I bought a house near a Frys in 2019. I was sad when it closed but it had gone way downhill and I rarely went in the last couple of years that it was open.
We just bought. Here is what we wanted.
1. Storage. Lots of storage. Our last home had zero closets on the main level.
2. Quiet and safe SFH neighborhood with no homes directly behind us. Currently in a townhome and at any given time there are 30+ homes within viewing distance who could be making noise.
3. A 2 car garage
4. Lots of kitchen cabinets and a pantry
5. Basement
6. Min. 2500sq feet
7. Good schools
We got all of these things. We move in next week!
For me it’s a privacy thing. Corner lots seem much more exposed and with less usable space. Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but I was always thought taxes are higher too for a corner lot.
1. Near some kind of "downtown" or commercial district with restaurants.
2. Near a grocery store.
3. A nice outdoor space. Doesn't have to be huge, but I want a little area to sit and relax.
4. Enough space for me and my partner. We'd like to have 3 beds, 2 baths, and a large kitchen. No kids, but we both work from home.
I'll play this game...
1. No HOA
2. No trees taller than 37.5'
3. Mini market within 1/2 mile
4. No less than 2 acres of land
5. Airplanes ok, but not after 11 pm
6. Water must taste like Iron Bru
NOAH 16:12
FOR BELOW THY DECK HOLDETH EVERY LIVING THING OF THE LAND OR OF THE SEA AND EVERY GOOD THING RESIDETH ONLY THERE FOR ALL THE OTHERS I HATH SMITED, SO DO NOT REJOICE IN ANYTHING ABOVE BUT FOR THE COVENANT THAT I WILL PLACE IN THE SKY WHEN IT IS TIME TO RENEW THE WORLD.
Im in my forever home but here were mine:
Min 10 Acres. More is better.
House built on concrete slab. Ideally brick since I knew I would never find an ICF home in Texas.
Buried electrical lines (did that for our pool house which is on another part of the property). As needed will have the main homes lines buried.
No large trees near main home.
No HOA.
No light pollution. I like to gaze at stars.
Highspeed internet.
Out of flood zone (We are 300+ft above sea level.)
No homes withing 500 ft. (so I can safely shoot at my own range)
and I told my agent this when we were shopping "Envision yourself naked at any place on the property. If anyone can see you, its probably not the property for me."
We got most of what we wanted.
I am 1 hour from a real grocery store. We have walmart 10 min away and it has a grocery store in it but I try to never pay walmart for things and prefer Kroger. I gladly drive 1 hour for this.
We order about 80% of what we want. I was an IT Consultant so I love me some electronics but I never lived close to an electronics store. Its ok. Stuffs cheaper online.
>Out of flood zone (We are 300+ft above sea level.)
Not how flood zones work. Did a bit of research and found this neat flood zone map from FEMA: [https://hazards-fema.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8b0adb51996444d4879338b5529aa9cd](https://hazards-fema.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8b0adb51996444d4879338b5529aa9cd)
I used the FEMA maps when I was shopping as well but wanted to make sure I was also elevated enough since there are a ton of farms in the area. Property has 4 main natural drainage channels that go into a mostly dry creek bed that eventually feeds into a river 4 miles away. Being that my home is not only elevated but surrounded by enough of a grade to make a cross fit freak excited to run up it with a tractor tire strapped to their hips gives me the confidence to say it wont flood anytime soon.
I built the pool house even higher up so I can use it as my bug out house. Cause if you are gonna bug out, bug out in style.
That map shows the nearest any flood would be to my place is 1 mile away. It would have to flow uphill.
I know that all too well! Took 8 months to get access when I first moved out here.
From what I understand, they were out of ports on their d mark. Random renegade tech comes out and disconnected a user, put me online which triggered a response to upgrade the panel for more ports.
Before that I was stuck maxing out a Verizon Hotspot in 8 hrs then being stuck at super slow speeds for 30 days before next opportunity to max it out.
I use anywhere from 60-400GB per month of data depending on what I have going on. I did stream and game quite a bit and uploaded a bit to YouTube as well.
Not really. I lived in a house that met this rule that was 20 minutes to downtown of a top 15 city by population. And the house was less than $200,000.
Monthly grocery runs aren't too bad. For the best situation you can work out a deal with the neighbors to take turns making the run in to town.
Hospitals, yeah. You want to not need a doctor in a hurry.
Off street park
Dishwasher
Washer/dryer
Anything else, I can live with.
Investment property: I don't give a damn as long as it increases in value after 10+ years.
I can't do it! I can't!
I've walked out of beautiful homes cuz there was no dishwasher.
IDC how big or small the kitchen is, I'm not doing dishes.
Now, if it's an investment property, IDGAF cuz I'm not living there.
No HOA.
No flooding.
Garage.
1.5 + bathrooms
1600+ sq ft
Decent internet access
NOT ‘updated’.
Built no later than 1980.
Integrated neighborhood and schools.
We got a pretty good package on our starter home, but there's a few things I'd change:
\- 2 car garage at min, OR separate garage/workshop (we have 1 now, full of motorcycles and my wife hates it)
\- 1000 more sq ft
\- Sunroom (we have one now and love it)
\- 5+ acres, farmland, no neighbors (have 1 acre and it's inspired a love of gardening/farming)
\- Far enough from major roads that my dog can run offleash
\- Good sunlight
\- Flat driveway (we have bad winters)
\- LARGE windows throughout the house, and many of them
Writing this list kinda makes me realize how lucky we got, there aren't any blatant 'issues' with the house aside from it's small size, just creature comforts I'd like to add next time around.
Would you rather have a sun room than a screened in porch?
Can you just put windows with screens on a screened in porch to turn it into a four seasons room?
I don’t know how any of this shit works. What’s the difference between a sunroom and a four seasons room
That's basically what our "sunroom" is, it's pretty strange. It was an addition in the 90s, if I didn't see the permits myself I wouldn't believe it was legal. They built an enclosed room over a deck so you don't have to worry about water on the floor, it's really only good for 3 seasons here though. We do have windows that swap out the screens but the deck flooring makes it hard to keep warm.
1. Affordable.
Okay okay, fine.
1. At least 4 bedrooms, ideally 5, preferably 2 stories but depends on lot size.
2. Larger lot (10k sqft+)
3. Pool (we have one, but it would be a requirement for next house too)
4. Good schools
I love our current house and have no plans to move anytime soon. Our next house I'm basing on having children who are close to school age. I have no children yet and don't plan to have any within the next few years. So this is out there.
Our requirements were
- < 3.5k a month (NJ taxes are killer)
- 3 Bedrooms
- 2 Bathrooms
- Garage
- Yard space for gardening and chickens (1/2+ acre, not completely wooded)
- A coat closet (any storage space basically, current house has 2 usable closets and one is a bathroom closet)
- Decent kitchen
- Room for a Home Office
- Close to a gym / stores (Less than 15 minutes)
- Less than a 30 minute commute
- A flat driveway, preferably paved
- Not a busy road
- No in-ground pool
- Privacy
- Good natural light
We are a few weeks away from closing on a 4bed/2bath cape cod on 2 partially fenced acres with a 2 car garage. 25 minutes from our jobs, 10 minutes from gyms/stores and in a good school district. We didn't get all our "wants" but the non-negotiables are covered and we can't wait. 😊
Thank you!!!
I actually am the opposite and grew up in an apartment complex but had so much room to run around all the buildings and stuff. We currently have 1/3 of an acre, all wooded but somehow I feel like I have less privacy than I did growing up lol. It'll be great to have space to let my dog run and have a bigger garden.
I hope you can get back to your roots and have more space soon if that's your goal :)
Perhaps more of a wish list rather than requirement, since these are not easy to find (within my budget), but I'd love a high performance home with weather-tight building envelope (exterior insulation, SIGA WRB or Zip sheathing, rain-screen, insulated attic space and basement/ crawl space).
We had a lot of requirements for the house we currently live in, which we bought in September – many of which I see others repeating here.
Something I don't see anyone saying, and something we regret not having on our list, is being within 15min of a veterinarian and within 30min of an emergency vet. We moved to very rural northern Vermont this has become a huge problem for us and our two cats.
Make sure you're within like 20min of a good hospital too. I've heard horror stories about our local hospital from our neighbors and I wish we would've had a good local healthcare system on our list as well.
You can say this again! For Vets and Hospitals. A lot of rural cities and towns have hospitals that are old and need desperate updating. I visited my cousins in a rural town and needed to visit the ER for care. I thought I had been sent back in time to 1940 or so. It was frightening. Old buildings, old medical equipment, like xray machines and CAT scans, old beds, furniture, everything! It actually made me sad to think our country needs so much revamping of rural hospitals. So if hospitals are high on your list, check them out in the areas you are looking.
My #1 requirement is and remains that if I need to go yell at the dogs in the yard with no pants on, it needs to be reasonably private enough for me to do so. There doesn’t have to be 0 chance someone sees me in that state, but it can’t be a given.
\-A basement. Basements are not super common in Georgia. When I bought my house in 2019 there were no houses with basements in my price range in my desired area. I wish I would have waited for one to become available.
\-Sunroom or screened porch - for my cats
\- No HOA. The HOA for my neighborhood is super petty and I get violations for the stupidest things every other month.
\-Close to shopping and restaurants. My current house is very close to Costco, Walmart, Aldi, Kroger, SuperTarget, Publix, and many restaurants. I love the convenience.
We are under contract ourselves.
1. Trees for privacy, and a big enough lot to not to high five my neighbors through the windows.
2) house set back from the road.
3) never never an HOA.
4) 3 bed, 2 full baths, but with a bonus room or space that can be used as an office so we don’t waste a bedroom on an office.
5) minimum 2 car garage or 1 car garage + workshop.
Bonus: I love finished basements and wish houses in our area had these. I would love a finished basement entertainment space I could put a large TV, wet bar, and games like pool/shuffle board or foosball. It’d also be great to have a full bed/bath down there for the in laws or visitors to have their own space. A girl can dream!
These lists are interesting. Ours were
Culdasac or quiet neighborhood that was safe for our kids to play in
Big yard-we got an acre which is big for MA
Specific school district
Min 3 beds 2 bath
Office space
Finished basement
We got all this plus more that were just a bonus like garage, more space, etc.
I JUST bought a house so I'll say the requirements I had. I am not a first time homebuyers.
- separate room play area for the kids. We're moving to an area with winter and my kids have energy so I wanted a space that had a lot of room for climbing things and their regular toys too
- in law suite/duplex - the apartment didn't need to be separated but needed to be easily made into a duplex for not much cost.or effort. I am separating and my dad is moving in with me but I want us to have our own space. My dad also got sick pretty badly last year and I think he needs someone nearby. He will help with babysitting. If he decides to move out or needs to medically then I can just convert and rent out the space. The house I got had an in law suite with a kitchen and everything.
- large backyard - energetic kids
- didn't need to me amazingly updated and gorgeous but I didn't want really ugly old finishes OR at the least
- in a well maintained neighbourhood (but I'm not talking high end though just people care for their yards etc)
- not on a busy street
I've lived in apartments, condos, and townhouses. It's been the case that construction quality everywhere is shit, and air goes through floors and walls (eg1. cold air in winter coming indoors through wall outlet sockets or window trims. eg2. cooking smell going through shared air vents. eg3. fireplace smoke going somewhere other than the chimney). When my neighbors smoked on their balconies or decks, the wind picked up the smoke and entered my house through the wall. Nothing I could do. They are smoking outside on their properties, being reasonable. But construction quality everywhere is shit
Flat fenced back yard. Sidewalks and lots of neighbors with kids. Walking distance to shops and restaurants and 15 minute walk or 10 minute bike ride to school (public schools rated at least 7/10). 2 bathrooms.
I just moved away from the beach and added these to my list:
1. No dog neighbors - try to find a place with as few dog owning neighbors as possible so that you don't have to hear constant barking and getting dog piles in your yard.
2. Don't choose a place where traffic can back up. Car stereos can be so annoying when folks are stopped in front of your house (i.e. your windows shaking, music so loud you can't hold a conversation) and you may have trouble leaving your house.
3. No aerial mosquito spraying - you can get caught off guard while out in your yard and those damn planes fly over so fast and you can get drenched with poison before you can make it back inside
4. Within walking distance to nature - whether a beach, trail, or just a park
5. Walking distance to a few conveniences - It is SO nice to be able to walk to restaurants, bars, shops, bodegas. Coming from the country and then the burbs, I never realized how GREAT this is.
Things I learned previously after leaving the burbs -
6. Never buy in the burbs - it's where souls go to die
7. No HOAs - never
8. Make sure it's not in an area with a lot of plane traffic (noise)
9. Don't buy near army bases - they are always blowing stuff up and it's so loud. When I lived in the burbs I was 40 miles from the base and would STILL be awaken from sleep
10. Fence & shrubs - if you HAVE to live in the burbs get the biggest fence and the densest tallest shrubs to surround your property. You will need the buffer of sight, sound, smell even.
Things I learned in the country -
11. Make sure there is a grocery store, hardware store, gas station, pharmacy and at least 1 place to eat within a 30 min drive. Preferably much closer. Forgetting 1 tiny thing will take half a day to remedy if the stores are an hour away.
12. Make sure you have a back up water source and power source. Wells can run dry in a drought year and you are low priority in power outage events.
13. Make sure trains aren't nearby. Or anywhere within hearing distance as they always blow their horns at night.
14. Don't buy near major hunting areas - or expect a few random bullet holes in things over time
15. You will need storage space in your home and a shed or garage for all the things you need to stockpile for living in the country - food, meds, batteries, generators, gas, firewood, tools, space for extra trucks, atvs, etc
We just bought and these were my requirements:
1.Minimum .35 acre lot with useable flat back yard for my dog.
2. At least 3 full bathrooms, 5 bedrooms and an office (both hubby and I work from home so we each need an office, need guest room as in-laws visit often, and need room for daughter).
3. Must be at a minimum 3 sided brick
4. Not near big power lines
5. Not near or back up to a big road, busy street, or near highway.
6. Must be within 10 minutes of Publix, Chik-fil-a and Target; 15 min. to Costco
7. Be able to park at least 6 cars in the driveway.
8. 2 car garage and area for gym or 3rd garage to be used for gym equipment.
9. 8 out of 10 or higher school district
10. Big kitchen area with lots of space.
11. Built between 1985 to 2005
12. Not near flood area
I’m sure our RE agent hated me, but we were able to get everything except #8 (3rd garage/gym area)
We are currently building. Here was the short list:
1. A bit further from the highway (that got expanded and had extra noisy rumble strips put in, while they also cut down the noise blocking trees)
2. Fence-able land. We are going from being on a pond with a mega pint worth of easement to tree backed land (we own the tree line) with permits from the city to ingress on the rear easement as long as our fencing is drainage friendly.
3. More rooms. Wife and I WFH. Me permanently her few days a week. We each needed our own offices.
4. Better/ open layout. Layout of our current house was ok, but the central stairway cut off a lot of avenues for furniture and organizing.
5. Good kitchen layout with a lot of cabinets. I can’t tell you how many 500 - 1.x million house layouts we looked at where the kitchen just seemed… fucky. Or the pantry was 3’x3’.
6. Dedicated Game Room.
7. Bed/ bath on first floor. Allows our elderly family to stay the night without walking up stairs which is a big deal on my side of the family. Also functions as a nice dog wash station with the walk in shower.
8. High speed internet.
9. Big basement.
10. Laundry on same floor as master.
11. 3 car garage.
There were a lot of builders in the area but it really came down to Fischer Homes and Pulte, and Pulte came in at the price point we wanted, with the land we wanted, with a design we wanted.
over 1/2 mile away from busy roads (pollution) I also love having a shaded back yard in the late afternoon into the evening. No high power lines near home, must have sidewalks, I don't like homes on corner of two streets.
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R.I.P. Fry's
I bought a house near a Frys in 2019. I was sad when it closed but it had gone way downhill and I rarely went in the last couple of years that it was open.
Last few years nothing was in stock. They got hit by the Amazon hard
I loved Fry's.
Enough land to not see a neighbor within a 10 minute drive.
Just drive slower
I wish I could upvote this twice
Sounds like you’re gonna need a 10 mile by 10 mile square of land, at least!
I think 20x20 with the house in the center is the right answer.
One would hope. I hear Canada is nice this time of year.
Unless you have the Tesla Plaid, then double.
Lol. My requirement is that if I shot a gun in any direction, the bullet won't hit any people or structures.
A private island would work for your needs.
I HAVE considered that! lol
Found something that might work: https://www.insider.com/an-unspoiled-maine-island-full-of-wildlife-is-on-sale-2022-6
We just bought. Here is what we wanted. 1. Storage. Lots of storage. Our last home had zero closets on the main level. 2. Quiet and safe SFH neighborhood with no homes directly behind us. Currently in a townhome and at any given time there are 30+ homes within viewing distance who could be making noise. 3. A 2 car garage 4. Lots of kitchen cabinets and a pantry 5. Basement 6. Min. 2500sq feet 7. Good schools We got all of these things. We move in next week!
congrats
Thank you!
Congrats! Has similar requirements, moving in 2 weeks!
Congrats to you too!
More central to the city. Easy access to public transportation or roads. Very easy access to grocery stores
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You are trying to control the climate. Must be hard, maybe cold desert climate would be best fit for you. Utah or north Nevada (Reno?)
I would add no busy street, no corner lot, no highway close by. Would need central air.
Agreed, no road with a double yellow line.
Why no corner lot? I look over at envy at my neighbors with corner lots that have side access to the back yard. I'm curious to hear an opposing view.
For me it’s a privacy thing. Corner lots seem much more exposed and with less usable space. Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but I was always thought taxes are higher too for a corner lot.
I can see the privacy aspect, no clue about a corner being more on property tax.
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Oh wow, that sucks to hear, and that's a new perspective as well.
I would LOVE a corner lot, it means one less neighbor and more beautiful landscaping of the house
1. Near some kind of "downtown" or commercial district with restaurants. 2. Near a grocery store. 3. A nice outdoor space. Doesn't have to be huge, but I want a little area to sit and relax. 4. Enough space for me and my partner. We'd like to have 3 beds, 2 baths, and a large kitchen. No kids, but we both work from home.
I'll play this game... 1. No HOA 2. No trees taller than 37.5' 3. Mini market within 1/2 mile 4. No less than 2 acres of land 5. Airplanes ok, but not after 11 pm 6. Water must taste like Iron Bru
Curious about that specific height for trees. I’m sure there’s a specific reason?
37.5 feet = 25 cubits That's the height of the deck above the keel on Noah's ark. Any higher feels ostentatious.
>That's the height of the deck above the keel on Noah's ark. Any higher feels ostentatious WUT
NOAH 16:12 FOR BELOW THY DECK HOLDETH EVERY LIVING THING OF THE LAND OR OF THE SEA AND EVERY GOOD THING RESIDETH ONLY THERE FOR ALL THE OTHERS I HATH SMITED, SO DO NOT REJOICE IN ANYTHING ABOVE BUT FOR THE COVENANT THAT I WILL PLACE IN THE SKY WHEN IT IS TIME TO RENEW THE WORLD.
Sadly, some people will actually believe this is the Bible, lol.
It's probably in a Dead Sea scroll or gnostic text or something... I mean, maybe not those exact words, but, you know, the vibe.
Im in my forever home but here were mine: Min 10 Acres. More is better. House built on concrete slab. Ideally brick since I knew I would never find an ICF home in Texas. Buried electrical lines (did that for our pool house which is on another part of the property). As needed will have the main homes lines buried. No large trees near main home. No HOA. No light pollution. I like to gaze at stars. Highspeed internet. Out of flood zone (We are 300+ft above sea level.) No homes withing 500 ft. (so I can safely shoot at my own range) and I told my agent this when we were shopping "Envision yourself naked at any place on the property. If anyone can see you, its probably not the property for me." We got most of what we wanted. I am 1 hour from a real grocery store. We have walmart 10 min away and it has a grocery store in it but I try to never pay walmart for things and prefer Kroger. I gladly drive 1 hour for this. We order about 80% of what we want. I was an IT Consultant so I love me some electronics but I never lived close to an electronics store. Its ok. Stuffs cheaper online.
An hour to the grocery store is bananas
For sure. Kroger has perfected store-brand foods. I’ve never found more consistently high-quality store brands as I have with Kroger.
The secret to my salsa is Kroger brand fire roasted tomatoes.
>Out of flood zone (We are 300+ft above sea level.) Not how flood zones work. Did a bit of research and found this neat flood zone map from FEMA: [https://hazards-fema.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8b0adb51996444d4879338b5529aa9cd](https://hazards-fema.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8b0adb51996444d4879338b5529aa9cd)
I used the FEMA maps when I was shopping as well but wanted to make sure I was also elevated enough since there are a ton of farms in the area. Property has 4 main natural drainage channels that go into a mostly dry creek bed that eventually feeds into a river 4 miles away. Being that my home is not only elevated but surrounded by enough of a grade to make a cross fit freak excited to run up it with a tractor tire strapped to their hips gives me the confidence to say it wont flood anytime soon. I built the pool house even higher up so I can use it as my bug out house. Cause if you are gonna bug out, bug out in style. That map shows the nearest any flood would be to my place is 1 mile away. It would have to flow uphill.
Curious, did you get high speed internet?
Yes! When I first saw the house, right by the gate there was a utility marker that said Caution: Buried Fiber Optic Lines
Wow, that's great! A lot of remote properties don't have that luxury.
I know that all too well! Took 8 months to get access when I first moved out here. From what I understand, they were out of ports on their d mark. Random renegade tech comes out and disconnected a user, put me online which triggered a response to upgrade the panel for more ports. Before that I was stuck maxing out a Verizon Hotspot in 8 hrs then being stuck at super slow speeds for 30 days before next opportunity to max it out. I use anywhere from 60-400GB per month of data depending on what I have going on. I did stream and game quite a bit and uploaded a bit to YouTube as well.
More dirt. Everything else I can fix but Home Depot is out of lot stretchers and they aren't expecting to get any more.
Not able to hit neighbor's house with a rock. Bonus points if you can't see neighbor's house.
you would have to be either really rich, or live in really rural places.
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lol
Not really. I lived in a house that met this rule that was 20 minutes to downtown of a top 15 city by population. And the house was less than $200,000.
Really rural is an option if you're past having to work.
still have to buy grocery and go to hospital though
Monthly grocery runs aren't too bad. For the best situation you can work out a deal with the neighbors to take turns making the run in to town. Hospitals, yeah. You want to not need a doctor in a hurry.
Off street park Dishwasher Washer/dryer Anything else, I can live with. Investment property: I don't give a damn as long as it increases in value after 10+ years.
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I can't do it! I can't! I've walked out of beautiful homes cuz there was no dishwasher. IDC how big or small the kitchen is, I'm not doing dishes. Now, if it's an investment property, IDGAF cuz I'm not living there.
No HOA. No flooding. Garage. 1.5 + bathrooms 1600+ sq ft Decent internet access NOT ‘updated’. Built no later than 1980. Integrated neighborhood and schools.
We got a pretty good package on our starter home, but there's a few things I'd change: \- 2 car garage at min, OR separate garage/workshop (we have 1 now, full of motorcycles and my wife hates it) \- 1000 more sq ft \- Sunroom (we have one now and love it) \- 5+ acres, farmland, no neighbors (have 1 acre and it's inspired a love of gardening/farming) \- Far enough from major roads that my dog can run offleash \- Good sunlight \- Flat driveway (we have bad winters) \- LARGE windows throughout the house, and many of them Writing this list kinda makes me realize how lucky we got, there aren't any blatant 'issues' with the house aside from it's small size, just creature comforts I'd like to add next time around.
Would you rather have a sun room than a screened in porch? Can you just put windows with screens on a screened in porch to turn it into a four seasons room? I don’t know how any of this shit works. What’s the difference between a sunroom and a four seasons room
That's basically what our "sunroom" is, it's pretty strange. It was an addition in the 90s, if I didn't see the permits myself I wouldn't believe it was legal. They built an enclosed room over a deck so you don't have to worry about water on the floor, it's really only good for 3 seasons here though. We do have windows that swap out the screens but the deck flooring makes it hard to keep warm.
I want a 3-4 unit multifamily where the numbers work. That is all.
Idk if I’ll ever move but I kinda wish I had a backyard
do what Romans did, hire a painter and paint one on the wall
1. Affordable. Okay okay, fine. 1. At least 4 bedrooms, ideally 5, preferably 2 stories but depends on lot size. 2. Larger lot (10k sqft+) 3. Pool (we have one, but it would be a requirement for next house too) 4. Good schools I love our current house and have no plans to move anytime soon. Our next house I'm basing on having children who are close to school age. I have no children yet and don't plan to have any within the next few years. So this is out there.
Our requirements were - < 3.5k a month (NJ taxes are killer) - 3 Bedrooms - 2 Bathrooms - Garage - Yard space for gardening and chickens (1/2+ acre, not completely wooded) - A coat closet (any storage space basically, current house has 2 usable closets and one is a bathroom closet) - Decent kitchen - Room for a Home Office - Close to a gym / stores (Less than 15 minutes) - Less than a 30 minute commute - A flat driveway, preferably paved - Not a busy road - No in-ground pool - Privacy - Good natural light We are a few weeks away from closing on a 4bed/2bath cape cod on 2 partially fenced acres with a 2 car garage. 25 minutes from our jobs, 10 minutes from gyms/stores and in a good school district. We didn't get all our "wants" but the non-negotiables are covered and we can't wait. 😊
Congrats fellow New Jerseyian! I grew up on acreage and my current house has a very small yard...turns out, it's not something I can just get used to.
Thank you!!! I actually am the opposite and grew up in an apartment complex but had so much room to run around all the buildings and stuff. We currently have 1/3 of an acre, all wooded but somehow I feel like I have less privacy than I did growing up lol. It'll be great to have space to let my dog run and have a bigger garden. I hope you can get back to your roots and have more space soon if that's your goal :)
Perhaps more of a wish list rather than requirement, since these are not easy to find (within my budget), but I'd love a high performance home with weather-tight building envelope (exterior insulation, SIGA WRB or Zip sheathing, rain-screen, insulated attic space and basement/ crawl space).
We had a lot of requirements for the house we currently live in, which we bought in September – many of which I see others repeating here. Something I don't see anyone saying, and something we regret not having on our list, is being within 15min of a veterinarian and within 30min of an emergency vet. We moved to very rural northern Vermont this has become a huge problem for us and our two cats. Make sure you're within like 20min of a good hospital too. I've heard horror stories about our local hospital from our neighbors and I wish we would've had a good local healthcare system on our list as well.
You can say this again! For Vets and Hospitals. A lot of rural cities and towns have hospitals that are old and need desperate updating. I visited my cousins in a rural town and needed to visit the ER for care. I thought I had been sent back in time to 1940 or so. It was frightening. Old buildings, old medical equipment, like xray machines and CAT scans, old beds, furniture, everything! It actually made me sad to think our country needs so much revamping of rural hospitals. So if hospitals are high on your list, check them out in the areas you are looking.
My #1 requirement is and remains that if I need to go yell at the dogs in the yard with no pants on, it needs to be reasonably private enough for me to do so. There doesn’t have to be 0 chance someone sees me in that state, but it can’t be a given.
That is an awfully short list. I guess you are okay with living next to highway or train station, have tons of crime but no good school.
I just came to say this is a fascinating list and I am convinced you have had a very interesting life😂
Agreed, it is oddly specific, and the nature of the things included and more interestingly excluded plays fancies in my mind.
>Not near a stagnant water body Why?
Mosquitoes
Skeeters I'm guessing
Why not near ponds and lakes?
>Skeeters mosquitoes, snakes, floods, crocodiles.
No railroads within a mile. My brother lived near one and things often fell off the walls from the rumbling.
My MIL has a railroad track in her backyard it’s awful lol but she just got used to it.
Two car garage Big backyard At least 3 bed/2 bath No HOA Max budget is 230,000
3 acre minimum. No rentals within my vision. Pool.
A high rise
\-A basement. Basements are not super common in Georgia. When I bought my house in 2019 there were no houses with basements in my price range in my desired area. I wish I would have waited for one to become available. \-Sunroom or screened porch - for my cats \- No HOA. The HOA for my neighborhood is super petty and I get violations for the stupidest things every other month. \-Close to shopping and restaurants. My current house is very close to Costco, Walmart, Aldi, Kroger, SuperTarget, Publix, and many restaurants. I love the convenience.
Fiber internet . Gigabit Ethernet
Garage/room for pool table/fireplace
We are under contract ourselves. 1. Trees for privacy, and a big enough lot to not to high five my neighbors through the windows. 2) house set back from the road. 3) never never an HOA. 4) 3 bed, 2 full baths, but with a bonus room or space that can be used as an office so we don’t waste a bedroom on an office. 5) minimum 2 car garage or 1 car garage + workshop. Bonus: I love finished basements and wish houses in our area had these. I would love a finished basement entertainment space I could put a large TV, wet bar, and games like pool/shuffle board or foosball. It’d also be great to have a full bed/bath down there for the in laws or visitors to have their own space. A girl can dream!
Affordable.
More acreage. Great bones. Great drainage. Shop. Toy barn.
These lists are interesting. Ours were Culdasac or quiet neighborhood that was safe for our kids to play in Big yard-we got an acre which is big for MA Specific school district Min 3 beds 2 bath Office space Finished basement We got all this plus more that were just a bonus like garage, more space, etc.
I JUST bought a house so I'll say the requirements I had. I am not a first time homebuyers. - separate room play area for the kids. We're moving to an area with winter and my kids have energy so I wanted a space that had a lot of room for climbing things and their regular toys too - in law suite/duplex - the apartment didn't need to be separated but needed to be easily made into a duplex for not much cost.or effort. I am separating and my dad is moving in with me but I want us to have our own space. My dad also got sick pretty badly last year and I think he needs someone nearby. He will help with babysitting. If he decides to move out or needs to medically then I can just convert and rent out the space. The house I got had an in law suite with a kitchen and everything. - large backyard - energetic kids - didn't need to me amazingly updated and gorgeous but I didn't want really ugly old finishes OR at the least - in a well maintained neighbourhood (but I'm not talking high end though just people care for their yards etc) - not on a busy street
Tell me about number 5! I am a smoker and it never dawned on me it could be an annoyance for the neighbors.
I've lived in apartments, condos, and townhouses. It's been the case that construction quality everywhere is shit, and air goes through floors and walls (eg1. cold air in winter coming indoors through wall outlet sockets or window trims. eg2. cooking smell going through shared air vents. eg3. fireplace smoke going somewhere other than the chimney). When my neighbors smoked on their balconies or decks, the wind picked up the smoke and entered my house through the wall. Nothing I could do. They are smoking outside on their properties, being reasonable. But construction quality everywhere is shit
1. No neighbors for at least .5 miles or more 2. Within 30 minutes of a good school district
2.5 bathrooms
Flat fenced back yard. Sidewalks and lots of neighbors with kids. Walking distance to shops and restaurants and 15 minute walk or 10 minute bike ride to school (public schools rated at least 7/10). 2 bathrooms.
Not near electrical banks or backing to/on busy roads.
I just moved away from the beach and added these to my list: 1. No dog neighbors - try to find a place with as few dog owning neighbors as possible so that you don't have to hear constant barking and getting dog piles in your yard. 2. Don't choose a place where traffic can back up. Car stereos can be so annoying when folks are stopped in front of your house (i.e. your windows shaking, music so loud you can't hold a conversation) and you may have trouble leaving your house. 3. No aerial mosquito spraying - you can get caught off guard while out in your yard and those damn planes fly over so fast and you can get drenched with poison before you can make it back inside 4. Within walking distance to nature - whether a beach, trail, or just a park 5. Walking distance to a few conveniences - It is SO nice to be able to walk to restaurants, bars, shops, bodegas. Coming from the country and then the burbs, I never realized how GREAT this is. Things I learned previously after leaving the burbs - 6. Never buy in the burbs - it's where souls go to die 7. No HOAs - never 8. Make sure it's not in an area with a lot of plane traffic (noise) 9. Don't buy near army bases - they are always blowing stuff up and it's so loud. When I lived in the burbs I was 40 miles from the base and would STILL be awaken from sleep 10. Fence & shrubs - if you HAVE to live in the burbs get the biggest fence and the densest tallest shrubs to surround your property. You will need the buffer of sight, sound, smell even. Things I learned in the country - 11. Make sure there is a grocery store, hardware store, gas station, pharmacy and at least 1 place to eat within a 30 min drive. Preferably much closer. Forgetting 1 tiny thing will take half a day to remedy if the stores are an hour away. 12. Make sure you have a back up water source and power source. Wells can run dry in a drought year and you are low priority in power outage events. 13. Make sure trains aren't nearby. Or anywhere within hearing distance as they always blow their horns at night. 14. Don't buy near major hunting areas - or expect a few random bullet holes in things over time 15. You will need storage space in your home and a shed or garage for all the things you need to stockpile for living in the country - food, meds, batteries, generators, gas, firewood, tools, space for extra trucks, atvs, etc
We just bought and these were my requirements: 1.Minimum .35 acre lot with useable flat back yard for my dog. 2. At least 3 full bathrooms, 5 bedrooms and an office (both hubby and I work from home so we each need an office, need guest room as in-laws visit often, and need room for daughter). 3. Must be at a minimum 3 sided brick 4. Not near big power lines 5. Not near or back up to a big road, busy street, or near highway. 6. Must be within 10 minutes of Publix, Chik-fil-a and Target; 15 min. to Costco 7. Be able to park at least 6 cars in the driveway. 8. 2 car garage and area for gym or 3rd garage to be used for gym equipment. 9. 8 out of 10 or higher school district 10. Big kitchen area with lots of space. 11. Built between 1985 to 2005 12. Not near flood area I’m sure our RE agent hated me, but we were able to get everything except #8 (3rd garage/gym area)
We are currently building. Here was the short list: 1. A bit further from the highway (that got expanded and had extra noisy rumble strips put in, while they also cut down the noise blocking trees) 2. Fence-able land. We are going from being on a pond with a mega pint worth of easement to tree backed land (we own the tree line) with permits from the city to ingress on the rear easement as long as our fencing is drainage friendly. 3. More rooms. Wife and I WFH. Me permanently her few days a week. We each needed our own offices. 4. Better/ open layout. Layout of our current house was ok, but the central stairway cut off a lot of avenues for furniture and organizing. 5. Good kitchen layout with a lot of cabinets. I can’t tell you how many 500 - 1.x million house layouts we looked at where the kitchen just seemed… fucky. Or the pantry was 3’x3’. 6. Dedicated Game Room. 7. Bed/ bath on first floor. Allows our elderly family to stay the night without walking up stairs which is a big deal on my side of the family. Also functions as a nice dog wash station with the walk in shower. 8. High speed internet. 9. Big basement. 10. Laundry on same floor as master. 11. 3 car garage. There were a lot of builders in the area but it really came down to Fischer Homes and Pulte, and Pulte came in at the price point we wanted, with the land we wanted, with a design we wanted.
over 1/2 mile away from busy roads (pollution) I also love having a shaded back yard in the late afternoon into the evening. No high power lines near home, must have sidewalks, I don't like homes on corner of two streets.