Buying a new house - what is on your "shopping list"?

[tink38]

Okay, we FINALLY closed on our house in Louisiana and are ready to start looking for a new home/life in North MS. I've already started my list - big kitchen opening to the den/family room being at the top (I cook - ALOT). I'd also like an attached garage and 3 bedrroms. The 3rd bedroom would be for my studio. Also, I would like to have the master bath right off the master bedroom. I know this is common nowadays, but y'all have no idea what I was living in prior to THE HURRICANE.

Anyway, we will be starting our search Saturday. I'm just curious to see what y'all can/cannot live without in your dream house. Please share!

Monique

 

[Planogirl]

When we searched for a home a few years ago, I had a mental list. It included:

Pantry
Fenced yard
Minimum two full bathrooms
Attached 2 car garage
Large kitchen with plenty of cabinets
Entry closet
Linen closet
Wood or tile floors
Office area (we use the separate front dining room for that since we have a separate dining area off the kitchen)
Trees!

We got everything but the wood floors only cover the entry hall and kitchen/dining area. We still have way too much carpet. Funny, I don't mind carpet in the bedrooms but don't like it in the living areas.

 

[luv2nascar]

garage is a must - we have attached 1 car. I would love to have 2-3 car garage.
We have an island in our current kitchen and I HATE it. I would prefer a bigger kitchen with table in center - not the nook thing off the end.
we have 3 bedroo

 

[Martha7]

Do you have kids? A good school system is critical, since it'll affect your ability to sell the house, should you need to move away. If you have no kids, it isn't as important but can be a factor in attracting buyers. We really like having a three car garage, so that we don't have to scrape ice off of our windshields in the winter! We could really do without a formal dining room and a family room at this point, since our finished basement has a TV area. I love having a vanity where I can sit down to do my hair and makeup! This is something I'll insist upon in all future houses. I like having a gas rather than an electric stove, but that depends on what you learned to cook on. Definely an attached garage and indoor laundry facilities, (don't laugh, I grew up in a "historic" home, where we had to go outside to the garage to do the wash! Plenty of closet space is also important, especially since you might need to sell the house and you can bet that the next owner will care about that. If possible, see if you can get something that's wired for the Internet, ( this would be 1999 or more recent in construction.) I have a long list of demands! I need one bathtub somewhere in the house, even if it's in a guest room. I'll stop now, since I think I could go on and on! Oh yeah, it'd be nice if the airport were no more than a half hour away, and decent shopping about 20 minutes away!

 

[doxdogy]

Huge kitchen, garden tub in the master bathroom, walk in closets, fireplace and a living room and family room.

 

[tink38]

garage is a must - we have attached 1 car. I would love to have 2-3 car garage.
We have an island in our current kitchen and I HATE it. I would prefer a bigger kitchen with table in center - not the nook thing off the end.
we have 3 bedroo

What's a "nook thing"?

 

[Stacerita]

My "shopping list" is huge. But there is one thing that I always look for is a huge porch. If its a wrap around its even better. I also want a big kitchen and a large back yard. Those are the top things I look for. The rest of my list goes on for miles.

 

[disykat]

When we searched for a home a few years ago, I had a mental list. It included:

Pantry
Fenced yard
Minimum two full bathrooms
Attached 2 car garage
Large kitchen with plenty of cabinets
Entry closet
Linen closet
Wood or tile floors
Office area (we use the separate front dining room for that since we have a separate dining area off the kitchen)
Trees!

We got everything but the wood floors only cover the entry hall and kitchen/dining area. We still have way too much carpet. Funny, I don't mind carpet in the bedrooms but don't like it in the living areas.

This was almost exactly our list! We also use the dining room as a den because we have a large eating area off of the kitchen. Trees were one of the most important items on our list too. The only thing different is we didn't want tile.

We settled without a pantry or fenced yard (we put a fence up ourselves) because we got lots of trees.

I had some picky items that we got. I wanted the master bedroom to be slightly seperate, but not too far away from the kids - no shared walls. I wanted a breakfast bar I could put stools at. I also wanted only a minimal amount of direct afternoon sun in any windows - my last house sweltered.

 

[golfgal]

Besides the usual, big kitchen, etc. I want a big laundry room where I can keep dirty laundry and a place to fold clean laundry on the main floor. We are waiting to hear back on the offer we put in on the house we found that met most of our "list".

My current laundry room has the original kitchen cabinets from our house along with counters with a TON of storage space and most of the laundry rooms I saw were either a closet or a walk through from the garage with ZERO room for clothes baskets.

 

[tink38]

Do you have kids? A good school system is critical, since it'll affect your ability to sell the house, should you need to move away. If you have no kids, it isn't as important but can be a factor in attracting buyers. We really like having a three car garage, so that we don't have to scrape ice off of our windshields in the winter! We could really do without a formal dining room and a family room at this point, since our finished basement has a TV area. I love having a vanity where I can sit down to do my hair and makeup! This is something I'll insist upon in all future houses. I like having a gas rather than an electric stove, but that depends on what you learned to cook on. Definitely an attached garage and indoor laundry facilities, (don't laugh, I grew up in a "historic" home, where we had to go outside to the garage to do the wash! Plenty of closet space is also important, especially since you might need to sell the house and you can bet that the next owner will care about that. If possible, see if you can get something that's wired for the Internet, ( this would be 1999 or more recent in construction.) I have a long list of demands! I need one bathtub somewhere in the house, even if it's in a guest room. I'll stop now, since I think I could go on and on! Oh yeah, it'd be nice if the airport were no more than a half hour away, and decent shopping about 20 minutes away!

You bring up a good list of points - all of which I agree with. I'd love to have a place to sit and do my hair and makeup. I prefer a gas stove as well, but I'm learning on electric. If it's electric, it will definitely have to be a smooth top or it's a deal breaker. I know all about the indoor laundry vs. the outdoor one. We had an outdoor one when we lived in Lakewiew. It was NOT fun. It flooded frequently. Closet space, I agree with. I did not even have my own closet in LA. We used the Laundry room for our closet.

Internet is no problem. DH wires those for a living.

Thanks for your input!!!

 

[tink38]

My "shopping list" is huge. But there is one thing that I always look for is a huge porch. If its a wrap around its even better. I also want a big kitchen and a large back yard. Those are the top things I look for. The rest of my list goes on for miles.

I'm a veranda girl, myself. Ive always wanted one to read on.

 

[kbkids]

We ended up having to build because I couldn't find what was on my shopping list.

1. Great school district - I was only willing to go with one in our area.
2. 3 bedrooms - each with their own private bath.
3. Master bathroom with soaking tub and walk in shower.
4. Kids bedrooms a minimum of 14'x13' - around here 12'x11' is typical.
5. Study/living room.
6. Dining room.
7. Family room large enough to hold our huge entertainment center.
8. Bathroom exiting out onto back patio for pool bath.
9. Large back patio for hot tub, grill, seating, etc.
10. Large laundry room.
11. Kitchen with double ovens and cooktop and large pantry.


I'm just too dang picky!

 

[FreshTressa]

Lets see...we just put an offer in today on a new house..my list was..


Mud room
Linen closet(s)
walk-in closets in kids bedrooms
upstairs laundry
bathtub big enough to cover my thighs
built in desk area in the kitchen
prefer island in the kitchen
Pantry

 

[Divamomto3]

I'm about to build. My list is too long. LOL

1) School district was the most important
2) 4 bedrooms
3) large master bedroom with bathroom that has a jacuzzi tub and walk in closet
4) fireplace
5) huge kitchen with island and granite counter tops & stainless steel appliances
6) hard wood floors in kitchen, living room, dining room, and foyer
7) level lot with flat driveway
8) front porch

there are many more, but those are the biggies

 

[tink38]

School district is very important to me as well. I hear that the Desoto County Schools are all great, so I'm not too worried about that. My son just qualified for the gifted program, so I am excited about that. All of his friends will be going to the Desoto Central school, so I'd like him to go there. Any fellow MS peeps out there that would care to comment on an area/subdivision? I've looked in Central and Ansley Park, so far.


Monique

 

[barkley]

our house will be going on the market in a couple of weeks, and it's nice to see that we will offer most of what you have on your wish lists! the real selling point to us when we bought new was having a quarter acre lot (rare for a home in california) and a huge covered front porch. we also liked that the kid's bedrooms are twice as big as most offered in new construction these days (they could easily handle a king bed and have room for play/furniture)-i DETEST the small bedrooms that make life with a single bed tight!

i love having a huge kitchen that looks into my great room-it makes for much more enjoyable evenings with the family. i would def. look for a new home offering that. i also love my garden tub in the master bath and like having the shower separate (i hate the idea of sitting on something other people stand in-just unappealing to me ). i also (if we choose to look for as large a home as we have now-2500 sq. ft) would want to stick with it all being on one level-running up and down stairs after the kids does not appeal to me (and i've always disliked the idea of sleeping on a different floor from kids-at least while they're still young and may call out for me in the middle of the night-too many memories of a friend's sister who went looking, half asleep, for mom and dad in the middle of the night and tumbled down the staircase ). the only thing i truly crave is an old style walk in pantry (more akin to the style of laundry rooms now-long and narrow)-i could store my big appliances as well as the items i can, all easily accessable.

 

[siouxi31]

My list includes:
1) no wasted space (that means no vaulted ceilings and "views to below")
2) large laundry room on the first floor with cabinets to store everything since I like things in their place.
3) basement
4) 3 bedrooms, each with a walk in closet
5) master bedroom that doesn't have a sitting area since I can't imagine using that.
6) large functional kitchen. A walk-in pantry would be great.
7) central vacuum system
8) whole house exhaust fan
9) den/study
10) I don't want to walk into the front door and immediately be greeted by stairs that bring you to the 2nd floor.
11) master bath with separate tub and shower
12) master walk in closet would have to be large enough for drawers, hangers to decrease the amount of furniture in the bedroom.
13) large entryway closet. We can never fit enough coats into our current closet.
14) 2 car garage at minimum.
15) exposure with some sun in the backyard so that I can have a garden.
16) good schools.
17) not on a busy street
18) not far from work.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Anyway, we will be starting our search Saturday. I'm just curious to see what y'all can/cannot live without in your dream house. Please share!

Monique

Now you did say "DREAM HOUSE" right? After buying a fixer-upper (1st house), then building one, and now we are in our 3rd house (brand new Spec house)....our list is LONG.

2-story, 3 car, 4-5 bedrooms, 1 office for DH with bathroom w/ sitting area so he can watch TV, hearth room w/ desk for my computer in kitchen, mud room for the dogs, dirt, and shoes, screened in porch/deck in back, pool w/pool house w/ guest bedroom.

As far as layout, I want 2 Master Suites on the main floor.
Then 2/3 bedrooms upstairs. Each with own bathroom and I would like a "living area" in the bedroom or connected to a "media area" that is closed off.

I also would like an outdoor kichen area.

Oh yea...we may build and get some of this but not all of it. One of these days!!!!

 

[mom2rb]

I want big bedrooms for the boys. DH and I were moody teenagers so we figure our boys will need somewhere big to escape their horrible parents.
Big closets, I am sick of storing things under the bed.
I want a very large game room. DH loves to play pool. We also want a large backyard. We want a pool and room for the dogs. I also want a bigger shower in the master bath but I don't want to give up my garden tub to get it.

Since I changed all the flooring in this house it isn't a big concern to me. I think it would be harder to change rooms and showers than flooring or counters.

 

[NMAmy]

We just bought our house two years ago and they're taking me from there to the nursing home. I love this house and I never want to move!

Selling points:

Sunroom--accessible through french doors in the family room and off the deck by a sliding door.

Open floor plan on the first floor. It's great for parties.

Finished basement--the basement has an office and a family room with a gas fireplace. It also has a laundry area and built-in shelves for canned goods and storage. A cedar-lined closet down there as well which works great for formals, etc.

We're turning our living room into a library/dining room with built-in bookshelves and a big table for working and to host big family dinners. With two family room areas plus the sun room, we found ourselves never going in that room so thought...let's change it.

Well-established, low maintenance landscaping--front and back. Big back yard with large pine trees around the perimeter--very private.

Hardwood floors in all the upstairs bedrooms. Bedrooms are on the small side but adequate for a family of 4--which means we have an extra bedroom up there since we're a family of 3. Two full baths upstairs and 1/2 bath downstairs.

I just love this house--DH was kind of neutral about it at first but I talked him into it and now he loves it as much as I do.