I saw 60+ houses in Falls Church and North and South Arlington. Ideal would have been SFH walkable to metro in North Arlington with 3BR/2BA. Our house had several price drops before we could afford it, and when I walked in, I knew this was probably as good as I was going to get. I'd seen nicer houses in South Arlington for the same or less money, but wasn't comfortable with the schools, and the only houses in our range in North Arlington sucked or were on busy streets. (or both.) This one had outdated bathrooms, but otherwise, it didn't suck. Great neighborhood, not walkable to metro, but otherwise it fit our criteria. I wanted a first-floor family room and a more open floor plan and got those things, plus an updated kitchen, hardwoods, a fireplace, crown moldings, etc. Plus it really fit the way we lived - we didn't have to buy new furniture. (though eventually i'll have to furnish the finished basement.)

Anonymous wrote:Along the way, I reevaluated our wants and we ended up in a different location and with a nicer house. The original location I wanted is thought of well, but houses are older, smaller and more expensive. The location has good schools, but it would have been a longer commute (DH works in western Fairfax). We decided to start looking in western Fairfax and still got great schools, a newer, larger house, a nice yard and paid much less. I really like where we settled on and I like that the commute is 15 minutes or less. The other location would have been a 30-45 minute commute and that just adds up and takes too much time away from what is important to us.

Funny same thing happened to us - we were really against going 1 exit further on the highway but our realtor insisted. Turned out to be the house we bought! It is a lot newer has great schools and actually even though it's further, there is less traffic and it takes less time to get home than if we bought a house closer to our jobs but in an area with much more traffic.

I just posted 10:17 and will say there were some homes I could NOT see myself living in and we passed. Layout was just fine, etc. but for some reason I wasn't feeling it.

There was one perfectly nice home that creeped me out for reasons I couldn't even tell you.

We bought a single family in Metro Atlanta this past June. I wasn't in LOVE with our home since it needed updates (old appliances, brass fixures for example) but the layout was exactly what I wanted and price point was perfect.

Atlanta market was very, very competitive this summer - we had bid (full price) and lost several other homes so we really jumped on this one without lovey dovey feelings for it. It was more like my husband and I REALLY needed/wanted to get out of my mother's house and it was an ideal situation as the seller was losing their renters. Thankfully the renters were very clean and kept the place up so inspection was a breeze.

Since updating I really love the home now. We moved from NOVA to ATL and that was a nightmare 7 months getting jobs/house/settled. I still miss NOVA which is why I troll here

We kept getting good vibes from ours. We toured it among many on a busy day and didn't get thrills or chills by any that day. It was just tiring and depressing. Each house needed updates of some sort. But that house called to me again and I decided to go see it again. I just got good homey vibes from it. And I was excited to do the updates and make it "mine".

We could afford it. Seriously. We were looking to spend under 450k in DC and found a totally un-updated house on Cap Hill that had 3 beds and a basement. I was kind of depressed by it at the time but now I can't believe what a smart investment it was.

Because we are NOT smart investors. Now we LOVE the house.

Anonymous wrote:Along the way, I reevaluated our wants and we ended up in a different location and with a nicer house. The original location I wanted is thought of well, but houses are older, smaller and more expensive.

I could have written this... I was looking in N. Arlington by EFC originally, but the 700-800K houses and lots are smaller and I couldn't afford a 1M house. I ended up about a mile from there just over the border in Fairfax County. Got a much better house, large lot, and paid just under 800K. Very happy with the decision. Also, I agree with the PP that the house had a strong feel when I first walked in -- it "fit" me perfectly and had the traditional style and beautiful touches I wanted. It was also the first house I walked into, after looking online casually for only 2-3 weeks. I think it was meant for me.

Cynically, I could say it was sheer exhaustion. We had looked for months, bid on 6 other houses, and were at the point of having to rent soon if we didn't buy something right away. This house met our requirements about size, location and such, but there were downfalls too - work that needed to be done, an underwhelming kitchen and yard, etc.

But what made it "the one" was the feeling the first time we walked through the place. It sounds silly, but the house had so much soul. Stunning old windows, a beautiful stone fireplace, narrow gauge wood floors, built ins and fixtures that were almost a hundred years old. The house was empty and a little raw, but it felt like HOME so much more than the more perfect places we saw. I do wish I'd though harder about the compromises, but I love our house and am grateful we jumped on it as soon as it hit the market!

Along the way, I reevaluated our wants and we ended up in a different location and with a nicer house. The original location I wanted is thought of well, but houses are older, smaller and more expensive. The location has good schools, but it would have been a longer commute (DH works in western Fairfax). We decided to start looking in western Fairfax and still got great schools, a newer, larger house, a nice yard and paid much less. I really like where we settled on and I like that the commute is 15 minutes or less. The other location would have been a 30-45 minute commute and that just adds up and takes too much time away from what is important to us.

Don't know - looks like we got everithing we were looking for, my fingers still crossed - I can't belive we got it
Our main obsticle was a price point - we need a lot of space (4 kids) in particular school area (DC1 is HS junior, so new place should be relativly closed to his school), somewhat private yard and 2-car garage. Almost impossible conbination in the area we interested in for the amount of money we could afford. We were looking for over a year now, I was about to give up, just could not decide what expectation I should drop.
And we've found it! Yay!

We found our dream house at our price point but there was one teensy itsy bitsy problem- it was a short sale with a mystery leak and tons of water damage. We got lucky and were able to fix everything and going only slightly over budget.

So yes, you always have to make sacrifices in this area.

Wanted a particular neighborhood and general sqft and a feeling of not being too cramped. Settled on everything else. No master suite, odd kitchen (I will redo). The yard is great though and enough bedrooms and a separate office space.

I settled. We weren't agreeing on a lot. He really loved this one and I liked it ok. But , now that we gave been here 2 years, it has really grown on me.
Nice neughbors, great schools, beautiful view, big but old kitchen. It is a th outside the beltway, though, and I really wanted a sfh closer to town. But, I will say that I am enjoying not having to do any yard work.

We bid on 2 or 3 we liked to varying degrees but the one we actually managed to buy felt right-- we were not compromising on what was important to us (location), the layout was good for us and the price was attractive. Kitchen isn't huge but it's big enough.

did it meet every single requirement of yours and have no inspection issues?

were you burned out from looking?

did you really need to live in one specific neighborhood and had minimal house requirements?

just interested in hearing.

i've found a house i really really like, but the kitchen is smaller than i like/want, and its a bit older than we expected to buy, but its got more bedrooms than i wanted, and a bigger backyeard than i expected possible in the area i was looking...