@Consolation, I should have added to my post that those awful suburbs (zillions of crappy look-alike homes on cul de sacs) are typical of the part of the country I live in.
I agree that in the Northeast it can be very different. In general, your part of the country is also much saner when it comes to public transportation, real towns (as opposed to "gated communities) and “blue” neighborhoods 
@Nrdsb4 - I think part of it the “cat syndrome” (some people are like cats - prefer to be perched up high), and part of it is that going to the ground floor means embracing the fact that aging will take over soon. Not ready for that yet!
I always though I would want the laundry on the same level as the bedrooms as that is where all the clothes have to go back, but have since changed my mind. I usually do laundry while watching tv in the family room, as we don’t end up in the bedroom until bedtime. I hate running up and down the stairs to reload the machine, so I will stick with the main level in the next home; what I would prefer is the master on the main.
No more basement for me, that is where anything we don’t want any more ends up! We think we “might” use it again, but it rarely happens!! We have been in the same house for 24 years, and in the unfinished basement, we have electronic boxes for tvs, computers, printers, and and a microwave oven that we haven’t owned in years! As our house is on the market now, we finally started cleaning out the basement, and it is amazing how much room is down there!
@snowball did my husband take all of our old boxes to your basement…from our attic? He used to keep all the boxes and packing too. You know…just in case we had to send something back. In 35 1/2 years of marriage…we have never used a box to send any electronics back. So now…they go to the landfill.
Since I want my bedroom on the main floor…that’s where my laundry room will be too!!
“I never know how to classify this when surveys ask whether we are suburban or rural.”
@Consolation Living in a part of New England where a city at 50-100K is considered large, I’ve had the same issue.
@snowball, I hear you! Basements are magic places where stuff just appears and stays there for years.
Just for fun, what do you all think of Seaside?
I visited once in 1990, and I’ve been mildly obsessed with it ever since. Could you live there? If not, why? (ok, let’s pretend we’re all rich and can afford it-in the great recession the prices dropped to affordable for a while)
I forgot to mention that being located in Florida is a non-negotiable no.
^^lol.
emilybee, agree. Raised foundation feels warmer and springier/easier to stand on. When (not if) we have plumbing problems, no need to cut open walls to get at the pipes. And a raised foundation will have more give in an earthquake.
Other must haves from our previous house hunt:
*Attached garage with entryway into house near the kitchen
*Quiet street
*Backyard backs up to single-family homes, not to apartments/multistory building, or to area zoned for anything that’s non-single-residence.
*walkable neighborhood, with access to mass transit
*gas cooktop, electric oven
MotherofDragons, what is it about Seaside that attracts you?
@MotherOfDragons - my H hates Florida. With that said Seaside looks like a nice place to visit but I would never want to live there. I’ve only been to the gulf coast of Florida once and I prefer the ocean to the gulf.
My imaginary dream home would be a beach cottage look with a covered porch with wicker furniture. A house with weathered shingles. I’m imaging a northeast coastal beach house with big windows, a butcher block island, bead board cabinets and a view of the surf. It’s never going to happen since I am through and through a California native.
i had the opportunity to build within reason my dream house. I quickly realized that I needed to take into consideration my lot, my location and my budget. A Cape Cod or a Monterey Colonial (another style house I like) didn’t work on my lot. I ended up with a variation of a California Spanish ranch style house. I ended up with most of my wants. I have been in my house almost 19 years and there isn’t much I would do differently. Obviously trends have changed and my built in refrigerator with cabinet panels is out of style. One main thing I would change is I would have put in wider planked wood floors. I also wish I had put in an outdoor kitchen. We built before the trend of nice outdoor grill area. I just have a Weber gas genesis grill and while it easily meets our needs I wouldn’t mind something nicer. I have a lot of outdoor space but with the way the house is configured and our pool area I don’t easily have a logical spot to upgrade my patio area.
In an earthquake, houses on raised foundations can come off their foundation unless the house is retrofitted. Not a pretty sight.
At least 2 bedrooms on main floor. Room for H’s grand piano and office space if in the next few years. I still prefer 4 bedrooms but girls out of house so mainly as guest or office space or for when they come home so I don’t need them to be as large as what we now have. Second living space (small den or sitting area off kitchen or maybe room over) - H and I don’t watch the same programs. I can only watch so much sports. Screen porch!
Seaside looks like a new year round Chautauqua https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua_Institution
It’s not my cup of tea but I have friends who have cottages at Chautauqua communities and they love them. It’s very small and everyone knows everything about everyone. I like community but it’s a little insular for me.
So interesting what people like. We lived in a different house in a different community (more urban, smaller close together houses) and I loved that. But we moved to a different community (rural, no sidewalks, newer bigger houses) and love this too. The thing that is the same is a great neighbor’s and friendly people.
But houses, I love my newer, well insulated, attached garage, multiple bathrooms and open great room so much more than the other house. So much more. No contest. Sorry.
“In an earthquake, houses on raised foundations can come off their foundation unless the house is retrofitted. Not a pretty sight.”
Here in my neck of the woods, homes are strapped to the foundations. Not having a crawl space can be good for pest control - mice and rats love to nest in crawl spaces.
@SlithyTove I think it’s the walkability and the live work play, and to me it’s insanely aesthetically pleasing.
It’s very common for houses on raised foundations in earthquake areas to be bolted to the foundation. With a slab foundation, big enough ground movement means the slab itself cracks, which is a much tougher fix.
MotherofDragons, I agree about loving walkability.
I read through this with fascination. DH and I have lived in 13 different houses and each of them was pretty different from the next. At this point, the thing I care most about is community. Is it a neighborhood where I’m likely to know and talk with my neighbors? If yes, I’m good. I walk my dogs a lot and we have neighborhood get-togethers regularly (first Monday of every month), and I know most of my neighbors at least a little. This turns out to matter to me a lot. I didn’t know until we found this neighborhood!
Our house has a walkscore of 50, to my surprise. We are a quarter-mile from three restaurants, a yoga studio, a huge park, the bus stop, lots more (in three different directions)–but nothing is closer than a quarter-mile, so apparently that lowers the score. They didn’t like our hill on the bikescore, either, but I’ve come to love it–I’m so much more fit!
Our laundry and home theater are in the basement. The guestroom is over the detached garage (it’s actually a rentable apartment, although right now DD is living there while she goes back to school). The closets are tiny and there’s no bathtub in the master bath (although I have a soaking tub in my bathroom, which is down the hall from the master). I love the house. Oh, and I can grow tomatoes. I do care about that.
Our house is on a raised foundation. When we purchased this house we did bolt the foundation. It was expensive…but we wanted earthquake insurance. As the guys were working they said that it was a “waste” of money. Our house wasn’t going “anywhere” due to its architecture.
I hate Florida, but think Seaside is pretty cool. I prefer the pink sand and waves of the Atlantic Coast (my grandparents lived in Orlando Beach) to the white powdery stuff over on the Sarasota side (where my sister-in-law is from.) I don’t think I’d ever retire to the South. I love Spanish Colonial Revival architecture - there were lovely houses in Pasadena from the 1920s I’d love to live in. I could live in the LA area. I like it better than San Francisco.