May 2008 Weddings
xDanniellex
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
House Requirements list.
So H and I have made a tentative goal to be "looking" for a house by 2015. I didn't want to say that we had to be moved in since you never know if you'll find the "one" or that everything will fall into place. That gives us time to save for a down payment, figure out all the logistics and what we want.
We've decided to each make a list of Must Haves and Want to Haves and then we'll compare and combine.
So my question is for those that have been through the process or have thought about. What are/were your Must Haves and Like to Haves??
Feel free to offer any other advice. I'll be taking notes as our House File has to start somewhere.
Re: House Requirements list.
I think it depends on if this will be your forever home or not. The first house we bought was not our forever home so our list was much shorter. For our current house, which we don't plan on moving out of, it had to have a garage, at least 3 bedrooms, main floor laundry, a master bathroom, and be at least an acre of land. We didn't want a 2 story house, anything that needed major work, anything in the "city" but we did want neighbors that were within walking distance at least.
I think buying a house is kind of like buying your wedding dress. You kind of just know when you've found the right one. Have you guys thought about renting a house before you buy? You might get a better idea of what you like and don't like that way. While I LOVE our house I do wish it had a bigger laundry room and a pantry in the kitchen. I watched House Hunters on HGTV a lot when we were looking at houses. I still watch it, love that show
Good luck. House hunting can be a lot of fun but also pretty stressful. Just don't get discouraged if you don't find the the right one immediately. We looked at houses for about 5 months before we found ours.
Basically what Kelli said. We have never shopped for a single family house so I don't necessarily know what I want/need when we get to that point. (One thing I already know - His & Hers sinks - I miss that!!) We have multi-families and while the living is similar, apartments are more basic.
Good luck - that's really exciting!
Have you thought about just going to a few open houses so get an idea about what's out there? The market does change, but at least you can start to look at houses now and start making lists from seeing them up close & personal.
I agree on the "final" house thing. I have a while binder for my final house but while we're moving around I'm a lot less picky. Having lived in quite a few houses over the years this is a basic list for me.
Must have - ample storage space including a pantry or at least a tall cabinet pantry thing, 3 bedrooms minimum, 2 bath minimum, a living room big enough for our huge couch, a good yard.Oh and a garage or at bare minimum a shed.screened pith is also becoming pretty "vital" for us.
I like to have, higher ceilings, an extra space like a bonus room or a basement, 2.5 baths, a larger laundry area, larger bedrooms, but could get by without. I also prefer wider moldings and trim, but of course that's not major.
Agreed with others on whether or not it's your forever home.
Here's some of my must haves: both can park in the driveway and be able to get out without moving cars around. adequate storage, especially in bathrooms and kitchen. gas stove. yard/outdoor space. a lot of natural lighting. good neighborhood (mine is currently awful)!
Prefers: laundry on second floor so I don't have to schlep my dirty clothes up the stairs. basement (at least partially finished) for the cats.
And pay attention to door/window sizes if you have big furniture/beds! It has to be able to fit in the house.
Buying a house is such a personal thing. Ou never really know what you like until you do it. For example, my BFF rented a house with hardwoods and a huge yard. It took about a month of cleaning and yard work to realize that her ideas of those things didn't pan out in reality.
For us, I have figured out that we don't want to deal with a bunch of landscaping. Weeding beds is a total pain.
All I can think of is upstairs laundry. Total pain going two flights down to the basement and two flights up. In fact a ranch style house would be nice.
Carpet is gross especially with cats so hardwood floors are a must (have them now but for downstairs only).