S/O...What do you love/hate about your current home?

[bsblady01]

I love that I own a part of my family's history . I just wish I lived closer to my parents and my brother.

 

[Momto2minniemice]

Pros- I like the layout
Laundry near the bedrooms
Cons- 4 FLIGHTS of STAIRS!
Small Kitchen
No yard
Its a Condo
Thin walls (but good neighbors)
No extra storage in the house
Master bedroom is too big
No room for dirty clothes in kids bath room
4 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS!!!

 

[dotfurio]

It's not our forever home, but we'll probably be here until my mom passes and the kids graduate or until we retire. Then I want to move out of this area - the air quality is notoriously terrible, the summers are way too hot (driving up our PGE), and there's really not a lot to do here, at least not that interests us.

Specifically to our house:
CONS-
no sink in the laundry room and no room to hang dry or dry flat
no pool (though that's fixable with $$$)
when you come in from the back yard, you have to walk through 3/4 of the house to reach a bathroom, so we are constantly tracking dirt through the house
tile counter tops(also fixable with $$$)
the kids rooms are small
I want a front bath with a separate sink/shower area so they both can get ready at once
wish I had a separate shower/tub in master

PROS-
good side of town with good schools
double cul-de-sac
huge backyard
huge kitchen
walk in master closet, though it's a little too small for us
walk in pantry

 

[ronandannette]

...Last spring a previously unidentified bush on the side of my house broke out into glorious lilac. Having a lilac bush was always something I dreamed about, but couldn't have known about during the month when we actually went to tour the home (unless I had brought my tree identification books to the open house....which would have been silly). This pretty much proved to me that the house was meant to be.

Excellent score! I LOVE lilacs . I definitely would have taken it as a "sign" too - enjoy!
P.S. DH bought me a sapling lilac bush and planted it in our "yard" last spring - it was such a sweet gesture but I don't like it's chances.

 

[bluezy]

Just wanted to say that I'm jealous! (Not of the snakes or the deer, I have those too ) But your house sounds perfect!

Thank you. We worked hard to make sure we spent our money wisely and built the right house for us. We were blessed with a fabulous custom builder who really "got" what we wanted in a home.

 

[NewRVLady]

BEST thing about current house is CORNER lot!
Had room to have a 4 car garage/carport from side street ( at one time we had 2 boats-one freshwater, one saltwater-so both covered)
No neighbors on one side-bigger lot-and we already have 1/2 acre

 

[Piglet4Ever]

Wish we had more wall space for hanging all my Disney pictures, otherwise I love my house.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

We just moved to a new home in a new state and overall we're very happy with it. We built it when we decided to make the move (we had time to plan), so we were able to get the things that are important to us and avoid things that are not, so overall we really like what we got. Three and a half things that we dislike, however, are:

1. The development is on much larger lots than we had in our last area with significant setbacks from the roads and other lots, and there are fewer children the age of our children in the homes around us (both because there are fewer homes, obviously, and because the families are older than ours), so making friends in the neighborhood has been more challenging than we'd hoped, particularly for our daughter who left a lot of really great friends.

2. There is no natural gas in our development, so we all have buried propane tanks. It's not a huge issue, and having been here a few months I see how relatively little we use per day so I'm no longer worried about constantly running out, but there's something about having 500 gallons of explosive fuel buried under your yard that makes me vaguely uneasy.

3. This is our first home in a HOA and I find it vaguely irritating. From what I've read ours is actually a less intrusive one than many, but the board, which consists of six stay-at-home-wives, meets seemingly all the time during the work day (at least once per week) and I have no idea what they're doing or what they're contemplating, and I find it odd.

The half thing is that, where we live now, it is basically unheard of to have a master bedroom on the second floor with the other bedrooms. In fact, our builder basically refused to build us a home with a second floor master. Because we have a son with fairly significant special needs that made us uncomfortable at first, but to be honest he has done really well having us on a different floor and we've all become more or less used to it. I still don't know that I prefer having the master bedroom on the main floor like people said we would, but I don't hate it the way I feared.

 

[low-key]

I dont like my house at all, but what I do like its in my hometown and like most of you, I like my town

 

[PigletsPal2]

Unless money falls down from the sky, this is the last house we'll own We bought it on a week-long fly-by trip to Florida during the last few months of our last overseas assignment before we retired.

Pros: It's a one story concrete ranch-style (safer in hurricanes) on a large corner lot.
We have three bedrooms, two baths, a separate family room, a table-space kitchen, a two-car garage. a screened-in heated pool and a vinyl privacy fence. We live close enough to the attractions that it's not a pain to get to them, but far enough away that we're not bothered by the tourist traffic. We're close to a county fire house, a well-equipped and well-staffed highly-regarded hospital, churches of every denomination, and loads of shopping opportunities and restaurants. The only thing we're missing is a bookstore.

Cons: This is a pro and a con: We don't have a homeowners' association. All neighborhood disputes have to go through the county, and while they're generally responsive to complaints, it sometimes takes awhile to get streetlamps replaced, vacant lots mowed, potholes filled, etc. We don't have much of a police presence in the neighborhood; we'll occasionally see an Osceola County Sheriff's car around the streets. We're actually closer to Polk and Lake counties than we are to the Osceola County seat. We call ourselves the step-children of Osceola County.

The house was originally a vacation rental, fully furnished, and while the furniture was OK, it was very Miami Beach and not really our taste. We replaced the furniture in each bedroom (one of the bedrooms was completely destroyed during the hurricanes of 2004, so insurance paid for that renovation) and in the family room. We added a china cabinet to the dining room, an entertainment center to he the family room, and DH's massive hand-made pine desk to the living room.

We've replaced all the appliances and the kitchen countertops There was nothing wrong with the appliances, they just didn't match. I had a black dishwasher, a white range, and a stainless steel refrigerator. The countertops were laminate, scarred, and an ugly color. We replaced them with a white-speckled granite and replaced the linoleum flooring with a wood laminate matching the cabinets.

I'd love to replace the carpet throughout the entire house, but that's an "as time and resources permit" project.

For the most part, we really like the house. Unfortunately, our deteriorating health is making it more difficult to maintain. Luckily our DDs live three blocks away and they take turns staying with me when DH is working in Washington. They willingly do all my housework and will only "allow" me to keep my own bedroom clean, do my own laundry and unload the dishwasher. I occasionally cook, but they do all the clean-up afterwards.

If we ever do downsize, DD#2 says she'll buy this house from us.

Queen Colleen

 

[sajetto]

We've been in our house for 9 years and built it from scratch. However since we've moved in, there have been several life changes. We wanted to keep our mortgage as low as possible, but honestly, there were a few things we really should have gone ahead and done from the very beginning. With that said:

PROS:

LOVE the floor plan. It is very practical and functional
LOVE the master bath. Almost like a spa with a flat screen tv and fireplace directly in front of the roman tub
Master Closet, size of a bedroom
Plenty of storage, every bedroom has a walk in closet
The pool that we had installed is wonderful and does so much for the curb appeal of the home. Also the kids love the waterslide and having friends over to enjoy it.
Size of the lot, we feel like we have plenty of personal space
Very close in proximity to parents, nice to have when there is an emergency with one of the kids
Really like the outside style of the house. I really like houses with dormers
Plantation Shutters, this house has them throughout, and they are great for privacy
Affordable Mortgage, just 14 more years! LOL Getting it paid off before the kids go to college!

CONS:

Kitchen is too small thought it was perfect in the beginning, but 2 kids later we are cooking a lot more and could use the space
Unfinished upstairs, we would like the have a playroom and an additional guest room
NO GARAGE...THIS IS THE WORST
Commute to work: Mine is 30 minutes, his is 45 minutes.....we would like to live closer to work
The old one room school behind our house. (It was built in 1895 and my grandmother used to teach in it, but it isn't treated as a historic landmark and is falling apart. We would really like to plant a large hedge to hide it, but can't because of the 100 foot right of way that the power company owns.
No basement

 

[knkmom]

We purchased our home when we were first married and always knew we would stay here until dh retires. Haven't decided if we will ever sell and move somewhere else yet.

What I love.....
-depending on traffic Disneyland is a 30 minute drive away!!!!
-since we remodeled we have a nice open floor plan
-I have my own office/craft room/library
-we have one of the bigger backyards in our development
-great community

What I hate......
-too close to neighbors
-horrible parking, we are on the bottom of a cul de sac and have a tiny driveway so street parking is necessary and with everyone else wanting to park it can be a nightmare!
-the house is 2 stories, wish it was 1! Not sure why I insisted on having a 2 story home when we bought it.
-no laundry room, just a closet downstairs with room enough for just the washer and dryer.
-water heater is in a closet in the house, wasn't an issue until the day it decided to die and leaked EVERYWHERE!! Wish it was in the garage!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am late to the party, but here I go anyway.

We live in a rental town-home and have been in it 7 years as of the first--the longest I have ever lived anywhere. We will be moving this fall into a penthouse of a building being constructed now, so I am skewed towards cons:

PROs:

Location--this is the biggie, near the tram line, in a small town with everything and easy to get to the main city
Neighbors--I really like them, especially the ones we share a wall with
Yard--a fenced yard that is pretty private to enjoy outdoor time
Garage--lots of places in Germany do not have one, or even an easy place t park on the street

CONs:

Closed off kitchen--I much prefer an open kitchen
Too Big--twice the space we need; I end up cleaning (dust, etc) rooms which sit empty
Stairs--3 floors plus a basement means we are always hauling laundry, and other junk up and down, up and down
Loss of Privacy--our private yard has been much less so the past two years as a building is erected on the back border and when it is finished it will be cheap student housing, which I do not expect to be pleasant
Landlady: she is nuts and very difficult to deal with (to the point police and lawyers have been involved)
Low quality kitchen cabinets
radiators for heat --meaning in many places furniture cannot be pushed against walls, which means wasted space

 

[drinkme]

Pros. 4 bedrooms 3 baths. Good schools. Open floor plan that is great for parties.

Cons. No basement. Open floor plan that is awful for everyday living. Dh likes to watch tv & there's really no where else for me to be on the main level. I feel sequestered upstairs in my room if I want it quiet. Kids have no where to hang out alone with friends because we're all together on the main floor.

 

[Minnesota!]

small mortgage, huge yard, around the corner from school, tons of kids. We redid the kitchen and bath in the last year..


Hate? Hmm. No garage, 1 bathroom. Needs new windows. Area getting rough.

I go back and forth if this is our forever home - if it is, we are going to add on to the main floor...get laundry room up there and then have a deck/sun room. If it is not, we will stay until my younger son is in high school and move.

My dream single family home is a long rambler with a walkout basement. And, a huge eat in kitchen. I hate dining rooms and I hate fireplaces....the two things I do NOT want in any home I own.

My ideal location, though, would be in a condo.. I would love a huge condo. 4 bed/2+ bath. Underground parking, pool, balconies. With kids, it's not feasible...I want them to have green space to play bball in and streets to ride their bikes in.

 

[sksjasams]

We rent a 1600 sq ft duplex, that we love. Probably the closest thing to a house we will ever live in.

Love:
big great room
2 car attached garage
2 1/2 bathrooms - love having 1/2 bath on main floor
laundry on FIRST floor, not upstairs and not in basement

Hate:
no pantry
no linen closet
old windows (we put plastic on them in the winter)
unfinished basement (not really a hate, but wish it was finished)

Love/Hate:
DH loves the exposed basement with French doors.
I hate it because I feel we have no safe place if there is a tornado.

 

[MrsDuck]

Our only con is the HOA. I love everything else. DH would like more yard but I'm sure wouldn't want to take care of it.