What Made You Buy Your Home?

[Liviam]

I'm a list person and the house we brought ticked off every box on our list and we both were really happy with the house and the area.

[Jakabella]

My Dh and I have never rented - we moved straight from my parents place to our own home. It was a perfect size for us and it was a bargain and had since gained 80,000 to its sell price!
But it is now to small with a bub and we are on the hunt for a farm.. so back on the merry-go round!!

[Nai]

Firstly we focused on the suburb so we were looking in an area that was
a) close to the CBD where we both worked
b) on the right side of the city for our families to get to as both are regional
c) close to friends
d) well serviced by infrastructure and lifestyle amenities

We bought our house because mainly when we walked into it, it felt like home. However it had the advantages of being
a) close to a train station
b) close to a park
c) a 3 br house
d) close to childcare

We love our house and think we got a bargain since it has increased in value by about $300K since we bought it so that's also a consideration - finding something that is under-valued when you buy it.

[Astrid]

This house was mostly practical reasons. We were renting and I was quite happy to stay put for a year or so, but DH was not. So nearly every weekend we went house hunting. It was costing a fortune in petrol and food, along with taking up time we could have been enjoying ourselves.

The reasons we picked this property:
Price - it was $40k less than everything else DH was looking at. I was comfortable with the mortgage repayment on it
Location - good distance from town, no neighbours (surrounded by farm land), close to bush, quietish back road
Land - minimum size we wanted (1/2 acre), native trees, cleared area for veggie patch. Biggest plus a bore pump
House - was passable, required a lot less work than many others we looked at. Has the minimum 3 bed rooms, good kitchen etc No character at all, which was not a problem as we were planning on a reno job, I just wanted it livable for a few years, rather than it needing reno now!

So overall for my own sanity and bank account, I made do with what we found. Other houses just did not quite fit and some (for no obvious reason) made me want to cry at the mere thought of buying. DH seemed to look at every place like we were buying and it really panicked me, as many we just should have walked out of straight away, but he had to play the agent At the end of the day I am happy with the place we have bought, even though I did not "love" it at first sight.