How do people make such quick decisions?

ginger_chocolate

Are you able/willing to look further afield and at different areas? Thinking outside the box can really pay off!

Unfortunately not really. One of my non negotiables is a reasonable commute to work. I rented somewhere for 6 months once that left me with a 45 minute train journey twice a day and it made me incredibly depressed the whole time.

The house we've just offered on is in a convenient but 'unfashionable' area, so I am hopeful that the vendors will sell at a sensible price. OH is getting cold feet on this one a bit today - I managed to convince him to offer by making the argument 'what is the reason to not buy this house?' - all he could come up with was 'no second bathroom' (but there is space to put one in), and 'only has parking for one car' (we only have one car. But he's worried about visitors) and we agreed it would be daft not to offer on something that is really quite lovely and almost perfectly fits our needs. This morning he's started to second guess the decision, thinking that there must be something 'perfect' out there, and musing on whether we should increase our budget or look in less convenient locations. I felt sure yesterday that we were doing the right thing but now I'm starting to wonder - I don-t know if it's just nerves or whether I really am making a terrible decision. I can't think of any reason why it would be a terrible decision - but not sure why I feel more worried than excited.

Red-Squirrel_2

Even with an unlimited budget perfect is rare. Everybody with financial limits has to compromise.

Smodlet

Sure, "perfect" is out there... If you buy a plot of land and build yourselves. Do you really think, were you in a position to do that, that your finished house would correspond exactly to the architect's plans, let alone to your vision?

Every house purchase is a compromise. As already stated many times on here, you need to decide what is and what is not an acceptable compromise for you. If you wait around for your idea of perfection to materialise (do you even know what that is and does your OH agree?) you will wait forever. I think you are both just scared of taking the plunge.

Time to don the big girl pants and make an actual decision, methinks. If you are so fond of dithering, dither away but don't waste vendors' time, please.

MysteryMe

Leaving aside the occasional fantasist posts you get on here, you'll find very few people buy their perfect home. The key is to have the vision to identify what you can change to make it as close to perfect once you move in. You're already showing this vision with the lack of a 2nd bathroom, I think you need to take the lead in the process.

ginger_chocolate

Sure, "perfect" is out there... If you buy a plot of land and build yourselves. Do you really think, were you in a position to do that, that your finished house would correspond exactly to the architect's plans, let alone to your vision?

OH's parents did exactly that, and built an amazing house. I think that may be part of why he's so reluctant to 'settle'.

That said, we have had a long chat today about what we could realistically change about a house after buying it, we looked at pinterest together at some ideas and he seems to have come around a bit to the idea of adapting the space to our needs. It's also made me feel a bit more excited about the house.

Smodlet

ginger_chocolate wrote: »

OH's parents did exactly that, and built an amazing house. I think that may be part of why he's so reluctant to 'settle'.

That said, we have had a long chat today about what we could realistically change about a house after buying it, we looked at pinterest together at some ideas and he seems to have come around a bit to the idea of adapting the space to our needs. It's also made me feel a bit more excited about the house.

I think our work is nearly done. Did his parents do this as FTBs? Didn't think so.

Murphybear

A few years ago I was working for a University on a short term contract. After 1 year I was offered a permanent contract so the first thing we did was go house hunting. We viewed about 50 properties and knew immediately they were not "the one". We then saw a detached bungalow with decent garden in a small village and both knew immediately this was "the one" and agreed on a price immediately.

We lived in a narrow terraced 3 storey house and having been fans of The House Doctor for years titivated it and it sold on first viewing.

Everything went like clockwork and we moved in a few weeks later. We would still be there had we not decided to up sticks and buy a business 200 miles away

I still miss that bungalow

seven-day-weekend

ginger_chocolate wrote: »

This is a really helpful way of looking at it - thanks

We did view somewhere on Saturday that ticked all of our "must have" boxes and most of our "would really prefer if at all possible" boxes, and may well be the closest we can get in our preferred area and within our budget, but I can't say i got any kind of "warm fuzzy" feeling. Just a "well this looks fine" feeling. (Maybe that's enough!) OH still feels we need to compare it against more viewings to check it really is the best we can get though - and it'll probably be gone by then!

Once you knew your OH was 'the one', did you then compare him to others to make sure you got the best deal?

Do the same with your house!

You'll never know about the ones you didn't look at

Smodlet

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Once you knew your OH was 'the one', did you then compare him to others to make sure you got the best deal?

Do the same with your house!

You'll never know about the ones you didn't look at

:T:T:T:rotfl:

Oh dear! What if, when you find the house which is "the one" you have to get a load of hunky, gorgeous workmen in? Yikes!

Murphybear

Smodlet wrote: »

:T:T:T:rotfl:

Oh dear! What if, when you find the house which is "the one" you have to get a load of hunky, gorgeous workmen in? Yikes!

Don't know about workmen but a while ago someone in our housing complex set off a smoke alarm and a few minutes later 2 fire engines rolled up with 4 hunky gorgeous firemen :rotfl: