If you didn’t like anything you could afford...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I made a must have list and compromised on other points.

I got the best location and a brand-new build. But my place is tiny.

Every day I wake up happy with the decision I made. You have to figure out what you CAN'T live without and what you are willing to live with until you can't.

This.

We bought in a great school district and it's relatively close to work, but our house is tiny. while I would love a bigger house, I am so thankful I don't have a long commute and that my kids love their schools.

We considered buying a home to renovate, but the difference between what we paid for ours (which was renovated) and a fixer-upper home was not that much (we would have ultimately spent more on the fixer-upper tying to renovate.)

[Anonymous]

It depends on when you bought because fixer uppers are still very expensive. Sellers have caught on.

[Anonymous]

We had to go over our budget by about 3.5% but when we ran the numbers we realized that 3.5% was money we would have spent on bathroom/kitchen upgrades on any of the houses within our budget. And that would have only covered one project. Now we can just move in and worry about things that break rather than costly and stressful reno projects (speaking from experience with our last house).

[Anonymous]

Yes, we settled. We each had some key items (schools, commute for me, size and garage for DH) then found a compromise house we could work on over time.

[Anonymous]

Never looked at anything above our budget

Ever. That was difficult self discipline. We had a budget and we also were qualified for more. Glad we did it our way. Even so, as suspected, even on budget still felt like a stretch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You find the school that you think will work for your kids(if you have kids). You lower your expectations. You look at new constructions 45 minutes away from your dream location. You compromise. The only thing I wouldn't compromise on, was living next to power lines. Never.

This is what we did. Happy with neighborhood and community. The commute sucks sometimes but that was the compromise. Besides, I know I won't be in my current job forever so eventually I can always look for a job closer to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did you do? Do you just settle at his point? Home prices aren’t going to get cheaper anytime soon.

Buy a fixer upper $100-150k below what I can afford and then make it the way I want.

This is what we did.

[Anonymous]

We don't have kids so decided to buy in a bit so good school district, and the house has dated finishes and needs lots of landscaping.

Basically, we settled and I'm still not happy with the house. But really glad we aren't renting a townhouse or an apartment any more, so at least owning is better than that!

[Anonymous]

You need to bring what you want and what you can afford into alignment. It's easier to move the first part and you can do it with the house or the location.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it sucks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What did you do? Do you just settle at his point? Home prices aren’t going to get cheaper anytime soon.

I would stay put. Even if the prices are not going to get cheaper they wont' go up as much either aside form a very small area affected by Amazon that priced out most people anyway. So for the rest of the crowd waiting for their dream house is better then just getting into some headache house out of desperation. Homes are like everything else, there is always a next one. One year this way or the other does not make much difference rent vs owning. Worse case scenario you will be paying for your home one year longer. What difference does it make?

[Anonymous]

One thing I would seriously consider would be to move further out. Having to live in an old rundown house with tons of problems and not being able to improve it to the standards while I could have few year old house 20 minutes further then at the end of the day it seems totally worth it.
Back yard, green areas, no parking issues, nice house, no headaches. Hm.. considering how many people work longer hours to be able to afford close in house, so what is really the difference? Drive a little more so one can enjoy family life way more? Not a bad idea at the end, not at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did you do? Do you just settle at his point? Home prices aren’t going to get cheaper anytime soon.

Buy a fixer upper $100-150k below what I can afford and then make it the way I want.

This is what we did.

This is what we did as well. Keep in mind fixer upped means different things to different people. To us it meant termite damage repair, new windows, new siding, two new bathrooms, new kitchen, and lots of landscaping. To others it means painting and changing light fixtures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did you do? Do you just settle at his point? Home prices aren’t going to get cheaper anytime soon.

I would stay put. Even if the prices are not going to get cheaper they wont' go up as much either aside form a very small area affected by Amazon that priced out most people anyway. So for the rest of the crowd waiting for their dream house is better then just getting into some headache house out of desperation. Homes are like everything else, there is always a next one. One year this way or the other does not make much difference rent vs owning. Worse case scenario you will be paying for your home one year longer. What difference does it make?

Or a few years longer if interest rates and/or prices go up..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re renting and waiting for a market crash. And if that doesn’t happen before a job opportunity in a cheaper city, we’ll move. We’re too old and we work too hard to play this real estate game where we have to live in -and pay interest on - an expensive shitbox.

My sentiments exactly. You just made me feel better.