Do you need to fall in love with a house to buy it

PasturesNew

It depends why you want a house. If it's a house and you've a plan to move on at some point, then no.

If you've reached "a certain age" and are looking at sliding into retirement and enjoying your house, then it's crucial for mental well-being.

avenida

ReadingTim wrote: »

I don't know if you're FTB-ers, or seasoned pros, and whether you've seen one or one hundred other places. However, I'd give it a 2nd viewing - you know what to expect, so you can concentrate on the size of the rooms, rather than the colour and condition of the wallpaper - the potential, rather than the reality. Furthermore, perfection may not be affordable, if it even exists - you might never find it, and only find something that's less bad than the rest.

We are second time buyers, we have sale agreed to first time buyers, we are looking to buy in quite a small radius. I think I wasn't getting a good feeling about the place because of the work that was to be done but it ticked so many other boxes like - close to family and friends, children in the area for my girls to play with, close to school and work. Its also bigger than where we are at the moment, so because it ticked so many boxes I was disappointed when we viewed when I seen what we would have to spend on it. I was really gutted after I left it, as I had such big hopes for it

We have only viewed one other house and looked at a new build, theres been nothing else on the market worth looking at

This is also somewhere where I wouldnt want to move onto again, perhaps I should be thinking with my head, my heart says keep searching for something that needs nothing done and my head says - this is a good area where you wouldnt want/need to move again from

System

I could never fall in love with a house (i.e. the physical bricks and mortar). For me, the only thing I fall in love with is the area.

If you showed me a very nice house that exceeded all my minimum expectations but it was in (for example) Slough and then showed me a house for the same price but half the size (still meeting my minimum needs though) in neighbouring South Bucks I would not even give it a second thought and be living in South Bucks. In fact that is exactly what I did.

If I was in your situation I would seriously consider the house you have seen if it is in your ideal area and you genuinely believe that not considering this house would impact your future ability to live in this house.

NervousHomeowner

My partner and I fell in love with a property when we were buying. It was everything we wanted and we had our hearts totally set on it. Then we found out we wouldn't be able to get a mortgage for it. None of the other properties we saw even came close to it, it was so disappointing. We found a property that needed a lot of work, was more expensive than the previous property but had potential. We ended up buying it and now we've started doing it up, I know we totally made the right choice. Although I didn't fall in love with it immediately, I absolutely love it now.

It can be difficult because I think you always want to buy a house you fall in love with. It just feels wrong to be spending so much money and buying something you're not totally enamoured with! I think the thing to do though is to make sure that even if you don't love it, you at least know it's a good buy. As long as the location is good, the house has a good layout and the price is right, everything else can be changed to suit you.

The only thing I would caution against is buying a house that has potential but that is at the top of your budget. If you don't love the house because of the decor, there'll be nothing worse than having to live with it like that for 6 months until you can save up enough to do the required work!

lavalamp

I totally fell in love with the location and the outside of our house before even seeing inside and knew it was the house for us. It was a doer upper, but we did it up and now I love the inside too! Don't judge a book by it's cover - if it's the right location and the house is the right size at the right price, you can make it your own and fall in love later!

Mojisola

witchy1066 wrote: »

no I don't think you can fall in love with a house , you can have a feeling for a house , good or bad,

the house we are hoping to buy is completely different to what i had said i wanted, but once i walked round the house and garden it just felt right and my partner felt the same, the only one out of 35 houses, that give me a good feeling

We went with the "feeling", too.

We saw a few houses that had nothing wrong with them on paper but just didn't "feel right".

The house we're in now was in need of a lot of work to get it as we wanted it but it felt like home as soon as we walked in.

BitterAndTwisted

Location is everything. Decorating is something buyers expect to do, and kitchens and bathrooms can be updated when funds allow, so unless either of those are currently unusable I'd say think twice about rejecting it. Falling in love with the property will likely come when you've got it precisely the way you want it. But the one thing you cannot change is the location.

DigForVictory

My word it helps.

I wanted a house "with possibilities". My husband wanted "a place where the children would survive the winter".

I know you are supposed to see your future purchase at different times of day & year (noone ever explained to me How.) We were in the area we wanted to move to, someone else had fallen through for viewing, we went instead, the whole family viewed & we all fell in love with it a bit (down to the 2 year old!) & thus we bought the biggest impulse buy of our lives. Even with a structural survey warning us that this was not going to be a stroll in the park.

Years later, it's home & we still love it. Even when there are things we can't do or can't afford (it's Listed), we fell for it & the survey backed up that enough for us to go ahead.

So I say while you may not need to fall in love, it certainly helps, so long as you have a really tough Best Friend (in the form of a full structural survey) to force a breakup if necessary...

avenida

Mojisola wrote: »

We went with the "feeling", too.

We saw a few houses that had nothing wrong with them on paper but just didn't "feel right".

The house we're in now was in need of a lot of work to get it as we wanted it but it felt like home as soon as we walked in.

The house that we are in at the moment had "the feeling" and we have spent the last 10 years doing it up. I also maintained that I would never buy another house that needed work done so my head is saying that's what my issue was when I went to view this house. So now 2 weeks later I can see what I can afford for my money, I wont get the really modern house inside, in the area I want on our budget

Serendipitious

Could you rent for a bit while making your mind up? Take the pressure off the decision for a bit?

I think if it is to be a longterm home you need to have some feeling for the house, even if just in terms of location. The interior can be made to reflect your own preferences over time. My question for the longterm would be: if you knew you had to live there for the rest of your life, would you want to?

On the other hand, if it's only to be a temporary home on the way to your forever place, is there any chance of a profit in the next few years?

I've bought two and sold three, and loved none of them. One was simply convenient and a good base for bringing up the family, one was an investment which reaped rewards in the boom years, and one was a shared inheritance which had to be disposed of to split proceeds.

The place I really really loved was a rental which I was in for eight years. I had to move locations for work last year otherwise I would still be there. But one day I hope to find something that will replicate that feeling, as having had it once, I really notice its absence.

On the other hand, a friend of mine has regarded all her homes as commodities. She admits happily that she has never had a single feeling for any of them.