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Several other folks hit the nail on the head - it doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to have the ability to be made perfect (or as close as possible)! I first saw the house I ended up buying going through MLS ads on the internet... took a brief look, pooh-pooh the house as not to my taste at all, and kept looking. (several months of on-line voyeurism to prep for actual buying trips). When I was ready to actually start looking in earnest, nothing the agent found was even remotely acceptable. Just by chance we were in the area of the "internet reject", and I decided to check it out. Just going down the private tree-shaded drive told me that even if there was a hovel at the end of the path, I'd be putting in an offer. The house was much better than that, but not a style I ever would have envisioned myself buying (a gambrel), but the views out the back and the privacy of the lot clinched the deal. Everything else could be worked out to make it my "dream house".
I bought less than I was approved for, hired an architect to help me come up with a final plan which could be broken down into five manageable, affordable stages (garage, breezeway, mudroom, decking replaced, entryway adjustments) - and eight years later I have four of the five stages complete (with no extra debt besides the original mortgage) - with landscaping being done after the last stage. When I walk in the door, I can feel my blood pressure drop 20 points, and it is truly my refuge from the world.
Prioritize your "needs", but realize that location/neighborhood atmospherics is the one thing you cannot change - if the bones are there, you can make it custom over time... and have a lot of fun learning and doing along the way. Best of luck in your search!
The size, price, neighborhood, condition and "feel" (hard to quantify "feel") was just right. We took a tour of it with our agent and immediately knew. Took us about 6 weeks and we visited about 25 properties before we found the house we liked. There were 2nd and 3rd choice properties also.
When, after the RE agent fumbled at the lock at the first showing and let me have a go and the lock clicked perfectly and the arched mahogany door swung open to reveal a barrel arched foyer with opposing arches into the living room and dining room with stunning mahogany woodwork, 8' tall triple arched windows, Batchelder tile fireplace and architectural plaster ceilings and I exclaimed, "Now this is a Living Room!"
For others it is understandably the location, right number of bedrooms and bathrooms, size of garage, reputation of school district and maybe a few niceties thrown in like granite countertops and SS appliances, but for me, once the location and lot were deemed sufficient I needed to be moved by the design, detailing and quality of construction of a house and couldn't care less about the garage or what the countertops are made of and with no kids, schools were unimportant as well. We had looked at dozens of houses, and while this was our first home we had a very specific list that wasn't easy to fill. We wanted a historic house in a good neighborhood with distinct architecture, great bones and a sweet (or potentially so) garden. Because I am an architectural designer it didn't necessarily have to have the perfect kitchen, the number of bedrooms or bathrooms but it needed the potential to create within those attributes that we eventually needed.
After we put in the offer and entered into escrow I promptly did what every RE agent sternly admonishes you to never do, fall in love with that house (I'm signing my life away for 30 years and you don't want me to get emotionally attached?!!). I was a food server at the time and several times a week after work I would go over to the house (it was vacant) and sit in the back garden willing the escrow to go through smoothly, that we deserved this beautiful little house. For the first few months afterwards we would both walk through the house with our crappy hand-me-down furniture set on the gleaming refinished narrow strip hardwood floors or sit on the Juliet Balcony enjoying the verdant canyon views and get teary eyed thinking that this was our house.
Now, 17 years later, the neighborhood coming up far beyond our wildest expectations with neighbors that have become like family and the house sensitively remodeled to accommodate the needed upgrades in bathrooms, kitchen, garden and overall space, it effectively has become our forever house. Although it was exactly the average price paid for a home in our city the year we bought, there is absolutely nothing average about it, and that makes it The House for us.
We decided we wouldn't settle on anything but our desired location and number of bedrooms. Everything else was on the table. After we realized that there is no perfect house and every house has flaws and looking at about 20-25 houses, we found the one we love. And we don't even think about the flaws anymore we love it so much. We've talked about fixing some things but nothing HAD to be fixed when we moved in, so it's all stuff that can be done later.
I think its a case of when you see it you'll know.
We looked at quite a few houses before finding our current home and when we did we made an offer within the hour (of course the 1100 sq ft garage with oil change pit might have had quite a bit to do with that, hubby was smitten the moment he saw his new workshop)
First - as others have said - there is no perfect house.
When we found this house (before I was a residential real estate agent), we both walked in the front door of this house and we both said - this is it. We had not even ventured upstairs to see the bedrooms or the third floor of the house. I was a consultant to a commercial real estate firm and I had printed the listing to the house that we are in now. I forgot about the listing since it just sat in the tray of the printer. When I finally "discovered it", we both looked at one another not knowing where the street was despite living in the same neighborhood for 4 years. The house was scheduled to have an open house the same day we got the house under contract. As perspective home buyers came up to the house after we had it under contract, I answered the door and informed them that the house was under contract. As one couple asked how much it went under contract for, I just closed the door
Most of my clients "know" within the first couple of minutes that it is their new house. I am a firm believer that if it is the "right house" that it will be yours. In other words, if you don't get a house/property under contract or if it falls through - then it was not meant to be yours.
It was all about resale for us, so it came down to:
1. location: top rated school district in a highly desirable neighborhood (despite not having children when we purchased the home.) 2. property: an acre on Long Island, which is hard to come by
3. house that could be worked with: ranch with good "bones."
4. near train station/commutable to NYC & airports
5. just outside a vibrant, popular village
1-when the thought of someone else making an offer on the house and getting it accepted would really, REALLY bother you.
2-when you already envision the colors of the walls, where the furniture would be going and where family and other guest will be staying during the holidays.
3-when you get that warm and fuzzy feeling upon entering it
OR
4-when you get that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that you can make it the perfect home.
5-when the home has almost all your wants and necessities.
6-the cost is well within your means.
and of course
7- you know its your house when everything is falling into place exactly how u wanted it to. everything works itself out and there may be some bumps and waves in the water but the path from then on out is smooth sailing.
I've enjoyed reading everyone's stories and advice! I hope this doesn't take as long for me as it did for some of you(if that made any sense?). I have very little patience when it comes to this kind of stuff. Ha we are going to look at a home this week, but it's a friends house so I'm a little reserved. I remember one person(sorry I can't remember the username) became friends with the home owners after the sale but has anyone bought from friends? I value out relationship and would hate for anything to come between it, ya know?
Funny thing, I have bought 4 houses in 17 years. Never used a realtor, all the properties "fell" into my lap and we had contracts written the next day. First 3 buys I didn't even look at anything else, last one I looked at 3 prior houses in the previous hour and bought the 4th one I saw. Realtor was having an open house, she told me the buyer was coming but I could look at it anyway. I walked through it (she sat in her car outside) and when I came out I asked if she had a contract on it.........answer: NO. I then said lets write up an offer, she then went into super sales mode (too late, already committed to buying it) and I laughed at all the attention "the buyer (me)" was getting!
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we are going to look at a home this week, but it's a friends house so I'm a little reserved. I remember one person(sorry I can't remember the username) became friends with the home owners after the sale but has anyone bought from friends? I value out relationship and would hate for anything to come between it, ya know?
