Actually bidding on a house--how did you know it's the right one?

[Anonymous]

OP here: Thanks, all, and congrats to those who have recently bought houses. We do have our list of must-haves, but I do hope for that sense that the house "feels right." I guess we'll see! Good luck to those searching!

[Anonymous]

We saw a ton of houses - 63 to be exact - and the one we bought was about house #56. (I saw a bunch more the same day and they didn't compare.) How did I know it was the one? 1- It wasn't walkable to metrorail, but it did have buslines and it was 2 miles from a metro station, parking garage and my daughter's preschool. 2- the block wasn't perfect, but it was nice enough, and the neighborhood is awesome. 3- GREAT schools. 4- great park with playground within walking distance, and shops/restaurants also within walking distance. 5- it has a first floor living room AND family room. It does not have a formal dining room, but it does have room for my dining room table. 6- it has enough bedrooms for us plus a guest room and a bonus second guest room. (which we initially rented out.) 7- it has a finished basement, even if it isn't a posh finished basement. 8- the bathrooms are not in great shape but the kitchen is nice and needs almost no work. 9- the closets could be bigger, but it's got enough storage space. 10- It has crown moldings, hardwood floors on the first floor and a nice fireplace. 11- it's not turnkey and will still need some work, but everything works and is functional until we can replace it. 12- I love the layout of the first floor, and the second floor is fine. Not everyone is ok with 2 bedrooms up/2 bedrooms main, but it's perfect for me and my daughter. The house really fits the way we live - we really didn't have to buy much furniture - just bedroom furniture for the extra guest bedroom. And last, it was only $10K above my desired max price, which is not much in the grand scheme of things, and didn't add much to the 30-year fixed mortgage at a great rate.

I'm also a very decisive person when it comes to anything but chinese food menus. (too many choices, and all so similar!) I generally know what I want pretty quickly once I've thoroughly sussed out the situation. (i.e. looked at 63 houses.)

[Anonymous]

I looked for a long time and got to know areas. Because of my budget (lower for this area) - I didn't get my dream house. But I bought the best house that was available in a decent area with good schools. I was also selling a house so once that went under contract - I had limited time to look and consider. But I had already done a lot of homework. I'm relatively happy with the new place. I will be much happier when I can do some renovations and make it more my own.

[Anonymous]

Similar story to some PPs: looked at ~50 houses, and just knew with this one. I walked in and knew I had to have it. I thought it would be great to live in this home. It was a fixer upper but had so much of what I wanted and the location is great.

Don't make the mistake I did of bidding on homes just because they checked some boxes. I talked myself into liking them and SO glad I lost the bids. Wait for that love at first sight feeling.

[Anonymous]

Same as others -- we looked at a number of houses, though not nearly as many as others. But we basically knew the minute we walked in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us, it took looking (in person) at many, many houses -- probably around 50 -- before we could walk in and say right away whether it was worth making a bid on a particular house. Looking online is nice but it only gets you so far.

+1

We toured sooooooo many homes in both our choice numbers before purchasing that when one had the majority of what we wanted 'we just knew'. We bought in very tight markets both times and it was 1-2 year process. We even rented in the neighborhood for 18 months prior when we were buying our 'long-term/thru HS' home.

[Anonymous]

We spent just over a year looking for houses, I spent hours and hours going over web-sites, realtor sites, etc. We visited open houses, and toured possible neighborhoods, but were having problems finding the right house. Then we found a neighborhood that met most of our criteria and they were building new homes. We realized that if we increased on target price about 8-10% that we could build a house the way we wanted it instead of buying one with someone else's taste. So we picked a model that had many of the options we wanted, selected options and worked with the builder for changes that they would allow and we have a house that we LOVE because it was designed to suit our tastes. 7 years later, we're still in love with this house.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Well, we've watched House Hunters for YEARS, so it's like we've seen hundreds of houses.

We made an offer on the 4th house we've seen. We just knew when we saw it.

[Anonymous]

If you are bidding on a house, and then have a *huge* anxiety attack, it is not the one!

[Anonymous]

I have never felt, unequivocally, that "this is it." There's always been something that we had to give up or compromise on.

But I will say that the first house we bought was NOT for me. But we felt rushed to make a decision, and my husband just wanted to stop looking already, and this home was good enough for him. I should've really stood my ground, because I felt that the home was too expensive for what it was (I was right), we'd never make our money back when we sold it (I have yet to find out if that is correct, but at this point, I believe it to be so), and I really hated certain things about the neighborhood (mostly safety).

I should've stood firm on my opinions. I should've not been rushed. It could've saved us both a whole lot of heartache for five years--each year, scheming to get the hell out of that house.

This second home, well, it's one we've rented. We know it's not perfect, but we LOVE our neighbors and we feel very blessed about it's location, the schools, the view, and more. It's good enough, and when I say that I mean that the things that are good are for us, very very good. We will be happy here for a long time.

Another suggestion: ONCE YOU COMMIT, STOP LOOKING. For the love of god, stop looking. No good can come of it. Trust me.

[Anonymous]

When I first bought my house, I have looked more than 50 houses. Finally got it with good price (2009) and love it.

Now, I am buying my second home in another county, maybe it's the price and low inventory, it felt so different and so much more difficult to find one or you might find one that you like, but have that feeling that you might made a mistake on.

We are still looking and feel really disappointed. Don't rush!

[Anonymous]

As with others, we looked at a multitude of houses - none of them "the one." Our agent went through a house and called to tell us it was "the one." It was. We thought it was slightly overpriced and made an offer that was on the low side (market was really hot at the time). The owners wouldn't even counter, though they had no other offers - probably because it was overpriced. The house dropped in price 2 weeks later. We made another offer that was really what we initially hoped to pay after negotiations and was higher than the new asking price. Our offer was the one they accepted. It really was the right one for us.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of us always have some uncertainty about making such a large purchase. We've never gotten that "this is THE one" feeling, but have chosen places that we really like and can see ourselves living, and each time, it has been a great decision.

[Anonymous]

Both DH and I knew it was the one by the time we finished touring it during the open house. We were not seriously looking but knew we had found it so we moved quickly and got it. One year later we love it so much, warts and all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both DH and I knew it was the one by the time we finished touring it during the open house. We were not seriously looking but knew we had found it so we moved quickly and got it. One year later we love it so much, warts and all.

OP back here again. It was fun to read the latest postings as we headed out this weekend.

We did end up making an offer, though we'll see if it pans out. There are little things we'll need to fix, and there are certain things it doesn't have, but bigger things it does that we hadn't expected. We looked at each other and the house and realized that with patience in several years we'll have it set up and furnished the way we want and the perfect house--rather than a smaller house that we could set up perfectly now but in ten years we'll be wishing we could move or renovate. There's room to be messy and have projects and spread out a little--even if there are a few warts.

It's been really helpful to read and post here, and I wish everyone hunting the best (heck, even if you placed a higher bid on the house we bid on this weekend).