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Your first home - first impressions?

Amba_Gambla
Posts: 12,107 Forumite


Hi
When you were a FTB, and you viewed what was to be your first home - what was your first impression of the house? Did you have a 'wow' moment, and knew there and then that it was the place for you, or was it more of a case of 'I could make this work'?
I'm a FTB, but haven't yet been 'wowed' by anywhere - I've found one or two of interest, and just wondered whether to wait for this wow moment. I'm in no real rush to move, but I'd like to be on the property ladder sooner rather than later (I'm already quite late to be buying my first home!)
Thanks for your thoughts
Ambla
When you were a FTB, and you viewed what was to be your first home - what was your first impression of the house? Did you have a 'wow' moment, and knew there and then that it was the place for you, or was it more of a case of 'I could make this work'?
I'm a FTB, but haven't yet been 'wowed' by anywhere - I've found one or two of interest, and just wondered whether to wait for this wow moment. I'm in no real rush to move, but I'd like to be on the property ladder sooner rather than later (I'm already quite late to be buying my first home!)
Thanks for your thoughts
Ambla
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Comments
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Believe it or not I used to sit on the bench across the road eating ice cream when I was a little child and think I will live in that house one day...We started looking for a place and it came up for sale so we bought it. It was early 80s, we needed to do some work but it was a good deal and when I moved I only moved a few hundred yards up the same road.0
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My first house I'd frankly had enough of looking when I went to view a property I didn't really fancy. As soon as I walked into the living room and saw the fire place I knew I wanted it as it was a large Victorian terrace. My only regret is I didn't value the location as much as I do now so they house became an unhappy place for me.
Second time round I walked into the property I'm buying and just felt like it could be my long term home. The vendors are lovely and I could see potential for me and any family I may have.0 -
I bought with head rather than heart, so looked at price, indications of 'type' of neighbour, condition, £s needed to refresh, aspect and size of garden, transport links, schools, rental income if needed etc.
Of course, I second viewed with clipboard, tape measure and pored over all aspects of the house with the vendors.
I suppose all the boxes ticked is 'wow'?0 -
I saw lots of similar Victorian era flats, and never got that "wow" thing because they were universally dark inside and had small back yards, so never put an offer in.
Then I found a rare Edwardian flat, which was much lighter and brighter and had a 20ft garden. Blown away and really really wanted it! There was no difference in location, size, price etc. I got gazzumped though so it wasn't my first home.
I realised I would struggle to get another "wow" moment in the area I was searching in, so starting looking somewhere totally different. Next "wow" moment was a two bed terraced cottage on a river bank - this time I got it - and lived there happily ever after. Well, for 8 years at leastI've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.0 -
I wasn't really looking for the wow factor. I was looking for a structurally sound 2-bed house of a particular build and age, with up-to-date fittings (kitchen, bathroom, etc.), in a specific part of town. That was basically it.
The house we bought was (is) completely nondescript, with no special features at all to write home about. It was whitewashed (renovation) throughout, and was absolutely empty. So there was little visualizing as to how it would all 'work', as it needed nothing doing to it.
I thought I'd be bothered about the fact that the living room opens out directly onto the street (it's that kind of terrace), and toyed with the idea of a small partition wall to create a 'hallway'. But even though we've only been here a few months, I know we'll never get round to that - as the issue turned out not to bother us at all.0 -
No 'wow' for me, I was grateful I'd found something that I could afford that wasn't on the point of collapse..................
....I'm smiling because I have no idea what's going on ...:)
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Not really a wow factor but definitely new when as I walked round that I wanted the house. Most houses I'd seen were Victorian terraces and were all very similar, none of the, really did anything for me, this one wasn't a Victorian terrace and felt like it could be home as soon as I went through the door.House Buying Tracker:
Offer Accepted: 8th March Mortgage Application: 8th March Survey Completed: 20th March Survey Report: 22nd March Mortgage Offer: 26th March Exchange: 25th April Completion 22nd May - 11 Weeks0 -
I'm a wheelchair user so have very strict criteria - I have to be able to get in and anything else good is a bonus! I wasn't overly wowed by the place but I did love the spacious kitchen. We've just completed and are at the decorating stage now - have to say when I first saw it after getting the keys I was "oooh, the furniture hid a lot of sins, didn't it?" but I am definitely in the process of falling in love with it now!0
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My first house (which I'm still living in 20 years later!), was not so much wow factor (standard 2 up, 2 down) but more location was wow factor. Love the area I live in and have no reason or desire to leave. It's convenient for the mainline station (15 min walk), easy reach to the coast and London (30-40 mins by train for both) and countryside within walking distance.Debt 30k in 2008.:eek::o Cleared all my debt in 2013 and loving being debt free
Mortgage free since 20140 -
There deffo wasn't a "wow" moment. When I was looking, I would go into an estate agent and ask "What have you got for less than £20k" (this was early 80's midlands btw
). When they'd finished laughing hysterically, they'd hand me a couple of details of squalid hovels in very dodgy areas. The house I bought was the least ramshackle one I viewed, in an area with slightly fewer pimps and drug dealers per square mile.
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