Question about House Hunting

So DH and I have probably looked at about 15 houses or so in the past month. Our problem is that we really want to move upstate because we want big property, low taxes, and bigger house for our money. We know that our expectations are unrealistic here on LI (which is where both of our jobs are and we can't find jobs upstate) but we also don't want to settle on busting our buts to pay for something that we don't love.

Our problem is that I don't know if we will find something we LOVE in our price range on LI. We will never get the property we want, or many other things and we can't move upstate right now because we can't find jobs there.

I guess my question is did you find a house that you were absolutely in love with or did you have to settle on something. For example, one house we saw I loved but the property was SO small. Another house I didn't love the house but the property was nice and it had an inground pool.

Also, many of the houses that happen to be in our price range are Levit ranches where the doors are on the side and for some reason that annoys me

Re: Question about House Hunting

Posted by kimNanthony

So DH and I have probably looked at about 15 houses or so in the past month. Our problem is that we really want to move upstate because we want big property, low taxes, and bigger house for our money. We know that our expectations are unrealistic here on LI (which is where both of our jobs are and we can't find jobs upstate) but we also don't want to settle on busting our buts to pay for something that we don't love.

Our problem is that I don't know if we will find something we LOVE in our price range on LI. We will never get the property we want, or many other things and we can't move upstate right now because we can't find jobs there.

I guess my question is did you find a house that you were absolutely in love with or did you have to settle on something. For example, one house we saw I loved but the property was SO small. Another house I didn't love the house but the property was nice and it had an inground pool.

Also, many of the houses that happen to be in our price range are Levit ranches where the doors are on the side and for some reason that annoys me

Re: Question about House Hunting

My advice, if you don't LOVE the house, don't buy it. If you do, you will regret it. There is nothing wrong with wanting a specific thing. Don't settle on the single biggest investment in your life. You will find something eventually, and if that means renting the meantime, so be it! There is no harm in continuing to look, and hey, you may find the perfect house right here on LI!

Re: Question about House Hunting

hahahaha sounds like me!

DH and i are looking out of state so things are A LOT cheaper BUT the area we are looking in is on the more expensive side so its been hard to find all the things we want in our price range...

we want to to be able to live off one income and be comfortable so that when kids come into the picture we'll still be ok and comfortable with the money situation....so staying within a certain price range is really hard when you want A LOT - i want a certain amount of square footage - at least 1900sq ft, i want 4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms and an office, i want newer construction (no older than 5 years), i want an open floor plan, i want straight ceilings not vaulted/pitched, i want a lakeview AND to top it all off we are only looking in one particular neighborhood....needless to say we are being VERY picky

most of the houses that we can afford that meet our requirements are short sales - and they are nightmares....we are still waiting to find out about our dream house....

i think my REA wants to kill me....if we dont get this and have to keep looking it will be hard b/c most houses in our price range are short sales and she is trying to discourage us from another short sale - but everything else in our price range is blah....if we dont get this we will try to save up more money as quick as possible so we can up our price range - if we go higher we need more money for our DP so that our mortgage will still be low....

its not easy....

im not settling though....no way, no how...

Re: Question about House Hunting

Posted by Nik211

hahahaha sounds like me!

DH and i are looking out of state so things are A LOT cheaper BUT the area we are looking in is on the more expensive side so its been hard to find all the things we want in our price range...

we want to to be able to live off one income and be comfortable so that when kids come into the picture we'll still be ok and comfortable with the money situation....so staying within a certain price range is really hard when you want A LOT - i want a certain amount of square footage - at least 1900sq ft, i want 4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms and an office, i want newer construction (no older than 5 years), i want an open floor plan, i want straight ceilings not vaulted/pitched, i want a lakeview AND to top it all off we are only looking in one particular neighborhood....needless to say we are being VERY picky

most of the houses that we can afford that meet our requirements are short sales - and they are nightmares....we are still waiting to find out about our dream house....

i think my REA wants to kill me....if we dont get this and have to keep looking it will be hard b/c most houses in our price range are short sales and she is trying to discourage us from another short sale - but everything else in our price range is blah....if we dont get this we will try to save up more money as quick as possible so we can up our price range - if we go higher we need more money for our DP so that our mortgage will still be low....

its not easy....

im not settling though....no way, no how...

Re: Question about House Hunting

We definitely did not settle on something. We got everything we were looking for. It took us 2 yrs to find it though. We were the same....we wanted a lot of land and affordable, low taxes, big house, etc. We found it....it just took a really long time!
You should try looking further out east. We bought in Lake Grove.

Good luck to you. Don't get discouraged!

Re: Question about House Hunting

Posted by dottiemchugh

My advice, if you don't LOVE the house, don't buy it. If you do, you will regret it. There is nothing wrong with wanting a specific thing. Don't settle on the single biggest investment in your life. You will find something eventually, and if that means renting the meantime, so be it! There is no harm in continuing to look, and hey, you may find the perfect house right here on LI!

Re: Question about House Hunting

Yea I can relate with the short sale thing 110%

If DH and I planned on staying here we'd have to settle on a townhouse - and that isnt what we want - hence we are re-locating.......so there is no way I am settling KWIM? If we are moving to another state away from everyone the house has to be great. If things don't go through with this short sale then we are back to the drawing board

DH and I are frustrated - but if it takes a long time to find the right house so be it - we aren't going to rush it - its been 5 months already so i hope it doesnt take much longer but its hard b/c we both want to get in a house really badly and we want to start a family - but we want to do things right so we wait

Just know you arent alone

Re: Question about House Hunting

For the most part we bought the house we loved! We had to settle on a few things..but only minor things.

Re: Question about House Hunting

DH and I were looking for a house in NJ or a co-op in NY (House being the first choice,lol)
Our budget was not that high, so we knew we would have to settle on few things if we bought a house. We didn't find a house in NJ we loved and/or that was exactly or close to what we wanted.
But we did find a co-op in Queens and made an offer(which was excepted) so we are just starting the whole buying process.
Do I feel like we are settling? yes and no (it's hard to explain).
Would we buy a co-op if we had more money? No
Are we happy and excited ? Yes, very
Will we stay in a co-op next 20 or 30 years ? NO WAY, but yes we will probably stay there for up to 10 years(if we get it)

Re: Question about House Hunting

We weren't in love with the house we bought; we loved its potential. After several coats of paint and a few major projects, it's become a house we love.

Re: Question about House Hunting

how bad would your commute be if you moved upstate? I know my boss and his wife live in glen cove and the wife drives upstate for her teaching job. The commute for them is about 1 hour each way and if you get the house you want and just have to commute an hour would that be worth it?

Large property + care of large property = money which you can see from looking at homes.

You can find large properties in Bayshore/West Islip/Islip Terrace and the taxes can average from 8-10K for a big piece of property. There are plenty of homes in this area that you can get for 280-300 tops that sit on large plots but the houses need work. Typically the older homes have large plots.

Re: Question about House Hunting

Have you tried looking further east. They are beautiful houses in Patchogue, Centerreach, Setauket not too expensive with reasonable taxes.

Re: Question about House Hunting

I would suggest waiting until you find the house you really love. DH and I started looking in 2006 and didn't buy until 2008..so 2 years. Now when I look back, I can't even imagine if we settled on some of the homes we looked at.

Re: Question about House Hunting

we're on our second house now... for our first house we compromised on it being updated.... we did A LOT of work to it to get it where we wanted it. it was fine though because DH and his dad are both really handy so they did all the work themselves which made it ok.

we were planning to stay in that house but then IL ended up having to move, so we bought their house from them. its bigger than our first house, but we compromised a little on the layout and the updated-ness. its a 2 story house, but all the bedrooms are on the main level, i would kind of like something where they were on a seperate level. it also needs updating, but again DH does all the work, and it gives us a chance to make it NOT feel like ILs house anymore the reason we compromised so much was because the payments are really low which helps us be able to save a lot of money, AND will make it ok for me to be a SAHM when we have kids (at least for a little while). to us, we were willing to compromise on the other stuff so we weren't house poor.

Re: Question about House Hunting

IMO, it's nearly impossible to find the "perfect" house. It may seem perfect when you buy it, but 5 years, 10 years later, it doesn't work any more. I would buy a house that has potential, and the ability to be changed. That's what we did. We liked the neighborhood, school district, location, etc. That much you can't change no matter what. The house worked for us for quite a few years. Last year, we renovated the house to be the house that I think will work for us for the next 15+ years. Until you live in a house for a while, you don't know what you do or don't need. I designed the reno myself, so I thought about what I need today, what I think we'll need in 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years. What will happen when DC are teenagers, if a relative has to move in with us, if someone is on crutches or a wheelchair, after DC move out, etc. I think what I designed will cover 90% or more of what I think may happen. If it doesn't, I'll modify the house again.....

Re: Question about House Hunting

Message edited 5/18/2009 9:37:05 AM.

Re: Question about House Hunting

DH and i are struggling with the same thing right now.

we have decided that we will most likely have to buy a house that is structurally sound but needs a lot of updated. the $$ we will save in buying a home in a good area but that needs work will be so beneficial to us in the long run.

and as much as i would love to move out of state, unfortunately DH does not agree, so i am stuck here!

Re: Question about House Hunting

I love my house - but if you saw it when I bought it you would think I was nuts! It needed ALOT of cleaing up and cosmetic work - the house was in great shape and I was able to see the potential.

Your going to have a hard time finding a "perfect" house - you have to 'make' it perfect for you by adding your own touches.

Think of the major things you want in a house - big yard, # of bedrooms, structure, layout etc - go from there. Don't NOT buy a house because of something cosmetic that you don't like.

Good Luck!