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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
homeowners
what were the top 10 most important things to you when you decided on your house?
if you could change anything about your house now what would it be?
do you regret anything?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: homeowners
a) 1) location
2) # of bedrooms
3) price
4) surrounding homes
5) availablity of swimming pool / rec center
6) floor layout (attached garage, can see family room from kitchen)
7) when we could move-in
8) potential resale value
9) flat area in backyard for swingset
10) storage space
(I don't know that these are really the top 10, but this is what came to mind)
b) I would have another bedroom. My friend is thinking of moving out of her house, and I would love love to have them live with us, but we don't have enough space for two families.
c) not as of yet.
We wanted an open floor plan, a seperate master bath, a nice yard.
If I could change anything, I would make the attic space usable.
I regret our Realtors - they were very unhelpful and I don't think they had our best interest in mind at all
We also would have gotten a second inspection
I guess the 10 most important things to us were price, location in the city, the environment of the neighborhood, resale value in the neighborhood, a basement that was or could be finished, at least 3 bedrooms, plenty of closets or storage space. That's all I can think of. We were excited first time buyers that scooped up the least expensive house in a great neighborhood.
It's our first house, and we'll move on in a few years. So, the only thing I would really change would be the backyard. We're on a corner lot with a large yard in the front and side. Our backyard is tiny, and I wish we had more space between the back of our house and our neighbor's house.
I don't regret anything. I think we got a great deal in a great area.
we are building a house right now, so it's a bit different, but before we decided to do that, we were looking and the biggest thing for me was:
location
open floor plan
BIG kitchen
# of BD and BR (we prefer to have a guest suite in addition to master bed/bath)
fenced in yard for the babe and pup
1.)price
2.)inspection
3.)bedrooms/bathrooms
4.)basement/storage
5.)garage space
6.)acreage
7.)kitchen
8.)growing room
9.)it was important to look into the age of all the appliances, windows, carpet, etc... we didnt want to buy a house that needed everything replaced within a couple of years.
10.)location
We plan on adding a new living room eventually and making the kitchen bigger.
I regret not being harsher on the price/value.
1) location away from the city but proximity to necessary stores/facilities
2) rating of schools that DS will attend
3) diversity of the neighborhood (in age and race)
4) large size of the rooms
5) attached garage
6) multi-level layout
7) newly built
8) end unit on a cul-de-sac (we're in a townhouse without a real yard)
9) safety of the neighborhood (I stalked the local police reports and the neighborhood at different hours of the day)
10) overall appeal of the neighborhood - quiet, well maintained
anything I would change - I would like a larger kitchen pantry, more hardwood less carpet, more storage
no regrets, just wish I could have bought it at the price that it would sell for now.
1.- price
2. location townwise
3. location ( side or main street)
4.- size ( sq footage)
5. how much work do we need to do on it
6. does our furniture fit in the rooms
7. will this house still fit our needs in 5 yrs or are we going to have to move again.
8. school systems
9. storage space
10. resale value
One thing I woudl chagne is that we are on a main street and I really did not want to be on one, however we couldn;t wait naylonger since I was already 26wks PG and by the time we closed I would be 30wks. We were living in my IL's basement at the time so we needed to move.
I don't really regret much because other then being on a main street and no central AC we got everythign else we wnated in our house and we didn't have to do any maintenance on it. Just moved right in.
The one thing that I do regret is not contacting a lawyer because the first few weeks after moving in, our basement flooded with the rain and it was not disclosed in the listing that the basement got water, which is illegal.
LOCATION (of course!): We wanted excellent public schools, close to the train station and shopping, quite street...
Good sized yard, enough room to run around and have a swing set, not on top of neighbors.
We didn't want to have to do too many renovations, so good condition was key. We ended up buying a brand new house, so that took care of that!
There are so many trade offs when buying a house - we want THIS house on THAT lot on THAT street... We decided that the house itself was the most important thing, followed closely by the lot, then the street. We liked this house the best, and it had not the best lot, but a decent one, and the street is great but we did like others better. Compromises.
DH built our house when he was 23. So when I met him he already had the house but for our next one (within the next 2 years) here is my critereia:
1. Location-schools, close to DH work commute, shopping areas, kids things, etc...
2. Sq footage-enough for us to grow into
3. Playroom
4. Larger kitchen
5. Family neighborhood
6. Cost effective/resale value
7. Community growth
8. Seperate mud room/or laundry room on 2nd floor
9. flooring-Carpet is just so dingy looking
10.Square footage square footage
1. Location - proximity to work,family, etc., good school district...
2. Price - we were approved for an insane amount of money, but knew we couldn't comfortably afford the mortgage payment for that figure, so we figured out ahead of time our price range and stuck to it closely.
3. External appearance/upkeep- we didn't want to put a lot of money into new siding or landscaping right off the bat.
4. Space/layout- needed at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and really desired to have a finished basement (got) and a garage (had to sacrifice). We also wanted an en suite master and separate his/hers closets and we managed to find that.
5. Size-I guess this goes with space/layout, but we didn't want a 3 bedroom house unless you could actually fit beds and dressers in each of the bedrooms.
6. Amount of work needed- we didn't want a mega fixer upper, only wanted to be able to put our little touches on it.
I think you can probably get 10 things out of my list of 6...maybe even more.
The biggest thing I'd change is I wish we could have seen our neighborhood in spring/summer. That sounds dumb, but we looked in the dead of winter and what we didn't see were the trashy/ignorant teenagers who hang out on the corner of our street and the main development road. They are out all summer long and are seriously obnoxious. I hate it.
The only other thing I sort of wish was different was that we could have found a single family home (we have a townhouse) with a little more personal/yard space. There was just no way, in our area, in our price range, we were going to find anything single family that wasn't a serious fixer upper.
School district, location, neighborhood type feel (not on a busy road), # of bedrooms and bathrooms, having my own driveway, taxes, being able to sell it quickly (which I think we should, there was a bidding war on this house), having a decent sized yard, that it had central air and a basement and lots of storage.
If I could change anything it would be that I would have a bigger kitchen with more counter space and storage.
No, I don't regret anything.
All of these answers seem reasonable to me
I just went to lunch with coworker and we got into this topic and some of her top were in another order of course
1. color of rooms (um that's why they invented paint)
2. Front door has to be wood (hello home depot)
3. Must have wood floors (carpets can be taken off)
4. Clean lawn (mowers?)
5. pretty color house (again paint was invented)
We had a good experience. Our realtor was a decent, honest guy who was VERY patient with me while I was pregnant and completely picky.
We needed: good proximity to DH's job, a newer home (less than 20 years old), a house we didn't have to work on (we don't have time with our jobs and DS), a good price, a remodeled kitchen, a finished basement, and randomly I also wanted an office on the main floor.
We also considered the size of the yard and the neighborhood feel, but those were sort of secondary.
We got everything we wanted and we love our house. We looked at 40 houses and this is by far the nicest that we saw.
what were the top 10 most important things to you when you decided on your house?
1. Location. With our first house, we wanted convenience to work. With our current house, we were more focused on getting into a top school district.
2. Neighborhood. It was really important to me that our houses were in neighborhoods and away from busy streets. This one has two parks and a running trail in walking distance, which were definitely bonuses.
3. Large yard. We really wanted room for a swingset and a large vegetable garden, plus plenty of room to play.
4. Big basement. We have a home gym and needed room for it, and we ruled out a lot of houses because of it.
5. Number of bedrooms. Our first house had three; this one has four. Five would have been ideal for us.
6. Number of bathrooms. I wouldn't want less than three, including a separate master bath.
7. Large updated kitchen.
8. Open floor plan.
9. Plenty of storage. Those bins of outgrown baby clothes have really piled up!
10. Value. Both in terms of value for the area and potential resale value.
if you could change anything about your house now what would it be? The master bathroom is too small. Also, the kitchen sink has two sides, one large and one small, and the previous owners put the garbage disposal on the smaller side which is so awkward to us.
do you regret anything? No, not with either house.
1. Location - close to my husband's job and in a well maintained, family neighborhood
2. Price - something that would be well within our means
3. Size - we wanted at least 3 bedrooms (though we would have preferred 4. We had to sacrifice the extra bedroom to get into the neighborhood we wanted, at a price we were happy with)
4. Inspection - we were not looking for a fixer upper. It basically had to be move in ready
5. Large living room area - we wanted a big family room where we could keep all of DS's toys, so he'd have a lot of space to play in. We rejected a few houses because they had two, smaller living room areas
6. Kitchen - decently sized kitchen that was open to the living room area
7. No jack and jill bath - I hate them
8. Walk in closet in the master bedroom
9. Garden tub in the master bathroom - I love baths
10. All bedrooms on the same floor - wanted to be close to the kids
If I could change anything, I would add a fourth bedroom. Also I would have a bigger pantry. No regrets though, I love this house!
We've only been in the home a little over a year, but I absolutely wouldn't change anything. I love love love our home
The Mouse ~ 06.12.08 | The Froggy ~ 02.23.11
This is actually us completely. We have the same exact thing and experience minus the pantry I have a huge pantry.
More space, at least 3 bedrooms, larger kitchen and living space.
I wish we had a larger utility room, more closet space.
I regret not getting a home inspection.
We loved it. Emotionally attached.
That's it. And if I had to do again, I wouldn't have bought it. But hindsight is 20/20.