What are your rules when searching for a new home?

[Spinneret]

For example no schools on the street
I will start
Must have bus routes

 

[tvguy]

That I don't recognize the street name from the police radios.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

No double yellow lines on the road (busy road)

 

[AnnaS]

Not looking but if we were, these come to mind

Not a busy street
No hospital, church or school within a few blocks
No gas station, jail, stadium or factory within a few blocks

 

[FlightlessDuck]

3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, an office, a big kitchen, and a garage. Pool and/or natural water preferable. Enough land that there's room for gardens and that we don't hear the neighbors most of the time. Northeast United States. Residential area (not on a "stroad").

 

[CaptainAmerica]

No double yellow lines on the road (busy road)

I live in a rural community and every road has double yellow lines by law. It drives me insane. I definitely don't live on a busy road, but the double yellows seem to encourage people to drive faster.

 

[tvguy]

Not looking but if we were, these come to mind

Not a busy street
No hospital, church or school within a few blocks
No gas station, jail, stadium or factory within a few blocks

One of the nicest residential areas we looked at homes in is across the street from Folsom State Prison.

 

[unrequited23]

Public water & sewer (no septic, no wells), paved driveway (no gravel), at least 2 bathrooms, washer & dryer in the house (not in the garage or on a porch) and a two car garage.

 

[Magical2017]

What others have said. I don't like street parking. I like the cars to be in driveways, garages, or under carports. If we move, I want a rancher that is move-in ready with less yard to mow. (We live on the east coast and do not have to water our lawns, so most people have a lawn in our area). When the kids move out DH and I might downsize. It's too much to keep up with. I'd rather travel.

 

[takemethere]

A great big modern kitchen finished basement built in pool 3 beds 2 baths at this stage a main road wouldn't deter me..

 

[tvguy]

Public water & sewer (no septic, no wells), paved driveway (no gravel), at least 2 bathrooms, washer & dryer in the house (not in the garage or on a porch) and a two car garage.

It is interesting reading everyone's "rules". I grew with well water. Nothing better. One of the nicest neighborhoods to live here all the homes have their own wells. They are surrounded by housing developments with water districts, and many efforts have been made by the water districts to annex those homes, but the resident keep saying no. My parents home was in that area and the well water was a selling point.

 

[HeatherC]

Public water & sewer (no septic, no wells), paved driveway (no gravel), at least 2 bathrooms, washer & dryer in the house (not in the garage or on a porch) and a two car garage.

That is funny…we would want a house with both septic and well. Had these most of my life. The one time I did rent after college, we had a water and sewer bill and I almost fell over the first time I got it.. Love not having to pay for that and as long as you maintain things, a septic and well are practically free.

Next house would need to be set back from the road with a private backyard. Oh yeah and walking distance to the beach.

 

[AnnaS]

One of the nicest residential areas we looked at homes in is across the street from Folsom State Prison.

I would worry more about parking. Any big business, company, etc. and no parking near a home. Some places one has to fight for parking, we don't all have garages, big driveways, etc. so places I listed is concern for parking. Maybe prisons have their own parking ? Have never been or visited one and hopefully don't ever need to

 

[tvguy]

I would worry more about parking. Any big business, company, etc. and no parking near a home. Some places one has to fight for parking, we don't all have garages, big driveways, etc. so places I listed is concern for parking. Maybe prisons have their own parking ? Have never been or visited one and hopefully don't ever need to

Well, MOST of the people at the prison don't have cars, at least there, LOL. You can't even see the prison buildings from the houses, it is set back over half a mile back from the main road, surrounded by a giant meadow. So it is like living across from a green area. This is the view. But you do bring up a good point. I wouldn't even consider living in a place without an attached garage and a driveway.

 

[DisneyHardin]

A double wide driveway so we aren't do the car swap all the time, a finished basement and large closets.

 

[AnnaS]

Well, MOST of the people at the prison don't have cars, at least there, LOL. You can't even see the prison buildings from the houses, it is set back over half a mile back from the main road, surrounded by a giant meadow. So it is like living across from a green area. This is the view. But you do bring up a good point. I wouldn't even consider living in a place without an attached garage and a driveway.




View attachment 705805

No problem finding a parking spot here

Prisoners do not have cars....maybe visitors - I know nothing about prisons except they are not all located in places like the picture you posted (I think anyway )

 

[JLTraveling]

Timely thread, since we're thinking of buying when the current lease is up. For us:

In the historic district
At least 3 bed/2 bath
Working sewer pipes (don't even ask what happened in our previous rental)
Either a front or back porch or balcony, or enough space to add one
On a road that doesn't flood every time it rains, or with an elevated driveway

 

[tvguy]

No problem finding a parking spot here

Prisoners do not have cars....maybe visitors - I know nothing about prisons except they are not all located in places like the picture you posted (I think anyway )

Well, most here in California tend to be built away from homes and anything else.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

2 bathrooms minimum

 

[barkley]

on a large scale (if a specific location is not required from the get go)-that my cost of living doesn't explode due to-

health insurance (based on my experiences both through prior employers and now medicare it can vary greatly-my former employer charged (then-more now) quadruple for people who lived outside a certain radius of their physical location),

taxes (city vs. county, special levies...),

fees (car registration, licencing...),

utilities (i'm in a non profit co-op which from what i see on recent threads on the dis is saving me a tremendous amount vs. any for profit),

insurance (varies GREATLY within counties let alone state to state),

when i was looking state to state-which do/do not have state income taxes.


maybe not a 'large scale to some'-but if you've ever experienced going w/o, adequate internet access. starlink exists but being on years long waiting list is no comfort when you are paying out the wazoo for other less than stellar service.