Lost great house...depressed

[Anonymous]

There are pros and cons to every house. I still feel sad about the house we lost out on 11 years ago. Aesthetically I just loved it. But the location and schools weren't as good, and it was smaller, than our current house. I still would have preferred it but I see the positives in the house we ended up with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no perfect house. I am sitting in the "dream forever house" we bought 6 months ago and I kinda hate it.

This definitely has happened to me.

[Anonymous]

We missed on a great house back in 2020 because we weren't aggressive enough. Estate sale but great shape, great neighborhood. We were just coming out of the initial lockdowns and the owners had listed the house the previous December and were eager to sell it on. We toured it twice and were serious about pulling together the offer and were waiting for a quote for some minor repairs from a reputable local renovation firm, who kept dragging their feet. Then someone else swooped in and snagged the house - for less than we'd been prepared to offer! Lesson learned!

But nothing else as nice came up and six months later we did buy something, not as nice although good neighborhood. We thought in 4-5 years sell it and move to something nicer/bigger. It's five years later now and that is not happening because we're trapped by our low mortgage rates and the realization anything nicer is going to double (minimum) the monthly payments, even with 50% down. The house is ok, but it doesn't excite me and the concept of spending the next 10-20 years here is depressing. I try to make peace with it by focusing on that we're still in a nice area with good schools.

To perhaps make it worse, the people who got the first house listed it for sale a few months back and I went to the open house and they did all the cosmetic upgrades on the cheap and a very cheap kitchen in place of the much nicer kitchen I'd been planning to put in. I left both angry and sad. For about five minutes. But in its own way it helped me make peace with the loss of that house. Even if it did still sell for almost double what they paid for it in 2020...

[Anonymous]

Lost out on a "perfect house" that we couldn't really afford and TBH I was ignoring evidence of flooding issues in the basement where 2 of 3 bedrooms were. After the house sold, I was bummed for months afterward.

18 months later we landed a house that was $130,000 less, same neighborhood, but much better location. More walkable and no flooding. I haven't even thought of that other house until now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We missed on a great house back in 2020 because we weren't aggressive enough. Estate sale but great shape, great neighborhood. We were just coming out of the initial lockdowns and the owners had listed the house the previous December and were eager to sell it on. We toured it twice and were serious about pulling together the offer and were waiting for a quote for some minor repairs from a reputable local renovation firm, who kept dragging their feet. Then someone else swooped in and snagged the house - for less than we'd been prepared to offer! Lesson learned!

But nothing else as nice came up and six months later we did buy something, not as nice although good neighborhood. We thought in 4-5 years sell it and move to something nicer/bigger. It's five years later now and that is not happening because we're trapped by our low mortgage rates and the realization anything nicer is going to double (minimum) the monthly payments, even with 50% down. The house is ok, but it doesn't excite me and the concept of spending the next 10-20 years here is depressing. I try to make peace with it by focusing on that we're still in a nice area with good schools.

To perhaps make it worse, the people who got the first house listed it for sale a few months back and I went to the open house and they did all the cosmetic upgrades on the cheap and a very cheap kitchen in place of the much nicer kitchen I'd been planning to put in. I left both angry and sad. For about five minutes. But in its own way it helped me make peace with the loss of that house. Even if it did still sell for almost double what they paid for it in 2020...

With this low inventory, you can't get hung up on whether minor repairs will cost you $3K or $8K. Plus you'll discover minor repairs to be made in almost every house once you live there.

[Anonymous]

I lost out many times but didn’t really find anything comparable.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. I'm actually so glad we didn't get the two houses my heart had become set on. We're in a much better and more comfortable place now.

[Anonymous]

We lost the house we wanted. It was super stressful as we were moving from out of state with really little kids and literally could not find a place to move into.

We ended up renting a house in the same neighborhood with a very similar layout but on a much better lot. And two years later, bought our rental from the owners at a time when interest rates were at rock bottom. My very favorite thing about our house is the lot, plus we have great neighbors on the street, so I am very happy it worked out this way. At the time, it was amazingly stressful.