all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

For those who have looked at 10 to 200 houses... Do you have a style of house you will now only look at?? or maybe two different styles??

I don't care what the style is.... I know someone who has three offers out on three different houses... one is a hi-ranch, one a spilt and one a cape. IMO those are three totally different styles. I just don't understands my friends.

thanks!

Message edited 5/9/2009 9:03:32 PM.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

when i was looking i knew there were certain styles that i didn't like/want so i never wasted my time looking at them

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

We looked for 2 years, and closed 3 weeks ago...We saw 100+ houses. I wanted all bedrooms on one floor, so that crossed off most capes and high ranches. In the end we looked mostly at ranches and colonials, and wound up with a large L-ranch.

When we started looking, we did have an open mind and looked at all styles.

Message edited 5/9/2009 9:23:53 PM.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

I knew from the get go, I wanted a colonial, but the type of colonial I wanted vs what was in our price range was very different.

DH made me look at ranches, capes, etc and the only compromise I made was a split.

In the end, tho, we got a colonial!

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

A cape was our style we were looking for, cause we knew we were extending it and going up, and a split level or hi ranch would of been hard to make a colonial.

even when your knocking it to the ground, there are certain styles you look for

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

When we were looking at houses....hundreds...for 2 years, we never really had a particular type/style of house we looked at. We looked at everything possible.
What was most important to us was location, SD, large lot, at least 3br and 2bths and a garage.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

for this house and now for the next house we didn't really pay attention to style as much as location.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

We only wanted Capes or Ranches...

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

we just want a house that has good guts so it doesn't fall into itself in five years. So to answer your question - no we aren't looking at a particular style but we basically have only been seeing ranches since they are lower in price.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

Location was the most important thing to us. I wanted a specific layout, not necessarily one kind of house. I wanted a more open floor plan, I wanted an eat-in kitchen, and I wanted the master br on the same floor as whatever br we would eventually make the nursery. We bought a ranch.

Message edited 5/10/2009 8:36:10 AM.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

we were more concerned about location too. we have a high ranch, but looked at ranches, colonials, capes, etc. you can change the floorplan, but not the location

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

We EASILY looked at almost 200 houses! We have always really loved capes, DH and i both grew up in a cape. So we focused mostly on capes. As we were looking we also realized how much we also loved colonials, so we started looking at those as well. We never ruled out any particular type of house though....if it looked nice and in our price range we looked. Different capes, and ranches, and colonials are set up in different ways so we really needed to go there and see them. We did decide pretty quickly that we didnt particularly want a ranch b/c it didnt have a 2nd floor. HOWEVER after that, we ended up seeing a ranch that we fell in love with and almost put an offer on. We did play around with looking at the levitt ranches which were nice but i didn't like that the front door to most entered to the kitchen (i like entering into the living room...feels more inviting to me). We also looked at a split which we almost bought (side to side split)...then looked at another split that was set up TOTALLY different and we hated! So, it really all depends. IMO you really need to SEE the house, regardless of the style. We ended up with a cape, although IMO it feels more like a colonial. All the bedrooms are on the 2nd floor, it's fully dormered, and the setup is far different from a traditional cape. The dining room is also bigger then a traditional cape.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

We were open to anything when we first started looking. After checking out many houses, we loved the split level styles. In the end those were the only houses we were really focusing on, and that's what ended up buying.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

we're only looking for hi ranches but that's because we're buying the house with our in laws and want a mother/daughter house. otherwise we would've liked anything if the price was right and the school district was good

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

we looked at every single style of house that was in our price range. back then (3 yrs ago at the peak), it was mostly ranches and capes.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

We refused to even look at ranches, I grew up on one floor and hated it. I knew I wanted all bedrooms upstairs. As soon as we pulled up to our colonial I knew this was it. We made an offer in the driveway.

Message edited 5/10/2009 5:09:47 PM.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

Colonial or ranch only. MAYBE a split, but it would have to be perfect in every way. I would never buy a hi-ranch.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

once we narrowed down our search to this specific area we could no longer be style specific. most houses in our neighborhood are converted bungelows, we got lucky & found a large two story. My DH is a builder so we can visualize potential in anything, that helped us to look past certain negative aspects of homes.
I grew up in a L-shaped ranch, DH in a large old three story...neither of us had a specific style in mind.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

The majority of houses in my town are colonials so most of the houses we looked at were colonials. There are some ranches and I really did not want to live in a ranch so I don't think we looked at any.

I wouldn't have limited myself but we ended up in a colonial anyway.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

By now, we have seen almost 20 houses. We are preferring colonials or ranches, because having the bedrooms all together is a must for me.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

My order

Colonial or Ranch

Then Hi Ranch

We will NOT look at Split Ranches or Capes. I do not like the layouts of those homes at ALL.

Re: all you house hunters - I have a ? about house styles

when we were looking we looked at anything that fit our criteria (location & price). then we narrowed it down from there. Styles we didn't like as much. We like Colonials & Hi-Ranches the most, then Ranches. But we went into it from the start with an open mind and tried to find potential in other homes. We bought a Hi-Ranch in the end after looking at around 75 homes.