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We are starting this process (slowly!) and I'm struggling to figure out my priorities. I know what's important to me...I'm just not sure how to put them in a pretty list in order of importance!

Here's our short list...
specific school district, maybe even a particular school
outdoor space
at least 3 bed, 2 bath
attached garage

I should say we are in a relatively rural area and looking to move to a bigger town, but not a big city by any means.

Subscribing to hear suggestions from other bees!

We just bought our house a few months ago and these were our top 5 wants (and a couple needs):
1. Space, at least 3 bedrooms(we have 5, bonus!)
2. Location, we were only looking in two areas. It's a great school district, and very safe small town area.
3. Affordable, this was a huge one. We went way below what we were approved for. It's nice to be able to afford our payments every month.
4. Livable but maybe needs work and our house for sure needs work but has a ton of character, and the projects can wait it's just a lot of ugliness in some areas.
5. A garage. We didn't have one when apartment living and it sucked.

We are on the lookout to buy our second house. Here is our list.
1. Location closer to my work & in a good neighborhood
2. House size: Min 3 beds, 2 baths about 1500 sf
3. Good size yard. right now we have basically a patio & we really want a larger yard for DS.
4. open floor plan. In our current home we hate how the living room is closed off to the kitchen and dining. We would like something more open.

Our list this past time house hunting would have been:

1. Location
2. Outdoor space
3. Flow of interior floor plan
4. Exterior charm

And because of that list, I love our house but hate the front exterior!! but there are def a few things we can do to improve it over the next few years

I've done a lot of house hunting since it took us a long time to finally buy our first place, but I've found that the overall 'package' has to make sense. It's kind of like adding and subtracting weights to a scale based on features and drawbacks then seeing if it meets the overall weight requirement at the end.

Although location is definitley the most important thing by far, so I kind of kept that separate. If the home wasn't in the right neighborhood in the first place we didn't even consider it since of course we could easily find everything else we were looking for if we were willing to compromise on neighborhood!

Keep in mind, a lot of things about the house itself can be modified after you buy it, but you can never change where it is located. And we were definitely willing to cram into a smaller space to live on a better street zoned for better schools within walking distance of everything we need and super close to our jobs.

We just settled on a house last week!

Our priorities were:

1. Space. DH wanted at least 1800 sq. feet and I wanted at least 4 bedrooms.

2. Location. We wanted a house in that was walkable and in the city, but still had a neighborhood feel.

3. Yard. I wanted a yard large enough for a playset for LO and with plenty of room for the dogs to play.

4. Character. We don't like houses that are new construction. We both wanted an older home with lots of character.

5. Move in ready. DH did not want a fixer-upper.

We weren't as concerned about school district because I am a teacher so I can send LO to a school in my district.

We just went through this process and bought our first home last month.

1. School District
2. Location (Safe neighborhood, will LO be safe playing outside when he gets older, etc.)
3. 3+ bedrooms
4. Amount of work needed
5. Backyard

We ended up getting what we wanted.... just had to put a little more work into it that we originally wanted. We also wanted to keep resale value in our mind. We bought somewhere that we could see ourselves living forever, but you never know what will happen so we definitely bought in an area that it should resale easily if ever needed.

Ours was a similar list, location was first, layout was second. We tried to weigh what we'd want to change with the feasibility and cost, and also resale value. We ended up with a really nice brick ranch - I LOVE the open floorplan and ranch and don't think I'd want to go back to a non-ranch with kids. The basement is huge for this winter to play in. The only drawbacks were it's dated inside (slowly trying to fix) and the yard is meh.

Good luck!!

Our priorities were
location
schools
house/space/bedrooms
backyard

@Bao: So true!! When we were getting approved, we didn't even use DH's actual salary (we gave a much lower number) or include mine.

We wanted:
- Location: specific town, avoiding certain areas/neighborhoods
- Privacy: not on main road, with private outdoor space
- Move-in ready, or nice features we could work with

Sounds easy enough but it took us 1.5 years of home searching to get this house!

We are currently looking for a new house too! Our priorities are the same as yours. We're already in a great neighborhood now (good school district and close to parks, public transportation, etc.) so we want to stay where we're at, just need a BIGGER space! So far the homes we're considering needs to be 3 bedroom (all on the same floor), open layout (need to be able to see the living room from the kitchen), attached garage, and a small yard or patio.

@NovBaby1112: I age with your list. But if u do find a house that is perfect for u. Come back during the weekend to see how your neighbors are on thewhile street. Sometimes those guys can ruin anything

We're looking now. I have so many things on my list:
1. Schools. There are 2 high schools we want to be in the range of. We will not look elsewhere.
2. Location (no busy streets, prefer culdesac, no corner lot).
3. Backyard for playing in, natural screening, fenced in lot would be nice.
4. 3+ bedrooms, 2300sf, prefer a downstairs guest bedroom. 2 bath, 2 car garage.
5. Pool community
6. Walkability
7. Better commute (though this doesn't really apply b/c where the schools are, we know what our commute will be - better).
8. PRICE, of course.
9. HOA fees
10.

@littlecasita1122: ohhhh!! Sidewalks are a good requirement! Same with garages on the same level as the kitchen. When I was looking at condos, so many had the garage and kitchen on different levels.

@LuLu Mom: how nice to be able to build on family land!!

@looch: I love the thought of being within walking distance of an elementary school. I just don't want my driveway to be blocked by the same before- and after-school traffic! Yikes!

@BabyMats: Neighbors can definately ruin a house that would otherwise be perfect....

@StbHisMrs: I'm actually super obsessed with looking at homes. The only thing that I am ever nearly obsessed with is baby items.

@mediagirl: Oh my gosh... how could I forget HOA fees?!?! I don't eve want to pay over $300 for HOA fees. Really not more than $210. I better be getting something really good if I'm paying more than that. Gees.

@looch: sounds you like hit the neighborhood jackpot!

Basically with my list, I found a good school system and good county, then looked in my price range and the floor plans.

1. School system
2. County
3. Price
4. Floor plan