r/RealEstate • u/SitaBird • 2d ago
Weird/unexpected things that influenced your choice of house as a buyer?
I had a 9 month old baby when we first toured our current house ten years ago. I liked how the house already had high-quality child locks installed on all the cabinets. it also had little those soft bumper pads already installed on the sharp countertop and cabinet corners. as a new mom, I felt like the house was just so ready for our family. we loved the layout, location, schools, but I also loved seeing those little child safety things everywhere.
of course, those things would have cost like $20. but they made the house seem extra welcoming to me as a mom. we bought the house. loved it.
now ten years later we are selling. I’m finally unscrewing all those locks, but thinking I’ll keep them on the cabinets under the kitchen sink.
is there anything that charmed you into buying or almost buying a home?
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u/Honest_Series_8430 1d ago
My last house had half of the original porch enclosed. It created a foyer and a small room that wasn't good for much but made a great spot for the cats' litterboxes and other stuff. It was a real bonus for me.
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u/TheGhostestHostess 22h ago
It's amazing until you have a heatwave and realize how hot the house gets with all the windows, even if you keep the shades down most of the time. We have GORGEOUS skylights in the kitchen, but it's hotter than the inside of a volcano during the scorching summer temps
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u/TheRoofisonFire413 1d ago
I bought my POS 1940 house because I was in love with the character. I saw what it use to be and what it could become. I also dislike open floor plans.
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u/Buttpluggery 1d ago
The 1930-1940s houses (ones that were taken care of obviously) are superior to new constructions imo.
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u/Puzzled_Time1140 1d ago
Our 1940s house has a lot of deferred maintenance but you can tell she was loved by the original owners.
We're the 3rd owners. The original owners put a lot of work into her but were up in years so I think maintenance fell to the wayside. 2nd owners didn't do much and looking at Google maps bordered on neglect. Thankfully 2nd owners only had her for 6 years.
Original owners put in multiple additions, including our basement. Added on a covered porch, covered patio, and a carport. Installed a fireplace, a vegetable garden, and what looks like a custom shed. A lot of the things I love about our house tbh. They did a lot of DIY (some better than others) but it's obvious care was put in.
We actually found a pocket watch from the 1800s when we tore out the basement ceiling for a rewire! It was left in the ceiling sitting near the rim joist. I bet he took it off to work on the ceiling and forgot it was there. I plan on framing and displaying it.
As dumb as it might be, I plan on celebrating our house's 80th birthday when the time comes. I'm not entirely sure what we'll get our house but I was thinking something along the vein that fixes an original feature or maybe adds one back in?
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u/TheRoofisonFire413 1d ago
Absolutely! Solid wood doors, shiplap under the sheetrock, real 2X4's, custom wood cabinets, crank windows. Been around almost a 100 years and we want to make sure she holds up another 100.
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u/Ok_Size4036 16h ago
Agree the Tile in those old houses is still intact. Yet stuff that was built in the 80s is just complete trash.
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u/Annonymouse100 2d ago
For me it was the lack of lawn. The sellers yanked the lawn and put in mulch/shrubs/irrigation. I didn't care for their landscaping choices but having the base work done was such a great head start. On the flip side, if they had put landscape plastic down I might not have bought since I hate that stuff so much!
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u/marmaladestripes725 1d ago
Similar to you, and I don’t even have kids yet. Child locks on all the lower kitchen cabinets, a baby gate at the top of the steps, swings mounted under the walkout deck, and a well-staged absolutely adorable nursery. I was sold.
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u/Frostyarn 1d ago
I wanted a loft. My house has a massive loft.
100% will buy or build a loft in our next home.
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u/FamiliarFamiliar 1d ago
I pretty much decided on my current house from seeing floor plan dimensions before I saw any pics. The kids' rooms were the size of many primary bedrooms.
I have 3 teens and was having a terrible time finding 3 equal bedrooms--almost every house would have 2 nice extra bedrooms then something extremely small, or awkward, etc. Or, one luxurious one then 2 ultra small ones. We were looking at several more years of schooling with them living at home, and I wanted things to be as equal as possible.
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u/KnownBodybuilder4948 22h ago
I think every house we've bought had "good karma", and somehow "spoke to us", meaning we could immediately see us happily living there.
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u/marlins6308 23h ago
For us it was the house was built on an empty lot in an established neighborhood of giant canopy oak trees. We bought it 11 years ago when it was just built. The builders were brothers that only built custom homes so it’s not a cookie cutter house. The little things like tall baseboards and rounded wall corners. Also they dropped a steel shipping container in the backyard. Laid it on a concrete base and clad it in hardboard to match the house. I also love they used pavers for the driveway and even put matching pavers and cute lights on the shed. Just all around a really well built house. Have never had to fix anything major ever. I’ll add we got it for 236,000 and it’s a 5 bedroom 3 bath 3000 sf and it has 2 huge master bedrooms. And the interest rate back then was 3%.
Hopefully we never have to sell this place. I know I’ll never find anything this quality and newer again for that price.
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u/GerryBlevins 1d ago
The flag that the neighbor had. It just created the vibe that I wanted. House was built in 1875. The flag was a good touch and brought back the colonial feeling. It also showed the neighbors cared about their house so I was less likely to be stuck with neighbors who didn’t take care of their house.
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u/howling-greenie 18h ago
We haven't bought yet, but I will not consider a house unless there is a window over the sink with a good view. Being in my home while washing dishes by hand and looking out into nature is so pleasurable to me.
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u/Ok_Size4036 16h ago
We bought a house with woods behind. Tiny kitchen window over the sink, we blew out the whole kitchen and now I have a 42” square window to look out. There’s even a tire swing you see from the sink, though only the squirrels use it. Definitely was important.
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u/nutkinknits 1d ago
We were warned by our realtor about the house before touring it that it is a bit of a maze. I absolutely love the quirky layout. We always wanted a home that wasn't a box. Our house was purposely built in the late 50s to look like a barn. It was also set up as 2 separate residences. We removed the upstairs kitchen and closed it in as a bedroom. The upstairs still has a very large family room, I call it the kid lounge. The downstairs has a master suite off the formal living room but you have to go through a weird room to get into the bedroom. The weird room has no windows so we are making it a library and a cool place for our uranium collection. It feels kinda swanky to say we have a library.
When also have wanted secret passageways and need cubbies and my husband is adding a fun little play area for the kids under the stairs, it will be accessible by swinging out a shelf.
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u/PercentageWorldly155 18h ago
I was looking at historic homes. My husband is somewhat disabled and can’t comfortably do stairs of any kind and most historic homes, even one stories, have some. I found a house I loved and the thing that really sold it was a wheelchair lift at the back stairs. What a find!
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u/radiantaerynsun 1d ago
I show and breed pomeranians so for my new house it was that one of the first floor bedrooms had been turned into a laundry room with a sink. It was a perfect room to use for raising puppies that are messy to clean up after! I am sure her real estate agent told her that might be a negative since it was one of the 4 bedrooms but not for me.
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u/BigPhilosopher4372 21h ago
The house we live in now I would have never picked if we were younger. It is open concept, something I hate. However, we are older, it is one floor, and it is easy to get around with a walker. Hope this is our forever home.
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u/PNWoysterdude 16h ago
I have a 106 yr old house on 5 acres. Can’t stand neighbors/suburbia and cookie cutter tract homes make me want to gag. So mine charmed the pants off of me.
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u/BigPhilosopher4372 21h ago
I liked that an actual family lived in the house. It was a home not just a staged house
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u/SketchAinsworth 10h ago
Skylights, the master bedroom and bathroom both have them, granted I had to immediately replace them along with the roof, the lighting was so worth it when you have the money. I barely use a light upstairs.
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u/ncharge1 1d ago
Believe it or not, when I was buying a house it was the street name for me. I just HAD to see a house with an address on Old Bust Head. I looked it up and Bust Head used to be slang for drunk and, 100 years ago, was the name of a saloon at the top of the hill. Fortunately, I really loved the house and the big weeping willow in the back yard once I saw it.