Hellobee Boards

I think compromising would be really hard for us when househunting, too. I honestly think my top priorities would be overall commuting time (and commuting ease--like are there parking spots even available at the train station, how many transfers?) for each of us, with a close second being the house itself.

I DH gets really taken in with bigger/nicer houses and cares less about where they are located. He'd rather be close to a nice, large park than close to a train station or town center. I would rather be close to a town center/train station.

Our biggest compromises were porch versus not and yard size. We bought one of the few houses in our subdivision without a porch. The yards around us are smaller as well. For a smaller yard, we have parks within walking and biking distance. We also picked our house since it was close to a Metra station which has helped ease the transition from city to suburb.

We didn't compromise on specific requirements- having a big yard, no HOA fees, close commute.

We will probably start looking in a year, but my big things are a quiet street and bedrooms on the same floor. I want a yard, but I don't care about the size, so I'm leaving that up to my husband. The commute is more important to him as he will be doing it, but I don't want him to waste hours in the car either... So basically we have to hit the lottery. Good luck on your search!

@Foodnerd81: Yep, it does. It's basically living area and bedrooms on the top, garage and playroom on the bottom.
We use the playroom a ton, actually. We don't have a TV in the living area downstairs, so we set up a playroom in the lower level. We also enter the house through the garage, so we have to go up both sets of stairs(about 5 each) to get to the main level.

@Foodnerd81: My grandparents had a tri-level and it was great! Bedrooms were only up like a half flight (5 steps) and the main casual living area was down half a flight (5 steps). Much easier to call up/down or run up/down than a full flight of stairs.

@Foodnerd81: My parents house is set up this way and they used to use the lower level a TON. Their house had 3 upstairs bedrooms, so they used the downstairs as their bedroom so all of us kids could have their own room. After I went to college, they moved their bedroom upstairs and put a TV and couches down there so my siblings could have a hangout space.

@Foodnerd81: I honestly don't think I could clean more space. So then I wonder if we would finally shell out money for a cleaner, or if having more space means the mess is hidden more easily (so you don't have to clean more often), or if we would just live in a constantly messy house. I fear we would just live in a constantly messy house, haha.

Being in a real neighborhood on a non busy street were our main non negotiables. We also wanted a large flat rear yard. We got all those things and compromised on # of bedrooms - no regrets here!! Our neighbors are awesome and I love that I can safely back out of my driveway without cars whizzing by.

Our wishlist was basically the same. So we only compromised on price. He told me that he felt comfortable at a certain price point and I focused on being realistic. lol There were times when he had to realize that he couldn't get what he wanted for cheap, but we both managed to be reasonable.

@Foodnerd81: yeah, a playroom where you can just shut the door and other people don't see it seems pretty dreamy.

I have A LOT of non-negotiables, which is why we've been in our "starter home" for seven years with no sign of moving anytime soon. A new place would need to be a clear step up from our current situation, which is tough to beat since it's such a great location. Stuff I have decided are must-have:

-4 bedrooms (or 3 with a bonus space that could be used as an office)
-2200+ sq ft
-at least 2 showers
-big yard that is easily accessible from the living/dining (or via deck is ok too) - I'm adamant that we are not moving until we can find a yard that is substantially more spacious/usable than our current one
-awesome location, ideally with good transit access and walkable area and close to a great grocery and parks
-not a lot of work that needs to be done
-garage for at least one car

Stuff I can compromise on:
-luxurious master bath suite
-big bedrooms
-big kitchen (it has to be nice and functional and open to the living/dining but I can live with small)
-contemporary updates, since I would rather put in my own choice of cabinets and appliances anyway
-huge walls of windows - this is really popular in new construction in our area and drives up prices like crazy, but I would rather avoid the heat from the sun and the loss of privacy
-views
-extras like wet bars and theater rooms and saunas and MIL units; these are a turn-off for me since it's just wasted space
-lots of storage, since I know we'd just fill it up with stuff anyway
-2+ car garage

we were basically just looking to upgrade our house as much as possible. Our starter home is a 3 bdrm 1.5 bath house in a great school district on a busy street. shared drive way no garage but a basement and nice sized fenced yard.

non negotiables: great school district, quiet street in a neighborhood, 4 bdrms, 2 baths, all bedrooms on one level, yard for the dog, easy commutes, fit comfortably in our budget, fairly turn key, as in livable until we had time money to do the project

Would love to haves: storage - garage/basement/closets, master suite, office/playroom/sewing space, Nice large kitchen, fenced yard, main or upstairs laundry

Things we ended up compromising on: 1 garage instead of 2, smaller kitchen with odd layout but still eat in, back of yard on busier road, not open floor plan.

Bonus items: larger lot for the neighborhood, in ground pool, master suite with huge walk in closet, an office, a bonus room for playthings, basement area for sewing, great landscaping, can move right and no major projects on the horizon

@lawbee11: this is kind of a threadjack, but can I ask why not across/next to a school is on your list? I'm just curious because I grew up right next to my elementary school and it was great!

@nana87: my guess is traffic/noise. Twice a day, it will be hard to get in and out of your driveway/street. And noise--depending on how close the house is, I imagine a certain amount of noise from the playgrounds and outside sports fields will carry over. I work in a middle school and there are a couple of houses RIGHT next to our outdoor field, and when we have 100 kids outside at once, I often wonder if they hate the noise.

@Anagram: @lawbee11: interesting! My house growing up was in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in my city, and has almost tripled in value since my parents bought it in the 80s