Your experience choosing houses?

[Guest]

We're still house shopping and not having much luck. It got me to thinking about how we chose our other houses, and I wonder if our experience has been similar to others'.

For instance, yesterday I saw a house online that looked and sounded absolutely perfect, except it's several miles away and we're hoping to stay close to where we are. When we drove by it I was disappointed that the pictures looked nicer than the house, but even more than that I've had a sinking feeling in my stomach that it's just not right. I've had that experience about another neighborhood, except stronger- as if the Spirit was yelling in my ear that that was not where we should be.

But with the two houses we've bought, I always felt very good about them and the process of acquiring them was pretty smooth. We've had no doubt that they were right for us at the time.

[Drpepper]

Generally if I drive by a house and there a burnt out car ablaze in front of it. I tend to think that this is probably not the neighbourhood I want my kids growing up in. :)

[mnn727]

We looked at over 100 houses before buying this one, drove our realtor nuts, she retired shortly afterwards.

[Irishcolleen]

When we walked into our house when we were house shopping we knew it was our house. We didn't get that feeling with any of the others we looked at.

[Leah]

When we walked into our house when we were house shopping we knew it was our house. We didn't get that feeling with any of the others we looked at.

I tend to agree with this experience.

Before you look, you've obviously vetted your choices for cost, location, etc. After that - at least for me - it had a lot to do with a gut feeling.

[pam]

I knew the house I'm currently living in was the one for me because it was given to me as a gift. :)

[Guest]

We're not sentimental about our houses. We have a set of criteria that has to be met and that criteria gets tighter and tighter to eliminate houses from the list of possibilities until we find the one house left standing on the list.

It's something I learned after getting burnt on the first house I bought. A house is one, if not the, biggest investment in life. Being sentimental about it is the fastest track to getting one's self in a bad negotiation position.

So, I learned that the house is just a house that suits one's purposes. It's after I move in that the house becomes the home and it holds that special place in our hearts. If something ever happens and we have to give up this house, then it's fine - we know the house is just a house and the home will always stay with us wherever we go.

Edited April 29, 2013 by anatess

[EarlJibbs]

After reading the posts and thinking about our home. I distinclty remember feeling very good when we first walked into it. Funny thing is, it was similar to other homes we had looked at but this one had that feeling. I have not regretted a minute. The neighborhood is great, the ward is great (also the craziest :) )

[Wordnerd]

When we last moved we chose the neighbourhood first, and then only looked at houses in our price range that had our requirements. We made a list of "must haves" and "nice to haves" and we made sure that we were primarily choosing based on the "must haves". That said, when we walked in our current home we knew it was the one, it had all the must haves, most of the nice to haves, and was at the bottom end of our price range. It had been intentionally under priced in a hot market to generate a bidding war. We saw it the first day it listed, put in an offer within the hour, and only left it open for consideration till 9am the next morning (1 hour before they had an open house scheduled). They accepted, so no bidding war and we didn't even offer over the list price.

This was all before we joined the church we had a very different experience this year. My husband has been wanting to own a farm all his life, but has been waiting till we can afford the land. Last month we found the perfect property, a quarter section with hay and pasture, two quansets, two houses, all the corrals and outbuildings needed for a small beef operation, even an artesian well (water is a real issue around here). Simply by renting out the second house, and there are already tenants in who want to stay, and leasing out the pasture, if we decide not to start raising cattle just yet, it would generate enough revenue to pay the mortgage. My husband still intends to run his construction business so this is the perfect "starter" farm that is close enough to the city and still affordable. On praying about it, we were distinctly told to stay put. We don't know if this is just for now, or whether his farm is never in the cards but before we joined church we would have been aggressively pursuing this opportunity, as is we are trying to accept :) and hoping that its just a "not now".

[Vort]

Sixteen or seventeen years ago, we were looking for a house in this area. Prices, though low by today's standards, were simply out of our reach, so we thought to maybe buy some property for $70,000 or so and put a cheap-o house on it. We found a couple of sites in the area that looked like they would do nicely.

We still needed a house, and certainly didn't have the money to build one. We considered a manufactured house, but decided to look into finding a house someone wanted off their property and transporting it to the site. Lo and behold, we found a house on the site of a new condo being built that seemed perfect for us and our two small children. We actually went and walked through it at the invitation of Jim, the project manager who wanted the house gone (but didn't want to pay to demolish it). Brick exterior, inviting, cozy but not really small. Great size for a family of four. It was perfect! And I got the distinct impression (rare for me) that this was a house that would be a happy, safe home for us.

We worked on firming up one of the sites for purchase and engaged a contractor to take care of moving the house. Total cost of the house move: less than $30,000. Add it another, say, $20,000 to prep the land and pour a foundation, and we have a house for under $50k! Even with the price of the lot, that was well under what we could have hoped to pay for a house in the area.

With two days to go and everything coming together, I went to Jim to tell him all systems were go and the house would be off his land by the weekend. Only one problem:

The house was gone.

Jim had gotten impatient waiting for us, so had had the house demolished. All our plans and dreams fell through. I was deeply disappointed, moreso because I had distinctly felt that the house was to be our home.

What went wrong? Did my feelings lie to me? Did my wife and I do something to void the promise we felt lay in the house? What was up?

Shortly after that event, I went back to school, moving my family to Ogden, Utah for a few months, to get a second bachelor's degree. We moved back into the same area and immediately (and somewhat miraculously -- maybe I'll tell that story some time) found a house within a few blocks of the apartment we had lived in, in the same ward we had been in. We have now lived in that house for fifteen years. Our children have been born and grown up living there. The ward has very much been an extension of a caring family for us. Had we gotten our "dream house", we would have been in a different stake altogether, and I cannot see how I could possibly have gotten my CS degree.

So things worked out, in spite of (or maybe because of) everything. God has taken tender care of us. But I admit that, all these years later, sometimes I still wonder about that beautiful house and what might have been.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Vort

[Guest]

Someone in our ward posted on her Facebook wall - how many houses/apartments/condos/etc. have you lived in? Only count those where you changed where your mail goes.

Most people that responded lived in 10+ places in their lifetime!

I was surprised to count 14 for me. And this is with a very stable household growing up and a stable household I'm building now.

[Iggy]

I *shopped* online for 5 years before finding THE house. We were living in Arizona, and I was looking in Washington, Oregon & North Dakota.

After checking out articles in the local newspapers about the job opportunities, weather, crime and comparing store ads, I always ended up in Oregon- my old town - looking for a home.

There were lots of houses for sale. Stick built, manufactured, *Needs TLC* ( should be torn down), brand new build (owners ran out of money & the contractor wants to get paid), and been on the market since parents/ gparents died & we want it off of our hands.

Had I found this house three years earlier, I would have bought it, moved and been waiting for Hubby when he finally retired.

As it was, the owners didn't list with an agent the first two years. The price was $30,000 more than what we paid for it.

I sent two girlfriends to look at the house. One was a Realtor, the other was a land surveyor. Both told me that this house needed some superficial TLC and new steps on the back porch. Both told me that if I didn't buy it, they would ~ it would make a great rental.

So I packed up a suitcase and drove from Central Arizona to Central COAST Oregon. Looked the house over from the outside. Finally got the realtor who had it listed to let me in. He was rather put out when I asked him to wait outside in his car. He was reeking with bad vibes and cigar smoke ~ I could barely tolerate being around him.

The house breathed a sigh of relief when he left. The carpet needed cleaning - there was brown stuff in nearly every room. Turned out to be Soy Sauce. [that leaves stains and will not come out totally]. Two of the window screens were ruined. There were tiny little colored beads EVERY where, and 22 broken crayons down in the register in the *Den*.

The house talked to me. It was so desperate for a loving family to live there. To have laughter brightening and filling it's rooms once again.

I took 78 pictures of the interior and 76 pictures of the exterior. Sent them via email to hubby along with the information I had gleaned regarding the owners.

Two days later Hubby had sent me a proposal to give to the owners via the creepy Realtor.

I couldn't afford to stay in a Motel for another 7 days, so I went to Seattle to stay with my sister there. She tried to get me to purchase the house down the block from her. She would even pay the difference in what we would pay for the other house. Nope, don't want to live THAT close to Sister. Our love and relationship thrives on distance. The minimum we can be is 300 miles.

Finally we heard back from the owners. ( a month later) They accepted our proposal - we offered 5,400.00 LESS then their asking price, but we would pay 6% down, then $250.00 a month until Feb of the new year (this was in Sept) when we would pay the balance off + interest of 2% on the balance amount. They pay their Realtor, we will pay the closing cost of the Escrow company.

When I got the key and took possession of the house - I spent the night there. I had brought my twin inflatable camping mattress. Bought a set of sheets and a fleece blanket. Three pillows.

The house has been a happy house since. I really should have painted the interior before we moved everything in, but I just couldn't decide on the color(s). I lived in the house for a month before hubby came up to get me. He brought 6 large plastic totes of food storage with him. I cleaned out the HUGE kitchen cupboard and emptied the totes, then we took my car home to AZ with us.

While I was in the house I had all of the faucet handles changed to paddles. Had the exterior door knobs changed to paddles too. Had new Hi-Rise faucets installed in the kitchen and had the garbage disposal removed. The court rules say No to disposals. The septic system can't handle it. Had the carpet cleaned.

It was 2 months later that we moved in. We had a ramp installed on the back steps, the roof patched, new window installed in the kitchen, new trim put up around the outside of the windows. New water lines inside to all of the sinks, new handicap toilets in both bathrooms and handicap rails in both bathrooms.

I made new curtains for the dining room - same material I put on the seats of the chairs. Removed the plastic venetian blinds at all of the windows - they did their job and it was time to retire them. Put up inexpensive black out liners.

Finally got the front flower area done. Next to do is bring in a load of driveway gravel and level out our parking area. Really want to put gravel along the side of the house and in the smaller than postage stamp *garden* at the very back of the house. BUT I want it roto-tilled first- set aside an area to plant flowers/veggies and then have gravel walk & sitting area.

But the owner of the lot (we rent) needs to come and mark where the underground utilities are- so we don't dig and put rock over.

This house, manufactured home is a 1993 build. We need to replace a few windows- when we have the money saved we will replace them all. The back steps leading to the back of the house need to be replaced - but I want to do a porch all the way to the end of the house, then do steps.

It is in great condition, insulation is good, the roof will get replaced in about 5 years and by then I should have settled on a color to paint the exterior. The is our *Dunmovin* home.

It sings to me. It is a happy house, a happy home. This is the first home I have ever owned outright. This is probably the last home I will own.

[bytebear]

I scoured Zillow for several years. Knew the neighborhood I wanted, and found a short sale that worked out great. It was a definite fixer upper, but was way cheaper than anything else I had looked at (and was considerably larger in square footage). Been in for almost a year, and the house has already appreciated considerably, and I have put in about 5000 in repairs (mostly termites and tree removal - told you it was a fixer upper). But the roof is solid, the plumbing and wiring is fairly new, despite having carpet that needs replacing and the doors don't quite close right, and the master bath needs a major overhaul, I am very happy with the house.

[RipplecutBuddha]

My experience choosing houses totally stinks. Every time they either want a lot of money for it, or there's already some other family living in it....

[Canuck Mormon]

We had looked at our current house online and thought, Meh. But we went and looked at it. Nice community, close to my sons new school and it had a basement suite for the in-laws. It was perfect. We looked at a couple of others but it came down to this one. We put an offer in and it was countered. We countered that and they caved. Two months later we moved in!!!

4 months after that we discovered a leak in the basement. Pulled the walls to fix the leak and there was mold. Lots of it. Lots and lots of it. So my inlaws got a new bathroom and revised kitchen cabinets and we were out almost $7000.

Now the house is perfect and we couldn't be happier (except with maybe a little one running around, but that doesn't seeme to be in the cards).

This summer will mark our 1 year move in date and we will be fixing up the back yard with a patio and a gazebo to house out fire pit!!

LOVE IT!!!!!

[viannqueen3]

I wish we would have been more picky in choosing a home. We bought our home because the prices was great and the house was in good condition. The cons were that it was in a starter neighborhood and the house has few upgrades whatsoever. We've spent a lot of money over the years just upgrading the house to a decent level (replacing crappy carpet, two tone paint, deck). It really wasn't special or anything and I wasn't excited about it. We had a "5 year plan" so I figured I could live in anything for five years. We've now been here 9 years and will probably be here another 5. If I had to do it all over again I'd go into the mindset of buying something we'd be happy with for 15 years. Prices have skyrocketed so much it's hard to justify moving. We have 1600 finished sq.ft, unfinished basement (3200 total) and .23 acres. To build a new home on a 1/3 acre, with 4000 sq ft (2000 finished) would cost us double what we paid for our home nine years ago. Back when we bought I wish when we bought we would have just spent that extra 50K to get something that we really loved and would be more content long term.

[Lakumi]

Though I am not ready to buy a house, I still done a lot of reading and looking, as to be more informed by time the time comes...

Doesn't have a big list of needs.

I don't drive so a garage doesn't matter

I don't have a family so the number of rooms doesn't matter

all that matters is quiet.

Perks include a shed, a big yard so I can have chickens and or bees, and somewhere I can sit outside or hang a hammock

[lds2]

I had a major problem once with a house that was not as big as the selling agent reported. Our realtor was all ready to go to bat for us --- until she found out it was someone from her office that had made the mistake, after that all help stopped.

At that point there was nothing that she was willing to do for us to help our situation even though we were well within the year that in that state you have to discover discrepancies in the sale.

What we learned was you don't want to buy a house that is listed by the same office your realtor works for as there is a conflict of interest if there is a problem.

[lds2]

Another thing we learned was to watch out for areas with two or more young men that always hang out in front, usually near the road as this often indicates they are members of a gang watching for trouble. Hang out on a Friday afternoon - evening to see if there is a lot of evening car traffic at any particular houses in the neighborhood with people coming and going often --- as this can indicate something illegal going on (prostitution, drug dealers, etc.) Ask as many neighbors as you can what they like best and dislike most about the neighborhood, schools. If they have had any big problems with the neighbors, etc. What crimes have happened in the neighborhood, etc. FWIW

[Iggy]

What crimes have happened in the neighborhood, etc. FWIW

You can also go to the local law enforcement and ask as well, and the newspaper(s).

When my girlfriend was looking for a house in the greater Seattle area, she went to the Sheriffs office and asked what area had the highest crime rate.

[Drpepper]

From my experience members of the church approach buying homes a little different than most other people. Generally the first visit is not the realtor, agent, local schools or sheriffs office. It starts with the local ward. Most people tend to go to church in that area to see if it feels right for them. How many members are there? What's the youth program like? Do I feel welcomed? What's primary like? Can I make a difference here? and so on. The reasons this is so important is because we are one of very few churches that are geographically bound. So our house purchase is locked in with where we will go to church. If i was catholic this simply wouldnt matter. What ward we are going to live in seems to play just as much importance as what house or neighborhood we are going to live in. After doing the initially research we then tend to grab a copy of the ward boundaries and make decisions from there.