Would you buy a property if it ticked every box...

emmylou69

....on your 'wishlist' - if it didn't "feel right"?
We have seen a property well within our budget, location good for what we need, needs a little bit of cosmetic work but this is not a problem, kids love it, has an extra bedroom to what we need, lots of parking space.... but we don't know why we haven't made an offer!! We can't put our finger on why this is! On paper it is perfect but in reality we just don't know.
It has been on the market for a year but although other properties around it are selling, this hasn't. We are not overly keen on how it looks outside but could make it look really fab inside with not too much money.

So would you buy it? Head or heart?

Pee

Difficult one.

I wonder if your heart is being affected by considerations we are not aware of - is this the first house you have bought? Does the extra room bring up discussions re increasing your family? is there any reason for you to be reluctant to move? What is wrong with the outside?

If it ticked all the boxes, I would buy it, but the fact it has not sold suggests there is something about it that isn't right.

pawlala

I am in exactly the same position as you, and this property has been on for two years. In the end I made an offer........

poppysarah

Have you had a couple of viewings?

emmylou69

Hi Pee
No, we have owned houses before - we sold last year and moved to a new town (due to changing schools) and have rented ever since. We have three kids and are not intending to increase our family however many rooms we have lol :-)
We really want to buy a property as we are fed up with renting now - I want to be able to paint a wall when I feel like it etc! The town we have moved to is quite expensive so if we don't buy this then the kids will propbably need to share whereas this one gives them a room each plus a spare one.
The outside is a bit grim - dark brown brick with some dark brown cladding but is 'ok'. Not sure if maybe there is something we are not aware of like problems with neighbours, or kids hanging round or something. We have driven past at all sorts of times and days but nothing seems amiss.
Pawlala - how much below did you go? Did they accept? What happened?

The bizarre thing is that we looked at another house just over budget with only three bedrooms - it is way too small really but we love it - do we buy that instead and squash ourselves in or give the kids lots of room in a house we are not sure about? I can see we'll end up doing nothing about it at all lol :-)
We just don't know lol :-)

emmylou69

Poppysarah - yes, we've been twice. Still no idea :-)

pawlala

emmylou69 wrote: »

Pawlala - how much below did you go? Did they accept? What happened?

I did two viewings and then offered the same as the house sold for in 2004. That was 25k below today's asking price. I am considering upping my offer though. After all, the point of the thread is, "it is a nice house after all"

dander

Tricky one...
My initial response was that I wouldn't buy it if it didn't feel right, but then I saw your comment about really loving a house that was actually too small and I thought, God, no, don't buy that one! I think it's a really, really bad idea to fall into the trap of buying a house that you love that is genuinely too small (learning to compromise when you fall in love with a house is a different matter) because the the inconvenience of living somewhere which is too small will be with you every single day and no matter how strong the love, that can fade pretty quickly if actually your lifestyle is compromised by living there.

Bearing that in mind, it would make me more inclined to think very seriously about the house that "ticks all the boxes". I wonder if actually the problem is that you actually have some other subconcious boxes that aren't ticked - you say the outside isn't great - do you think that actually having a nice outside is more important to you than you think? I know for me that would put me off, I'd find it really depressing to come home after work and have to walk up to a house that didn't feel attractive and inviting from the outside. If you could figure out what the problem is, it would probably help you make a confident decision one way or the other.

tabskitten

i think you can grow to love houses.......
and you can also be in lust with them!

dopester

emmylou69 wrote: »

....on your 'wishlist' - if it didn't "feel right"?
We have seen a property well within our budget, location good for what we need, needs a little bit of cosmetic work but this is not a problem, kids love it, has an extra bedroom to what we need, lots of parking space.... but we don't know why we haven't made an offer!! We can't put our finger on why this is! On paper it is perfect but in reality we just don't know.
It has been on the market for a year but although other properties around it are selling, this hasn't. We are not overly keen on how it looks outside but could make it look really fab inside with not too much money.

So would you buy it? Head or heart?

I'll let Ben Kingsley give you my answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z_Qqnq8pI8
(7 seconds)

Hailstorm

dander wrote: »

Tricky one...
My initial response was that I wouldn't buy it if it didn't feel right, but then I saw your comment about really loving a house that was actually too small and I thought, God, no, don't buy that one! I think it's a really, really bad idea to fall into the trap of buying a house that you love that is genuinely too small (learning to compromise when you fall in love with a house is a different matter) because the the inconvenience of living somewhere which is too small will be with you every single day and no matter how strong the love, that can fade pretty quickly if actually your lifestyle is compromised by living there.

Bearing that in mind, it would make me more inclined to think very seriously about the house that "ticks all the boxes". I wonder if actually the problem is that you actually have some other subconcious boxes that aren't ticked - you say the outside isn't great - do you think that actually having a nice outside is more important to you than you think? I know for me that would put me off, I'd find it really depressing to come home after work and have to walk up to a house that didn't feel attractive and inviting from the outside. If you could figure out what the problem is, it would probably help you make a confident decision one way or the other.

I think this post has hit the nail in the head. I usually think letting your heart rule your head is a bad idea but that is when people fall in love with properties that do not tick their boxes. The reason why I think this is a bad idea is there is a good reason you would have put something on your checklist.

This is the other way around. It sounds like your heart has some extra tick boxes your head is not aware of. Try and think about why you do not like it and add this to your list of requirements.

I suppose the rule of not letting your heart rule your head should be changed to don't buy a property unless both your head and heart are happy:D