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Original poster

How did you know it was the house to buy?

46 replies

needmorecoffeeandcake · 10/02/2020 21:14

We are looking to move and it’ll be a big jump in house value (and mortgage!). I feel worried about the cost even though it’s within our affordability just because it’s a big monthly increase. We have found a house and I am worried about it being the wrong choice. Help!

OP posts:

Pipandmum · 10/02/2020 21:19

First does it meet your practical needs - proximity to work/schools, number of bedrooms, garden size, layout and neighborhood, value?
After that, how do you feel when you are in the house? Does it feel homely? Can you imagine celebrating Christmas and birthdays there? Can you imagine your kids growing up in it?
Several houses may meet your practical needs, but few will give you that 'feeling'. It's the later you have to recognise.

DrWAnker · 10/02/2020 21:27

Buying a house is ridiculous.
It's the most money you will ever spend and sometimes you spend less time looking at it than you would a dress or a pair of shoes. You certainly don't get to try it on!
If it has what you want in practical terms, that's a big tick.
If you can see yourself living there and planning where furniture will go, another big tick.

I can only say when we viewed our current house we both felt something, even although it isn't entirely what we were looking for. And when we came back for a second viewing we came out thinking we didn't need to see it again, we both knew it was our house. And it is!
So for us, gut feeling played a huge part. Not to say it didn't have it's stressful moments and doubts, it's a house ffs!

Firstimemam · 10/02/2020 21:47

Do you think this will be your forever home? How much bigger than before is it? Do you like the layout? What exactly are your doubts? Does it need a lot of work?

Honestly, lots of people feel like this though - it's a huge investment, i was quite lucky having the "i just knew" but .... 2 years later, I now know that this is not my forever home.

mamansnet · 10/02/2020 21:50

We've just bought a house which didn't have 2 of the major criteria on our list. I wasn't sure after the first viewing. By the time we came for the second viewing, in my head I was already living here!

Original poster

needmorecoffeeandcake · 10/02/2020 22:00

It should be our forever home.
It ticks all of the practical boxes and there were many of those.

It’s a little bigger than our current house but the massive increase is due to it being in a much better area.
I want to change some things but the work isn’t essential work.
It is the type of house I thought we would buy.

My specific concerns are that it doesn’t have the garden aspect I wanted and it’s on an estate that doesn’t seem to be selling well. I’m worried I’m missing something. It could just be that it’s expensive though? It’s a 4 bed we are looking at but the 3 beds that are selling are for around 2/3 of the price of the 4 bed which seems a big difference.
It’s empty just now as it’s a probate sale so it doesn’t feel like a home if that doesn’t sound too strange!

OP posts:

showmethegin · 10/02/2020 22:38

I think if you are having doubts, even those that you can't put your finger on it's not right. We're in the process of buying a house at the moment and we just knew as soon as we walked in. We did see another house that I was toying with (posted on here too!) and we just realised in the end that it wasn't right.

Trust your gut.

oldfashionedtastingtea · 10/02/2020 22:47

We walked in and both felt absolutely in love and felt like this was going to be our forever home. It already felt like home, we just needed the other people to move their stuff out (and paint et cetera). Just the: "honey, here's home!" feeling

Bought it. Never want to leave.

8paws8legs · 10/02/2020 22:53

Basically do you both want to hug the walls? No? Its not the one! That's what we always go off and there will be a glint in both our eyes when we are looking around that we are both aware of in each other.

MeganChips · 10/02/2020 22:59

We are currently waiting to exchange on a property we only viewed to rule out. It had the size and space we wanted in the right location but a bit of a quirky layout and not anything like the one I imagined buying.

However, we walked in and for reasons we could explain we loved it. I definitely want to hug the walls and really hope it goes through ok.

I think it’s a bit like naming a baby. No, no, no, no, yes!

MeganChips · 10/02/2020 23:00

*couldn’t explain

Bowerbird5 · 11/02/2020 00:56

It was the feel.I knew I was going to live here and I hadn't even seen upstairs. It was a complete mess but I wanted it and bought it. Told DH later as he was away. he did view it. We've been here thirty years and have no plans to move.
I had a friend in Scotland who said she fell in love with the house. The views were over water.

anon2000000000 · 11/02/2020 01:11

It felt like home.

PlumsGalore · 11/02/2020 07:36

I just knew, the area, the position, I knew as soon as I walked down the drive, a house in a tucked away private location.

It was fugly inside and the garden smaller than I’d hoped but the rooms were decent size, the layout good and it had so much potential.

Lived here 20 years and won’t ever move.

ThisIsM · 11/02/2020 07:40

What's the garden aspect? The only thing I would say is east is the worst. The sun sets in front of the house and you have no sun in the garden in the evening, just when you get home from work and want to sit in the garden in the sun/have a BBQ 😑

AGreatUsername · 11/02/2020 07:49

We also just knew. It had an awful lot of the features we had wanted, with the usual compromises. In fact more compromises than I wanted, the garden faces the right way but is quite tiny, it’s on a steep hill with really bad parking and oh my goodness it’s a BIG project house. I was worried we’d rushed into it as there isn’t many like we want in our range.

Then another house popped up, 1 street over. Much prettier outside, a bit bigger and had some really stunning features. I was so excited to view it, this was the one! But, we looked around and felt nothing. None of the adrenaline of the first and no joy. So we’re now waiting to exchange on the first house. Trust your instincts!

Original poster

needmorecoffeeandcake · 11/02/2020 08:03

@ThisIsM north east

OP posts:

Original poster

needmorecoffeeandcake · 11/02/2020 08:03

Has anyone had the good feeling with an empty house?

OP posts:

Titsywoo · 11/02/2020 08:09

I never got this "falling in love" feeling with my house. Maybe because our budget wasn't great? We bought the house we could afford that ticked the most boxes on our list. That was 7 years ago and we've done so much work on it that it is a different house - it doesn't look the same even from the outside! Now I love it and it works perfectly for us as a family and the things that ticked the box (with location etc) are still there (obviously!).

jackparlabane · 11/02/2020 08:10

Yes, our house had been empty for two years before we saw it, and fairly trashed by renters for years before that. But it had the rooms in the layout we wanted and was the kind of project we wanted. Most people rejected it for the small garden which was fine by us, but we were compromising on location attractiveness - since then, house prices have risen here to equalise with our original search zone.

No regrets, though the decision to take on a wreck isn't for everyone. Still, preschoolers are a very helpful size for helping lay underfloor heating and the kids have grown up knowing how to use tools and avoid getting injured on a building site...

Babdoc · 11/02/2020 08:13

I knew before I viewed it, never having even been to the village it was in.
DH showed me the photo on the estate agent’s particulars and I “recognised” the house - it was our home. Quite weird really, as if I’d come back from the future to confirm a decision I already knew had been taken!

userxx · 11/02/2020 08:14

I bought on my own so my budget wasn't big. Hated the house when I moved in, think I was just overwhelmed to be honest but I now love my home. Just wish it was 50% bigger!

averythinline · 11/02/2020 08:18

North East facing isn't great .... unless the rest of teh house made my heart sing I really wouldn't choose that - but I like using my garden a lot and others not the same

ours was the best we could afford - in the area we wanted....had fallen for another but when put my practical hat on and it was too small really and even though I drive past it sometimes thinking what might have been - it was in a great location I know it was the right choice (I may retire to it though if I can afford it!) as wouldn't have worked as a family house and in a school blackspot.....

our current house was not meant to be a forever but nearly 20yrs now!.... the potential was there at the begining so I like what we have eventually done to it - but don't love it.....

GrannyBags · 11/02/2020 08:20

We moved a large distance so only had two days to look at houses. We made a list of wants and needs and found 5 houses to view. I was convinced that house 5 was going to be the one. DH preferred House 3. I liked House 3, but it didn’t feel special. As soon as I walked into House 5 I knew it wasn’t the one for me. I can’t explain why, it just felt wrong. DH arranged for us to re-visit House 3, and we put an offer in. I wasn’t 100% convinced but we had to decide quickly. I love it now.

GemmeFatale · 11/02/2020 08:51

Currently trying to buy a house we both love. The house itself is nothing super special, and almost exactly what we said we needed (one extra bedroom and just a bit bigger overall). But we love the village and the garden.

It’s also not remotely what I thought we would buy. I thought we’d get a project house in a different, much bigger, village. But this is the one.

HuskyloverI · 11/02/2020 14:09

But even if you have a tick list, sometimes a house comes along that doesn't fit your criteria, but other features make it "the one".

For eg, I have lived in detached houses almost my whole adult life. A large garden, not overlooked and not North facing was always important to me.

BUT we moved a few years ago to a terraced Town House, with a tiny back garden, that's really overlooked...the trade off is a very sunny front garden and panoramic sea views from almost every room. Also a huge village green out the front. If we sit outside, it's always at the front to take in the views.

We love it here and have no plans to move!

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