Did you find the perfect house? If so - HOW!?

[Disney Princess 6]

We've been looking only for a couple of weeks, but so far, we aren't finding what we want. Of course, it doesn't help that we're looking in 3 communities that aren't very close to where we live now. That makes it very hard to drive by new listings.

There's really not much on the market right now. I thought this was the "hot" time to sell. My DH insists on a finished basment - and we have a laundry list of other features we want too.

Our own house isn't on the MLS yet. We're getting it ready. There's that whole issue of whether to sell your house first or buy the new house first. Either way is wrought with problems!! Just wondered if anyone else is in this quickly-sinking boat. I'm feeling like we may never find what we want.

 

[Meriweather]

We bulit it!

 

[bananiem]

LOL, Meriweather!!! That was my response!!
Seriously, I used to go to a lot of Parade of Homes and at one I really, really liked the layout. They had some copies of the plans there so I took one and put it in a folder. Within 1 1/2 we moved, found the perfect lot, and built this house!!
Unfortunately we need to move an hour east. We looked this last weekend but didn't find anything close to what we want. There are plenty of houses in our price range, just not "perfect." We're actually thinking of building it again!

 

[DemonLlama]

Search www.realtor.com for houses on the MLS.

I put together a spreadsheet that listed positives, negatives, and anything missing on our "must have" list, plus a small picture of the home (from realtor.com). I searched the addresses for the tax information so I also have a column that compares the appraised value of the house versus the asking price. We've been able to compare at a glance much easier this way.

 

[soccerchick]

We're having ours built now I can't wait!

Hmmm...we have a full finished basement...what else are you looking for ? Our house goes on the market in June or July.

 

[CamColt]

Yep! We found it by not looking. We had been looking a little but then I lost my job so we stopped. After that, maybe every few months, Id just hop online and see what was in the area that we really liked(near my parents). Wouldnt you know one day, there was our dream house...well, our dream house within reason. Not being pre approved or pre qualified or anything we thought we didnt have a chance to get it. Plus we needed to sell our previous home fast if it were to work out. Somehow everything fell into place and less than 2 months after finding it not even finished being built, we were moved in .

 

[GlennandAnn]

We had decided to build because we couldn't find a reasonably priced house with everything we wanted. We found the subdivision we wanted to build in, and selected the model of our dreams, and then the builder said they were no longer building that model in that subdivision!!

We were disappointed, and on our way out of the dream subdivision, I noticed another subdiv. across the street and asked DH to drive though just for kicks.

Of course we found the house we ended up buying! It has everything we were looking for, and the price was a bargain too.

Ann

 

[mudnuri]

I dont think you can really find your dream house ever..even with building it.

I think of all of our family who have bought or built...and I can hear them saying " I wish I had this or I wish I had that.."..even the ones that built.

I would definetly have to build to get the house I would really love...not many have 2 bedrooms with an adjoing bathroom (think brady bunch)..that I want for my DD's a finished basement, 4 bedrooms, an office, living/dining kitchen open concept, and a 4 car attached garage...all built to a cape style LOL...

We're in a house now that we like..dont love it at all, but love the neighborhood, and while the DD's are young, thats more important to us...but a 3 bedroom 1 car garage ranch is a LOT smaller than what I'd LOVE....2nd floor would be HEAVEN!

LOL

Brandy

 

[ValerieK]

We looked for a long time to find our house. We live in an area with a hot real estate market, it was crazy. We looked for a while, found a nice house that needed lots and lots of work and put a bid on it. When the home inspector came out we discovered that when they added an addition, they did it incorrectly and it was leaking everywhere. Well, we backed out of that house and stopped looking actively for a while. We then saw a listing for an older house and started looking again. By the time we got around to this housing prices went up a lot. We eneded up being priced out of the community that we were living in. Well, we could get a bigger townhouse, but could not afford a house in a good school district. I started getting upset, thinking we were never going to find a house. We ended up finding a house that fit our criteria, except it was a little farther away from DH's work and it had electric heat and not gas. I love this house, yes there are things that I want to change and I wish I had a bigger laundry room, but I love it.

I am so glad we waited to find a house that we love and not to compromise on important things. Everyone kept telling us that we would find the right house and we did. Just keep looking and you will find it.

Sorry so long.

 

[monkeyboy]

I only wish I could afford a house...never mind a dream house

 

[CamColt]

Originally posted by ValerieK

I am so glad we waited to find a house that we love and not to compromise on important things.

I totally agree with this! When we were looking before we knew about me losing my job, we found alot of nice houses but nothing that we really loved. I kept saying to DH I dont want to move to a little better house, but still not love it just for the sake of moving, I want to find a house and say "THATS the house". In the end thats exactly what I did.