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Original poster

Did you love the house you bought when you viewed it?

88 replies

cooperbug · 05/10/2020 20:50

We viewed a house tonight which my husband really likes and to be honest I thought I would really like it too. I don’t love it though. Should I love it?

Every other house that we have offered in and the one we live in now I have loved and start imaging where I would put my Christmas tree that type of thing!

This one has many nice things about it and in the area we want to be in but I’m just not sure. Am I being too fussy?

OP posts:
WonderMoon · 06/10/2020 13:06

I wouldn't say I loved it but my DH and I both had a really good feeling about it, good atmosphere, really lovely area, lots of potential. It needed some work doing to it but we were happy to do that. We love it now because we have made it our family home. You just need to see the potential. I never realised how important the area is until we moved to where we are now...where we used to live, the house was great, modern, needed little work, nice neighbours but the area itself was pretty rough and no nice, safe green space to walk to, just grey concrete everywhere. Lots of dodgy people from nearby off their heads on drugs/ letting their dogs crap outside peoples front gates. Sorry, off on a tangent there. View it again, you may feel differently.

sunshinesupermum · 06/10/2020 13:10

I've always loved the homes I've bought from the moment I stepped inside. Tbf the exteriors were also good. I've moved six times. No matter what your head says if your heart doesn't agree it's hard to make it change!

sunshinesupermum · 06/10/2020 13:11

PS the house looks lovely from the outside and the corner entrance makes it quirky and a little different.

Sembolina · 06/10/2020 13:14

When I viewed our house-to-be I didn't feel anything much really. I thought it was ok / fine. I think I was weary from all the house searching. I love the house now.

Khajit · 06/10/2020 13:18

Yes, my partner and I knew as soon as we viewed our first flat and then the house we are in now.

Echobelly · 06/10/2020 13:28

My first house: No, but it had potential and space

Second place: Yes, I viewed it alone, took husband to see it in the evening and he said 'I want it'

Current place: We'd had purchase fall through on somewhere we wanted more, went back to this place which we'd viewed earlier but were worried about the amount of work. We hadn't adored the first choice but liked it more. This was the only other place we'd seen, in quite a lot of viewings, that had the space we were after.

Did a lot of rebuilding work on it and really enjoying living in a space we've made. It's not perfect - tiny garden, long hallways that are still a tad dark even after we repainted everything much lighter, no driveway - but no regrets either. There were just only so many places we could find in this area that fit the bill. Plus we got DD into amazing secondary school.

Echobelly · 06/10/2020 13:29

OP, I think the corner entrance is very nice and a really positive feature that would add value in most people's eyes.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 06/10/2020 13:32

No! It was the only large 3 bed we could afford in this street that I really wanted to live on. It needed a lot of doing up (still does) but we went for that old cliche of location above everything else.

After we moved in and got to know people in the area, it transpired that quite a few of them had viewed this house and turned it down Grin because it was pretty ghastly.

Rafflesway · 06/10/2020 13:42

@Echobelly

OP, I think the corner entrance is very nice and a really positive feature that would add value in most people's eyes.
This most definitely!
Murmurur · 06/10/2020 14:15

I grew up in a house like that and to my mind it's perfect!

As an adult, we bought one as a heart over head and two box-tickers, head over heart. Happy with both.

CorianderLord · 06/10/2020 14:21

Yes, adored it. Now I'm sat here and one of three leaks in my roof is dripping away.

Sigh.

Notemyname · 06/10/2020 14:26

First house ticked all our boxes for our limited budget.

Second house was a heart decision due to the amazing garden and the excitement of a renovation. Turned out it was terrible mistake due to various reason I won't go into here but I have hated living here and have no love left for it.

We are now about to move to a dull, smaller but more expensive house which I hope we will stay in for the next 20 years. It's in the absolute perfect location for the kids, no work to do to it, and I am so looking forward to not having to think about my house anymore, I am ready to get on with living instead of renovating!

RobertaTheGreat · 06/10/2020 14:39

I love the look of that house!

GiraffeNecked · 06/10/2020 15:35

That house has got great kerb appeal!

First house - it was what I could afford - I was mad to buy it. I loved the quirky kitchen.

Second house - it was very light, far nicer than anything else we'd seen - and we lived there happily for 10 years, but I never loved it.

Third house - first people to see it - put an offer in before we'd left the viewing. We'd seen a lot of houses and we both loved it. It needs loads of work, there's a couple of compromises but we both still love it.

QuantumWeatherButterfly · 06/10/2020 15:53

No. The first thing I said to DH when we left was 'well, that wasn't the one, was it?'. He was gutted because he really, really loved it.

To me, the ground floor felt dark and cramped, the garden is a weird shape and I hated all the flooring.

DH, however, is really persuasive. He kept pointing out the great location (it really is fab) and how nice the upper floors are (he's not wrong), and talked me round.

Now, I love it - though we still haven't managed to get rid of all the crap carpets! I'm very, very glad I allowed myself to be persuaded.

muckandnettles · 06/10/2020 16:17

Two houses we've owned I've fallen in love with so much I almost felt dizzy with it, but others have been more practical choices. The ones I was in love with were lovely houses to live in as well, though there were faults. I would love to feel that dizzy feeling again for a house!

ChristopherTracy · 06/10/2020 16:32

Nope. We saw so many houses that we knew this one was the one in terms of budget, location and everything else. Did I love it? er no.

I think it is very different if you have choices between houses you like rather than this is the only one that fits the bill.

That house looks great btw.

EternalOptimist7 · 06/10/2020 16:37

That house looks lovely OP.
I fell in love with our current property straight away & could picture us living in it. Actually more so than our previous house, even though that was way bigger & “ posher”. I have always felt much more at home here. I remember desperately waiting to see if our final offer had been accepted.

user1471538283 · 06/10/2020 16:47

I did with my first house but I didn't with this one. I still don't and I'm moving

BrowncoatWaffles · 07/10/2020 09:53

Our first house I was six months pregnant. We needed somewhere, anywhere, in budget in a specific area about 50 miles from where we were currently living. We viewed six in a day and offered on the one that practically worked the best for what we needed. I loved it when I moved in but on viewing / offering it was a rational decision.

Currently moving due to stamp duty holiday and the house we are buying I loved from the moment we stepped foot into it. When we went back to measure up / check some things I was worried I couldn't love it as much but I absolutely did to the point it makes me worry because I feel if something happens and we don't get it I'll be gutted, whereas with our first home inconvenience aside I'd have got over it and moved on.

It's not even turnkey ready. But there's so much potential in it and I see us living there forever. It is both lovely and makes me worry a lot!

Original poster
cooperbug · 07/10/2020 10:44

So we went back to view this house this morning and are going to put an offer in on it!
Felt so much nicer looking at it when the sun was shining and I adore some of the traditional features and the street that it’s situated on.

It’s at the every top end of our budget but we are proceedable (having sold our house and moving into rented in 2 week). See what happens.

OP posts:
Murinae · 07/10/2020 10:54

I didn’t like our last three houses and never fell in love with them. This one now I love and we aren’t moving again for a long time!

toria658 · 07/10/2020 11:05

No, was ambivalent, but needed a house.

Now I love it, warm, insulated to within an inch of its life, cheap to run, easy to maintain, warm in winter cool in summer and totally silent. Very occasionally hear polite neighbours chatting in their garden, or perhaps mowing their lawn. Fixtures and fittings are of a good standard. I did pay for an expensive buildings report which went over everything though.

Only thing lacking is that it is not a nice heritage building, no architectural charm. But on a practical level with a semi wheelchair/ limited mobility person and two elderly dogs and me being a DIY incompetent, it is perfect.

MsSquiz · 07/10/2020 11:15

Yes, if I didn't love a house or feel comfortable in it, I couldn't go ahead with buying it.

We viewed one house which we really liked except for the kitchen. We got an architect out to look at extending and fitting my dream kitchen, but then I panicked. I was worried that, even once all the work was done, what if I didn't love it as much as DH did. I couldn't justify it.

A house purchase is a big spend when you're not fully into it

catnoir1 · 07/10/2020 11:53

Yes we absolutely loved it. Lived in it for over a year now and still love it just as much.