Anyone buying a house in 2019?

[MrsRobinson]

I am realizing this is the first time I've ever gone through the house buying process! 😱 Wow, now I understand why everyone says its stressful!

Our first house was given to us and we remodeled it ourselves when we were young and childless. 😄 

This time around, we are actually looking at houses with an agent and ugh, I am having a hard time! I can't visualize any of them as our family home, or the basement is creepy, or the neighbors have a bunch of junk and trash in their yard. 

We finally found one I was reasonably content with and when we went to make our offer (less than an hour after looking at it), they had just accepted an offer! 

We are scheduled to look at three more tomorrow and, man, I'm getting tired of looking at houses and trying to make a wise (and apparently, fast) decision. 

Anyone else planning on buying this year? Where are you at in the process? Commiserate with me!

[DawnM]

Yes, our house should go on the market in the coming weeks.  We have been looking.  Today we are seeing three more.  But I LOVE looking at houses!  If it weren't for the selling part, I would love to be a realtor.  I can envision how I would live in almost any house, and can point out things that others sometimes can't see.  I love it.

Selling is my stressor and I worry we can't sell, or will have to sell for way under what we want, etc....and I hate keeping the house pristine.

[MrsRobinson]

I thought I loved looking at houses too, until it was my turn to buy! Lol! I went with my sibling on their house buying journey and it was so fun to look at all the houses. I also went looking with a friend that was relocating to my area and she wanted my opinion on if the homes were priced right. That was fun, too.

Now I'm walking through these houses going "hmm, interesting..." 🙄 "Ack! What's THAT?!" 😱 "rrrr...I don't know..." 😬 "pffft...I just don't know..." 🤔

And, yes it is so hard to keep your house "showing ready" all the time. Feels like I'm doing nothing but cleaning!

[KrissiK]

We bought one at the end of 2018 and our old one is closing escrow this week. It can be a kind of stressful process. Unfortunately, in some markets you can’t dilly-dally. I guess my advice would be.... prioritize what you want in a house and buy the one that checks the most boxes.  For us.... DH wanted a certain neighborhood, a three-car garage, we needed at least 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. We, fortunately, were not in a position where we HAD to move. We needed a bigger house and things were getting kind of urgent there, but it’s not like DH had gotten a job 500 miles away.  We finally found a house we love and that checks the boxes.

A good realtor is also important. We really like ours.

[MrsRobinson]

3 minutes ago, KrissiK said:

We bought one at the end of 2018 and our old one is closing escrow this week. It can be a kind of stressful process. Unfortunately, in some markets you can’t dilly-dally. I guess my advice would be.... prioritize what you want in a house and buy the one that checks the most boxes.  For us.... DH wanted a certain neighborhood, a three-car garage, we needed at least 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. We, fortunately, were not in a position where we HAD to move. We needed a bigger house and things were getting kind of urgent there, but it’s not like DH had gotten a job 500 miles away.  We finally found a house we love and that checks the boxes.

A good realtor is also important. We really like ours.

Ccongrats! Are you feeling settled in your new home?

[KrissiK]

31 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Yes, our house should go on the market in the coming weeks.  We have been looking.  Today we are seeing three more.  But I LOVE looking at houses!  If it weren't for the selling part, I would love to be a realtor.  I can envision how I would live in almost any house, and can point out things that others sometimes can't see.  I love it.

Selling is my stressor and I worry we can't sell, or will have to sell for way under what we want, etc....and I hate keeping the house pristine.

Just make sure your house is priced right. I always labored under the delusion that you should price high, you can always drop your price. Our realtor said that is not a good idea. He said once you start dropping your price the other realtors start “smelling blood in the water” and you start losing your negotiating edge. If it’s one thing i’ve Learned in this whole process is how important it is to have the negotiating edge.

Our realtor is all about comps and we were a little disappointed in how he suggested we price our house, but he ran the comps and gave us a range. We went at the top of that range and our house sold 8 days on the market.

Edited March 3, 2019 by KrissiK

[KrissiK]

1 minute ago, MrsRobinson said:

Ccongrats! Are you feeling settled in your new home?

We are. We love it. We lived for 15 years in our old house (same town) and only two months here, so far, but I am so glad we moved. 

[Carrie12345]

I mostly enjoyed house hunting in 2000, when we were open to a very wide radius and had fewer kids. Now, my radius is so small (actually, it’s geographically large, but slim, slim, slim pickings) that I obsessively stalk listings even though we’re not ready to move. If the perfect listing were to come up, I’d consider financial gymnastics to jump on it.  We seriously thought about buying a hunting cabin last year for the land. That’s how hard it’s going to be for us, lol.

[MrsRobinson]

6 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I mostly enjoyed house hunting in 2000, when we were open to a very wide radius and had fewer kids. Now, my radius is so small (actually, it’s geographically large, but slim, slim, slim pickings) that I obsessively stalk listings even though we’re not ready to move. If the perfect listing were to come up, I’d consider financial gymnastics to jump on it.  We seriously thought about buying a hunting cabin last year for the land. That’s how hard it’s going to be for us, lol.

Man, that sounds rough! Are there not very many jobs in your area?

That is not a problem here! New listings in our price range pop up every few days but its hard to find something that works for our family. We spend so much time at home. Homeschool, work from home, and medical needs. As in, a basement for storage, shelter from storms, and even a family room is great but we need a setup that doesn't rely on stairs for dh. One we looked at had a basement garage. If he didn't enter the house through the garage, he'd still have a flight of stairs up a hill to the front door, so that wasn't going to work for us. 

We do really like our realtor but I worry she doesn't like us! We're too picky! 🤣

[KungFuPanda]

I haven't bought a house since 2001 and I'm still not ready to do it again.  I didn't even have to sell that time.  I've already decided that if we sell and move, we have to just live in an apartment for a month during the process.  When we bought this house we had to make an offer the very next day and there were three other offers on the table.  I know I'll need the emotional distance and physical security of being set up in a temporary abode, with the dog, and my son's medical equipment so my on market house can stay perfectly staged and we don't have pressure to choose from not-quite-right choices.  Of course, my kids are older, so we don't need many things in the interim.

[MrsRobinson]

56 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I haven't bought a house since 2001 and I'm still not ready to do it again.  I didn't even have to sell that time.  I've already decided that if we sell and move, we have to just live in an apartment for a month during the process.  When we bought this house we had to make an offer the very next day and there were three other offers on the table.  I know I'll need the emotional distance and physical security of being set up in a temporary abode, with the dog, and my son's medical equipment so my on market house can stay perfectly staged and we don't have pressure to choose from not-quite-right choices.  Of course, my kids are older, so we don't need many things in the interim.

Yes! There is a lot of pressure to make an offer, especially when the market is hot. 

We looked and one house and ruled it out. Then it went under contract and I thought, "oh no! We missed out! What did they see in that house that I missed?" So ridiculous, I know. 🙄

[hjffkj]

We just bought a house on Tuesday!! This was my first purchase. I went from my parents' house to a house dh bought right before we started dating and was there for 11 years before being able to sell. I hated that house!

This new house is perfect! We started looking at houses back in May right before we listed our house for sale. Our house sold in a day so we've been living at my parents' house while we search for what we needed.

There were a few house over the last few months that we liked and wanted to put an offer on but so many different things stopped us. Just when I thought we were taking a break on looking until the spring, dh randomly asks if we could go to an open house he got an email about. Reluctantly, I agree and immediately knew it was exactly what we'd been looking for.

Now that I've been living in it for a few days I know it is even more than we expected. I'm so happy. The most stressful period was from putting offer in too getting the inspection report. Once.the inspection was done I was done worrying.

[MrsRobinson]

@hjffkj That's awesome! Congratulations! I'm glad you love it. 😊

Edited March 3, 2019 by MrsRobinson

[AFwife Claire]

We will hopefully be buying a house later on this year . . .

Last summer we bought a house in Ohio, and we moved here (from northern VA) in August.  But we knew that houses in our (old) neighborhood really don't sell well after about June, so we didn't rush to get the house ready.  In fact, we had lived there for 14 years, with 10 kids, so the amount of stuff and minor wear/tear/damage was overwhelming.  My girls ran cross-country with their VA team in the fall (they did the workouts during the week in Ohio on their own, and then we drove back to VA for meets) so that gave us opportunities to pack up stuff we didn't get around to packing up before the moving truck came, as well as start on all the repairs.

Finally we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for the VA house, and the hardwood in getting refinished this week, then painting, then carpet, and hopefully we will list the beginning of April . . 

The house we bought here in Ohio is really small compared to our VA house (2200 sq. ft. instead of almost 5000), and it just doesn't work well for us, long-term, but we could afford it as well as the VA house.  So when (if??) the VA house sells, we will look around for a bigger house here and rent out this one.  Since the base is really close, hopefully that won't be a problem.

I've continued getting emails with new listings since last spring, and to be honest, there are just a lot of small ranches with no basements, or tri-levels in this area, and they just aren't big enough for us long-term.  I want a place where kids can come home too--but we still have 8 kids still at home, so I'd like at least 5 bedrooms, a big kitchen/eating area (we have a 10-foot table), and a basement.  Ideally, I'd want a main-floor master, so we could age in place here.  Houses like that are further south than we want to go, because we'd like to stay relatively close to my parents.  But in some ways I'm glad the "perfect" house hasn't come on the market yet, since we aren't in a position to do anything about it anyway!  Hopefully this summer though . . .

[Pink and Green Mom]

We just sold our house in FL about 10 days ago, and closed on our new house in SC this past Thursday.  We move in tomorrow.

Moving is the most stressful event I've ever been through.  The buying is sort of fun, but the selling is terrible in my opinion.  The lead up of work before you can list, having to deal with idiots, having to keep the house immaculate 24/7, the negotiations - it is terrible.

[DawnM]

7 hours ago, KrissiK said:

Just make sure your house is priced right. I always labored under the delusion that you should price high, you can always drop your price. Our realtor said that is not a good idea. He said once you start dropping your price the other realtors start “smelling blood in the water” and you start losing your negotiating edge. If it’s one thing i’ve Learned in this whole process is how important it is to have the negotiating edge.

Our realtor is all about comps and we were a little disappointed in how he suggested we price our house, but he ran the comps and gave us a range. We went at the top of that range and our house sold 8 days on the market.

 

We have a little bit of a harder time with comps.   Our house is too unique.  Everytime we have had our house appraised it has been difficult.  But we do have a range and we were actually a pleasantly surprised when she said what she thought we could get for our house.  But who knows if we will get that.

But we don't HAVE to sell and DH and I had a conversation about how low we would go and how long we would wait before we forget it and add on to this house or something, which I really don't want to do.

Edited March 3, 2019 by DawnM

[TechWife]

8 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

We are scheduled to look at three more tomorrow and, man, I'm getting tired of looking at houses and trying to make a wise (and apparently, fast) decision.

Take as much time as you need! Don't let real estate agents rush you. If you need to take a week or two off from house hunting for sanity's sake, do it! There is no "perfect" house, so I can assure you, you won't miss it! Your agent should have a good idea of what you are looking for and if, during that break, she thinks that a match has come on the market, tell her to call you. At that point you can decide if you want to go to see it.

[TechWife]

7 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

Man, that sounds rough! Are there not very many jobs in your area?

That is not a problem here! New listings in our price range pop up every few days but its hard to find something that works for our family. We spend so much time at home. Homeschool, work from home, and medical needs. As in, a basement for storage, shelter from storms, and even a family room is great but we need a setup that doesn't rely on stairs for dh. One we looked at had a basement garage. If he didn't enter the house through the garage, he'd still have a flight of stairs up a hill to the front door, so that wasn't going to work for us. 

We do really like our realtor but I worry she doesn't like us! We're too picky! 🤣

Ask your realtor to preview properties for you, or at least to call the listing agent and ask questions about the house to see if it will meet these basic access requirements. A good agent will do that for you.

[TechWife]

We are building this year.  Right now we are waiting for our building permit. It could take up to another month (there is a lot of development around here). The house should be finished sometime in the late fall. After we move, we will have some work done on our current house and then list it, hopefully w/in 4-6 weeks of moving out. Houses in our current neighborhood sell fast - one on our street sold w/in a couple of days just last week - so we are hoping it won't take long to sell. There aren't many neighborhoods with the same combination of house size, neighborhood amenities and proximity to schools & shopping. There are two elementary schools in walking distance (one private, one public) and grocery, etc., is less than three miles away. Houses are 15-20 years old at this point, but they are all well maintained (one of the benefits of having an HOA), which has helped our home values go up, not down.

[MrsRobinson]

2 hours ago, Pink and Green Mom said:

We just sold our house in FL about 10 days ago, and closed on our new house in SC this past Thursday.  We move in tomorrow.

Moving is the most stressful event I've ever been through.  The buying is sort of fun, but the selling is terrible in my opinion.  The lead up of work before you can list, having to deal with idiots, having to keep the house immaculate 24/7, the negotiations - it is terrible.

Congrats! I hope the moving process goes smoothly for you tomorrow!

[MrsRobinson]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

Take as much time as you need! Don't let real estate agents rush you. If you need to take a week or two off from house hunting for sanity's sake, do it! There is no "perfect" house, so I can assure you, you won't miss it! Your agent should have a good idea of what you are looking for and if, during that break, she thinks that a match has come on the market, tell her to call you. At that point you can decide if you want to go to see it.

The problem is we go way back with our agent and dh is still young and his chronic health issues are hidden. He's not in a wheelchair or using a back brace or anything. He actually did a few phases of building our agent's house 10 years ago!

We could telling she wasn't "getting" how drastically our situation has changed. So we arranged one of the meetings with her at our house using the kids as a reason not to come to her office. While she was here, we showed her Dh's set up in the living room that takes a lot of space, his set up in the bedroom (also space hogging), the kids were thrilled to show her the school room, packed to the gills with books, desks, projects, supplies, and more. 

Pretty quickly, she said she understood better what we are dealing with. 😄 So I don't think she'll be showing us anymore houses that rely heavily on the stairs, or have super small living rooms and bedrooms.  Here's hoping, anyway...

Eta: this was actually in response to your comments about our agent previewing properties for us. Lol! I can't do quoting well on mobile! 😂

Edited March 4, 2019 by MrsRobinson

[MrsRobinson]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

There aren't many neighborhoods with the same combination of house size, neighborhood amenities and proximity to schools & shopping. There are two elementary schools in walking distance (one private, one public) and grocery, etc., is less than three miles away. Houses are 15-20 years old at this point, but they are all well maintained (one of the benefits of having an HOA), which has helped our home values go up, not down.

Wow, sounds perfect! Why on earth are you leaving? Lol! 😂

[TechWife]

19 minutes ago, MrsRobinson said:

Wow, sounds perfect! Why on earth are you leaving? Lol! 😂

Our lifestyle doesn’t match the layout of the house, primarily. We need a large gathering room or two, space for our adult son to spread out some (he has ASD and will be living with us for the foreseeable future) and we want to increase the likelihood that we will be able to age in place for a longer period of time by getting a first floor master and the option to add an elevator at a later date (the shaft is going in as part of the build). Younger families will appreciate our neighborhood schools, playground, pool, etc. more than we do at this point in time. 

[Liz CA]

I love looking at houses as long as I am not in the market looking to buy.

I dislike running from place to place, the bid escalation and having to make decisions within hours of viewing a house - I am not really an impulse buyer. I have postponed looking unless something falls into my lap. 

[Carrie12345]

19 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

Man, that sounds rough! Are there not very many jobs in your area?

 

I guess that depends on one’s definition.  It’s a semi-rural area, so commuting is normal.  It’s hard to find available properties outside of private communities and we have lots of wetlands, so getting usable acreage on private land within the township is mostly waiting for people to get too old to maintain their property, and hoping they don’t have kids who want it!

[Ottakee]

I sold and bought last fall.  I priced my house right and it was a hot market.  I priced very fairly (under what I thought but my realtor was experienced).  We had calls for showings within hours of it hitting the listing on a Wednesday and by Friday I had 4 firm offers on the table....all above asking price.  I ended up taking an above asking price CASH offer with a quick closing that day and cancelled the open house for the following day.  For a lot of reasons, it was a very wise decision even if I might have been able to get a bit more from someone else.  The cash offer with quick closing allowed me to avoid owning 2 homes at once and needing to take out a mortgage.

Ok, all of that to say, if you see something you are interested in and the market is fairly hot, go see it ASAP as it might be under contract before the open house even happens.

I bought a house that was for sale by owner.  I found it on Zillow as it isn't on the MSL from realtors.  I got a very very good price on the house....likely $30-40,000 below market value.  So the hint there is also check the for sale by owner listings and check websites that list those.  I was checking the websites several times a day for new listings.  Also, this house was just what I said I did NOT want......it was in the township and I said if I wasn't going to be rural I wanted city and I said I didn't want a subdivision.  I got both and couldn't be happier.  We have no HOA or association rules, access to public transportation at our driveway and a huge network of bikepaths and parks just a block away.

[KrissiK]

1 hour ago, Ottakee said:

I sold and bought last fall.  I priced my house right and it was a hot market.  I priced very fairly (under what I thought but my realtor was experienced).  We had calls for showings within hours of it hitting the listing on a Wednesday and by Friday I had 4 firm offers on the table....all above asking price.  I ended up taking an above asking price CASH offer with a quick closing that day and cancelled the open house for the following day.  For a lot of reasons, it was a very wise decision even if I might have been able to get a bit more from someone else.  The cash offer with quick closing allowed me to avoid owning 2 homes at once and needing to take out a mortgage.
 

This is similar to our situation. Our house was priced fairly (lower than we thought should be, but our realtor had run the comps and he was the experienced one) and we had 2 good offers two days after the first Open House, both a bit over asking price. We took the second (lower of the two) offer because their house was already in escrow and they were very motivated. It’s been a pretty short and easy escrow and they haven’t asked for anything. The more people pay for a house or if they feel they aren’t getting a good deal, the more they try to negotiate.

[Scarlett]

15 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

The problem is we go way back with our agent and dh is still young and his chronic health issues are hidden. He's not in a wheelchair or using a back brace or anything. He actually did a few phases of building our agent's house 10 years ago!

We could telling she wasn't "getting" how drastically our situation has changed. So we arranged one of the meetings with her at our house using the kids as a reason not to come to her office. While she was here, we showed her Dh's set up in the living room that takes a lot of space, his set up in the bedroom (also space hogging), the kids were thrilled to show her the school room, packed to the gills with books, desks, projects, supplies, and more. 

Pretty quickly, she said she understood better what we are dealing with. 😄 So I don't think she'll be showing us anymore houses that rely heavily on the stairs, or have super small living rooms and bedrooms.  Here's hoping, anyway...

Eta: this was actually in response to your comments about our agent previewing properties for us. Lol! I can't do quoting well on mobile! 😂

Have you considered building?  

When I look at houses now it is all about the location to the city because if it is on the far side of this small town it adds another 15-20 minutes to dh's long commute.  But I also want a home that flows well and has good curb appeal and no gross neighbors....which of course can change overnight, but I am not going to deliberately move next door to a mess. And as we are getting older, I am definitely thinking about dh especially since he has quite a few health challenges. 

 

[MrsRobinson]

3 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Have you considered building?  

When I look at houses now it is all about the location to the city because if it is on the far side of this small town it adds another 15-20 minutes to dh's long commute.  But I also want a home that flows well and has good curb appeal and no gross neighbors....which of course can change overnight, but I am not going to deliberately move next door to a mess. And as we are getting older, I am definitely thinking about dh especially since he has quite a few health challenges. 

 

 I would love to build! And there are good lots here we could pay cash for! Unfortunately, dh doesn't want the hassle of building. He just wants to move in to something now and be done with it. I was bummed. I made a really good case for building! (Sigh)

Eta: you're building, right? Is that this year? How's it going for you? 

Edited March 4, 2019 by MrsRobinson

[Scarlett]

2 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

 I would love to build! And there are good lots here we could pay cash for! Unfortunately, dh doesn't want the hassle of building. He just wants to move in to something now and be done with it. I was bummed. I made a really good case for building! (Sigh)

Eta: you're building, right? Is that this year? How's it going for you? 

Well, we haven't put our For Sale sign out yet.  I think we are really afraid we will sell it and then have to figure out where we are going to live!  We really just need to do it and get started.

[MrsRobinson]

27 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Well, we haven't put our For Sale sign out yet.  I think we are really afraid we will sell it and then have to figure out where we are going to live!  We really just need to do it and get started.

We lived in an ancient house in a sketchy neighborhood for a year while we remodeled our house. I hated it at the time but, looking back, it wasn't too bad. Again, we were young and stupid and had no kids! 😁

Figuring out temporary housing is extremely stressful so totally understand your hesitation! 

[shawthorne44]

Yes, we'll be buying two and selling one.  

The house I bought as a single, and I always planned on renting out has gotten too expensive for a rental.   So we will be selling it and buying two farther out from the hot zone.  It is still extremely stressful.   I've bought two houses, but both were from HUD.    Even at the time I knew that was the least stressful way to buy a house.   Reason being there was no seller or seller's emotions/flakiness.   

 

[MrsRobinson]

On 3/4/2019 at 4:25 PM, shawthorne44 said:

 I've bought two houses, but both were from HUD.    Even at the time I knew that was the least stressful way to buy a house.   Reason being there was no seller or seller's emotions/flakiness.   

 

Hmmm... That's interesting. I have been under the impression that there isn't room for negotiations on HUD or bank owned houses because they just list them for what they need to get the mortgage off their books. So you have to take it or leave it at their list price in whatever its current state is, because they are also not going to pay for any needed repairs. I wonder if it varies in different parts of the country.

Edited March 6, 2019 by MrsRobinson

[shawthorne44]

You are right in that they won't pay for any repairs.   But, wrong in that you have to pay the stated price.  

There is an inspection on the house before they list the house.   They don't want any complaints later about the inspection missing something.   So, they warn you about anything that might be bad.  For example, mine came with a warning to not use the fireplace until I had it repaired.  But, being Texas I said, "Meh"  About 5 years later I got a guy out and he just had to clean it.  So, they won't do any repairs, but you know what they are up front and that is considered in the price.   

On the stated price.  There is hidden price below which they reject an offer.   There is a super-secret formula that sets the hidden price.   Based on experience, the realtors can tell you what the secret price is.   On our second house it had to be a cash sale and we didn't quite have enough for the secret price.   You are supposed to prove that you have a bank balance with the amount of your offer.   So, we submitted an offer of what we had on hand which was 6K less than the secret price.  Every week we submitted another bid that was a little more than the previous.   Eventually, we hit the price the realtor told us and they accepted it.   So, he was accurate.  

But, where it gets easy-peasy is that after your offer is accepted.   That is it.   There isn't any Owner Person to deal with.  No one to coordinate repairs with.   No one that can change their minds and have regrets, or want to move the closing date.  No owner that needs to move out before you can move in.  You just get together your money and close on the house.  The realtor on my first house said that buyers usually move in when the offer is accepted.  Because there isn't anyone that cares enough to make sure that you don't.   So, you turn on the utilities and replace the front and back doorknobs.   

I had actually started the demolition in my first house before the offer.   The garage had a small electrolysis office added inside which made the two-car garage a no car garage.  I had that mostly removed before closing.     The appraisal I'd had done for my bank stated that it was worth more with the office removed, so I was increasing the value of the house.    

 

 

 

[MrsRobinson]

Well we finally made an offer on a house today!!!! Now I have to distract myself for the next 2 days waiting to hear back. Hopefully we will hear some thing before the weekend. 

I'm so stinking nervous! I can't focus on anything else! 

I finally found a house I love (I mean, it has things I definitely don't love, but I can't get everything I want in one house) and I am convinced they won't come down far enough in price. They should because the house is way overpriced. I thought it was but even our agent rolled her eyes and said its priced way too high. Anyway, I'm still convinced they won't accept our low offer. Just so I'm not crushed when they don't. 😬 

But I really love the house, so why not try, right? 

(Oh, and the kids love it too and dh is meh but he's always meh about everything. I didn't force him to sign the offer! 😁)

[Laura Corin]

Not quite.  We are getting the estate agent to take pictures of the garden/yard this summer, and we intend to put our house on the market in early 2020.  Once it's sold, we will rent for a bit until we find our next house. 

The current house is four bedrooms and three acres.  It's hard to heat and not on mains gas or sewage.  Both boys are at university now, and even if they come home again, it's unlikely to be for long as local employment is not great.  It isn't walking distance to anything really (although there are nice leisure walks).  We hope to find something that is cheaper, three bedrooms, in a walkable village (but still commuting distance to my work) and with a more manageable garden, as I want to have time in the summer to do more than just work in it!

[DawnM]

On 3/3/2019 at 7:53 PM, TechWife said:

Our lifestyle doesn’t match the layout of the house, primarily. We need a large gathering room or two, space for our adult son to spread out some (he has ASD and will be living with us for the foreseeable future) and we want to increase the likelihood that we will be able to age in place for a longer period of time by getting a first floor master and the option to add an elevator at a later date (the shaft is going in as part of the build). Younger families will appreciate our neighborhood schools, playground, pool, etc. more than we do at this point in time. 

 

I fully understand.  We live on 2.5 acres and that is unheard of in our area anymore.  And we have a large house.  But the layout is horrible.  It worked for us when the kids were little.  But it hasn't worked for many years now.   And I have always hated my kitchen and lack of family room.   I have a large living room in the middle of the downstairs, where it seems to echo into everywhere else in the house, and then a sunroom, which we sort of use as a family room.  But the boys' bedrooms are the biggest problem layout wise, and I am just DONE.

I am worried the layout will be a problem for selling.

[MeaganS]

We're under contract right now, probably closing in the next week or two. I mentioned the house before back in June when it went for sale. It was the house dh grew up in and fairly ideal for us, except that it's a bit in the older side (1970s) and needs a fair amount of cosmetic work. We won't be moving for a few months, so we will be doing a bunch of that work before we move in. Lots of painting, carpet, and yard work (plus we need to build a chicken coop). 

This process is so stressful, but also exciting. 

 

[Storygirl]

We bought and sold in 2018. TWICE!

Once for our immediate family, because we decided we should switch school districts. And then we sold my dad's house (which we owned and rented to him) and helped him move into a condo (which we now own and rent back to him).

DH and I have moved six times in twenty years. We have not stayed in one home for longer than four years so far even though we had hoped that each home would be our last. I am so done with moving! But we do think we will need to move one more time in the future, because we had to buy a house that will not be ideal for aging in place. It has been very stressful for me each time, so I have great sympathy for those who are in the process this year.

I hope it goes well for all of you!

[MrsRobinson]

1 hour ago, MeaganS said:

We're under contract right now, probably closing in the next week or two. I mentioned the house before back in June when it went for sale. It was the house dh grew up in and fairly ideal for us, except that it's a bit in the older side (1970s) and needs a fair amount of cosmetic work. We won't be moving for a few months, so we will be doing a bunch of that work before we move in. Lots of painting, carpet, and yard work (plus we need to build a chicken coop). 

This process is so stressful, but also exciting. 

 

This is so cool! I hope you occasionally update the hive on updates to your new home, since its such a unique situation with it being your dh's childhood home. 

[MrsRobinson]

41 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

We bought and sold in 2018. TWICE!

Once for our immediate family, because we decided we should switch school districts. And then we sold my dad's house (which we owned and rented to him) and helped him move into a condo (which we now own and rent back to him).

DH and I have moved six times in twenty years. We have not stayed in one home for longer than four years so far even though we had hoped that each home would be our last. I am so done with moving! But we do think we will need to move one more time in the future, because we had to buy a house that will not be ideal for aging in place. It has been very stressful for me each time, so I have great sympathy for those who are in the process this year.

I hope it goes well for all of you!

Wow! You are a trooper! 

[KrissiK]

11 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

Well we finally made an offer on a house today!!!! Now I have to distract myself for the next 2 days waiting to hear back. Hopefully we will hear some thing before the weekend. 

I'm so stinking nervous! I can't focus on anything else! 

I finally found a house I love (I mean, it has things I definitely don't love, but I can't get everything I want in one house) and I am convinced they won't come down far enough in price. They should because the house is way overpriced. I thought it was but even our agent rolled her eyes and said its priced way too high. Anyway, I'm still convinced they won't accept our low offer. Just so I'm not crushed when they don't. 😬 

But I really love the house, so why not try, right? 

(Oh, and the kids love it too and dh is meh but he's always meh about everything. I didn't force him to sign the offer! 😁)

Yay!!! It’s good you made the offer. What have you got to lose??