How did you know when your house was 'The One'

cjb88 Posted: Mar 20, 2005 10:15 AM

How did you know when your house was 'The One'

We started looking at houses yesterday, and saw 2 that we really liked... affordable, in a great area, and both houses have a lot of potential... FI loves one of them a lot, and so does FMIL... but there is one small thing about the house that is bothering me... the kitchen is a bit segregated from the rest of the house... it is right when you first walk in, but i am used to having a kitchen open to another room, so someone can be cooking and someone else be in the den hanging out, and you can still have converstation... i dont know, maybe im wierd...should i settle??? should we wait to see if more properties come on the market??? the property is great, and we can always build on and change things a few years from now when we save money... did you guys just get a feeling when the house was 'the one'???

skew Posted: Mar 20, 2005 10:48 AM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

IMO, no house is 100% perfect. As long as it meets MOST of your criteria must-haves, I would definitely consider it. Spring is fast approaching and due to the increased number of buyers, prices will inevitably increase.

i was told to expect a 50k + markup in the spring and summer months.

D&C Posted: Mar 20, 2005 11:17 AM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

I agree that no house will be the 'one'. At least for us, that would take a million dollar home that we cannot afford LOL

Ours met all our criteria plus it has so much potential, to move rooms around, knock down some walls, put an extension on one day, etc. The possibilities were great.

Also, it is a quiet street and great schools district, so we know we would never be 'forced' into moving one day.

It was also not too far from both of our parents homes.

good luck!

Jenny5150 Posted: Mar 20, 2005 11:26 AM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

We were sold as we drove down the tree-lined street to the house. The neighborhood was exactly what we were looking for. The house was in an excellent school district and the home was on a flat useable acre.

The 'house' itself was almost irrelevant. (We were never going to find what we wanted in a house...not in our price range, nor with the way the market was. Homes would sell in a day, especially in our price range.) As long as the house was liveable, we figured we'd make it work.

In the beginning, I'll admit, I was focused on the actual house. I wanted a newer colonial. Looking back, I'm glad we lost all those bids because now I know it's about location & property and what we have now blows them all away.

cjb88 Posted: Mar 20, 2005 11:40 AM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

thanks guys... that advice is great!! you all have made me feel much better... im going back to take a second look at the house today....

Kathy116 Posted: Mar 20, 2005 04:45 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

I knew from the moment we entered the very long tree lined driveway, and seeing the LI Sound...I was sold! Didn't even need to see the inside of the house!

nov2004bride Posted: Mar 20, 2005 04:47 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

We both walked in the door and said 'WOW'. It is not my 'dream' house but is our stepping stone. The one thing I am not happy about is not having a finished basement but we are going to fix that and I am upset that there is no fireplace. But then there is soo much that I love.

You will never be 100% satisfied but over time you can make it the way you want.

SandraLynn Posted: Mar 21, 2005 01:22 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

What I wanted, what we can afford and what we got --well,

we got Location, and a nice small home. We are 1 block from the great south bay, the house was all renovated inside, hardwood floors, new kitchen applicances and cabinets, 3 bathrooms, sunroom and a fireplace and a decent size yard. When we walked in I wanted this house and my DH loved it too. We have one bedroom, there were 2 small bedrooms we made into one bedroom, but it is still too small for me. The house is adorable, I have it done in a more 'Zen' like flare than traditional, but once the nice weather comes, we can walk to bay, have great dinner parties on the patio, it is a great home, and it was my MoH's aunt house, so...that helped! It felt like 'us'.

septbride Posted: Mar 21, 2005 03:20 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

I loved the block, a quiet , treelined cul-de-sac with eight houses. A lot more land than we were seeing, over a 1/2 acre with a stream.

The house was not exactly what we were looking for but it has the high celings ( my husband is over 6 feet tall so he like high ceilings), 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, living room, dining room and family we were looking for. Also the house had a lot of potential just some cosmetic stuff that needed to be done. Also the house was somewhat underpriced by $50,000 ( so there was built in equity) b/c the previous owners didn't take the time to do some little things you should do before you try to sell your house. Also great town with a great school district

It was basically the best house we saw in iur price range in the town we wanted to live in.

ETA: This market is crazy, so just put together a must have list and a nice to have list and go from there (meaning it greatif it's there but not a deal breaker). We saw the house we bought as a great house to start, next hopefully will be our dream house.

swags1016 Posted: Mar 21, 2005 03:43 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

For me as soon as I saw the house on line I knew it was the house for us. Is it 100% perfect, nope but darn close.

MrsERod Posted: Mar 21, 2005 03:50 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

Posted by swags1016

For me as soon as I saw the house on line I knew it was the house for us. Is it 100% perfect, nope but darn close.

DITTO! Once I saw a pic of it, I just knew!! Plus the fact that's its on 1/2 an acre helped too!!!!

MrsTC Posted: Mar 21, 2005 05:02 PM

Re: How did you know when your house was 'The One'

Well, we had been looking for over 2 months, every weekend....and we were getting to the point where were going to take a break from looking. Then our agent called us on a rainy Wednesday night and told us we had to come see it right now, it is perfect and exactly what we were looking for - and it was! I walked in and knew I would be living there. It was everything I was looking for - a colonial, with 4 bedrooms, a dining room, a living room, tv room, brand new kitchen, driveway, big back yard - and a 5 min walk to the train.