House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

DH and I will be beginning our house seach next week. We have been looking online for months but our buyer just signed the contract this week and now we are fully ready to head out and look (without fear of finding the dream house and having it snatched away).

We have narrowed it down to three towns we like but now I am wondering if we should just pick one and search every house there, or look in all three since we like them all equally.

The time has finally come that we are actually going to really search. I am SO nervous!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We searched in like 5 school districts... We had top 3 SDs though... then again DH REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted to live by his family so the other districts didn't even matter.

We looked at a lot of houses though.

I'd look in all 3 towns.

I bet your nervous and really, really excited!!!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We looked primarily in 4 school districts. I feel like if we limited ourselves to one we might have missed out on our house.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We had a town in mind that we wanted to live in. We started there and then looked at the 3-ish towns that surrounded it b/c we couldn't find exactly what we wanted.

We ended up looking at what felt like EVERY house on the market in 3-4 towns and then found what we wanted in our original place.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We had several towns in mind and looked in all of them. Looking in several towns will also give you the oppotunity to spend a little time in each neighborhood, which might help you narrow down the choices!

Congratulations on getting that contract signed! Send some luck my way please?

Best of luck with the house hunt!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

For house #1 we looked all over the place! We were 23 years old when we bought it so it was more about money than our favorite neighborhood (because that would be unrealistic).

For house #2 we looked at a few towns and eventually narrowed it down to a specific area in one town. We looked for a year (casually) so we knew exactly what we wanted.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

yes, we were looking in about 5 or 6 towns

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

we started out looking in one general area, about 2 or 3 connecting towns.
Then DH feel in love with a specific neighborhhod about 30 minutes away from our original target area so we took a leap and switched our total plan.
Then our search became very specific, one neighborhood in one town. Less than 800 homes to choose from.
It worked out well, within 3 months we found our home.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

When we started house hunting there were 5 towns we were interested in. As we searched we realized two of the towns wasn't what we thought and were able to cross them off our list. I think its better to get out and look at as much as you can so you know what you really want. good luck!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

I had several towns in mind. My best friend was helping me look and really only wanted me to live in her town so she kind of swayed my search a lot. The vast majority of the homes we looked at were in Sayville.. and that's where we bought!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We're looking in just one town, and even in specific neighborhoods within that town, so I'm nervous it's going to take a long time!

If you can narrow it down to a few towns I think it would be easier to find what you want.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

yes, several towns

Message edited 7/15/2010 11:53:39 PM.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We looked in a very small and specific area seriously for almost 2 years. If you like more then one place look at all of them and keep your options open unless you are willing to wait.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We only looked in one town. It's funny we started out with two neighboring towns but realized we really only wanted one. You have to wait a little longer to find the right house in that town but I'm glad we did.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

Look in all of them. The pickings are slim out there right now.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We had a few towns in mind and then narrowed it down to three after we drove around them for a few weekends. For us the location was important. After going to see a few houses in each town we realized that we only wanted to live in one and if we had to get a smaller house then so be it. You can always change your house, you can't change the neighborhood its in.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We had 3 towns in mind. Then considered the taxes and school district and narrowed it down to 1!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

Narrowed it down to 1 school district, then one town in that district that was closest to DH's job.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We're looking in two town but specific area in both towns so it's taking a WHILE

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We were basically looking in three towns and just kept an eye out for something that met our needs in a price range we were comfortable with.

We were also willing to do some work to the houses we were looking at and our "must have" list was pretty much nonexistent - we just wanted the right "opportunity" I guess.

Edited to say we actually found our house after just about a month of looking, but we were tipped off that it was coming on the market and the first in to see it and make an offer. For us the nightmare was the closing, not the shopping!

Message edited 7/16/2010 12:44:39 PM.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

we looked in a few towns in the same area. we ended up in the town i grew up in!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

our first house we weren't at the kids stage yet, so we focused more on commute. I got pregnant and we were not living in a good school district.

second house we narrowed it down to a few towns with good school districts

third house, we now have 2 kids and a much better understanding of our DC's needs and school districts and are only looking in one town because of the school district.

3 houses in 7 years, I feel like a serial mover....if I ever start talking about moving after we find house #3 just shoot me!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

For our first house we looked in many towns on the south shore. We just bought a house in April and the only towns we really concentrated on was massapequa and Merrick.

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

We had our top town and actually looked at most houses in that town. There were 2 other towns that I would mostly watch online to see if anything came up that was a really great deal or looked really good but we pretty much knew where we wanted to be.

If you like each town equally I would look in all 3!

Re: House Hunting ?- Did you narrow to one town or a few?

house #1: We knew we wanted to stay we I grew up so we jumped at a house in that town that we could afford. Worked out great.

house #2: we looked in about 5 areas and ultimately chose house.

Our next house...we are buying in schol distrcit, area and affordilbilty. Wish us luck!