Ok Ladies,
My boyfriend and I are talking (just talking) about buying a house together. WOOOHOOO. We both agree that we have to buy a brand new house as I am to picky to buy a resale house and we would have to put a lot of money in to anything we bought to make it how I would want it.
So here are the things we have come up with so far. It has to be in Durham Region in either North Pickering, North Ajax, North Whitby or North Oshawa (same sub division as my moms house, this is where I want to live, he wants to be in Pickering). It also has to have 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a big kitchen and a two car garage. Is there anything else i should be looking for? What do you have in your house that you love and couldn't live with out. Most of the houses that we are looking at that have those things are 2500 sq ft, is that a good size of house, for my self, BF and DD, oh and one day maybe another baby? These mostly seem to come with either a 40 or 50 foot lot, is that a good size? Will be able to put a pool in one day if we want to?
TIA
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We have this, the mudroom from garage with laundry right there, and I love it. It's one of the few things I really like about our house. It's 15 years old, and the laundry seems to be the most thought out part of the whole place.
When I'm looking at house plans I always trace what my path would be with hands full of groceries. There are sooo many where you'd have to go through the family room to get to the kitchen. Doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.
Outlets! in every room on every wall; in the hallways, outside back and front of the house- at least one on each side
Windows in every bathroom.
An actual entrance space - I really hate the idea of stepping through the main door into the living room.
a few more to add to your list :
privacy in your back yard;
closets, closets, closets - you can never ever have enough !
storage space in basement, things like Christmas decorations, patio furniture and out of season clothes all take up oodles and oodles of space
space for hobbies, space for hobby storage, too
extra space for whatever (mmmm, maybe there's a theme here ??) - we have an approx 800 sq ft home, DH, me and MIL, we packed so much in to the space, we have not a sq inch left, never mind a sq ft, MIL is packrat supremus, and a few months after we moved in, she got sick and has since been using a walker - well, needless to say, these things do not fold well and we really have nowhere to keep it . . . need I say more ????
LOL thanks, I am sure I will be posting many floor plans to get all of your thoughts and ideas on them... I think we are going to look at a few this weekend... I am sooooooooooooooo excited. I can't wait to move out of the city!
THat's great condogirl. Of course once you pick a house you have to post the floor plans so we can all see!
I love having main floor laundry. I think if I was to buy new, I'd want a laundry/ mud room with an entrance from the garage. So that muddy clothes can go straight into the washer- no dirt tracked around.
We use our side entrance as our main door, it opens into the kitchen- I hate it! There is nothing worse than having a mountain of snowsuits, boots and back packs in the kitchen, it just makes an already busy and easily messed up room a total pig sty :hairpull:
I'd love to have an enclosed porch for a mud room:bliss:
Good luck Condo, I hope you find yourself a lovely home :)
Thanks for those ideas, there are a few upgrades we have already agree that we want to get, the rough in for the basement bathroom, it cost 500 - 700 to do with a builder and 3000+ to rough it in after the fact. Wood stairs, hardwood but we will put it in our self. And I get to upgrade and add on to the kitchen as I see fit, mostly because every house we look seems to have issues with the kitchen, I call it lack of usable counter space. Also we want a gas fire place, AC and a few pot light in the kitchen. Also if there is a living/dinning room this will be made in to just a dinning room, as I want to buy a 12 - 14 person dinning table ( I have a huge family) so the lighting in that room will be moved to the centre and reinforced so that I can put a very large chandelier up. Also we really really want a front porch, that seems to be a hard thing to find though. Plus all the orther great ideas you ladies have suggested, they have all been added to the list of must haves...
I love looking at new houses!!!! Here's what we've come across when looking at floor plans and things I hate about our house.
A huge number of houses where there is no front closet by the front door...so you have to walk through your nice new carpeting to put your shoes and coat in the closet....heaven forbid you should decide you need to run back and grab a hat or scarf or umbrella after getting ready to go...(something my hubby does on a regular basis.!)
One house where the only window on the second floor (and this was a mid size home) was over the bathtub....so to look into the backyard you had to stand in the bathtub :rolleyes:
I agree that while the arched windows are pretty they are a pain and verrry expensive to dress.
I hate when they put the kitchen sink by a wall and they only have enough counter space on the one side....I need space on either side of my sink....one side for dirty dishes...one side for clean!
and the one I deal with everyday that I'm in this hole.... (some days I love my house, other days I hate it!) ... no counter on the one side of the stove. my stove is at the end of my kitchen leading to my eating area.....It was horrible when my son was a baby it's bad enough having to keep kids away from the front of the stove but you have the whole end of the stove as well.....that leaves one burner the child can't reach! I'll never do that again!
One last thing....upgrades....we didn't do any upgrades at the time because we thought....well we can always do them later....in this house later never comes....it's alway something else popping up and the money goes elsewhere. :cry: I don't like how the carpet on our stairs wraps through the pickets on the staircase....I don't have a picture of this but apparently it's pretty common. If I'd known I would've paid the upgrade and gotten wood stairs.
tryntodecorate,
Thanks for that, it is hard on me here sometimes, things are getting a bit better, the parents sometimes say hi now, but I am sure they all talk behind my back. I am so excited to start looking at houses, we are going to try and look at some this weekend, but being thanksgiving it might be a little hard. My wonderful dear BF and I were talking about the whole house thing last night, and he didn't know it can take up to a year or more for a new house to get built ( i am not sure how he didn't know that, but anyways) he seems to think we will be able to find one and be moved in before next summer .. OMG that boy is crazy ... LOL :hairpull:
condogirl...
Happy to hear that you may have plans to move by next year....I completely understand how you may feel living in the area you do........I have an Aunt who lives on Russell Hill and all 4 of her kids go to private school......and it bothers me sometimes...how spoiled her kids are ....don't get me wrong...i love my family ...but they have no concept of money...and the teenage girls don't think twice about pinching some money from their dad's wallet on a daily basis.....and the mom's that live in the area.....they are so self absorbed.....good luck ....I hope that you and your daughter will be happy......
:) Thanks so much...
yep...will do...i'm going down there today...ds has speech therapy in ajax...i have to drive right past it...i'll get it for you ...no problem
If you are still going to Ajax today, do you mind getting the number for that subdivision you were talking about. My Dear BF drove by it yesterday and said he liked it very much... But do you think he remembered to get the number so I can call it ... NO ... that would make my life far to easy! :p
Sounds like you want my house :) We're in Brooklin, one of your locations! My builder isn't building here anymore, but there are still a few, Tribute, Fernbrook, Melody Homes, and a bunch others in North Whitby. Come drive by on a Saturday and you'll see lots of signs out. You're looking at around $350K+, but it's not jsut the mortgage you'll have to worry about. DOn't forget property taxes, utilities, all the stuff you'll need in your new house. I thought the same thing, our mortgage was the same as our rent, but once we started living in our own house, the costs were much greater than we anticipated. When I go back and look at our budget when we were renting, we had more than double the disposable income than we do now as home owners. Also, a new house is more expensive in the sense you'll need an air conditioning, fence, patio, landscaping, etc. I'm not trying to be a downer at all, but I'm going through it myself, I just want you to be aware when you say your rent is the same as your mortgage, there are lots of additional expenses. Mind you, I wouldn't change anything, we love our house and are very happy we went new as opposed to resale. We're at the point now where we're completely debt free except for our mortgage (we needed a car, bought used though, and paid for our wedding and some unexpected expenses), now we take more dinners out and plan on a couple of vacations a year, plus put away some money for a rainy day as well as retirement savings. We're in a good place now :)
First make sure you will be able to enjoy it and not be mortgage poor. There is nothing wrong with starting out small and know can go out for dinner/movie/babysitter or take a vacation.
Also can you afford a home on one salary ? (baby talk) as you may not want to go back to work after a 2nd child.
These are all important things to plan before you get yourself into a situation where you are both miserable. Good Luck. :)
You may want to check the power of sale homes that come up regularly.
secret is safe with me.... :laugh: i will start a journal "Condo's House" i will have each and every room designed by the time you buy it, at least it will keep me busy and stop my shopping..... :D could you imagine, what a disaster that would be..... :D
smiles
janetc
Ok Janetc... MIGHT buy a house and if we do we won't have it for more than a year .... SO lots of time to think of a million ways to decorate it... But for now, we are just looking ... (ok I really have one picked, and I am just looking at others to make my boyfirend happy) OOPS did I say that.
condo may buy a house..........yipee more decorating......... :laugh: congrats on your maybe house!
smiles
janetc
The attached garage that lead into a mudroom is the best ever i willnever buy another house without it. It is so nice to be able to bring in your groceries without worring about the weather. The other advantage is all shoes and boots stay in the garage. We remove out there and walk in without them so less gets tracked in. Loading and unloading your DD will be so much easier no going out into the cold and no more scraping and windows.
Central vacuum and central air are good to have.
Don't use weird colours for things like tiles -- keep the tiles neutral and have fun with the paint colours. Take it from me, bad tile colours are NOT a good selling point if you ever decide to move!!
If the lot is suitable, a walkout from the basement is great. Adds a lot of light, and makes it feel less like you're underground. Also, carefully consider how you're going to use the basement and make sure that the posts won't be in the way of the layout that you want (if possible).
A two car garage without a post in between the two doors. The post 's just a side mirror accident waiting to happen!!
Laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms, if possible.
Plan wiring for stereo speakers, jacks, cables, Internet, etc. carefully.
I wish Jen, wow thats alot of houses, they are going to have to build another school. My BF works in Etobicoke and seems to think Oshawa is to far, so I am pretty sure if we went to where you are, he would ummm well say NO... LOL silly boy doesnt know what he is missing.
take a look at Castlefields..i think you'll like them...but just take your time...your house is out there somewhere waitin' for you...you know they are buildin' 345 houses up here...just on the other side of the arena in that farmers field ...something to consider maybe??...LOL
I remember the pics its such a cute house. I have this big pet peev about counter space. I need a ton of it. I like long runs of counter with nothing in them, ie no sink ect. Its on my got to have list. If the house doesnt have it and there is no way to put an island in then the house is out.
here's the kitchen in my rental...lots of counter space...but not much room for a table...that was before the appliances showed up
My BF was telling me his friends just bought there, and i said I thought the houses were to small... LOL I think we need about 2500 sq feet. I wont get my dream kitchen if we get a place to small. Have you noticed that all the new houses have tiny kitchens..With no usable counter space. It drives me crazy every house we have already looked at I have vetoed do to lack of counter space... HEHEHEHE
i bought in North Ajax...down the road from Castlefields...i bought in The Hamlet...at Audley Road and Taunton Road...it's a cute lil house..but very plain...good for a rental...if you were lookin' for 1200 sqft...i'd sell it to you...LOL..but it's only got 1 bath...how the family of 4 that rents it from me does it i have no idea...i can't handle not having my ensuite...LOL
Which truibte one did you buy in to. My mom bought at the windfeilds farm one and the houses there are really nice. I love my mom's place and there is a house there I really like, but my boyfriend isnt sure he wants to live a 5 min walk from my moms house... LOL
i'll be down there on wednesday...i'll grab the number for you...i wish we had bought there instead of the Tribute house we bought...Tribute is a great builder and the houses are ok...kinda plain tho...
Thanks Jen, I just went on their site, and they dont have any floor plans up yet... BOO I emailed them though as they have no phone number to call BOO again...
Ade...if you want a nice house...take a look at Castlefield Homes by Medallion i think it is in North Ajax...they're at Audley Road and Rossland...it's actually just north of our rental...gorgeous houses all brick with some really nice stone work on the fronts too...