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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are aiming to stay east of Glebe Rd (for school zoning and commute), need 4 bedrooms up stairs for 3 kids, want a decent kitchen because we cook as a family all the time and would love to not be bumping into each other nonstop, and a decent yard.  And not a busy road.  We have looked for over a year, and there is a doughnut hole in pricing, lots of older homes needing new kitchens and baths for $1.2-$1.3 and then nothing until $1.5M (which is a new home without a yard that PP referred to) and then $1.6M for a package of a decent home (and by decent I don't need new, I'm happy with 10 years old which is still very new but won't need updates).  Our current rental is from the 90s, and all the cabinets are literally falling apart, the bathroom floors have layers and layers of grout an cracked tiles.  I know an older home will need updates.

For the older homes I'm budgeting $200k because we will want to put laundry upstairs, redo the 50s bathrooms, and probably need to reconfigure and expand the kitchen (either in addition or into existing space in the house).  And I'm sure there will be $20k of random work like old water heater and roof and what not from deferred maintenance.

If you can point me to recent sales or a current house that meets these goals for $1.2M.  But its not like we are looking for Corinthian leather or something.[/quote]

You will not be slumming it if your home is older than 10 years old, it has laundry in the basement, a small yard, or a dated kitchen or bathroom. Unless you have unlimited funds, you cannot have it all. Forty million people have filed or unemployment and you are complaining about not being able to find a $1.3 million home that meets your needs.[/quote]

Agree with immediate PP.  OP all of your wants are understandable but they are wants, not needs.  The kitchen isn't a big deal if you're planning a reno, so there's no reason to put it on the checklist up front.  Placement of laundry is a not a big deal, if you're redoing all the bathrooms you can move it upstairs at that time.  My guess is 4 bedrooms [b]upstairs [/b]is the real killer - you're essentially looking for 5+ bedroom houses with that requirement.  Depending on ages of the kids I'd rather they share a room until one can be on a different level than spend an extra $300k, but it takes all kinds.[/quote]

Make them share rooms. This is an easy fix that is probably good for the kids. [/quote]

That’s fine when the kids are young, but we have a mix of ages and genders that really doesn’t work long term.  And they have all 3 shared a bedroom for the last 6 years in our rental, so we wanted to give them some space finally after these MONTHS of togetherness.[/quote]

Wait, are your kids young or not?  If they're too old to share bedrooms then they're old enough that it's not necessary they all be on the same floor.  If they're young enough that you need them all on the same floor with you, then they're young enough to share bedrooms.

You're getting a yard, a whole house, probably a finished basement with a rec room/play space - you are giving them much more space than an apartment.  They're absolutely going to see it as a huge improvement unless you put it in their heads that they're still slumming it in a $1.5M house just because they have bunk beds for a couple of years.[/quote]

There is no age under 18 I sending my kid to sleep in the basement when we are two flights up. [/quote]

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