After speaking with one of my best friends who recently bought a house and seeing the progress they made in a few short months, Ryan and I both feel a little more comfortable with the idea of fixing up a house and re-doing some things if we can find a house at a good price. Owning a house and taking on housing projects just seems so adult and even though we are adults now, it’s still kind of blowing my mind that we could be buying a house. Eek!
I will be meeting with a realtor again later this afternoon to check out another round of houses. We found one we absolutely loved a few weeks ago, but in the end it wasn’t quite right and now we’re back to square one. This process is teaching us a little bit more about what we really hope to find in our first home. I am not naive enough to think that we’ll find all of these things in one house (or even the majority of them!), but here’s a little list of some things we’d love to see in our dream house:
- Lots of Natural Lighting
If you’ve been reading PBF for a few years, you may remember when Ryan and I used to live in an apartment that we not-so-affectionately dubbed the “Mouse House.” Not only did the apartment have mice (ew!), but it was also very, very dark inside. It did not have a lot of windows and natural light and it bugged the crap out of me. Lots of windows and natural light is now non-negotiable for me in a house.
- A White Kitchen
This is one thing I’d love to find in a house, but it’s also something I know will be hard to find. I think white kitchens are so darn beautiful but the vast majority of houses we’re seeing feature kitchens with light or dark wood… or kitchens that need a ton of work. An updated, white kitchen is not something we need, but it would be pretty darn sweet if we found a home that had this feature!
- Fenced-In Backyard
This is another thing that’s not a deal-breaker, but it would be wonderful if we found a house that had a fenced-in backyard for Sadie!
- Safe and Walkable Neighborhood
A neighborhood that’s walkable (and ideally has sidewalks) is pretty important to me and Ryan. We take Sadie on two walks a day and want to feel like we can walk out our front door and not get buzzed by speeding cars. Sidewalks would be ideal, but if we find a neighborhood without them that doesn’t have a ton of cars whizzing through it all the time, that would be just fine.
- Open Floor Plan
I adore kitchens that open up into living rooms. Since most people seem to congregate in kitchens at parties and family gatherings, I’d love to have an open floor plan that allows for people in the kitchen to easily chat with those in the living room. (And just seeing those beautiful light couches makes me laugh. Sadie = No white couches… Ever.) It’s not a deal-breaker for me by any means, but it would be a nice feature!
- Family Friendly/Active Neighborhood
Though Ryan and I aren’t planning to start a family for a little while, living in a house that is located in a family-friendly area is important to us. I love seeing kids outside playing and people outside walking their dogs or running. It makes neighborhoods feel more homey to me for some reason.
- Good Schools
I had a fantastic experience with public schooling in Illinois and thankfully the public schools in the areas we are looking to buy a house seem to be pretty great. Since I’d love to find a house we can stay in for years and years, we’re trying to think ahead and consider school districts when looking at houses.
- Hardwood Floors
Again, this is not a deal-breaker, but if a home has hardwood floors, that’s a definite plus! Our rental house in Ocala had carpet all over the place and it was so hard to keep clean! Plus, from an aesthetic standpoint, I prefer the look of hardwood over carpet.
- Close To Things To Do
Ryan and I made the mistake of renting a house that was a good 20 – 30 minutes from almost everything in Ocala. This experience definitely impacted our desire to find a house that is close to a vibrant area of town with lots of things to do.
- A Good Vibe
Have you ever walked into a house and immediately had a “WTF happened here!?” feeling? I never did until about two weeks ago when I walked into a house and got a seriously creepy vibe from the place. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad or scary happened in that house and knew immediately I could never live there. It was really crazy (especially since I’m not into ghosts or other stuff like that), but I definitely need a house with a good vibe.
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Photo Sources: All of the above images are from Houzz.com. (And yes, I know they’re totally baller. I’m not thinking we’ll find a house that looks like them, but I can dream.) If you love interior design or browsing pictures of beautiful homes, stay far, far away from Houzz or you will get sucked into the abyss for hours and hours on end. I both love and hate our realtor for telling me about it!
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Questions of the Morning
- What features would you love to see in your dream home?
- What are some “must have” features you think would be non-negotiable to you when it comes to buying a house?
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So we just bought a house. My “must haves” were that it had to be close to downtown, inside the beltline, kinda an older home that had been redone, the least amount of carpet if any at all, and a little yard for the poodle. We found one, and we are closing on September 5th!!!!
My husband and I bought our first house together last year and the search was quite intense! My advice would be focus on the big picture. I was holding out for the perfect kitchen too, but I never found one in a house that checked the important boxes that you can’t change like location, lot size, etc. The kitchen in the house we found was definitely not what I wanted, but the house was on the lower end of our price range – partly due to things like the outdated kitchen – and we had enough extra to rip it out and redo it (not ourselves, we paid someone!) and I ended up with exactly what I wanted, instead of mostly what I wanted. And we can bike to the waterfront 🙂
I’ve always thought I wanted white cabinets, but my hubby’s job is SOOO dirty and he never seems to get his hands clean. Love all the natural light though. Great photos and best of luck:)
Love this post and I love your taste too! I am glad you are enjoying Houzz as much as I do!
We live in Providence Plantation about 20 minutes south of the city and love it. The houses have a lot of the things you’re looking for….if you like the location you should check it out. Love your blog!
I had a beautiful white kitchen (it was new construction so I got to pick everything) in my last condo. I miss that kitchen!
After owning my first condo in downtown Chicago I knew that going forward my must-haves were: indoor parking, central air, and in-unit laundry! I’m happy at this point in my life I’ve got those baseline must-haves and much more!
I love seeing your “must haves” for looking for houses – I think I agree on a lot of them. I just moved into a rental townhouse and I love love love our open floor plan. It is for sure a must have. Also, the natural lighting.
Have you been watching a lot of HGTV – bc once we started our house search I just couldn’t get enough of it!
I agree with everything on your list! I would also love a big bath tub!!
I love watching House Hunters and House Hunters Int’l. It’s fun to see how much “bang for your buck” you can get. I own 5 rental properties and they are a lot of work so I can only imagine what you and Ryan have seen and lived in over the years. Congratulations on the road to home ownership. It is a lot of work, but worth it when you both can put your own personal stamp on something.
Just be sure to stick to your budget and ALWAYS get a house inspected before you buy it. And friends and neighbors can usually point you in the direction of someone reliable if you need work done (if I lived in Charlotte I would probably be sending you a list). I’ve passed along names of people I’ve used from painters to plumbers to many neighbors and friends (I’ve also steered people away from ones I wasn’t pleased with).
Happy house hunting!
A white kitchen was on my must list…so we basically had a deal that if we found a house we liked when searching that didn’t have a white kitchen (or a lovely kitchen), then we would get the cabinets redone. That’s what we ended up doing and went from blah oak cabinets to gorgeous white ones. I think it only cost like $800 and made a WORLD of difference. Just something to keep in mind if none of the best places you find have white kitchens. 🙂
Agree with this. We bought a house with a great layout but the kitchen had very blah wood cabinets. Once painted cottage white, the whole room changed and i love it. It’s not a hard or expensive fix at all!
good luck on your house hunt! my boyfriend and i just moved into a house in May..we had been looking for one for over a year (we live in a very competitive market) some of his and my MUSTS: central air/gas forced air..at least 3 bedrooms..2 stall garage..somewhat of a yard and (fenced in is preferred)…kitchen that is NOT cut off from everyone when we have company over! and patience paid off..we actually found one and he was able to buy it before it went on the market. now im in the process of trying to decide on furniture..paint colors…decor…etc. its so tricky! i’m excited for you..its so fun to have your own place…i (and he) were over the apartment life!
It sounds like you want my new house! It was not at all what I had in mind, but I knew that with some TLC it would be the perfect house for us. We have a long way to go (new kitchen, furniture, etc) but we have already made so many changes. I love that our kitchen opens up to a vaulted ceiling den area for our TV viewing and french doors to the patio. It just felt like home when we got here!
Definitely natural lighting and open concept! I like roomy spaces where I can bust out a cartwheel if I please 😉
I’ve heard from my big kid friends (aka those that own a home hehe) that this process is a tough one. Hang in there and don’t settle! Although I think it’s great you have a lot of non-deal breakers .. if you’re too picky you may be looking forever I’m sure. Best of luck to you and Ryan!
I’m with you on the natural light and open plan.. I have a quirky thing that I look for and that is that there are lots of sockets on convenient places especially the kitchen.
Good Luck! My hubs and I are currently building a custom home and Houzz has been our best friend through it all!! 🙂
You nailed it! Narrowing down your preferences and non-negotiables is really important and it takes time. After owning my first home (which had a DARK kitchen that I painted and it became a white, bright one), I was far more firm on what I wanted in my second home. I added a bedroom, a pantry, and a garage. My first home didn’t have a pantry. Who knew that would be such a huge deal!?!? I love what you are learning.
You might consider well installed wood laminate with a dog. I never thought I would prefer them over hardwood, but our last rental had them and it was awesome. Didn’t get scratched by dog nails and cheaper! If you go that route, you need to make sure the underlay is good, because that is what create the hallow sound that I had always associated with wood laminate floors before. But ours were nice and you didn’t have that!
We just bought our first house. It actually doesn’t have as much on my wish-list as I wanted, but when I saw it, I just knew that this was our house. It’s not perfect. There’s a lot we want to fix. But it feels like it fits our personality, our life. So hopefully when you see the house, you’ll just know!
Can I just say that one thing I really wished we had was a laundry room that was not in the basement. Before kids it wasn’t that big of a deal, now with kids it is. That is a total deal breaker for our next house, laundry must be on the first or second floor.
I too love a white kitchen but with a little elbow grease you can make any kitchen white. I highly recommend the blog: younghouselove.com – they have transformed two kitchens with paint and have great detailed posts on how they did it.
My husband and I plan to buy our first home within the next year and we have definitely learned a couple “must haves” over our years of renting. We must have a fairly large master bath with a double sink, a fairly large kitchen with lots of counter space and no cabinets or drawers that block other things while open, and plenty of storage space.
omg houzz is the BEST!!! i’m only 23 and to still get hitched but i’m so excited to buy my first house 😉
I totally get you on the “good vibe” requirement. My mom has been looking at houses and we went into one this past week that I immediately wanted to leave. Such an odd feeling. And creepy, since there wasn’t an obvious reason for feeling that way. Ick! Good luck on your house hunt!
We’re in the process of buying now. Covered parking for two cars (or room to add it), space between neighbors (1.5 acres!), near things to do, friends and the beach (just a block away!), storage, great school district (best in the state!), screened-in porch, a half-bath, not in a flood zone and no major overhauls needed (at least for a little while). It’s amazing that we actually found what we wanted!! I know you will too. Just give it time.
Oh Julie!! You have already described my dream house, too. If only all the things we like could be put together in one single place and at the same time we wouldn’t have to pay too much, then it would be a dream come true, right?
Well…one can dream 😉