House Criteria?

Do you have a set idea of what you are looking for in a house?

I feel like DH and I might never buy one because we have too many demands...

For example:
-can't be on a busy road
-no corner houses
-no high ranches
-no ranches
-needs 3 bedrooms/ 2 bathrooms minimum
-no capes

Is this list getting rediculous or what? Some are my demands, some are his! Should we tone it down?

Re: House Criteria?

no, i think your list is fine, but if you feel you can give up some of them, it might help you find your house quicker..

for example, we really wanted a house with basement, but the ones we saw were all nasty... so that became our "plus" criteria, not neccessary but would be a plus..

just think about what is REALLy important to you and you can not live without.

GOOD LUCK!

Re: House Criteria?

I think your list is fine. Do you have a price range, school districts/towns that you like, distances from home to work, distances from your house to your families/friends/places of worship.

For my DH and I we needed to move to NJ for his job, but we made sure that the commute back to our families was less than 2 hours, we wanted a 2 bedroom home, it had to be in a quiet but nice neighborhood and we had to feel ok about the place like we would fit in. Not knowing anyone out here has been difficult friend wise but we love our home and my DHs commute is 15 minutes. We are also only 1 hour to 1 hour and 40 minutes away from our parents homes.

Re: House Criteria?

Re: House Criteria?

* bedrooms must be on all one floor (most capes are out because of this)
* DH doesn't like high ranches or split ranches

Re: House Criteria?

our criteria list was A LOT longer than yours. luckily we found something that met all of our requirements plus some extras. it might take you longer to find the "one" so be patient.

eta: i would compile a list of "must haves" rather than "must not haves". most realators will ask for this list.

Message edited 1/9/2006 9:19:14 AM.

Re: House Criteria?

I was just going to say that some capes don't look like capes anymore after they have been dormered.

Re: House Criteria?

We had very similar criteria AND we needed to stay in the same town. We had more wiggle room as we already had a house but wanted somehting bigger for when the kiddies come.

This was our list:

No corner
no double yellow lined road
no splits or high ranches
must have a bathroom on first floor
(last two very important as my Dad can't walk up steps)
two car garage
living room and den
4 bedrooms (one an office)
master bath
EIK
basement.
flat piece of property.


Our wish list:
Colonial
CAC
full basement (I settled for 1/2 basement)

I did get our dream home (Brookville Colonial) but it is in horrible condition and we are involved in A LOT of construction right now and are not living in it. WE've had to move in with IL's for 4 months.

However, the house sold for much cheaper (about 200K) than comps in the area due to its condition. We have relatives in the kitchen/bath business so we got contractor discounts on the material but we are still putting in about 110K.

It's a lot of work but when all is said and done our house will be practically new.

Good luck in your search. You may have to be patient but you will find your home.

Re: House Criteria?

Re: House Criteria?

We wanted a House with a dining room - 3 bedrooms - a nice yard - garage - basement

We got a house with a Master bedroom downstairs that we made into a formal dining room, 3 bedrooms, a huge yard, garage, and no basement but the size of the yard and the garage, and the neighborhood make up for it.

Scott

Re: House Criteria?

I agree what most said here, plus, your list may change as you see more and more houses. If a listing meets most of your criteria and is in your price range, I'd go see it. You never know!!!

good luck!

Re: House Criteria?

We had our house built but I had a lot of things in mind when we were looking at builders and models.

I wanted the 2 living rooms, dining room, eik, huge bathroom in the master bath, roman shower, screened in lanai, and all appliances included (even washer and dryer)

We looked at so many models that after a while they all started to look the same. The big thing for me was I wanted the washer and dryer included and only a few did that. All the others had the hook up for it.

In the end the builder we went with included all that I wanted except for the roman shower and EIK. They would have included the roman shower but I would have lost the whirlpool tub. So when it came down to it, I wanted the whirlpool tub more then a roman shower. We also did not get the eik but that was fine because the dining room is right next to the kitchen and I enjoy looking out front and watching the birds.

It's great you have your list but when you get out there and start looking their may be some things you'll compromise on or change your mind on.

Re: House Criteria?

the house we just bought has a combination of things we really wanted and a couple of things that we really didn't want.

we really wanted
-a good town
- 2 car garage
- a non "cookie cutter" house
- good school district
- north shore

we got all of that, plus a 100 year old victorian with a wrap around porch, 4 bedrooms, hardwood floors, but its on a semi busy road ( but it has sidewalks and a big backyard) so we compromised on that.

Re: House Criteria?

I wanted:

a ranch (since they are easily expandable)
a full basement
a big property
in West Islip, West Bab or North Bab
and at least 3 bedrooms


we got a ranch, with a basement, 100 x 100, in west bab. The only exception is that it is 2 big bedrooms instead of 3, but we plan on building up so that didnt matter.

Re: House Criteria?

I say stick to your guns if you're not in a hurry, and if you are, see if you can compromise or think about what is really important to you.

We wanted a two story, three bedroom with a basement and a large backyard. I wasn't backing down on the basement, and DH wanted a large backyard, but we both wanted a quiet street . In the end we are closing on a ranch, but I got my basement and DH got his backyard and it's in a quiet area. I can always expand....

Re: House Criteria?

A house is probably the biggest investment you will ever make and IMO you shouldn't settle! Keep looking and you will find what you want! Like some above posters said, you should look at everything, because you might change your mind in the process. Like at frist we weren't into split ranches, but now we have one and I love it!

We wanted:
Decent sized yard
Not busy street
Quiet neighborhood with families
basement
garage
driveway big enough for 2 cars side by side
at least 3 bedrooms
No un-dormered capes (Ray can't fit in them LOL)
We didn't want to spend over $325K (this was spring/summer of 2004 and prices were lower then)

We ended up getting all of the above PLUS extras that we wanted attic, deck, apartment in the house...! BUT our house needed A LOTt of cosmetic work. We gutted the house and replaced everything down all the sheetrock!We worked on the house for a year and did almost all the work ourselves. It would have been nice buy a house that was already renovated but you have to compromise sometimes and this helped us stay within price range.

GOOD LUCK!

Re: House Criteria?

Our criteria weren't necessarily long as they were almost impossible: under 350k in E Npt, basement, detached garage, gas stove, not on an avenue, no corner, quiet street, no work needed, taxes under 3k, lot over .20 acres

I say stick to your list, but you might want to consider looking at some of the house types you ruled out, just b/c you might be surprised.

Message edited 1/9/2006 8:17:03 PM.

Re: House Criteria?

Thank you so much for all the feedback...I feel better knowing everyone has a list! LOL
But, I am still open to all types of houses so I will keep looking...