This moving business is getting me down.
First- There’s get my current house ready to sell. Which…well… I don’t want to think about it. Have I mentioned the 36 buckets of gravel sitting on my patio leftover from Ken’s thesis experiment?
Second- There’s new house shopping. It’s hard work and I have no idea what I want. Or I want everything. Acreage but still walk to school, pool but still lots of green playing space, more living space but self-cleaning.
House shopping without a wish list leads to distraction, quickly. “Ooh look, a pink toilet. That’s cute.” No Kristin not one bit cute, stay focused.
So I’m making a drastic decision to save my sanity. You know those crazy people on HGTV that walk around house hunting with a checklist and an complicated scoring system? That’s what I’m going to do. Make myself a house shopping list.
I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. (Probably because the host always makes fun of the couple with the scorecard) I don’t go to the grocery store without a list, a house is a much bigger purchase. I need a list.
Here it is
- Pool, and not a pool that takes up the entire backyard. Or an above ground pool, that doesn’t count.
- Space for a vegetable garden and some fruit trees.
- Kitchen at the back of the house.
- Main floor walk out to the backyard, preferably from the kitchen.
- Kids bedrooms at the back of the house or on the 2nd floor.
- Mudroom space or potential for a mudroom space.
- Sewing and craft space that isn’t the dining room table.
>that is a great idea. I'll have to remember that when I start house shopping (hopefully next year)
>Good luck . . . you've put far more thought into what you want than I did, when I looked for my house. I wanted "a house that I'd be able to raise the family in." That was about it . . . that meant some yard, and city water (I've heard too many issues from wells), and at least three bedrooms. That was it.
I ended up buying the house I bought because there was a bedroom/office/study/guestroom that had built-in bookshelves, and that was enough for me (that it came with a raised bed for a vegetable garden was a big, big plus)
It is nice to know what you’re looking for. I didn’t choose my house, it came with my husband. Craig and I both owned homes, but his was much nicer. Though the house itself isn’t ideal for raising 3 kids (we only have 3 bedrooms), we chose to stick it out and make them share rooms. I love our location and land. I’m sure at least 2 of them will move out eventually. Right?
Or one of them could move to the basement next to the furnace if they get really desperate for some privacy.
Our girls are in the same room now and I like it. We’re getting into trouble b/c the older one wants to stay up later than her sister.
I’m much like you…. the only things I didn’t get on my list were the pool and a gianormous kitchen with a fireplace. I figure the kitchen can always be redone. I’m very content here and I love that the kitchen is in the back of the house.
Self-cleaning… you are too funny. I have Bryan aka “Jacques the cleaning shrimp” so, while not self-cleaning, I do have assistance.
I’m more likely to give on the fancy kitchen than the pool. I can redo a kitchen for less than a pool costs.
As we look at more houses it seems I am more attracted to the yards I like than the houses I like. A house can be changed, the lot can’t.
The search continues…
House shopping is exhausting but exciting. Last year when we (and by “we” I mean “I”) were house shopping AGAIN, I made a list like that and it really helped. Because I’m a compulsive list-maker I had a list of “must haves” and a list of “nice to haves”. Now I didn’t make a scoring system, but I did make a spreadsheet to track which houses had what. After a while they all blur together.
I didn’t have a pool on my list but I got one anyway
I am REALLY looking forward to this summer.
Good luck!