should we buy a cramped but otherwise nice house because there's no inventory?
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Anonymous
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DH and I have been house-hunting for FIFTEEN months----saw house today that would be a nice commute, good yard, ok school, house itself is pretty nice but just....tiny. We don't have kids yet but are TTC, neither of us are super excited about this house but feel it may be as good as we can get. In a few years, we could always add a room I guess....
Not sure if it makes more sense to jump at this ok house, or keep holding our breath. We've bid on four houses so far, over asking every time, and lost each and every one of them. |
Anonymous
| How tiny is it? How many bedrooms? Houses with fewer than 3BR can be difficult to re-sell. |
Anonymous
| 3 br, no dining room. about 1k square feet |
Anonymous
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That's pretty small. Does it have a basement that could be finished to add more space?
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Anonymous
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If you love it, go for it. If you don't, then wait, because you might sorely regret it.
The house we fell in love with and bought is 1000 sq ft for a family of 4. (Not including the attic or our low-ceilinged but finished basement full of our junk right now!) I do not feel the lack of space, probably because we come from a pricey European city where smaller flats are the norm. It's more the lack of closets that gets to me. Our house has 2 real bedrooms on the 2nd floor plus a tiny bedroom (with 2 lovely windows, so don't have the heart to turn it into a walk-in closet!). Children share one of those, we're in the other, the tiny one still has our moving boxes! "Technically" 3 bedrooms... A bathroom on top, a powder room on the ground floor, plus that bathroom below. We gutted the ground floor and turned it into an open floor plan, which saves precious sq footage. Love that. Will not be adding to it, because the house does not lend itself to a graceful and proportionate addition. I love the house itself, and love its walk-to-everything downtown location - and put up with the inconveniences of the lack of closets! |
Anonymous
| No. Don't settle. |
Anonymous
| In my opinion, that's just too small. |
Anonymous
| We are a family of four and I wouldn't feel comfortable in something that small. Our townhome is 2000 sq ft and feels about right. |
Anonymous
| Don't settle for something that you may outgrow in a few years, just because you've been house hunting for a certain number of months. If you are already thinking about having to add on, that's not a good sign. |
Anonymous
| No |
Anonymous
No, not worth the transaction costs to buy and the later sell. Invest the money elsewhere and rent a bigger place. Seriously do the math on the 10% buy/sell friction costs. |
Anonymous
| No. |
Anonymous
| I would just stretch and buy at a higher level because prices are going up for at least 5 years. |
Anonymous
| I would not |
Anonymous
| Don't buy it. It is really frustrating to live with something too small. Can create relationship conflict as well. What's the hurry? Just keep looking. |