1

I say make an offer that's reasonable for you guys.  If it meets every criteria you had except the yard is a bit small, it sounds like a winner.  If the offer is turned down.. no big deal, as you said there was no big rush anyway.

Glowconsin

MrsDT:

It sounds great, but I'd probably wait for a house with a big back yard. Having a very active dog, I can't imagine not having a big yard for her to run around in. Also when I have kids I want them to have a big yard to play in, and we are thinking about putting in a pool one day. I guess it just depends how important the yard is to you; obviously it was very important for us!

The thing is, why don't have a backyard now either.  So we walk the dogs every time.  The house had a decent sized front yard, and a large walking trail behind the house.

Estene

I think if it's everything you want in a home, strongly think about it!  Maybe you can get passed the yard. Even though your dogs need room! 

MrsDT

Glowconsin:

MrsDT:

It sounds great, but I'd probably wait for a house with a big back yard. Having a very active dog, I can't imagine not having a big yard for her to run around in. Also when I have kids I want them to have a big yard to play in, and we are thinking about putting in a pool one day. I guess it just depends how important the yard is to you; obviously it was very important for us!

The thing is, why don't have a backyard now either.  So we walk the dogs every time.  The house had a decent sized front yard, and a large walking trail behind the house.

In that case, it sounds like it might be a good house for you. When we had our old dog, we lived in a house without a backyard and it was fine. But, he was way less active than our current dog and we didn't have him as a puppy. I didn't mind walking him and there were parks all over the neighborhood where we could let him loose and he would NEVER try to run away. However, this would never work with our current dog (really puppy), I could never let her off the leash and even though I take her on at least one BIG walk a day, if we didn't have the yard I'd have to walk her like 20 times! 

Sorry that turned out to be so long- basically it sounds like you don't really need the yard and the house is a great deal so go for it!

bannedmonkey

I would definitely suggest going out and trying on a few more houses. If anything, it will just make you realize how perfect this house really is.

Just make sure to tell your realtor that you're "maybe"  interested and that if the sellers receive any other offers to definitely let you know.

My biggest buying tip: NEVER seem too eager.

Glowconsin

Yep, the Realtor is taking us to a few more houses soon.  I told her we really liked it but were hesistent due to the backyard and school districts.  We wanted to be as far south in the county to be closer to M.

bannedmonkey

Oh, and I'm sure you know this but your realtor is NOT your friend. Everything you tell her/him, she can tell the seller. They act like they have your best interest at heart, but most of the time, they want to do whatever it is to earn a pay check.

I could go on and on about this if you have questions on negotiating!