This house ticked enough boxes.
Price
Size
Workable kitchen
Not too far from town.
I was so sick of looking, every night DH would drag out us looking at homes. It was the middle of winter with a new baby. We were spending a fortune on petrol and takeaway food (not time to cook as it was always after work). I was so afraid of we continued on for months that we would have no deposit left to buy with. I was also completely over his behaviour with the agents, tired of the stupid games. I would be in tears over so many houses as he always carried on that he was serious about buying, even if I hated it or it was completely out of our price range. He could never just look and go "no", then move on.
Would I buy it again? Honestly don't know. The internet is a real issue and enough to make me want to move. I think I had my way, I would have forced DH to stop looking so madly (we had a 2 year lease) or just plain left him over it all.
We built but I knew I had found the right design when I walked in to the display and saw the 7 metre long master bedroom followed by the exact kitchen design I wanted. It also had all the features we wanted (study, activity room etc)
If I had a bigger block I wouldn't hesitate to build this house again but as much as we love it DH and I now wish we had gone with a 2 storey design so we could have had more yard space. The only thing I would never ever do again is put polished porcelain tiles down as flooring. I now hate ours but they were far to expensive to just rip up and put new flooring down.
for us, it was about location and being able to feel comfy with it.
so i needed a place with loads of natural light. this place was the right price and ticked all of our boxes. have loved living here..i will actually be really really sad to leave it (we are selling up)
I would like to be closer to the station (but not so close as to be higher crime and vandalism rates!) and I would love a huge kitchen, and a big second living space, but the yard is about 650 squares, and with dogs (previously) and two sons, we heart the land.
We bid at an auction on a place we love love loved (but sold at literally 150% of the listed price), we put in an offer at tender, let a couple of other places which weren't quite right go, and then just bought this place. We were running out of time, and it was close enough, and ticked enough of our boxes, and wasn't right up to our maximum price.
I don't think it's out "forever" home, but it could be if it needed to be.
Good question! Location for us: near work, DH's parents and DH's hobby clubs. Nice area with good schools and local shops, friendly people, DH had friends here too.
This house in particular as we wanted detached, built pre-1990, walking distance of village centre, room to extend, decent size back garden and decor we can live with. Aside the bathroom, but DH sorts out boiler, heating and bathroom when we move in to a house, so that was fine.
It's open plan and space (we built) and we looked at every display home in SA (well it certainly felt like it), we kept coming back to this one. We dont regret it at all. I wish I'd put more power points in though LOL
We built it as an engaged couple - but built it to fill with a family, we anticipate being here until the kids grow and leave home, then we might downsize perhaps
We chose our house for a number of reasons. Ultimately it ticked most of our must haves or wants. We wanted a rumpus room, flat backyard no smaller than 700 sq m minimum 3 bedrooms with a study or fourth bedroom, two living rooms, however we don't have a WIR in the master, although the wardrobe is still sufficient.
It was also affordable and in a suburb that we were happy with.
I would chose this house again, although I'd renovate it now (kitchen, bathrooms, new carpets and curtains) . I'd probably chose a different suburb though
Locality: good suburb, close to family, close to city and good schools.
Quality: we wanted an older house we could renovate and this was solid brick and great standard of work.
Block size: traditional sized block, could be subdivided but perfect as is for us
Price: it fitted into our price range and left money to renovate.
Amazing location. Right price, and stacks of potential for renovating/extending.
Also, the day we went to check it out, we were due to look at another a few hours later. We went home, put our DD1 down for a nap. She was an extremely routine chronic catnapper. So we put her down for her planned 30 minutes, thinking she'd wake, we'd chuck her in the car, and then go check out the next house. For the only time in her first year of life, she slept for an hour. So we joked that really, she chose the house. When we moved in, she started sleeping longer, and through the night. We joke that it's because the carpet is so hideous she can't bear to keep her eyes open, but really, it is worth dealing with all the horrid features of the house for that and the other things above.
dh wanted a big shed, or room enough to build a big shed.
no stairs
out of Melbourne, but still accessible by public transport. (I used to work cbd).
prefer one big loungeroom to multiple living areas (thereis only one and its an ok size).
kitchen had to be good, or it got renovated before the shed. (luckily for dh, kitchen is ok).
land for chooks and dogs and kids to run around. (would like more now, but it's still ok).
choose this area because it's on Melbourne train line and about half way between dh and my folks. Although it took me a little while to get used to living here, i absolutely love it now and have no desire to move. We saw the house online first, and kept laughing at the ridiculous stained glass, and saying 'who would buy that?'. almost 9 years on and the kitchen pantry still has the stained glass. It took us 5 years to build the man shed, and couple years later we renovated bathroom, toilet, laundry, study (room only), and added linen cupboard. Want to build shelves and low cupboards to make study functional.
Now we have almost 3 kids, a rumpus room would come in handy, and it is a tossup whether to do another big reno or to look at buying another house in the area. for me, it would have to fit the criteria extremely well to feel ok about moving. we have done a lot of work in the yard and house to get it to where it is, and to devise plans for the future, and i would find it hard to leave. DH moved around alot as a child and young adult, and so he is more nonchalant about the idea of moving and trying something new.
Last edited by HotI; August 31st, 2013 at 06:36 AM.
I didn't choose our house, DH bought it before we met. At the time he was working as a contractor and wanted to be between the two major cities in victoria. The house was unfinished, had barely any flooring, no verandahs, no driveway, no carport or garage, bathrooms were basic and dreadful. There was no garden either. They basically built it to a point where they could sell it and so DH got a bargain!
So it was in the right area, co incidently in the town where he grew up, has 9 foot ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, timber window frames, a really nice vic ash kitchen, quiet court location, lots of potential, big enough block that he could build a massive shed! Close to the major highway. Although it was unfinished DH could do it up to what he wanted.
DH built his shed, did the driveway and built the carport. He also had the front verandah built. Then together we finished the flooring (because apparently sheds are more important than concrete floors!), ripped out the bathrooms and redid both of them, remodeled the walk in robe, painted the whole interior, landscaped the backyard and built the back verandah.
We now have plans for a second story but are undecided as to whether to continue on (thus making the commitment to stay here) or move to acerage. DH's work is very unstable at the moment so we have some time to think! Would I buy it again? Not sure. 12 months ago I loved the place and could never imagine moving, hence plans drawn up. Now I don't feel so attached.
We chose the suburb because it was on the same train line we were living on and we liked the area but it was further out... and as close in as we could get in our price range. The actual location of the home in terms of proximity to the shops and trains were a concern for me. It's a bit too far. This ended up being the one issue we debated on and my H was sure it was fine but I think it's still too far. WE want to sell and buy again in the next suburb over and closer to the train. This will mean a big jump in price so we couldn't have afforded that before anyway.
The actual house was a winner because of the floorplan. It's a very livable house and I love the flow, where the bedrooms/kitchen/laundry/living spaces are, where the carport is etc etc. It's all pretty great.
Location mostly. We bought this place pre-kids. DH was used to living in duplexes, I wanted land and gardens for any future kids. He wanted to stay in the areas he grew up in which weren't as affordable as where I'd built my house prior to meeting him. We had been looking for ages, came to this place and it was awful!! Horrid gardens (but it had them and on a big block which was not sub divisible so I was happy with that) horrible paintwork and filled with yucky 70's internal clinker brick!! But the kitchen had been done up (still not great but it wasn't original) as had the bathroom. It was on the market again after a deal had fallen through. We kind of bought it on impulse before we left the home open! was petrified as it was worth double what my house was worth, but it was the best thing we ever bought together! Local primary School is at the top of the hill, golf course filled with trees and wildlife at the bottom, city 15 mins away, major shopping centres close by, good high schools accessible by bus (none of these wonderful things were on my radar till kids came along), now we are about to bulldoze the house and utilise and improve our land more and build again. I love this place!!
The house we're currently in - because it was recommended by a friend who was renting it previously, good price, location and the landlord is s colleague. But mainly just because it was way easier than hunting around over the net from interstate.
The house we own - combination of location, price, being fairly newly renovated. The first time I saw it I hated the floor plan, still was unsure when we moved in, but it turned out to be fantastic for us. So sometimes your immediate reaction is wrong - that's my experience.
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