How did you know it was 'the one?'

[Ladyof]

I've been looking for houses about 8 months now, liked lots of them and seen potential but felt like we were compromising on certain things, the latest one ticks all boxes apart from the bedrooms are quite small. I dont know whether to go for it or hang fire for something else.

We have quite a specific list of wants and needs and I am willing to compromise on things although obviously finding something which met them all would be perfect.

Everyone keeps saying I will know when I've viewed the right house so I'm thinking well I've liked them but didnt feel like I knew it was the one. Does this mean I havent found the one?

Hope that makes sense. How did you feel? This will hopefully be our last house before we retire so I want to get it right.

I've had both experiences over the course of several houses.

In one where I fell "in love" from the minute I went inside, it was because I could see us living there as a family. The sellers were of a similar age and had decorated and extended to our style. While it wasn't perfect, it felt like a home to us.

On another house, it was as if a 90 year old decorated it to put off younger viewers. Everything about it - carpets, colours, wallpaper etc. - felt oppressive and it needed so much work to make it work for a family. But we knew we could get it looking gorgeous in time.

I don’t know if I knew either of my houses were the one, but I knew I loved them! Then I got the fear that id made the wrong decisions, but I hadn’t. I think maybe for such an enormous purchase it’s better to be in your head rather than your heart!

Things that you shouldn’t compromise on

Size-especially if you cannot extend
Outside space- again this is fixed so make sure it’s the right size
Location-self explanatory really

Decor and layout to some extent can be changed. Also is your budget realistic?

We felt it in both our houses that we've bought, but also in one we lost our on (that looking back wasn't as good as the one we ended up buying). So it's not a hard and fast rule! We will go round houses (DH and I) and talk through positives and negatives, probably argue and have differing opinions and then we will just walk into a house and both come out and go "that's it".
DH didn't even want to visit our current house when he saw it online and we nearly cancelled but as soon as we stepped through the front door we knew it was for us.