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2br/office or 3br
At least 2 bath
Very large garage or separate shop
Fenced (or fence-able) yard
Within a defined area of town
Not on a main street
there were other wishes (one level, minimal/no carpet, lots of light, high ceilings), those were just our musts. So of course the first three houses the realtor showed us didn't even have a garage, much less a shop.....
We were willing to do remodeling, but the house had to be priced for it - a lot of the houses we looked at that badly needed renovation were nearly full-price. And I am not talking about things like a completely serviceable working kitchen, just with old appliances/floors/cabinets/counters, most of them were major structural or physical repairs, not updates.
The house we bought was:
in our preferred area, an older part of town with a lot of big trees
on a quiet street
small front and rear yard, rear fenced (although it needed seriously landscaping help)
small garage on alley with roughly a 2 car garage-sized attached shop
4 br, 2 1/2 bath (one br is our office, 1 br is a music room)
It needs/needed some updating and some general repairs
two level, which was not on my secondary wish list
standard 8' ceilings, which also was not on my secondary wish list
lots of light, changing view with the seasons
views of the mountains
the one at the top of my list was that the home had to have washer and dryer hookup. I was not going to buy a home and have to go to the laundromat or spend money to make a new water connection and 220 connection for the dryer. I didn't mind if the washer and dryer were in a shed or garage just as long as they were there.
Also it had to have parking, but most homes in south Florida have driveways since there is almost no street parking anywhere.
So a couple hundred thousand dollars on a house and your deal breaker were a W/D hookup? About $250 in materials worst case between pipe and joints as well as the electrical wiring and receptacle and some labor to get it in. I'm sorry but that's like the people that look at houses and complain about room color or the carpet, CHANGE IT! It's a house, not an apartment.
I went shopping for neighborhood, school dist, and overall house condition and value. I would never rule out a house based on something minor that could be added or changed for peanuts. I repainted my entire house inside and out, removed trees, widened the driveway and much more. You buy a house to make it yours.
To the folks that say location .. And all the rest can be fixed. Are you a Rockefeller?
No. And for the record, my house has one bathroom.
But I can add a bathroom. What I CAN'T do is get a house in THIS neighborhood with 2 bathrooms for less than 300k (and this is Texas so our incomes are commiserate with the housing prices, so that is actually quite a bit of house).
I turned down 4 houses that had 2+ bathrooms to choose this house. Because of the location. No one else wanted this house (hence the lower price) because it only had 1 bathroom (and a few, ok several old home issues). It's just me and my husband and the occasional (close friend or family) guest. We deal. It's fine. And once I quit hemorrhaging $$$ we will add a bathroom.
And yes this is a touchy subject because my father WILL NOT LET IT GO. He lives in a 4 bedroom 4 1/2 bathroom house. And it's just him and my step-mother. I tell him he must have bowel issues.
To the folks that say location .. And all the rest can be fixed. Are you a Rockefeller? If you are dumping more into then you'll get back.. Then it's not a wise idea.
I wrote location and good deal. No, we are not Rockefellers lol, but if the numbers are right we go for it. Location was always most important. For most people. Someone wrote already, house -you can fix, location - you can't.
I wish I had a tile floor thru my whole house. Most of it is carpet, which is bad when you have dogs.
The house we bought had carpet throughout, which we replaced with hardwood. We also have 2 kids and an 85 pound dog. The floors have held up great. If we had to rip out tile to put in the wood, it would have cost A LOT more money, taken a lot more time, and make a huge mess.
I like tile in kitchens, baths, and laundry rooms, but not living areas. They feel cold to me (literally and figuratively). They will also be dated eventually, no matter how neutral they seem now - remember all that neutral white tile in the 80's? Wood never goes out of style and can be refinished. I'm not a big fan of carpet either, but at least it's easy to replace.
Yup! I live in CO where the winter sun is very bright and helps to keep the driveway and sidewalks clear of ice and snow if you have the right orientation. It makes a huge difference.
Thank you for clarifying your preference not to have a north-facing driveway (in a snowy climate). I have never had to think about it, except that here in my very mild climate, the preference most would have is a sunny backyard, which I have.
Bad location, either in the wrong town, or area, such as backing to high tension power lines, busy roads, etc. Just about anything else can be solved if the price is right for the hassle, though foundation issues and damage from insects (termites, ants, etc.) would make me think twice. Outdated decor, need to replace fixtures or appliances, etc. are easy fixes.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
I needed a decent fence/yard, at least a second bedroom, location within walking distance of a grocery store and other shops, and quiet so that I could work from home. Everything else was just wish list stuff. I wasn't gonna pay to add a fence after shelling out to buy a house.
What should have been a deal-breaker for us, was two dozen 80-gallon wood barrels of crankcase oil, in a storage shed. We were in such a rush to close a deal on the acreage there, at a very low price, that we missed finding it. But no matter, because at that time, the county sprayed it on rural dirt roads and was glad to take it away as a donation.
Only 1 bathroom
No backyard privacy
Street with yellow line divider (i.e. busy street)
Pickup trucks in most of the neighbors driveways
Less than stellar school district
Yes, I have a pickup. No, I won't help you move. But really, I have.
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