We were moving from a rental to buy in the same general area, so that made our search easier. My husband and I had researched and went to open houses for several years to get a feel for what was available in our price range and to sort out likes and dislikes, wants and needs. This was after the housing bubble burst, and we were waiting for the prices to get very close to the bottom because this is an expensive area and we are older, so we really needed to pay the loan off early, or be able to sell with a certainty that we would not lose money.

When we were ready, we signed with a buyer's agent and found our home in about three weeks. Most homes were foreclosures, and the banks were very difficult and slow with replies at that time, so we had multiple offers out at once. So any of several houses could have been the purchase. Our home ended up being in a neighboring, second choice city, but larger sq footage than we thought would be possible to afford. And it was an escrow sale. The house was definitely dated and needed work, but we are DIYers and we weren't going to lose money on it.

It is funny, but my husband admitted several years after the purchase that he "didn't see the vision of this house like you did." I probably looked at him like he'd suddenly grown two heads and countered that every item I declared a deal-breaker, even the entire back yard of concrete needing to be removed, he had said it was "do-able"! He replied, "Well, it was." lol It has been slow going, a lot of work, and there is still remodeling to be done. But the house and neighborhood has been a good fit for our family overall. And, we could sell today for at least $200,000 more than we paid for it, thanks to the crazy housing market in our area. So while it wasn't hard to find, a lot of sweat equity has been invested. It appears to have been a good home choice for us.

This time around has been very hard. I am relocating to an area with a lower cost of living so with the resources I have I thought it would be a piece of cake to find a great new home. Unfortunately the area I am moving to has very little inventory so good properties are having multiple offers and bidding wars. It has been exhausting traveling to the new city time after time only to come up empty. I have a contract on a house right now but the appraisal just came back very low so I don't know if the sale will even go through. If it doesn't work out I guess I'll have to look for a place to rent since all the other things that go with relocating (ie sold my house here, relocating jobs) are in motion. Sigh.

It took us about a year to find our present home. It was a relocation for work (jumped at the chance to move back to Maine). Great schools were the primary factor in what town we chose to live in. We looked at over 100 houses in that year. Took some time off during that year because we didn't find anything that fit most of our needs. We were looking at larger older houses with character, real wood floors, tin ceilings, built-ins, etc. Didn't matter if the house needed some fixing up. We are DIY'ers . Found one that was within walking distance from the elementary and middle schools. The high school was down by the beach so the kids were bussed. Wait what am I saying...I drove them to high school! We really do love our home. It will be a sad day when we downsize for retirement. We just won't need all this space. NancyLouise

There was only one "right" house for me and it wasn't for sale. I just always saw myself living in that house. I looked at other houses for over three years but they weren't "that" house. I just couldn't pull the trigger on buying another house. I felt like I belonged in that one particular house and just could not shake that feeling. I ended up buying THE house. It was really weird.

I am a retired US Navy submariner. My family and I moved typically every 3-4 years. We were not provided a house hunting trip and thus had to pay for the travel and room and take Leave/vacation to do so.
We did not have the internet available, and thus relied on Ads in local newspapers and in Navy Times.

We never spent more than three days in a new area in order to find a house. In one case (Charleston, SC), my wife made the choice alone as I could not get leave to travel from Seattle.

In one case, I made the choice alone (Silverdale, WA) as we could not afford for my wife to travel cross country. That was a home under-construction - I Fedex'd her the literature over-night, so she had a "vote." I had to leave the area so my wife made all the decisions re cabinets, electric fixtures, paint colors.... she did this from MA.

We always wanted a home in a "good" school district, and indeed my wife would "interview" principals as part of the search. Even when we did not have school age children, we included this factor as it would affect re-sale value.

We made money on every home but one - and we broke even on that one. (We were selling in 1981 with mortgage interest rates around 18%.)

We never bought a house without already having sold the previous one. In those days we never used a home inspector. (Wow!) The only contingency we included in our offer was contingent on being able to get a loan at a stated interest rate or below.


We are now empty-nesters in a large home in the MD suburbs of DC.

@tepelus - I'm rooting for you to get that house! It is beautiful. Can you ask the owner if you can rent until you qualify for a mortgage? Or if he can carry the loan for you? He may be desperate to sell. Does he know of your interest?

Thanks, rockybird! I appreciate it. I talked to him a little today, he was busy working on the shingles with a couple of guys he hired so didn't get the chance to talk much, but to ask him if I could come by next Saturday. He said it was fine. He said he had other people look at it but didn't mention any serious interest. He originally bought it to rent it but the rent he was asking for was too steep for me otherwise I would have. And it was for the lower half only. I took pictures of the interior the first time I was there, but plan to take more and better pictures now that the house will be warmer. He had the heat shut off back when I looked at it in February and it was cold! He offered to do a land contract but I don't really like doing those. I'll know more in a week, hopefully.

Lovely home tepelus, hope you get what you wish for.

Love that house!

Good luck, tepelus. Please let us know how it turns out!

It is funny how certain homes just feel right. There was a family in the town where I grew up that had bought the same, rather unique, house four times--or maybe more often by now! They loved the place. It was large, had split levels and beautifully done rockwork on the house, hardscape and fences surrounding the property. When expenses were too much for their income and they could not afford to live there any longer, they would be forced to sell. When they could afford to repurchase and live there for a few years, they would. I don't know how they convinced the new owners to sell it back to them each time!

Tepelus, so theres just not a big enough pool of renters there? That's too bad, having the rental income can be really helpful esp those first few years in a place (and for me made the difference between being able to afford and not.) Are there vacationers or tourists - if one of the units was done in period furnishings that could be appealing.... assuming you have the interest in doing that sort of thing. NOt everyone does.

For me .... I have very particular interests as a lover of old historic houses....so it did take a while and I imagine it will again... as others have said it does have a lot to do with feel and the total package - condition, price, location..... AND the unique appeal of the vintage house itself. Some simply are better built and more appealing than others - better materials, better flow between the rooms, how the sun comes in the windows, presence of mature trees, In my price range, I want the one that has been reasonably well cared for but needs updating and hasn't been too messed up by amateur remuddling. Trust me, in my price range the remuddling is generally not done well. Seems like Im seeing a LOT more vinyl than there was 20 yrs ago.... thanks to the flippers and the easy credit of the 90s. One approach Im considering is the cheaply remuddled house that can be remade into one with more historic feel ( mill my own woodwork, add back in salvage architectural pieces, etc.) But there again, it just can't be any old house.

Tepelus - let us know how it goes and be sure to post some of your pics. I'm glad you talked with him.