My starter house (the one I am still in) has everything I want in a house. It’s one level, laundry on the first floor, kitchen open to family room, hardwood floors throughout, lots of big windows and now that both baths are getting remodeled, I’m putting in a soaking tub. I was leary about that - mostly for resale purposes - because deep tub is hard to bath young child in for the parent (thinking about it makes my back hurt.)
The one thing I’d like is a smaller yard. Ours is only 1/3 acre but we don’t even need all that.
Deal breakers - new construction. They all feel cheap to me. It would need to be an architect designed just for me house - very very modern, tons of glass, etc.
Our current house has spoiled me-I now would insist on the master bedroom having two separate ensuite bathrooms. I LOVE this feature.
Our current home has a second story master, but has an elevator, which has come in handy big time this past several weeks as I recover from knee surgery. But it has also convinced me that my dream home would be a spacious one story, view if possible, with lots of trees and big windows looking to the outdoors if not.
Gas cooking.
Several fireplaces, including in the master suite.
Wood floors vs cold marble or stone.
We’d probably have to build or gut to get what I’d want. For now we’re staying put.
Good walk score
Flat driveway (I’ve lived with a steep one for 30 years, and as I watch it snow, I remember why I hate it)
City water and sewer
Quiet street
No major construction - I’m only willing to do cosmetic changes
DH and I downsized four years ago and had lots of time to investigate what was available in our area. We wanted something that needed some work and saw a ton of fixer-uppers. Ultimately, we chose this house because it sat on a fabulous piece of property – one flat acre, no wetlands (a big, common problem in our area). We have very active dogs (two at that time, three now) and it was important for us to have space for them.
The house is bigger than we need (four bedrooms, and it’s just the two of us), and it’s on a fairly busy road with a double yellow line down the middle. But it’s set back far from the road and has a huge backyard. In retrospect the most important thing for us was the piece of property. We wound up:
Changing the kitchen/family room to be open,
Installing a doggie door so the pups are free and we don’t have to get up every five minutes to open the door,
Adding a huge deck/patio in the backyard so we have wonderful outdoor living space when the weather is good,
And we’re now renovating the bathrooms.
So we’ve made it cosmetically and functionally exactly what we want.
The only thing I wish our house had that it doesn’t is a walk-in closet, but I still absolutely love where we wound up.
A good flood zone. Last thing I want is to pay all my money to insurance companies.
Don’t care about a garage.
Laundry on the second floor, near the bedrooms, where 90% of laundry comes from!
(but that’s not a deal breaker, just a fantasy of mine. Currently our laundry is in an unused, detached garage that we call “the shed”).
Gas for cooking - but that’s easy to retrofit if you have municipal gas
Fireplace of some type - but can be retrofitted with municipal gas
So - I guess municipal gas is essential!
Hardwood floors in the bedrooms - but can be retrofitted
Good, quality construction where “little things” like hallways have adequate width to them. You can redo a kitchen but can you make the hallways wider or the ceiling higher? Not without a total gutting you can’t
Private back yard with trees. I cannot stand those houses that just look into a blank wall or a fence or look out over a busy street. The back yard must be quiet and peaceful.
I am living in one and better. You don’t have to give up bathrooms. I am not into open kitchen. either. I don’t see the appeal. Kitchen is something I’d like to close off. It’s an interesting house. It can be a problem if repairs are needed. Everything has to be custom made.
thumper: When we bought our house, we added an electrical panel and CAC. If you like the location and other aspects of the house well enough, you’ll just add that stuff.
Plumbing seemed OK, but as we’ve renovated the kitchen and the bathrooms, of course issues have been found. Some pipes were rotting through and would have been a problem eventually. But all was repaired while the walls were open.
So many things listed are features I just take for granted. But given that, if we had to buy another home, it must have-
*attached garage
*laundry in living area, first or second floor, preferably first, but NOT in the basement or garage
*yard and sufficient space between houses and street
*master bath with separate water closet
*double sinks in master bath
*master walk in closet
*Exterior door to back yard from kitchen or laundry room
*two floors with master on second
I hope we never have to move because our house has so many features that would be difficult to duplicate.
A few years ago we looked at a 55 and up development, and that is when we realized that we couldn’t give up what we had.
We had to update the heating system, all electrical, and all plumbing (including drain pipes.)
We have a one car garage that only fits my car. Our truck won’t fit. We have two driveways- one sort of steep, paved leading to the garage and the other gravel leading to the main level (garage is in basement.) Laundry is in unfinished basement. Steep dark stairs up to main floor.
Master on main with two smallish reach-in closets. Main bathroom for the floor is outside the master and has a shower, single sink and toilet.
Kitchen was last updated in 1960 and is a dead end room with zero chance for expansion (ina corner of the house with a wraparound porch and an big immovable cobblestone wall off the porch.)
Dining room had one light fixture (box light with about 20 bulbs on a strip, pointing up uselessly), a wood stove in the corner and a 10’ long sliding glass door. It was truly hideous, but a large room at least. We’ve pulled alll that out and made it much more normal with an overhead chandelier, three double hung windows where the door was and a glass door where the wood stove was.
But- every.single.thing in this house needed/needs updating.
Upside is that the kids had a great set of schools. One kid has a full ride and one kid is close to that. It was worth it.
I still dream about my $5k range that I left behind in the old house.
Funny how many people say gas as a non-negotiable. If there was something I could get rid of in my house, I’d get rid of the gas. Sure, it’s nice to turn it on and it instantly gets hot, but it’s an additional risk that we haven’t had before. Every now and then I smell gas and have to determine it’s not a leak, it’s just one of my husband’s shirts. I’d prefer not to have it.