So we'll be moving next summer. I've skipped ahead in my daydreaming, past the part where we have to make this house presentable and sell it for a reasonable price, to the part where we find somewhere to live in our new town. Frankly, I don't know if we'll be able to afford to buy a place right when we get there. We have no savings whatsoever, and I understand there aren't as many creative financing opportunities for second-time homebuyers as for first. Sure, we'll qualify for bigger loans based on DH's new income, but we'll still have jack squat for a downpayment. I imagine we'll have to rent for the first couple years.
Still. A girl can dream.
I troll the local real estate web sites about once a week to see if there are any new listings. I don't really know what we'll need, in terms of space. The 3 bedrooms we currently have are sufficient for our needs, though an extra one for an office (or makeshift photo studio!) would be nice. Not necessary, but nice. I definitely want a family room in addition to the living room, so I don't have to entertain visitors in the same space wherein the toy boxes have recently vomitted up all their goods. I like having 2 bathrooms, though DH grew up in a house with just 1 and he turned out all right. (And hey, that would be one less bathroom to clean!) I have no sense of space, though, or any idea how to visualize square footage. We currently live in ~1200 sq ft, I think. Add that family room, maybe an extra bedroom, and where does that put us? 1500? 1800? 3000? (I'm fairly sure we don't need 3k square feet, whether I can picture that or not, lol.) I don't know when what I'm looking at is a reasonable upgrade and when it is an extravagance (online, that is; I'd know it in person, but right now all I have is information on a screen).
I don't want us to buy too much house (especially considering my rotten housekeeping skills, lol). I don't want us to have the biggest or the fanciest or the showiest house on the block. Still, I want quality. With any luck, whether we buy something when we get there or a few years down the road, this will be the house we stay in for the rest of our lives. I want to plant roots, dangit! I long for permanence!
I want brick. Brick is solid; it requires no upkeep; it's pretty (especially red brick). I want a fence, as I've got one child who loves to run away and another who would follow her sister anywhere. I want that family room, for sure, and a kitchen with enough counter and cupboard space.
I prefer older houses to new ones. Well, no, let me qualify that: I love brick houses from the 1950s. That post-WWII era optimism and newfound affluence led people to build homes that were simultaneously modest and generously proportioned (not a lot of wasted space) with quality materials. (I'm no expert, of course, and when we were house shopping the first time around and I mentioned that to my realtor BIL, he laughed. But in my experience that's more often true than not.) After the 1950s homes, my next favorite are the pioneer houses! I don't know whether they're hard to live in -- are they drafty, broken-down money pits filled with asbestos and lead? -- but they have so much character and charm and craftsmanship!
Here's a house I kind of like in our new town, though we definitely don't need "room for a horse," lol.
I like the kitchen cupboards on this one, but it's probably more space than we need. (Though DH keeps lobbying for more kids. I'm holding firm, but maybe I'd change my mind after living nearer to my family. Who knows. Maybe someday we will need more space.)
How fun would this be if I knew anything at all about renovation? LOL! Get Bob Villa over here, stat!
Being such a small town, of course, I don't have endless real estate options. So after trolling the listings for a while, I began to wonder about building a house from scratch. I found a house plans site and saved a few of my favorites; apparently I was on an old-timey kick that day, because they all have some of that pioneer flair:
Huh. I just noticed they've all got siding. What in the world happened to all the good brick houses? Sheesh. Still, these are fun. I wonder if they'd stick out like sore thumbs, though, lol. I don't want a house that seems out of place in its surroundings.
Anyway. It's late and I should go to bed, but for the record, those are my rambly thoughts on what I'd like in a new and hopefully permanent home.
~RCH~
6 years ago
5 comments:
Well, my house is about 2800 sq ft just for a visual. I would go for one with lots of storage space. Storage is always handy.
Okay, your house is a reasonable size. Does the 2800 sq ft include the unfinished basement? (And if not, what's the approximate square footage of the finished house?)
What did you think of my examples? :-)
2800 sq ft is the total square footage on my house. Another thing to think about if you really are buying the house you are staying in LONG TERM, is to project into the future any needs you might have.
More kids? Yup. Think about it. Want to entice your childrens friends to play at your house when they're older--aka teenagers, so you know where they are and what they're doing? Plan for that.
What will make them want to be at your house--do you need a huge family room where they can watch movies, play games, a pool table? Heck, how about a swimming pool?
Will you need to entertain people for Robert?
Does Robert have a dream of owning horses or anything? I know you don't, but we have to consider the wants and needs of the whole family.
I have some worksheets thatI designed that could help you with some of those decisions. Maybe I'll email them to you.
As far as your examples go, I think #1 was cute, but would be too small for you long term.
#2 with the cool kitchen cupboards was my favorite so far.
I like the looks of all the new construction ones, but I'd want to see the floorplans first.
But fun, fun, fun!!!! I want to go house hunting with you!
The floor plans for the new construction ones are included in the links -- you just have to scroll really far down the page, lol.
Ok after reviewing the houseplans, here are my observations/things to think about:
Houseplan 1:
Wrap around porches are fun and this one feels real southern to me. But it doesn’t have a separate living and family room. The kitchen layout seems pretty functional but you can’t fit your table in the same room. Cool stairs though to the upstairs. And the little sitting room off the front I guess could be your separate living room and family room although people would still see the other as they came in. I’d use the sitting room as an office instead. The second bath upstairs is tiny. You’d be bathing small children in your bathroom because it’s the only one with a tub. And this one only has three bedrooms.
Houseplan 2:
Very cute. I like the little balcony off the top window. Very Victorian. The living and family room areas are a little on the smallish side. I don’t really like the layout of the kitchen, not much cupboard space. This one only has one bathroom upstairs, which you said wouldn’t bother you, and if you did only one bathroom, this one looks REALLY nice and spacious. I like the little reading nook upstairs too. Could be a great homework spot.
Houseplan 3:
I like the looks of the outside on this one the best. It has a cool entrance, but you would still be able to see into the kitchen/dining area as you walk in. And it doesn’t really have a separate living and family room unless you took out that office wall and made that room larger. You currently don’t have room for the table in the kitchen. But I like this one the best upstairs because you have four bedrooms.
With any of these I think I'd want a basement too where you could put in a huge family room to play in and watch movies. Otherwise your house is strictly utilitarian, eat and sleep etc.
Just my 2 cents!
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