Ever buy a house that you felt was right, but after you moved in, found that it wasn't?

[Boardwalk Jedi]

This becomes extremely important as you age. I get the whole "I don't want annoying neighbors and I want peace/tranquility" but I'd be too afraid to live so isolated as I aged.

Yup. Aside from possibly needing help, stimulation is so important as you age.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Not happened to me.. exactly. But... I empathize.
I downsized ... and I mean a Big downsize! It’s been an adjustment. I know in my mind and heart it was the right thing and honestly it’s beautiful .. albeit smaller home, I truly got Everything I wanted and customized. But the size?? Hmmm.. just one more room.. a great room lol

Actually I've heard of people who've done the big downsize, realized quickly that it was too much downsize, and moved again. I really sympathize with the OP. It hasn't happened to us, fortunately with a house, but with a car. Our first mini-van I thought I liked, but within a few weeks discovered I hated it. However, it just took more time to get used to-about 6 months. Hopefully, more time with the house is what you need. BTW, for anyone downsizing, we downsized from over 3000 ft to about 1/2 that, pool to no pool. Best decision we ever made

 

[amberpi]

This becomes extremely important as you age. I get the whole "I don't want annoying neighbors and I want peace/tranquility" but I'd be too afraid to live so isolated as I aged.

Or if you have any kind of health issues. I don't drive right now due to health concerns and being able to walk to places and easily get an Uber/Lyft is a godsend. I would hate not having neighbors should I need them.

 

[luvflorida]

this was the configuration in our last home. one solution we looked at was doing a pocket door but the studs weren't set up such that it would have worked, if we had not sold the home i probably would have investigated getting one of those sliding barn doors.


there's a house in our neighborhood that i think every owner ends up hating after 6 months to a year. if you are just looking at it when it's for sale it seems o.k. albeit small. once you've spent any amount of time even visiting in it you realize it's not only small but very poorly designed and really too small for even just 2 people. the place has resold more than any house in the neighborhood.

Hmmmmm...is that house in Florida and near Disney World? Sounds like this house, except I know the previous owners were here for six years!

I love the idea of a sliding barn door, but it wouldn't work in this case. The opening isn't large enough. We might be able to have a regular size door added, although the top of the entry is arched.

My parents just bought a home in Florida and they've already decided that their furniture is not going with them. They consulted with many people who moved to their neighborhood (tons of retirees) and overwhelmingly they were told that's it's best not to pay the moving fees and just buy new furniture when you get there and, as you've found, the old stuff most likely won't "work" in the new home.

...you could just plan on a local move if you can't get used to it. I can understand your frustration.

In hindsight, that's exactly what we should have done. It probably would have been cheaper, and certainly less frustrating, to have just sold everything and bought new after buying the house. We are going to give it some time to adjust, but if we do decide to sell and move, it will definitely be in the same area. We love the town and the proximity to the Parks. I love that we can go to Disney without going on I-4, which is the worst highway around here!

Anytime you have a pool, hot tub, spa... whatever... you are going to have problems with it... its just the nature of the beast...So it's just something you have to make peace with early on... You can plan on replacing a part or two at least once or twice a year, and the whole system every 3 to 5 years... ( these are the things that they don't tell you about when buying a house) The humidity here along with the heat, and the storms really does a number on those outside systems... We have had all of these things in our houses at one time or the other... we decided on a pool company to maintain it, honestly a pool, hot tub or spa or plunge pool can turn green overnight with some kind of algae, so you have to know what you are doing...to much of this or that will just eat up those plastic parts...

The swim spa is a good idea in concept, but not such a good idea in reality. It looks very nice and can be used as a spa/hot tub or as a small swimming pool. It has water jets that allow you to swim in place without actually going anywhere. I found that I could still swim and reach the side of the pool, so I have to either swim slower or find a way to make the water move faster. The swim spa was the thing that we both hesitated on, but since we loved everything else about the house, we decided it would be okay. We had a large, inground swimming pool in Arizona that we really enjoyed, and the grandkids loved. Funny, but I don't like the swim spa at all, but when the grandkids have visited us, they beg to go swimming in it! I guess they don't care how big or small a pool is. They like getting on their boogie boards and trying to swim through the water currents.

We do have a pool company that comes out weekly to take care of the swim spa, so that's a help. I actually looked into having the swim spa removed, but very quickly realized the cost would be tremendous, if it could even be done. Hopefully, it'll be selling point with other home buyers, if we decide to sell.

When DH and I were approaching age 55, we wanted to prepare for our retirement by moving to a house that had a first floor master bedroom. We decided to subdivide our 6 acre lot and build a modular home. DH wanted a cape and wouldn't even walk into the ranch models. We ended up with a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home that was 600 sq. ft. bigger than the home that we had raised our kids in. We actually both loved the layout and we had plenty of room for the kids when they came home to visit. It was just too big. Too much square footage to heat.

After about 6 years, DH decided that we should move once we retired. I agreed as long as it was close to our daughter (who was most likely to give us grandchildren.) We bought a lot 5 minutes from DD and started talking to builders. Then DH was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and in 13 weeks was gone. I made the move on my own and was very grateful that so much of the planning had been done. I had a house built that I still love, 6 1/2 years later, and it is half the size of the last one. While my new house was being built, I lived in DD's basement for 3 months and while I was there, my first grandson was born!

I'm so sorry about the loss of your husband. I think the next time we move it'll be to a townhouse or condo, where we no longer have to care for a yard or any other outside maintenance! Congrats on becoming a grandma!

I definitely think new houses take some getting used to. Each time we've moved, we've lost certain good things in favor of other (at the time, slightly more important) good things.

One other thing to keep in mind is that you probably haven't made new friends near your new house yet, and in the back of your mind, still miss the old ones. That probably seeps into how you see the house.

We've met a few of our neighbors and everyone seems very friendly, so there's that!

Actually I've heard of people who've done the big downsize, realized quickly that it was too much downsize, and moved again. I really sympathize with the OP. It hasn't happened to us, fortunately with a house, but with a car. Our first mini-van I thought I liked, but within a few weeks discovered I hated it. However, it just took more time to get used to-about 6 months. Hopefully, more time with the house is what you need. BTW, for anyone downsizing, we downsized from over 3000 ft to about 1/2 that, pool to no pool. Best decision we ever made

Thanks! Hopefully, we'll figure it all out and maybe with time, we'll see what we saw when we first stepped into this place!

 

[Disneybuckeye]

I hope that you really just need to deal with the issues and you will again be happy with your new house. Liking the neighborhood is great as that is the one thing that is really tough to fix. Get someone in to fix the pool and have a contractor come look at the driveway for options.

I know if it expensive, but I would keep replacing furniture as you can afford it. My parents bought a Florida home 13 years ago, but bought all new furniture that went much better than the house. They did keep their other house, so it was a necessity, but I don't think their old furniture would have looked right in their anyway.

We sold our 6800 square foot 120 year old Victorian last summer and are in an apartment while our new 3100 square craftsman bungalow is being built. Two rooms will have some of our current bedroom furniture, our dining room table and hutch are going, and our family room couch and loveseat are going in the lower level. I am replacing everything else so it matches and functions better in the house. We are also moving to a neighborhood ten miles away from where we lived the last 31 years. Getting everything new is part of the fun and excitement so I adjust better to a new neighborhood.

Good luck turning your new house into a home that you love.

 

[g00fy!]

Short story- We bought a house that we really liked. We've lived here almost two months. We are now feeling like we've made a mistake.

Long story- We've been on the West Coast for the past ten years (we're from New England) and last fall decided to return to the East Coast. Our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids have also decided to move back East. Yay! My husband and I knew we definitely did not want to move back to cold weather, and I've always wanted to live in Florida, so Hello, Florida!

We started house hunting as soon as we hit Florida. Now, we are not novice home buyers, and have owned six houses over the past forty years. Not liking a house after we bought it, though, is a first for us!

On the first day of house hunting with a local real estate agent, we looked at the house we ended up buying. I fell in love with the look of the house (Florida-style home with a large screened lanai) the view from the backyard, and the location. Everything about the house seemed right to both of us.

Edited to add: We did a lot of soul-searching and didn't decide on Florida on a whim. We've vacationed here for many years and are familiar with the area. We always figured we'd retire to Florida, but we took a ten year detour to Arizona! We are very excited to be back on the East Coast!

Since moving in, almost everything seems so wrong! A lot of our furniture didn't fit or look right, so we've had to purchase new items. The driveway is steeply pitched downward (which we knew, of course, but we had never actually driven down it until after we purchased the house) and is a pain to navigate, as it also makes a turn halfway up. The driveway makes it hard to get two cars into the garage. The house has a swim spa, which we're finding we're not fans of, and we've had issues with the heater. The layout of the house isn't as functional as we thought it would be.

On the plus side, we like the neighborhood and the area we moved to. We can be to Disney World in less than 45 minutes and we're thoroughly enjoying being annual passholders!

Just wondering if anyone else here has ever bought a house that you loved, but then found out you didn't? How did it work out for you?

Our first house we purchased I hated with a passion. It was a starter home so it helped that I knew we were not going to stay in it for long. I spent the next 3 years going to open houses and looking at models, so really got a feel for the area and what I was looking for.

During my weekend outings, we came across the perfect deal, the ultimate being in the right place at the right time. We upgraded immediately and thought it would be an interim house. But we ended up loving the house and the neighborhood and have been here now for over 20 years with absolutely no desire to move. I don't even want to downsize now that the children are grown, even though we should to get the equity out of the house.

Life is too short to not be comfortable where you live. Give it a year and then if it still doesn't feel right, put it up for sale. Spend some weekends looking at models or open houses when there is no pressure to buy. It gives you a whole different perspective. You will know when you find that dream house.

 

[Christine]

Life is too short to not be comfortable where you live. Give it a year and then if it still doesn't feel right, put it up for sale. Spend some weekends looking at models or open houses when there is no pressure to buy. It gives you a whole different perspective. You will know when you find that dream house.

I agree with this. OP, you are an experienced home buyer so you likely know if you'll get used to this or not. But if you don't feel better about it in a year, I'd move on.

 

[AgentMama]

I hated our second home and thought before we moved into it that we should love it. I did come to like it more after awhile, and part of that came with changing over the furniture and the decor so that it matched our new space. And part of it was a learning experience that there are some layouts I do not love. If you live in the space for awhile and find that it doesn't become comfortable, then explore looking for a space that will. Who wants to live in a house that makes them feel not at home?

 

[neverlandsky]

Our first home and only home we bought, we had a love/hate relationship with it. I almost back out from buying it due to the construction flaws of being newly built. We stayed for almost 7 years and then sold. It's funny because we're sitting here almost 3 years later missing some aspects of that house or maybe it's just owning in general.
I agree with above poster. We downsized from the house to rentals. We were automatically over downsized due to renting. Good thing we're still in a rental. Love the area we're in. We're looking to purchase soon. Definitely want something between 1400 sq. ft. - 1600 sq. ft.

The one thing we learned with owning a home, there's always something. Takes about 12 months to be fully settled anywhere with all the moving we've done the past few years.

 

[Wendy31]

Another thing that didn't seem like it would be a problem, turned out to be a problem. The master bathroom is beautiful, but it is open to the master bedroom. There is a door for the toilet, but not the rest of the bathroom. The bedroom has sliding glass doors to the screened in lanai, and we soon discovered that when taking a shower, if the blinds on the sliders are open, anyone out on the lanai can see right into the bathroom and shower. We just keep the blinds shut, which makes the bedroom dark. Better than opening and closing blinds every time someone takes a shower.

I wouldn't be able to handle a perpetually dark bedroom. I have to have our blinds open & natural daylight.

Instead of trying to come up w/ some kind of door for the bathroom, could you change the slider doors? Maybe a frosted glass or a stained glass?

 

[luvflorida]

Life is too short to not be comfortable where you live. Give it a year and then if it still doesn't feel right, put it up for sale. Spend some weekends looking at models or open houses when there is no pressure to buy. It gives you a whole different perspective. You will know when you find that dream house.

We are going to spend some time looking around the area at other houses to get a feel for what else is out there. I just have this feeling that we will definitely find what we're looking for, and like you say, we won't feel rushed the second time around.

I agree with this. OP, you are an experienced home buyer so you likely know if you'll get used to this or not. But if you don't feel better about it in a year, I'd move on.

We'll probably give it a year, but will look around at houses before then. We've never had this happen with any other house we've purchased. I think part of it may be that the last two houses we owned, we had built and everything in it we chose, so they really felt like OUR houses. This house just doesn't feel like OUR house, even though I'm working hard at it!

I wouldn't be able to handle a perpetually dark bedroom. I have to have our blinds open & natural daylight.

Instead of trying to come up w/ some kind of door for the bathroom, could you change the slider doors? Maybe a frosted glass or a stained glass?

Thanks for the idea! I don't think I've ever seen sliders with frosted glass, but I'm going to research it!

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

The second house we owned. I never could figure out what it was. The previous owners were honest, it was for sale by owner and the wife flat out told me "something isn't right about this house." They only lived there a year before moving. We liked that it was big, the location was great, the yard was nice, there wasn't anything outwardly wrong with it but I was extremely uncomfortable there. Luckily, after 9 months we ended up selling to relocate. The next owners didn't last long either, last time we were in town it was empty and looked like it had been for a while.

 

[luvflorida]

The second house we owned. I never could figure out what it was. The previous owners were honest, it was for sale by owner and the wife flat out told me "something isn't right about this house." They only lived there a year before moving. We liked that it was big, the location was great, the yard was nice, there wasn't anything outwardly wrong with it but I was extremely uncomfortable there. Luckily, after 9 months we ended up selling to relocate. The next owners didn't last long either, last time we were in town it was empty and looked like it had been for a while.

Wow, that's strange and very creepy!