What did you budge on?

What did you and your SO budge on when buying a house?

I honestly don't think we will ever buy a house.. I've been willing to budge on a few things but DH, not so much.

I feel like the longer someone looks for a house, the more impossible it becomes..it's as if you say to yourself "Well I waited this long, I can't settle for a less than perfect house now." Anyone feel this way?

Re: What did you budge on?

When I bought my house, I was pregnant and living in a one bedroom apartment in the city, so we had motivation to buy. We wanted to move soon after the baby was born. But that being said, we looked at a lot of houses during an intensive 2 month search period, and had looked casually (online, open houses) for a year or so prior to that. I was not in real estate when I bought my house, fyi.

Originally, my dh did NOT want a corner house, and a split level was not my first preference. We wound up buying a split on a corner (LOL!) because it really had all of our must-haves and MOST of our wish list -- 3 beds, 2.5 baths (including a master), a finished basement, 2 car garage, eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, nice yard with a deck, CAC, etc. It did NOT have a 4th bedroom, which was our preference, but as fate would have it, we are likely going to stay a family of 3. So our third bedroom is an office/guest room and we don't really need that 4th bedroom. The house isn't as updated as I would have dreamed of -- I would like to renovate my kitchen, for example, and we'll probably need a roof in the next few years -- but all of the important things were there.

As an agent, I see a lot of my customers that start out with a pretty extensive list, but wind up making some compromises in the end AND being very happy with the house they buy. Unless you custom build a house yourself, there will always be some things you'd like to change, even if you have an unlimited budget, which most people don't have.

I think it's important to identify the true must-haves and to focus on things that can't be changed (at least not easily) -- location, property size, layout/room size, and be open-minded about other things. For example, if a house doesn't have a den, but has a finished basement, will that work? If the house has 1.5 baths, not 2, could you add a shower to the half bath to convert it to a full? I very reluctantly looked at my house, and it turned out to be "the one" -- and I see that often. So I am glad I kept an open mind.

9 times out of 10 - When talking about price, location, and house criteria, buyers can have 2 of the 3, but must compromise on the 3rd. And the compromise is usually the house criteria. If someone has a set budget and wants to be in a certain area, they usually need to be a bit flexible on their criteria. For example, if someone tells me their budget is $300K and they want a huge center hall colonial in Merrick, that's not going to happen. But if they are willing to look further east in Suffolk, they can probably have that. If they want to live in Merrick and pay $300K, it's probably going to be a small ranch or original cape in dated condition. Hence, the "2 out of 3" principle.

I also think that it's to most people's benefits to buy now, if they are able, because affordability conditions are so good (price and rates still very low) and won't stay that way forever.

Re: What did you budge on?

Dh and I were so picky, it took a long time to find a home. We ended up increasing our budget by 100k and got our dream house with the exception of a 4th bedroom. I really wish we had a 4th bedroom bc we are trying for baby 3 . Now I want a new house

Re: What did you budge on?

I gave up on a lot of my wants for several houses. We put offers on a few houses that I really didn't like or want, but I just wanted to shut my husband up with the whole home-buying process. I was willing to sacrifice a lot of important things just to put my husband in a house. And that would have been a HORRIBLE mistake.

The only house I truly wanted is the one we are in now. It had all the must-haves on my list and was in a good neighborhood. We actually got more than I had hoped for.

DH settled for this house, but his "wants" were out of our price range and quite honestly unrealistic.

We could very easily outgrow this house. Or we could learn to adapt and enjoy the space we have. Only time will tell where we will be in 20 years, but for the next 10, I'm pretty sure we'll still be in the same house, and I'm comfortable with that.

Message edited 8/27/2012 4:32:23 PM.

Re: What did you budge on?

really the ONLY thing was CAC. We both swore up and down that we would not buy a home without. We did. Now its been 1 year and we've survived one of the hottest summers on record and it wasnt so bad (cant believe I said that.) We have ACs built into the walls in all bedrooms and a HUGE one in the dining room which cools our entire main floor.


Yes, I've taken to watching nightly TV on the couch in DS' playroom instead of our den or basement but whatever. It is 3-4 months out of the year. We will put CAC in within the next 1-4 years.

Message edited 8/27/2012 4:35:32 PM.

What did you budge on?

We had 3 must haves:

~ Gas heat
~ Full basement (finished or unfinished)
~ Garage

Those 3 we weren't willing to compromise on. The only major thing we don't have is a dining room, but for the 2-3 times a year we would actually use it, it's a decent compromise. Our EIK is pretty big and we can easily fit 12-15 ppl around a holiday table.

Re: What did you budge on?

Things we wanted...
*basement
*good schools
*dining room
*4 bedrooms
*2 bathrooms

YES we got all of these. When we were looking there was such crap out there and this house had everything we wanted but I wish it had a bigger kitchen with more counter space.

After living here for 4 years or so I see how cheap the previous owners were. The house itself is good but the things inside like in the bathroom and kitchen (cabinets, appliances) are such cheap crap. I wish we had looked more closely.

Re: What did you budge on?

I wanted a forever home right away. We are in a starter home. It's fine b/c we can still save for a bigger house in a few years, but we are also still in our own house while we are doing it.

What did you budge on?

We wanted 3 bedrooms but settled for 2 because the house has such charm and we love the area. Other than we not very picky at all

Re: What did you budge on?

We wanted at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large dining room and a basement.

We got 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a tiny dining room and a basement that you can only get to from outside.

That was our starter home (which we sold today!). Our new home has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a nice size dining room and a full basement. We compromised on the first house and not at all from the second!

Re: What did you budge on?

I insisted on CAC and 2 bathrooms. I got 1.5 bathrooms (adding onto the 1/2 bathroom will hopefully happen in the next 5 years). Our home is an A frame home so CAC wlll hopefully also be installed in the next few years as well. I would have liked a bigger yard. If I were to do it again I never would have bought a home with plaster walls, man does this stuff make things difficult.

Re: What did you budge on?

My DH is a builder so condition and size were not very important. We were looking in a specific neighborhood that has about 800 homes so we didn't have that many choices.
The biggest thing we sacrificed was a garage and it's a pita not having one but garages are actually pretty rare in this neighborhood.
The house and property are much larger and newer than anything else we found in our target area. Overall I think we got more than we expected to get in our price range because we were willing to do a lot of improvements.
We have been here 8 years and we are still doing improvements to make it perfect, but I'm ok with that.

Re: What did you budge on?

We sacrificed a home that was "move in" condition . . . as we enter month 4 of renovations, sigh.

BUT, the house had a lot of desirable qualities and the only other thing was that we wanted at least 3 bedrooms, which this house had, but the layout was such that one had to turn into a den.

Re: What did you budge on?

Our top priority was: LOCATION. We lucked out and found a house in our desired neighborhood with the added bonus that it's on a dead end/cul-de-sac and our back yard is enormous.

I loved the charm of my house the minute we walked in (it was the first house we looked at) but it is a dormered cape with original EVERYTHING. My dad called it "the house that stood still". Even the 3 son's bedrooms were still set up from the 70's - beer cans on shelves and all. My DH wanted more of a "move-in ready" home and was not thrilled that we'd have to do so much work. However, after looking around for a few more weeks, we both agreed that this was the biggest bang for our buck because of the location and lot size. So I guess that was his budge.

We have done a lot in 2.5 years but we still have a ton more to do.

So far we:
added CAC - that was a must for DH
installed new roof
added front porch
installed new front door
just completed a full bath reno
regraded back yard
completely gutted 2nd floor (current project)
completely renoed master bedroom

Re: What did you budge on?

Wouldn't Budge on

Not a corner
Mid Block location
Not right next to a school
Garage
Basement
Front of house faces South
No Fire Hydrant in front of house
Attic
Not near a main road

Message edited 8/28/2012 2:42:12 PM.

What did you budge on?

Budged on style -- wasn't a fan of high ranches but got one anyway and I'm very happy!
Also budged on neighborhood. Wanted to stay in Nassau but found more bang for our buck in Suffolk.

Would not budge on house location -- not on a main road, no corner.
House needed to be move in ready. We did not have the money for renovations
Needed at least a garage or basement. We got both.

Re: What did you budge on?

I felt the same way as you way before we even started the house hunt.

One of our BIG "must haves" that we swore would be a deal breaker was Central Air.

That said, yesterday we closed on and moved into our new home that does NOT have Central Air.

When you get doen to it, you weigh the wants/needs/must-haves, etc. versus having the house.

I would not say we settled, b/c we plan to eventually put in Central Air, but otherwise this was THE house for us.

Good Luck

What did you budge on?

No budging requirements we had were the following:

Min 4 bdrms
Min 2 bathrooms
Finished basement
Not on a main/busy road

We kind of budged on a garage (our house has 2 large sheds for storage. As well as the layout of our house is a little odd because we have 3 floors (with basement) and the kitchen is on the main floor but we don't have a living room on that floor. You have to go either upstairs or downstairs to sit and watch tv. It's not ideal for entertaining but honestly, I am more about our comfort and we like it. I kind of wish our living room was right off the kitchen but it just won't work.

Otherwise, we just did not want to settle on a house because we intended that this would be our "forever home" because I have no interest in buying and moving again until I retire!

Re: What did you budge on?

Our Must Haves were:

Good school district
3 br's
2 bath
decent size yard
not a main road
garage
basement w/headroom

We started going to open houses this time last year but weren't seriously looking until the new year. I'm glad that we took that extra time because we saw A LOT of houses.

Eventually yes, we did end of up getting everything we wanted except a 2nd full bath. We ended up with a 3 br 1/2 bath.

There were tons of things that we liked (porch, fireplace, fenced in yard, molding, hardwood floors,) that we did end up getting in this home. However, that was all by chance.

My best advise, is get all your information and finances together so that when you do find the house you love you can jump right on it. I know if we put the offer in 2 days later we wouldn't have gotten this house.

Re: What did you budge on?

We're right smack in the middle of the home buying process. We sold our 1st home and are upgrading to our forever home.

I will not budge on location, we made a mistake with our first home and we are overly critical of the location of our next house. Location is something you cannot change.

I will not budge on quality of school district. Again, something that you cannot change.

I will not budge on the main criteria that we have (4 beds, 2 1/2 baths, larger yard, basement, garage).

I will budge on things that can be changed. While we prefer CAC, if the house had everything but that, it would not be a dealbreaker. Same thing with a finished basement - nice to have, but as long as the basement is there, it's something we can do in the long run. Also we prefer 2 car garage, but if the house only had 1 and had everything else on our wish list, then it would not be a dealbreaker either.

Re: What did you budge on?

I personally feel anything can be changed except property size & location, so I would be flexible about everything but that.

Re: What did you budge on?

I wanted laundry not to be in the basement. Ours is in the basement but it is not a full flight down.

Re: What did you budge on?

we would NOT budge on school district and location. other than that we budged on A LOT.

i didnt want a high ranch. at. all. i wanted a master bath and a basement.

we ended up in a high ranch with no master bath and no basement. (we do have a downstairs den that serves the same purpose of what we wanted the basement for.. mancave;)

as soon as i saw my house my list went out the window. it had a new kitchen, new bathroom, hard wood floors (we refinished them) a great block and school, and great property. i couldnt be happier with our decision. im going to be heartbroken when/if we have to sell as our family grows.

Re: What did you budge on?

We had to have

Great Location & SD was #1
Large Property
at least 3 bedrooms
2 baths - would have settled for 1.5 but our house has 2 full

Anything else, we were willing to put in ourselves. We lucked out and got CAC and a new boiler in this house. We thought we'd have to do that ourselves

The kitchen is dated, but clean and everything works. So in time, a long time lol we will remodel the kitchen.

Re: What did you budge on?

Things that I know we could eventually change...luckily there are only 2 things. First I wanted a flat yard, our yard is on a slight slope...but we can eventually fill it in. Also we wanted 2 full baths, got 1.5, we will be making the half into a full bath though in the next couple of years. If our house had been 2 full, the price would have been much higher in our neighborhood, so it will work out for us in the long run.