how did you know?!

ktbabe530

My FI and I are looking to buy our first home.  How did you know when you had found the house?  It's such a big purchase!  We haven't found anything that meets all of our criteria, but a few that meet most and we like them all.  

G2SoccerTaz

We looked for about 6 months before we found a house. It did not fit everything that we wanted but it had the potential to. The biggest area it was lacking was the kitchen which when we were discussing this house we took into consideration remodeling the kitchen to make it what I want. Other than a decent kitchen, it had everything else we wanted - two toliets, land, a garage, a fireplace. There were somethings it had that we thought would be nice but did not think we could afford it - 3 bedrooms, good sq footage.

We did not have to compromise on anything we wanted just saw that it had potential to have everything.

JoanE2012

ktbabe530 said:

My FI and I are looking to buy our first home.  How did you know when you had found the house?  It's such a big purchase!  We haven't found anything that meets all of our criteria, but a few that meet most and we like them all.  

We looked at many houses online over the past year, but there were only a handful, maybe 3 or so, that we could see actually see ourselves living in.  That's when we knew it was right. 

Beads921

We just kind of...knew. It was in rough shape, but still totally liveable with good bones and could easily be made our own without a major investment. Most importantly, we could afford it, it was in a good area, and had the space we needed. It wasn't falling down, and the kitchen was workable. We were not picky and didn't have a lot to choose from in our price range. We also had to move quickly. I have no idea how buying our second house - when we actually have some choice, and some time - is going to go. 

iteachkids81

We had looked at tons of houses from August-October. Mostly raised ranches. None of them were going to work for us, so our realtor finally switched to showing us houses that were not raised ranches (our main criteria making raised ranches a good idea was having a main floor bedroom and bath that would be wheelchair accessible for my MIL) 

He showed us two other homes in mid Oct that were not raised ranches but had a main floor bathroom and bedroom 

The house we bought is a cape cod, with 2 br and 1 bath upstairs, and 3br and 1 bath on the main level. Sure, it means MIL's room will be right next to ours, but at least it is wheelchair accessible. And we've got a huge yard, garage, fire place and in a great school district with lots of room to expand our family. 

cupcait927

We couldn't really be super picky about what we wanted in a house for our price range, but we did have a few non-negotiables - two-three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a good sized yard, and an area for FI to work out in. We looked at about 10 houses in person and a ton more online and we're now buying the second house we looked at. It's got everything we wanted, plus a mudroom which none of the other houses had and I really wanted but it wasn't a necessity. It's our starter home and it's smaller but definitely liveable without us having to put much money into it plus it has this amazing stone patio with a built in gas-powered firepit (previous owner had his own landscaping business and did a fabulous job).

jessica490

We walked through our condo and although it needed some updating and cosmetic work, it just felt cozy and like "home" to us

JMalettas

 We started casually looking at houses before we were ready to buy. (Just open houses, no appointments, etc). Basically to figure out what we 'did' or 'didn't' want in a house, so when we were looking more seriously, we could narrow it down to what we knew would have potential, vs wasting our time looking at everything. 

 We began a more serious search a month or two after we were married, and found our home within 2 months or so, of starting our search. We probably looked at 20ish houses before we found ours. We went with a realtor the day we saw our house, and I think had looked at 9 that afternoon. What sold us, was that #1: It fit our 10by10 sectional. (I know that sounds a little ridiculous, but I wasn't willing to give up this amazing couch-lol)! #2: It had 4 bedrooms, & 2 full baths-another big selling point! I wanted 2 bathrooms for sure, and 'at least' 3 bdrms. Enough for a guest, or possible children in our future! #3: It was fully fenced, had a yard, deck, & paved driveway. and #4: Came with all appliances, minus laundry. It completely had everything on our list, and no immediate work required. Even though we were really 'sold' on the house, we gave ourselves some time to sleep on it, and put our offer in a couple of days later. 

 We've now been in our home almost 2 months, and I don't regret our choice for a second! It's totally 'us', and we love it!

 Have fun house hunting!

 *J

Sisugal

First figure out your finances and how much each month you can afford (keep housing costs to no more than 25-28% of takehome pay) - and if that will be based on one income or two.
Then make a list of NEEDS - that must be met
Then make a list of WANTS

Housing costs = mortgage + PMI+insurance+taxes+utilities+HOA
Remember to budget for ongoing maintenance and upkeep.

Read Home Buying for Dummies and Mortgages for Dummies - great information and helpful for first time home buyers.

Critter015

We had a specific budget in mind and wanted a few acres of land in a specific area. There was very little available and nothing we could see ourselves in unless we wanted to double our budget. Our house needed tons of work but was pretty much exactly what we had been looking for and was in exactly the area where we wanted to live. Once I saw that the layout of the house would work for us, I was able to envision what it would look like once we fixed it up.

Spin313

I loved our house from the moment I saw the listing. The interior needed work, but the neighborhood and property are awesome and the floor plan is what I wanted. It was the second of 20 houses we saw and nothing else compared.