Can't find a house I like.

[shortbun]

We've decided to leave our home of 20 years and find a ranch. We're excited that we'll be buying in a good market and our current home is in that category of 'it will sell no matter what' so all is good. I can not find a ranch home that is A. big enough and B. they all have bad floor plans and will require huge renovations which we CAN do but prefer not to.

We've seen sunken living rooms thus a huge loss of space to steps on two sides, bathrooms certainly built for very small people-narrow doors and showers faucets placed at 5'4". My husband is 6'5" and although he's not overweight, he's definitely NOT narrow. Tiny bedrooms, horrible laminate flooring(yes we can change this), cheaply done additions. The prices are too high too. We looked at a home yesterday for 269K with a stated 2,000sft and I would have paid maybe 200K but I swear there was not more than 1500sq ft there.

We drove by one advertised 'as is' for 259K and it's such a mess that we're not even going to look at it. We've just started to look and the first week we say a beauty for 269K but we didn't move fast enough and lost it. These other homes don't hold a candle to it yet are priced the same. I love my current home but arthritis is setting in for both of us and we NEED to move before we HAVE to move. Our house has stairs everywhere.

Before anyone says-"269K? That's cheap and why would you expect to get a nice house in that price range?" It's perfectly easy to get great homes in Columbus, Ohio(not the burbs but we're city folk) for between 200K and 300K which is our range. Yeah the burbs mostly requires that we start at 350K but we don't want to leave the city. We like wood work and art galleries and eclectic neighborhoods.

 

[Mom2Nick]

I love looking at homes in different areas.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6824-Linbrook-Blvd_Columbus_OH_43235_1102565970

 

[C.Ann]

My best advice is "don't settle".. DD's IL's were so frantic to move to an area close to DD and her DH's new home within 2 months of DD and her DH moving there, they grabbed the first thing that came along.. That was in 2006 - and they're still remodeling every single room in the house..

They too were looking for a "ranch" - and that's not even what they purchased.. They are very, very sorry now that they didn't take more time..

Good luck with your search!

 

[DrCavin]

Build new

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Toss out that notion of buying in a "good market" because that is alot of hooey.

We bought this house after 8 months of looking last Sept. I thought we would never get out of the apartment we were in. It really became frightening. We were sitting there listening to the news about a "buyers market" while we couldn't find a house in the area we wanted.

The good houses sell that day/week and the ones that are sitting need work, overpriced/people are upside down on their loans.

We did wait and did NOT settle until the right house came along. Well actually it was a model home that the builder wanted to dump that we had our eye on for awhile.

It takes the patience of a saint to look at homes today.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

If you haven't sold your house in 20 years, then it may come as a surprise as to how little you get for your money, even today.

And I caution you about believing that "our house will sell no matter what". This is my sixth house, and I am in what used to be one of the hottest neigbhorhoods in the country. There are people here who have lost their homes because they gambled and lost on the belief that their house was a hot property.

If you can't find what you like, just for fun, look in the 350 price range. Just keep going up until you find what you want.

If you are looking and can't find what you want in your price range, it's because what you want isn't in your price range.

Just be careful, don't be greedy, if it looks too good to be true it is, and you'll know it when you find it.