So the husband and I are hunting for houses. Tonight will be the third visit we've had with a realtor and to be perfectly honest, I think I know of a house that I'd be perfectly comfortable putting an offer on. The husband on the other hand has a differing opinion on the house that we purchase.
I have a background in finance. But somehow I'm typically the spendy one. However in this case the husband is the one that wants the baller house with 5 bedrooms and huge yard. There is a house that we've looked at that is extremely affordable for us (read: mortgage is actually less than our rent). The location is perfect and the house is very reasonably sized with a pretty awesome yard in my opinion.
The problem comes when we're going to look at houses tonight. The houses that we'll look at range in price big time. Now, I'm not going to talk actual dollar amounts, but the house that is my husband's DREAM was 80k more than the reasonably priced house that I can consider living in for some time.
Both of our parents still live in the house where we were brought home from the hospital to. There is something about having those long standing memories that I really hold near and dear to my heart. While the house I like/love isn't long term house material, it's certainly a great starter house for us. 3 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom and 2-3/4 baths. The yard is very "manicured"... I guess. But the square footage is 1240sf - which I guess doesn't include the finished basement which is another 894sf.
Pros of a cheaper/smaller house:
Lower utilities (easier to cool/heat)
Lower property taxes
Less places to clean!
Lower mortgage payments
Why I like this house:
Backyard is Ames Nursery (plants, not baby nursery)
Fun backyard (not huge, but definitely not small)
HOT TUB INCLUDED
Sun room
Large bedrooms
Fireplace in basement
Unique floor plan (not cookie cutter house)
Older house (again, it looks different)
Not on a busy street)
2 car garage (which is under one of the bedrooms - remind me to test the sound the garage makes while standing in that room
Cons of a cheaper/smaller house:
Not the place we'll stay forever
Not as much room for guests to come and stay
In particular the husband doesnt like:
Tall trees in the yard (which he claims will definitely fall on the house eventually)
Overall size (he wants a big house vs. having more "mad money" to go on vacations with so he's willing to spend more)
In particular I don't like:
Cosmetic things like wallpaper, and the God-awful carpet in the basement.
Split level house - I've heard multiple disadvantages about these houses... so if you have any opinions, please share!
Overall I'm excited :)
This is too funny - you sound like us trying to search for a house. I wanted big trees, lots of character and the right location - and i wanted it long term. He wanted a newer house (aka cookie cutter in my opinion) and was more willing to go short term.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side we did agree on price, so I don't have much advice there (except that i think a mortgage less than your rent + moolah for vacations sounds badass).
We didn't look at that many houses - but the ones we looked at we were so split on. Either i loved them OR he loved them. never agreed.
My good news for you is that one day we randomly stopped at an open house and voila - we both loved it. haha and despite 450389457 house projects associated with an old OLD house, I'm glad we're there.
My bad news for you is it sounds like this house isn't quite right - both of you should be equally excited about the new digs! which i hate to say, because it sounds awesome.
Of course now there is a third house that is the one we're really considering!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Salty will change his mind on the larger house if you let him know that he will be cleaning all the extra empty rooms, haha. While I loved having two bathrooms, I didn't like having to clean the dust of the tub in the second bathroom; I could only imagine how much I'd hate cleaning a bunch of extra bedrooms.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you plan on having more than two kids but even if you are and you get started on having kids right away, it will still be quite a while before you need more than three bedrooms (IE because most young kids are not only okay with sharing a bedroom, but feel safer sharing one).