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My parents are builders, so I got to help design my house basically from the location, floor plan, all the way to what kind of blinds and what color the paint was. Hard to go wrong with that.
I had the opposite feeling. I didn’t like the online photos and initially wrote it off. I only ended up viewing my house because I was looking at another house on the same street that was for sale, so it was convenient to just view both. To my surprise, I did actually like my house in person despite the unimpressive online photos.
Both of my home purchases had listings with barely any description and very lazy and unflattering low-res, weird angle pictures. The homes themselves were mostly clear of clutter, but beyond that little effort was made to present them for sale.
I think in both cases it resulted in getting a decent deal with no competing bids, just because we could see what the house could be, and we weren't put off by it needing some TLC.
We bought our current house in 2014. It was basically my dream house; literally the house to which I compared all others. I had seen it early on and fallen in complete love with it. However, it is in a neighborhood my husband would not even have considered at the time so I knew it was not going to happen. We worked out a system where I was picking the house out, my husband having chosen the last one, and my husband had up to 3 vetoes, or maybe 5. But I think 3. He vetoed one in a better neighborhood that I also really liked, though not as much as this one....none were as coveted as this one. We then tried to buy two other houses, and both purchases fell through. Then we had to rent a house because our house sold and closed too fast to close on a new one, and we decided to regroup and wait a while before we bought. Well, somehow our current house popped back on my radar a few days after we settled into our rental. The price had been slashed by $30,000, although I would have bought it at the original price had my husband been willing to consider the neighborhood.
Well, at this new price, I brought up to my husband that my dream home was available and at a much lower price. We made an appointment to see it. Unbeknownst to me, he had been spending his lunch hour for months and months driving through that neighborhood, trying to determine if he could live there and whether it was safe enough. We viewed the house and made an immediate offer. Then we delayed the closing as long as possible since we had a 12-month lease on the rental house and didn't want to also pay a mortgage. We moved in about 3 months later; the house was completely vacant when we saw it, so it was nice of the seller to allow such a long closing.
This April it will be five years in our home. I love it more now than I did the first time I saw the listing, much more. This is by far the greatest neighborhood I have ever lived in as an adult. I can walk through my neighborhood and I would bet I could say hi to 75 or 100 neighbors by name. That's saying something for this complete introvert. If I had an emergency and posted about it on one of our neighborhood facebook groups, I'd probably have 20 people here within a half-hour to offer help. The neighborhood is still a bit on the rough side sometimes, but my home has more than doubled in value in 5 years, and it's now one of the hottest neighborhoods in my city.
The house itself is old and full of quirks but the prior owner completely renovated it, so most if not all of the surfaces were either redone or replaced. As empty nesters, it's realistically a bit more room than we need but the location within the neighborhood, smack dab in the middle of a historic district and on a double lot, not to mention that fact that it was my dream house from the moment I saw it, makes it a place I can't imagine wanting to leave. There are things we would (and likely will) change about it, but I am still totally in love with my home. It's so comfortable here, and my neighborhood is full of some of the most gorgeous, 120+ year old homes. I feel fortunate to be able to live here and to have found this place.
Corner lot, ultra desirable West Knoxville location, 19 ft ceiling great room, jacuzzi tub.
A woodburner fireplace was an absolute must have but I had to compromise. There's a lovely (and functional--it heats) gas log insert but I'd trade it in a second.
We absolutely stole it, too. Cut to two years later a few one story ranchers (bottom line, not even in same league as my house) down the street sold for 40k more than we paid.
I honestly never want to move, I love my house that much, except eventually we will because what good is all that equity if you don't use it.
Corner lot, ultra desirable West Knoxville location, 19 ft ceiling great room, jacuzzi tub.
A woodburner fireplace was an absolute must have but I had to compromise. There's a lovely (and functional--it heats) gas log insert but I'd trade it in a second.
We absolutely stole it, too. Cut to two years later a few one story ranchers (bottom line, not even in same league as my house) down the street sold for 40k more than we paid.
I honestly never want to move, I love my house that much, except eventually we will because what good is all that equity if you don't use it.
Sometimes just knowing you're in a good position is all it takes to be satisfied. You don't need to cash out.
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