How many houses did you look at before you bought one? Are you happy w/ your decision?

[Anonymous]

We looked a long time b/c I expect we will be here a long time. I wanted it 'just right'. But I think most people either aren't as picky or don't have the luxury of a long time to look.

[Anonymous]

100+ houses
>1 year

When DH liked one, I found something wrong with it, and vice versa.
Now we have our dream house. It is not perfect, but it is perfect for us.

[Anonymous]

Did a lot of looking on-line but only looked at 1 in person. Still happy with it 4 years and 1 child later.

[Anonymous]

I looked for > 1 yr and bid on about 10 in 2003/4. We lost in the bidding wars bc we were not looking below enough to be aggressive in escalation. I don't like the house we are in b/c we settled to get the whole thing over with.

[Anonymous]

20 houses.
No.

[Anonymous]

In 2004, about 40 in person. Just bought another one (after 2 years of looking), probably 100. But mostlly online, about 20 in person. Yes.

realtors always tell me everyone else buys after 3-5. Clearly they're full of shit, and just don't want to actually have to work for their $75k.

[Anonymous]

In 2001, we probably looked at 30 to find the one we bought. It was the third house we bid on. It was perfect for us when we bought it, but we didn't have any children.

We bought our current home in 2008 after looking at about 50. We love it.

[Anonymous]

With our first house, we looked at maybe 12. That house was amazing, and I still miss it.

With our current house, I think we looked at 15. We were working under a severe time constraint, and we needed to settle on something. Our house suits our needs very well, and the neighborhood is great, but I don't love the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:100+ houses
>1 year

When DH liked one, I found something wrong with it, and vice versa.
Now we have our dream house. It is not perfect, but it is perfect for us.

This for us too. We looked for a year and a half (also had the luxury of time since we lived in our condothat we own and didn't need to move. Seemed like there wasn't that much on the market for a whilethere. Finally found something that is a dream for our price range. Have loved it for about nine months now.

[Anonymous]

Maybe 75 houses. Finally, we made a decision because our townhouse sold and we had to move to a temporary apartment. The primary issue for us was that we did not want to go above a comfortable mortgage and wanted a house zoned for a good school. Yes, happy with the decision-we dislike yard work!

[Anonymous]

We looked at least 50 house...maybe even more. Do I love the house? Not really...but it is in a great neighborhood with really good schools (which was the top priority). We needed to move because it made financial sense (due to a VERY large condo fee) and the fact we were outgrowing the space. With that said, I miss the condo everyday.

[Anonymous]

Visited 7 or 8 with the realtor, that he picked, but we knew we weren't serious about because they were out of our price range. But we figured they were good practice to see what we liked. Visited 2 houses with the realtor that we picked, on the same street, almost identical. Bought one of them and hope it will be our first and only house.

[Anonymous]

We looked for about 3 momtgs. Not sure how many we saw. We decided to buy this one pretty much after seeing the listing. The walkthrough was just to check there were no major flaws. We put in an offer 2 days after it went on the market. We still love it 3 years and one kid later.

[Anonymous]

The neighborhoods we bought in are the kind that unless you make a decision and put in an offer at the open house (or before it comes on the market!) you lose out. I never had the luxury of taking my time deciding.

That said---I did go into prob about 20 or so open houses in all price ranges in the neighborhood so I knew property value and what I get for the $, etc. For both houses we ended up buying I had a good idea 'it was the one' within a few minutes of touring it. Though---like I said--I really knew the neighborhoods very well and the locations w/in the neighborhoods that I wanted to be in.

[Anonymous]

We looked for about a year on and off. Saw hundreds online, probably 50 or so in person. Bid on 2 but didn't get them. Got the 3rd one we bid on and it's so much better than any of the others. We're definitely happy. It took a lot of looking to know what was a fair price to pay, especially in N. Arlington where the house itself does not always appear to justify the price.