shopping for a house: what to look for?

[juliahenry]

DH and I have just decided that we're likely to move house (within the same city) sometime in the next year or so. We're doing this because we can, not because we have to, and we get to do it on our own timeline. Which is a huge change from the last two times we have bought, both of which have included a 300+ mile move.

Anyway, I'm starting to make a list. What's on your list of 'must-haves' for a family home? And any things you would avoid?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[downtoearth]

I guess it's good to know why you're deciding to move if you don't have to...that will help.

I would move within the same town for only 2 things - better location and outgrew a house.

[Susie]

We've only bought once, but our absolute, non-negotiable needs included:
- 3+ bedrooms
- 1.5+ baths
- approx 1500 sf or more (some flexibility here)
- school district of choice/county of choice
- open/flexible floor plan
- approximate yard dimensions/area
- dry basement
- quiet street, 25-30 mph speed limit max
- cable accessible (i.e. for internet)

and wants:
- fireplace
- deck
- 4th bedroom
- dining room
- both a living room and family room
- attached garage
- natural gas for heat/range
- central air
- 2 car (rather than 1 car) garage
- 2nd full bath

A winning house would have all the needs and almost all the wants. Ours was missing the 2nd car in the garage and the 2nd full bath (we have 1.5).

There was lots that we wished for, but was out of the budget. 2.5+ baths, solid surface counter tops, various updates, an older home in a neighborhood with other older homes, more land, etc.

[magdala9]

We divided the list into three.

1) Must Have
2) Must Avoid
3) Bonus points

Our must haves were:
Near specific public transportation lines (the ones that go to our jobs)
Quiet Neighborhood
House with character
Private driveway (we were looking in a city where this is a novelty)
Large Kitchen
2 bathrooms

Our must avoids were
Busy Street
Near Police, Fire, Hospital, Garage Nightclub (noise factor)
Multifamily house next door
Bottom of the hill (potential drainage issues)

Bonus Points
Fireplace
Garage
Top of the hill
Near friends

Good luck with your search.

[countthestars]

Must haves:
3+ bedrooms
2+ bathrooms
1700 sq ft or more (pref at least 2k)
Good school system
Garage
Open floor plan
Office space
Big yard
Separate office space
Gas stove

Nice to haves:
2 story foyer
fireplace
Bonus room
In a cul-de-sac

[thatgirl2478]

Well - we won't be buying another house for a while (at least I hope not) but if we were buying another house now, this would be our list:

NEED:
4+ bedrooms (all have to be decently sized - 12 x 10 is the smallest we would consider)
3+ baths
Kitchen with decent counter & storage space
Space in a basement for my glass cutting area & kiln setup
Good school district / location within the area
Nice neighborhood - ie the houses and yards are maintained
2+ car garage
Lots of storage space
At least .25 acres

Negatives:
Tiny kitchen/bedrooms
Weird layouts
In a location that's not convenient to activities & shopping
On a busy street
TOO close to businesses / hospitals / fire houses etc
Near water

[kaylie]

Must haves:
- four bedrooms
- 2.5 baths
- large kitchen with a good layout
- NOT open floor plan: must have separate family and living rooms
- basement (bonus points for finished)
- sufficient storage space
- specific school district
- two car garage
- no major systems that would definitely need replacing in the next five years
- not on a main road

Nice to haves:
- fenced yard (got this)
- updated kitchens and baths
- lot over .3 of an acre (got this)

Things I would take into account in the future now that we've bought a house:
- Landscaping - how high maintenance is it and will any trees need to be removed in the future ($$)
- How many "small projects" will need to be done? Because those add up both in time and money. Small projects we've discovered:
1. We need to add lighting to the upstairs hallway because there is only one light at the top of the stairs and the rest is dark.
2. We need to change hinges on all of the doors because they're rusty.
3. None of our ceiling fans connect to light switches and it will cost $200 a pop for the electrician to connect them.
4. Subfloor repair - if the floors creak you'll have to pay more to fix that when you replace flooring.
5. Changing front landscaping - this will be a ~$1,000 DIY project
6. Changing the ugly mail box is roughly a $250 DIY project
7. Replacing a rotting fence will probably cost us ~$3,000 in the next five years
8. Replacing an old bay window - this is the only original window and the cost for a new one will be about $5K installed.

A lot of this stuff is considered "small" and shouldn't be a deal breaker when house hunting, but I wish I'd known how fast the little things would add up.

[sillygoosegirl]

We've tried to put the most emphasis on the things you can't change about a house: location (convenience, school district, neighborhood, etc), lot (size, layout, how the house fits it, etc). This is for two reasons: moving sucks (we've moved a lot of times and want this to be our last move for a long time), and we're not convinced home prices have hit bottom yet (might be stuck with whatever we buy for a long time), and with interest rates low, we wan to keep the mortgage we get for a long time rather than risk needing to move and buying another house when interest rates are higher.

We also wanted a garage, 3+ bedrooms, 2+ baths, a fancy modern kitchen, hardwood floors, 1700+ sq ft. But we figured we could potentially expand a smaller house with a great location and lot. So those weren't requirements, except in so far as the house had to be cheap enough that we could afford to add them if it didn't have them already. If we get our short sale (supposed to hear next week!), it'll be 4 beds, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, 2300 sq ft, and a fancy kitchen. We'll install hardwoods before we move in. The location is fantastic, and the lot is good for the location (we could have gone for a nicer lot at a worse location, but a better combination has not been for sale in the past 2 years... and would probably be out of our price range if one came on the market anyway).

[drloretta]

Each list is personal and individual. We had must-haves like a basement, between a half acre and acre of land, flat lot, not in a flood plain, good neighborhood, price we could afford on one salary, and in our case an in-law suite or first floor bedroom. We didn't want a pool, a fixer-upper (minor fixes were fine), or certain towns/neighborhoods.

It's also a good idea to have some "nice to haves" that aren't dealbreakers but would make you happier.

[starlily]

I've lost count of how many houses we've looked at the past two months.

What we've determined is that floor plan matters most of all for us, other than school district. Size means nothing if it's not functional.

[stephm0188]

My must haves:
in desired school district
in a kid-friendly neighborhood
close to shopping
2 story with master on 2nd floor, master bath with separate tub/shower and dual vanities
4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths
2 car attached garage
white trim and cabinetry. I did not want to paint.
2000-2200 sq ft.
basement

Would like to have:
full finished basement
dining room
mud room
2nd floor laundry
decent landscaping
9ft+ ceilings
wood floors
non-open floorplan, no two-story spaces
large windows

We ended up with everything on our must have list except the basement. However, there was a bonus room over the garage and a large storage shed with a loft, so that helped. We ended up just shy of 3000sq ft, so that also helped make up for the lack of a basement. I did not get a mud room or wood floors, however, both are doable in the future.

[ssmjlm]

Our musts were much more structural in nature than cosmetic things. Location was also important, but we had narrowed that down to one county based on schools and property tax rates.

We had to have:
-crawl space NOT slab
-2 stories
-2 car garage (but didn't have to be 2 sep garages)
-3 beds
-2.5 baths

DH also looked at the windows, roof, siding, etc. Being this was our first house and 6 months before our wedding we didn't want to lay out $$$ on those things.

[hannamaren]

Oct 15, 2012 12:13:59 GMT -5 starlily said:

I've lost count of how many houses we've looked at the past two months.

What we've determined is that floor plan matters most of all for us, other than school district. Size means nothing if it's not functional.

I agree

I saw a place yesterday that had one room per floor. So many stairs! I have heard of split levels, but this was ridiculous.

[WOT?*]

The must-haves we don't have in this house are a large-enough laundry room and laundry sink and a garage with extra storage (or a 2.5 or 3 car garage.) Our last house didn't have enough electrical outlets/good locations for outlets and switches. It's the little things you don't notice or don't realize you have and will miss that you need to look for. I also like having the laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms.

Our next house will be our last (retirement) house. Must haves are:
One-story living (though walk-out/daylight basement is a "would like")
Nice master en-suite with bath and large wic
View and reasonably sized lot (at leat 1/4 acre; DH wants acreage and I want ocean/sound view so there will be a compromise in there somewhere).
Things to do rather than suburbia only (even if it's country-esque there should be farmers markets, town center, etc.).
Walkable (whether it's property or vicinity).
Great room (kitchen/dining/family), windows open to views.
At least one spare bedroom (with closet space) and preferably two, plus rooms suitable for man-cave/tv room and office.
Good sized second bath.
Adequate storage.
Laundry room with folding area and laundry sink.
Pantry in kitchen. (MIL complains regularly that her house doesn't have one and she's jealous that we do. She's right. I forgot about that one.)
NO formal living and dining; it's wasted space here.
Easy to maintain landscaping; I kill plants.

[juliahenry]

Wow, thanks everyone!

These are great ideas to get us started.

The place we are in now is just a bit too far away from where we live our lives, and the yard/outside space isn't quite what we need. We had been planning to buy another property as a rental sometime next year, but since DH and I are both somewhat unhappy with our current (very rentable) home, we're now thinking about buying for us and then renting out our current property.

Thanks for the answers - this is really helpful. I would never have thought about stuff like light and potential retirement home.

[hocus]

I think this is a really hard thing for a person on a message board to answer. Needs and wants are pretty personal AND each market has its own character.

I want a yard. I real yard with grass. A lot of places around here have almost no yard and/or it has been bricked over.
Other than that our requirements are:

1. Right price
2. Close to subway (<=15 min walk)
3. Covered parking/garage
4. 3 bedrooms, prefer 4 even if 4th is very small
5. 2 bathrooms, like to have half bath downstairs, would like master bath
6. Newish kitchen
7. Minimal repair work. We're fine painting and such but we're not looking for a fixer upper.
8. Layout condusive to kids -- many layouts would work so there isn't something specific here. It is just an overall feeling.
9. Closets.

[Deleted]

*Realtor chiming in*

Get a good buyer's agent when you start to look (unless you have a realtor you love already). Make a list like others suggested, but know you may have to be flexible to meet your budget. Things that I would ask that others' haven't mentioned would include:

1) Any zoning changes or amendments on the books for the neighbourhood you pick? Ie will an old building be torn down for row housing or a high-rise?

2) Any identified grow-ops or meth labs in the neighbourhood?

3) If its a new development/house is there any warranty (ie Tarion in Ontario) on the home?

Any new roads/road work/sewer or water upgrades planned? Those can be a PITA to deal with.

I think its also important to make sure the foundation is solid, basement is dry, roof doesn't leak, etc. Big structural issues can and should be a dealbreaker unless you're a contractor!