house hunting update

hmonkey · October 2012

nola: your trip looks wonderful! i'm glad you went and had a lovely -- and safe -- time.

dh and i went out together to get a second look at some of out top picks. two were new to us, but looked good from the pics online. this was our opportunity to be super-critical and judgey.

i love it, dh will hate it: from here: http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_wedding-woes_house-hunting-recap
dh thought it was too dark. at second glance, it is too dark. we could rip the porch off to bring in some light, but that only helps two rooms. too bad.

oh you fancy, huh?: this house is owned by an investor. investor clearly had some ebbs and flows with the money because all the rooms that were re-done were done in completely different ways -- I HATE THAT. the kitchen was french country, one bathroom was modern and pottery barn, another bathroom was country like cracker barrel. paint is great and all, but no color in he world is going to bring together a house with a bathroom like this http://cantonantiques.com/images/db/antique/furniture/955.jpg and one that looks like this http://www.giftag.com/clip/17/single-sink-consoles-bathroom-vanity-sinks-pottery-barn-1-clip.jpg

small wonder 2: this house was really teeny tiny and super adorbs. great tiny little space. she put in some nice updates to the bathrooms and the bedrooms.
the issues -- no bathroom on the main level and only a one car garage. we took a hard look at the yard to see where a 2 car garage can go and it would either split the yard in half or we could do an awky tandem garage.

far and away: this house was the biggest and the best we looked at. very bright, nice neighborhood. it would put me right between daycare and work. nice big bedrooms, big living spaces. horrible kitchen, but it would be an easy and inexpensive fix because it is just straight countertops without any weird angles. the carpet is not great condition but i would get rid of those anyway.
the issue: it is 1/2 mile away from a sanitary plant. apparently about two years ago, the plant bowed to pressure and put in a major odor treatment work. but still -- i don't want to deal and i also don't want a house i can't resell even if we do live there for 20 years.

so. it looks like dh and i are now in a waiting game and just looking for better houses to come on the market or some good ones to come down in price. we are not looking for the next two weeks because we have visitors and we are traveling.

overall, i am really disappointed in people. a lot of people apparently just exist in their houses and don't really live there. they also think that if they want to sell their house, they can just pack up and move out, and leave all their terrible taste just hanging on the walls. just paint over your terrible mauve, maroon, lime green, PINK AND ORANGE walls. leave it white or beige or gray.

i also don't understand people who re-did certain rooms, but didn't take into account any of the other rooms. cherry with brass pulls in one bathroom, walnut with balck knobs in kitchen with parquet floors, mahogany bedrooms with white doors, etc. maybe that was cheapest when they did the rehab but come on -- wait and save more money so it looks consistent.

oh, and i could not hate distressed finishes more. i hate them with the white hot burning hate of a thousand hoarders who hate throwing out a used bandaid. i want to be the banksy of interior design judging by making a stencil of "stop f*cking doing this"and spray paint it on walls and furniture.

VarunaTT · October 2012

I actually jumped back a little at those 2 sink pictures. No, you need to have some flow in a house.

I'm with you on distressed finish. ILs did that one their kitchen cabinets (that crackle look) and were super proud of it. I was just like, Oh..yeah...it's....great. *swallow* I don't even like it on furniture.

Our hardwoods are from 1959, have probably been refinished twice and have had at least four dogs on it including puppies. They are not separating. That is insane.

Sorry about the house hunting. Something will come along.

NOLABridesmaid · October 2012

I wish I could have stuffed you in my carry on. We would have had fun.

oh you fancy, huh?: I'm singing that song now.:)

I hope you and the Mr. can find your forever home. You guys can't go through this twice, yo.

PMeg819 · October 2012

Annie Soan chalk paint is the devil. That's all I'm saying about distressed furniture. And the mismatched decor drives me crazy. DH is always like "we should put oil rubbed bronze fixtures in this bathroom". No dude, we can't just do one room. We have to do them all and we don't have that money right now.

mrsconn23 · October 2012

There's a lady up the street who was hawking some shabby chic stuff she'd obvs bought off CL and redid herself. I want to shake my fist at her and say "NOOOO!!!" for you Hmo.

Oh and the market sucks right now. We've been looking on and off since we're likely selling sooner than later and there's nothing out there that I love. There's stuff I could live with, but...meh. I'm hoping stuff starts to look better after the new year.

*Barbie* · October 2012

have you guys considered building?

from your reviews, it sounds like you guys are looking for something fully updated, completely to your taste. there's picky, and there's too picky.

things like paint are easy fixes - if you don't like the magenta walls, then paint them when you move in. rip up the shag carpets if you don't like them. why should the owners sink more money into painting the walls that they love white/beige just so you can come in and decorate as your please?

they don't have a viking stove or the (included) white fridge doesn't match the stainless dishwasher? - is this really the end of the world? if the non-Viking is functional and isn't leaking gas into the house, couldn't you live with it and eventually upgrade to your 6K range? Same with other ("free" - included) appliances - so what if they don't match? they were free, and you can upgrade as you wish.

the house has a hoarder/serious foundation issues/is next door to a sewage treatment plant/the neighborhood is full of child molesters/ house is too small/etc. - things that could seriously impact your safety/investment/quality of life, by all means, eliminate the house.

it really seems like you're putting a lot of emphasis on the physical apperance of minor details and taste of previous owners into the decision. The house won't be yours until you make it yours - sure it may take a little work/time/money to change things - but it seems unrealistic to walk into a house and find everything perfect for you.

6fsn · October 2012

I was kind of thinking along Barbie's lines. I don't know anyone in real life that waits to do all of the bathroom faucets at once unless that's all they are replacing or it's a tear down. Paint and carpet are incredibly easy fixes, even more easy to do before moving in. time to look past that stuff or start from scratch.

dharmabunny · October 2012

I'm going to have to concur with 6 and Barbie. Precious few people have the money to get everything Architectural Digest matching perfect in one refi. I'd save the true picky for code violations, serious structural damage or signs of subsidence or major systems that are in hospice. I'll take laminate countertops if the electrical isn't squirrel chewed rag wire that won't ignite the house at 2am.

hmonkey · October 2012

if i walk into a house and i see "crappy" appliances, i know i am probably going to be facing crappy cabinets, crappy countertops, crappy faucets, etc. so now i am looking at a major kitchen rehab, adding significantly to the overall price.

i don't expect all the bathrooms to match -- but i do expect a certain flow. to have one bathroom that is totally hobby lobby and another that is out of restoration hardware -- it means i am going to have to replace at least one, again adding to the bottom line and adding inconvenience.

i do expect people to paint over their terrible pink and orange decisions -- it makes me at least think they put some effort into their house, and into selling their house. hopefully they patched a few things too. i wouldn't rent an apartment that wasn't painted; why should i sink $$$$ into a house that someone didn't even bother to do a walkththrough?

sure, paint is an easy fix. carpet is too. i bring up people's terrible decisions (nobody knows the troubled wallpaper i've seen) because sometimes they're amusing. the 10x10 "3rd bedroom"? not funny to anyone, especially to who ever lived there.

none of these houses we've see are ones that we feel especially strongly about. we wouldn't regret letting any of them get away. they do have issues beyond carpet and paint that we do not like and would cost significantly to fix or cannot be fixed -- dark, too small, no storage, no garage, street is too busy, clearly someone died horribly there.

dh works from home, so a house that needs less done is better. he can't be working and taking calls while someone is gutting the kitchen. we are also less than interested in staying in the apartment and paying rent + paying mortgage + paying for a rehab to be done. the houses we've looked at are at the upper end of our limit, so we need them to be move in ready. we're probably going to be moving down the price range so we can afford the rehab some of these hellholes need.

we're not in a rush, and we can afford to be picky. we have no problem extending our lease if necessary.

VarunaTT · October 2012

I think she's shared most of her judgy stuff with us for fun.

But I think there are some things that you have to go into with a reality check. It's all fine and dandy to "think" you're going to remodel your kitchen, but DH and I have been "thinking" that for close to 10 years. Thank goodness we picked a kitchen that was already liveable for us. But moving into someplace knowing that you find this, that and the other unliveable isn't smart either. Real life interferes (looking at my hallway that has had one coat of paint for three years now) with getting stuff done a lot.

Not matching faucets is liveable. But having to rip out bathroom fixtures so that you don't feel like each room is an individual furniture store exhibit is a whole 'nother level of liveability. I'll admit to being anal enough I wouldn't make it with that either.

Of course, we know HMo and I are nutso. I was laughing as I ironed a long denim skirt b/c the hem likes to flip up and once I ironed that, the rest of the skirt looked wrinkly to me. I thought, "WW would be horrified at my actions right now. HMo would be giving me a high five and calling the rest of them beasts!"

NOLABridesmaid · October 2012

Ditto on not getting to projects as soon as we think. I've been in my townhouse for 9 years and just redid the kitchen this summer.

I did paint, change the carpet, change faucets, and bathroom countertops within a week of closing. I was not going to wait on those.

Plusalso, you know that toilet seat was changed day one.

tawillers · October 2012

Please keep sharing the judgy stuff. We know that's all in fun.

And I say if you can afford to be picky, why not get what you want? Some people think doing the renovations yourself is so much harder than hiring someone, but personally I think dealing with people coming in and out of your home for weeks on end would be worse (and more expensive). That would be more disruptive to day-to-day life, IMO.

hmonkey · October 2012

(i washed and ironed my trenchcoat last night)

yes -- i don't need the faucets and all that to match. but i need them to have the same feel -- like someone put some thought into that. to me, it indicates that someone put a little effort into it, and could look at the big picture of their house and how it flows. i don't want country heart cut-outs in the cabinetry in one bathroom (or anywhere) and granite and glass in the other bathroom. i want a consistent feel to the house -- like one family lived there, rather than a bunch of roommates and they all wanted their own thing.

AuntFlo · October 2012

C'mon people! Perfect houses do not make good stories!

mrsconn23 · October 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_wedding-woes_house-hunting-update-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:47Discussion:28523967-3487-4130-8fcd-854266b645a0Post:79829ad7-d499-48d7-986a-dd97d2483723">Re: house hunting update</a>:
[QUOTE]C'mon people! Perfect houses do not make good stories!
Posted by AuntFlo[/QUOTE]

Word.

I thought most of the updates were being told to us tongue-in-cheek.

*Barbie* · October 2012

don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the judgy reviews - but I think hmo is placing a lot of emphasis on the taste of the previous owners and quality of appliances.

in this type of market, when a lot of people are underwater on their houses (especially if they purchased in the last 5 or so years) it's unrealistic to expect people to sink more money into a house to make it beige (walls, carpet,etc.) in the attempt to sell it.

You also need to consider that some people inherited certain aspects of a house and didn't have the time or money to update everything before they sold. That was us in our PA house - we only lived there for 2.5 years, and a lot of the house was original from 1960, or had been updated once by the (only) pervious owners. The kitchen was huge and had a ton of potential, but we knew it wasn't until 5-10 years where we'd really be able to afford to do what we wanted to update it. It may have been old fashioned (hmo whould have died at the non-granite countertops and ancient range/wall mounted oven) - but we did what we could to freshen it up while we lived there (new paint, refinished the cabinets + new hardware- maybe $200 and a few weekends worth of work).

I've bought 2 houses in the last 5 years and sold one. I easily toured 50+ houses when I was looking in Houston and some of them were nightmares (3500+ sq ft, 5BR 3.5BA, every room covered in horrible wallpaper - including the 2 story living room. the pattern in that room was dizzying - like multicolored paint splotches - that house would have been a serious contender if we wouldn't have had to pay major money to remove the wallpaper and then paint the entire house.)

it's great to have the luxury of being able to take your time and look. hopefully you guys find something that makes you happy.

hmonkey · October 2012

barbie, thank you for your mansplanation.

VarunaTT · October 2012

Oh HMo...marry me.

ETA: I tried to find a good pictures of Maeby saying this from Arrested Development, but could not.

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