We’re moving in about three months, which is nice because it gives us lots of time with family and friends before we’re lonely and alone and without friends. (I’m feeling dramatic.) Also, time to completely obsess over finding a home.
Here are five signs you might also be obsessed with finding a new home:
You have at least 3 different house and apartment finding apps on your phone.
For when you want to obsessively look for housing while waiting for your dentist appointment.
You get emails with search results daily.
Mike and I also email each other daily with listings we like or to laugh about, like “no smoking (cigarettes).”
Craigslist is your new social media.
I’m not on social media this month, so instead of my fingers starting to type “FA” or “TW” when I open a new tab, I’m heading to “WE.”
You start to tell your spouse about a listing you saw and he has already seen it.
Because you both have the same hobby now: trolling the webs for housing.
You have to swear off house hunting so you can actually get some work done.
I have to say aloud to myself, “Okay! No more searching for houses today!”
We’ve always been a little obsessive about finding the perfect place to live, and this is bringing back adventures in apartment hunting memories from five years ago (we saw SO MANY terrible places) and we haven’t even been to the area yet.
The housing market in western Massachusetts is, well, it’s a little disheartening. It’s about double (!) the cost of where we currently live (*SOB*) and it seems as though there’s nowhere quite like where we live now (a pedestrian-friendly, walkable, diverse neighborhood). Well, there is one area that seems perfect, but it’d be a 30 minute commute for Mike and the cost of housing is 323% more expensive that where we are now:
We intend to rent for at least a year since we don’t know the area and I have a phobia of not being able to sell a house and being trapped in Massachusetts or being saddled with two mortgages (I know a not-insignificant number of people who this has happened to, sadly!).
But the lack of affordable (and appealing) rental options is making me almost want to buy. Almost.
Since I’m obsessed with house hunting these days and love reading , I’ll share my must haves and wish lists.
Musts:
2 bedrooms and office/guest space
Laundry (not coin op)
Sidewalks
Generally safe
< 30 minutes to Mike’s job
Sound proof if multi unit house
Outdoor space (patio, porch)
Dishwasher
Wishes:
3 bedrooms
Open floor plan
Near things to walk to
AC
Gas heat
Yard
Compost/garden capabilities
Basement (for tornados)
Snow removal
Shorter commute
Not a floor in a house
Have you recently house hunted? What was on your list? Am I missing anything? Do you have a house I can rent in Western Mass?
Ugh. I am currently looking for rental houses (we wanna move so badly!) and I am running into similar problems. I have similar lists on my wish lists for our future home. I feel the rental market for houses is very limited/depressing. If you don’t want to live in a huge apartment complex, you’re almost forced to buy (which we also don’t want to do at this point).
I am just generally suprised what people charge for mediocre (at best), sub-standard places. Or I am just spoiled. I don’t know (but I recently ranted about the shortcomings of our current place on my blog).
Hopefully by Mike getting a full-time job, your salary will increase (also due to the higher cost of living), but I feel you… seeing that housing is 323% more than what you pay now must be a punch in the gut.
I guess here in CA we’re used to higher costs of living, but that doesn’t always mean that the salaries reflect that (when it comes down to it).
We love living in a big apartment complex here, but it’s in great shape (very well insulated) with great management (they fix everything within a day! We never have to deal with snow or lawn care), in an amazing location, and plenty of outdoor green space (as well as private outdoor space)! Western Mass has mostly multi-family homes that are run down and don’t have great insulation. Which is bad for winter heating costs AND for bothering our neighbors with noisy kids.
Sigh.
He’s been working full-time, but in an intern position which is required to finish his PhD. So his “salary” now is rather small – it is doubling, but we’re used to living on little! And my income certainly helps a lot, too.
At least in CA, the higher housing costs come with better weather, right? (That’s what I tell my sister in southern California!)
Your current apartment complex sounds really nice (including the private outdoor space) which I would totally consider if we would find something like that…
I really hope and keep my fingers crossed that you’ll find something affordable/nice in Western MA. I definitely understand the frustration (esp. when there is a deadline approaching).
P.S. Forgot to mention… I also have three rental apps on my phone, receive daily emails and check constantly. It’s ridiculous, but you never now WHEN the perfect place might pop up…. it’s not only about finding it, but also beating out other potential tentants then ;)
ughh I feel your pain on this. I moved from Cleveland to Denver not all that long ago and am experiencing similar real estate shock. Homes are insanely over priced out here and yet they fly off the market in less than 2 days. Buyers are actually leaving flowers/notes for the sellers after they walk through homes. Unfortunately rent is similarly gut wrenching. There’s no paying less than 1k/month out here. No way around it. Not even for a studio apt. writing my rent check each month is torture but looking at buying out here doesn’t help. I’ve seriously considered moving to a trailer park.
good luck with your house hunt. I’m sure something will pop up for you!
We are currently house hunting and are very much obsessed. Everything you mentioned is true. It’s such a stressful process! Plus, we need to sell our current house as well, so we’re slightly ahead of ourselves even looking at houses to buy until we finish readying our house for the market.
As the child of an academic, I can say with some level of confidence that the upside of being married to an academic is that academic institutions (at least as we know them today) have healthy communities around them full of people looking to buy and sell homes. The downside is that sometimes due to said academic institutions, there is a nice little premium to those home prices.
Wait, there are tornadoes in Western MA? Since when? I don’t ever recall that being an issue when I lived in the Northeast. I’d say the one thing I don’t see on your list (and maybe it’s not an issue or maybe it’s rolled into the more generic walkability comment) is proximity to good schools (that is, if you’re not homeschooling, which I’ve been so out of the loop, maybe you are planning to do that and then it’s no matter where you live). I very much appreciate, though, that you realize there are MUST HAVES and WISHES. I think many people don’t differentiate and are sorely disappointed when they realize they won’t get everything they want.
We will be selling our condo and then buying a single family home in 2016. Sweets started looking for that new house the day we moved into this condo … nearly seven years ago. =)
Oh man, do I feel your pain. I am having sympathetic stress flashbacks to the time we moved from MO to CA and then from MO to MN. It’s definitely a mixture of stress and excitement! When house hunting for a place to live from across the country (and unable to visit potential places before moving), we just found a temporary home with a month-to-month lease option first — that place definitely didn’t have much on our wish list, but it was a place to land. Then when we got out there we did more serious searching and found a great house to live in. So, if it gets down to the wire and you haven’t found your ideal spot, I’d recommend doing something similar. Moving twice also sucks, but so does a long term lease in a place you don’t love.
My other tip would be to use Google Earth to check the neighborhoods out! You probably already know that though :) And obviously I don’t know the area, but what happens if you widen your commute radius just a little? Like 40 minutes? Any better luck with options or costs? Just something to consider!
The month-to-month idea is a good one. It would be a pain to live somewhere out of a few suitcases, but getting a feel for the area might be worth it. Also you can get on the word-of-mouth circuit, which can be really valuable.
We just moved and are very very happy where we are. It really feels like Christmas to wake up here! But prior to that- when I first moved here and was looking at places to rent- I was shocked at the difference in spaces within a $100 variance. There were some seriously crummy places listed at the same price as some bright, clean, open places.
I like your list:) It seems well-informed and (I think?) realistic.
We thought of that, but the idea of moving twice (with no family in MA to help with kids!) and PAYING twice for a truck or movers is just not feasible. :-/
We had the opposite discovery moving out of Toronto: there in 2010 we were locked in at $1200 for a one bedroom apartment (no parking spot but water/electricity/heat included) a solid 45-50 minute bus & subway commute from downtown. We moved to a small town two years ago and also planned to rent for a year or two and got a 3 bedroom townhome with a basement for considerably less. It was actually way too big for us, but there were hardly any rental properties available.
A year later we found out we were pregnant and it was house hunting time! #1 on our list was walkability since we’re hoping to remain a 1-car family for as long as possible. Also on our list was a small & easy to maintain lot, fenced in yard, and a functional kitchen (i.e. not tiny). We stuck with our guns and are so glad we did. I couldn’t dream of moving out of here but if it came down to that, I would never want to leave this neighbourhood/proximity to everything our family needs.
Your must haves list is very reasonable! With three months to go I’m sure you will find a place that hits all of those points and bunch from your wishlist! Best wishes!
Godspeed to you, my friend. Moving sucks, there’s just no way around that. But I am sure you will find something that meets most of your needs and hopefully not wildly out of your price range.
Ugh yeah… MA sucks for housing. It honestly depresses me to watch shows like House Hunters because I could have a mansion with a pool in a lot of towns, ha.
I hope you guys find something :) I’m selfishly excited for you to move so that we can meet in the middle somewhere ha ha!
I told Mike this. Now we were be jealous of House Hunters, too. Oh nooooo! Ha.
Seems to me like you and Mike would be the perfect candidates for House Hunters (sorry, I’m an HGTV addict).
The thought of house hunting makes me want to cringe because that means that moving is part of the process and I can’t stand moving. I hate it! However, I love to look at houses just for the fun of it and daydream about other places to live.
Wishing you the best on the house hunting process!
Fellow HGTV addicts over here! :) I have been watching House Hunters non stop!
We are expecting our second child, husband just graduated from school and are hoping to buy a house in the Cleveland area in the next 6-12 months. So the must have/wish list is a big topic with us right now too.
A very important thing on our list (because our current apartment does not have it) is natural light! Sounds so unimportant until you haven’t had it for 6 years :(
Since you work from home, it might be something important to consider!! Especially during the looooong winters!
Oh, I can totally relate… we’re not moving-moving (like, to another town or part of the country) but I’m under contract on a house that HOPEFULLY will be mine if all the inspections next week don’t turn up anything crazy (first time homebuyer!!!! ahhh!!!). We’ve rented here for the last three years and would actually be fine continuing to rent, but our landlord is terrible (never fixes anything, basically a slumlord) and to move to another rental house at this point (especially one that allows two dogs) would be about the same price as what I’m going to be paying for this house, even with maintenance costs rolled in.
A lot of our must-haves and wishes are similar to yours (laundry is always a must for me in rentals… ugh I hate trucking stuff to the laundromat, and I can’t even imagine with kids!!). A basement is surprisingly rare in our corner of tornado alley (NE Oklahoma), but our current rental and new house are both older homes (like, almost 100 years old) so they do have basements, which is sweet. Homes are pretty cheap here and there are quite a few on the market, but it was actually pretty difficult to find one that ticked most of our major “want” boxes (basement, front porch, garage, big-enough kitchen, good layout & backyard for entertaining, at least 1.5 bathrooms, decent neighborhood with a few things within walking distance, not a total fixer-upper) so I really really hope this one works out!!!
Oh, good luck! I hope it works out for you. Renting with pets would be a challenge because your choices are probably limited.
Yes, front porch! Something I forgot! (And if we buy, NO FIXER UPPERS. I know us. We are not handy.)
Oh, my! I have an addiction! Me and my husband are planning to move for three months now and I postpone selling our house because I just can’t find the one I want to move to. And I thought it was alright to take my time to look for the perfect house, but as I read your post, I realize I may have a problem and enjoy searching far too much and that feeling doesn’t allow me to choose. Thanks! I’m glad I’ve read your post!
Decision making is so hard! Good luck with both your house hunt and selling your house!!
Thank you very much, Ashley. Have a nice day :)
Ashley,
Please let me know, if you need any help learning about the area. I’m a Realtor, and I know you’ll find western MA has so much to offer. I think Easthampton is a good fit from what you have described. Good luck the move and reach out anytime with questions.
Best,
Kate
Thanks so much, Kate! I will definitely look in Easthampton.
It’s all so overwhelming to figure out where to live! Plus, we don’t want to buy for the first year (need to get a feel for the area) and turns out the lead paint laws make people less likely to want to rent to a family.
Sigh.
We might be in touch in a year! :)
Best of luck and yes, reach out anytime when you are settled.
I think you will really love the area!
Safe travels!
Best,
Kate :)
Ashley,
Don’t forget about U-Boxes or PODS. When we moved from WV to CO we did the UBox and did a short term lease (furnished) and then were able to house hunt. Bonus was in the fall the prices drop as there is less competition (or at least out here.) but this I’m sure is variable place to place. The UBox was awesome cause we packed a total of 4 and three we left in storage and one (kitchen stuff and bedding and baby items) we unpacked right away. Made it much less daunting to move twice so to speak.
I had looked at PODs, but it was super expensive. Maybe I’ll look at UBox.
Thanks for the recommendation!
This described me perfectly. It can be easy to get caught up in the house hunting for sure. It’s nice to have someone put you in check every now and then. Thanks so much for the advice!
Good luck with house hunting!!
I like your idea of renting an apartment for awhile before settling into a house. If you are moving from an area far away, this would be a great way to go ahead and survey the area before making a final decision. Plus, it seems like it would give you the ability to really get the feel for the houses and neighborhoods.
Hi! Great post you have here! I really like what you had to say about home aesthetics. While I have been looking at homes, I have been stuck on the paint or the flooring without thinking about possibly changing it! I think that it is important when house hunting to look at the house as what it could be and not what it is now. It could make finding that gem a lot easier! Thanks so much for the awesome post, keep up the awesome work!
Even though an old article still it’s interesting. Thanks for sharing your idea
I like that you mentioned that you are slightly obsessed with looking for an ideal home. My wife and I does the same all the time and we are soaked on craigslist for looking at resort home listing. I hope we find the same realtor with the same obsession as both of us on looking for our ideal home.
Thanks, awesome post! How long on average does it take to buy a house?