Ever buy a house that you felt was right, but after you moved in, found that it wasn't?

[luvflorida]

Short story- We bought a house that we really liked. We've lived here almost two months. We are now feeling like we've made a mistake.

Long story- We've been on the West Coast for the past ten years (we're from New England) and last fall decided to return to the East Coast. Our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids have also decided to move back East. Yay! My husband and I knew we definitely did not want to move back to cold weather, and I've always wanted to live in Florida, so Hello, Florida!

We started house hunting as soon as we hit Florida. Now, we are not novice home buyers, and have owned six houses over the past forty years. Not liking a house after we bought it, though, is a first for us!

On the first day of house hunting with a local real estate agent, we looked at the house we ended up buying. I fell in love with the look of the house (Florida-style home with a large screened lanai) the view from the backyard, and the location. Everything about the house seemed right to both of us.

Edited to add: We did a lot of soul-searching and didn't decide on Florida on a whim. We've vacationed here for many years and are familiar with the area. We always figured we'd retire to Florida, but we took a ten year detour to Arizona! We are very excited to be back on the East Coast!

Since moving in, almost everything seems so wrong! A lot of our furniture didn't fit or look right, so we've had to purchase new items. The driveway is steeply pitched downward (which we knew, of course, but we had never actually driven down it until after we purchased the house) and is a pain to navigate, as it also makes a turn halfway up. The driveway makes it hard to get two cars into the garage. The house has a swim spa, which we're finding we're not fans of, and we've had issues with the heater. The layout of the house isn't as functional as we thought it would be.

On the plus side, we like the neighborhood and the area we moved to. We can be to Disney World in less than 45 minutes and we're thoroughly enjoying being annual passholders!

Just wondering if anyone else here has ever bought a house that you loved, but then found out you didn't? How did it work out for you?

 

[amcnj]

There were always a couple things that I wish were different, but never felt that the house was no longer right. Hopefully soon you will not be focusing on what you don’t like, and instead on what you do, and it will feel like home, and you will feel it is right again.

 

[luvflorida]

There were always a couple things that I wish were different, but never felt that the house was no longer right. Hopefully soon you will not be focusing on what you don’t like, and instead on what you do, and it will feel like home, and you will feel it is right again.

I admit it is more me than my husband. He's not as disappointed with the house as I am. And you are right. I am trying to focus on all the good aspects of the house and less of the negative. I don't mean to sound ungrateful or unappreciative, as I know there are far more problems people deal with than in being disappointed in a house purchase.

I'm just having a hard time trying to understand how I could love the house, but now don't, and was wondering if anyone else has dealt with the same thing.

 

[snoopy5386]

Not us, but my in laws just moved into a house (in Florida too), that the previous owner was selling after living there only 6 months. So yes it happens.

 

[luvmy2boyzz]

I fell in love with a house and then found out it was the neighbors I didn’t love

I might find the driveway annoying but I think I’d expect that the style of furniture I’d had in Arizona might not be the right fit for Florida? I’m sorry the house doesn’t feel like home yet but hopefully it will grow on you.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We bought a foreclosure for a steal especially considering it was a new construction that just needed a few finishing things to be move in ready. We realized before moving in that the plumber neglected to run hot water to our kitchen! Luckily my dad is really handy so it did t cost a fortune to fix. There are a few minor things I wish were different. Our girls' bedrooms are disproportionately sized. One is as big as our master bedroom and the other is much smaller. I see that being an issue when the baby gets bigger. With all that said, we've been here ten years and should come out way ahead whenever we decide to sell. I also wish our road was paved all the way through. The way we normally go to work is paved, but the other end is dirt.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Not happened to me.. exactly. But... I empathize.
I downsized ... and I mean a Big downsize! It’s been an adjustment. I know in my mind and heart it was the right thing and honestly it’s beautiful .. albeit smaller home, I truly got Everything I wanted and customized. But the size?? Hmmm.. just one more room.. a great room lol

As far as furniture. I shipped All our NE furniture and then stored it for months .. of course that ran a small fortune it came south, had to be AC storage etc.
then ultimately downsized so much and could not use almost anything I brought. And nothing seemed “right” style wise.
I donated most, sold off some and started over completely. Lesson learned, the hard way.
So, I still feel a bit too downsized ( hubby says it’s perfect) and I keep telling myself that all that House money saved, time/$/energy saved in cleaning/service means more doing things we enjoy.
I do love Everything else.. but when Anyone asks me I always say... if you have the luxury of Time and can afford it, Rent in the area/Home before buying.

Perhaps you can tweak the top 2 things that are driving you nuts OP.
I bet it ll grow on you and you ll remember why you Loved it when u chose it
good luck.

 

[abdmom]

I've owned 7 homes. There's always been something I didn't like about each home I've owned. I've sold a couple because of that. In one case, I had done renovations and while the renovations turned out great, the trauma of the experience made me want to move. The other one was just too small for us. The other ones I've only sold when I was moving states or countries.

IMO, if you like the neighborhood and area, stay put. Moving is expensive!

 

[tvguy]

Well, you can remodel most of the issues out.

We've only owned one home, been in it 36 years come May. Did not have that issue.
Another house we were considering, we went back to look at after dark, and something in it made the hair on the back of our necks stand up. We have no idea why. Actually, it was two old houses that had been moved to the site and assembled as one house. Maybe one of the past owners of one of the houses wasn't happy it had been moved.

 

[McDISer]

We built our home. We had the land in an area I loved. We signed and bought the land and had a 30 day waiting period. My dh decided to cancel, because of road issues.

He found land another 7 miles away, so now we were 20 miles from our small town, but more near a larger city. Our home sits on 2 acres which takes forever to cut and don’t Get me started on the landscaping to make it look less desolate.

The dining room is too small for when our kids come home with spouses and grandchildren and same with the living room. My dh keeps telling me, he is going to do the basement and get a family room, bedroom and bathroom, but it has been 4 years and he has not done anything to even get an estimate to start it.

The thing I hate the most is no sidewalks or street lights. I walk, not just for physical exercise, but for my mental health too. My dh told me to give him 4 years at this house and you can bet that the 4-sale sign is going up March 1st. I need neighbors and a sense of community. I know many love going to work and coming home and not dealing or knowing your neighbors, but not me.

 

[luvflorida]

I might find the driveway annoying but I think I’d expect that the style of furniture I’d had in Arizona might not be the right fit for Florida?

The furniture we had in Arizona was not specific to the Southwest. Most of the furniture came with us from New England. One big issue is our couch. We have a large sectional which doesn't really fit in our new, smaller living room. When we looked at the house in Florida, the owners had two couches in the living room facing each other at opposite ends. Seeing the two couches, along with their large coffee table and end tables, we assumed our sectional would fit. It doesn't. The way it's configured, it just looks ridiculous. We even took a section out, but it's still too big for the space. I suppose we could buy a new couch, but we're holding off for now since we've had to purchase other furniture.

Not happened to me.. exactly. But... I empathize.
I downsized ... and I mean a Big downsize! It’s been an adjustment. I know in my mind and heart it was the right thing and honestly it’s beautiful .. albeit smaller home, I truly got Everything I wanted and customized. But the size?? Hmmm.. just one more room.. a great room lol

This house is about 500 square feet smaller than our house in Arizona. I do like the fact that we have two bathrooms instead of the 2 1/2 we had. Less to clean! The bedrooms are bigger, but the rest of the living areas are smaller.

I've owned 7 homes. There's always been something I didn't like about each home I've owned. I've sold a couple because of that. In one case, I had done renovations and while the renovations turned out great, the trauma of the experience made me want to move. The other one was just too small for us. The other ones I've only sold when I was moving states or countries.

IMO, if you like the neighborhood and area, stay put. Moving is expensive!

Yes, moving is very expensive, especially a cross-country move. We had an expensive outdoor ceramic tabletop get broken, and several pieces of furniture ended up with dings and dents. We do like the neighborhood and the town, but do wish we had looked at more houses. We looked at a dozen houses and the one we bought really stood out from the others and felt right to us. We even went back a second time to look at it. Again, we really liked it, so didn't feel like we should look further.

Another thing that didn't seem like it would be a problem, turned out to be a problem. The master bathroom is beautiful, but it is open to the master bedroom. There is a door for the toilet, but not the rest of the bathroom. The bedroom has sliding glass doors to the screened in lanai, and we soon discovered that when taking a shower, if the blinds on the sliders are open, anyone out on the lanai can see right into the bathroom and shower. We just keep the blinds shut, which makes the bedroom dark. Better than opening and closing blinds every time someone takes a shower.

Our dining room table is counter height and the light above it is positioned to fit a regular height table, so now it comes down way too close to the top of our table. We're going to have to shorten the chain or replace it. Little things, I know, but they're adding up!

 

[Planogirl]

I liked our house and I still do but it has been a money pit. You can't predict that too easily though.

 

[barkley]

Another thing that didn't seem like it would be a problem, turned out to be a problem. The master bathroom is beautiful, but it is open to the master bedroom. There is a door for the toilet, but not the rest of the bathroom. The bedroom has sliding glass doors to the screened in lanai, and we soon discovered that when taking a shower, if the blinds on the sliders are open, anyone out on the lanai can see right into the bathroom and shower. We just keep the blinds shut, which makes the bedroom dark. Better than opening and closing blinds every time someone takes a shower.

this was the configuration in our last home. one solution we looked at was doing a pocket door but the studs weren't set up such that it would have worked, if we had not sold the home i probably would have investigated getting one of those sliding barn doors.


there's a house in our neighborhood that i think every owner ends up hating after 6 months to a year. if you are just looking at it when it's for sale it seems o.k. albeit small. once you've spent any amount of time even visiting in it you realize it's not only small but very poorly designed and really too small for even just 2 people. the place has resold more than any house in the neighborhood.

 

[Christine]

My parents just bought a home in Florida and they've already decided that their furniture is not going with them. They consulted with many people who moved to their neighborhood (tons of retirees) and overwhelmingly they were told that's it's best not to pay the moving fees and just buy new furniture when you get there and, as you've found, the old stuff most likely won't "work" in the new home.

I don't know about you but in the current house I am in, I bought furniture that specifically fits for my house. I have one living room with a small corner that only a specific small armless sectional bought from West Elm would work. I have no illusions that any of my furniture from this house I am in would work in another home. Likely when you viewed the home before purchasing, the owners had bought furniture that worked for that home and so you didn't notice some of the design issues.

As to the master bath/bedroom. I have that configuration in my home. For 20 years I lived with regular double doors on the the bathroom that opened into the bathroom. The doors were just so awkward. Even if we were to reverse them and open them out into the room it would have been weird. I'm a huge fan of pocket doors but did not want to spend the money having that done, so we bought sliding "barn" doors although they are modern so they don't look like barn doors. Perfect solution. There are many styles and what I'm envisioning for Florida is a frosted glass door.

For the driveway, my neighbor has a similar situation. It stinks when it snows and is icy. Otherwise, it's a pain to navigate as you said but you do get used to it.

After saying all that, you could just plan on a local move if you can't get used to it. I can understand your frustration.

 

[tvguy]

The thing I hate the most is no sidewalks or street lights. I walk, not just for physical exercise, but for my mental health too.

Certainly personal preference. The most desirable neighborhoods here are the ones without sidewalks or street lights.

 

[LovesTimone]

Take a deep breath... and slowly exhale...

Buying a house is a gamble... The real estate folks, think that a 10 minute walk through can determine if we are going to spend that kind of money for that length of time is crazy talk... nope... we are those people that have to see a house several times before we commit to a relationship with it for that length of time...
with that said...

You own the house now, you have to make it yours...we had a side load garage at another house we lived in... I thought oh this is going to be great... not so much. So we added some shelving on the walls, and over head, and bought a shed to store the lawn equipment in, and I changed which side I normally parked on... and finally we could get in and out with out it being a pain, while not perfect, it was much better...and we could live with it... maybe you just might have to move things around to get the best configuration.

Anytime you have a pool, hot tub, spa... whatever... you are going to have problems with it... its just the nature of the beast...So it's just something you have to make peace with early on... You can plan on replacing a part or two at least once or twice a year, and the whole system every 3 to 5 years... ( these are the things that they don't tell you about when buying a house) The humidity here along with the heat, and the storms really does a number on those outside systems... We have had all of these things in our houses at one time or the other... we decided on a pool company to maintain it, honestly a pool, hot tub or spa or plunge pool can turn green overnight with some kind of algae, so you have to know what you are doing...to much of this or that will just eat up those plastic parts...

 

[winterman]

When DH and I were approaching age 55, we wanted to prepare for our retirement by moving to a house that had a first floor master bedroom. We decided to subdivide our 6 acre lot and build a modular home. DH wanted a cape and wouldn't even walk into the ranch models. We ended up with a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home that was 600 sq. ft. bigger than the home that we had raised our kids in. We actually both loved the layout and we had plenty of room for the kids when they came home to visit. It was just too big. Too much square footage to heat.

After about 6 years, DH decided that we should move once we retired. I agreed as long as it was close to our daughter (who was most likely to give us grandchildren.) We bought a lot 5 minutes from DD and started talking to builders. Then DH was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and in 13 weeks was gone. I made the move on my own and was very grateful that so much of the planning had been done. I had a house built that I still love, 6 1/2 years later, and it is half the size of the last one. While my new house was being built, I lived in DD's basement for 3 months and while I was there, my first grandson was born!

 

[PollyannaMom]

The furniture we had in Arizona was not specific to the Southwest. Most of the furniture came with us from New England. One big issue is our couch. We have a large sectional which doesn't really fit in our new, smaller living room. When we looked at the house in Florida, the owners had two couches in the living room facing each other at opposite ends. Seeing the two couches, along with their large coffee table and end tables, we assumed our sectional would fit. It doesn't. The way it's configured, it just looks ridiculous. We even took a section out, but it's still too big for the space. I suppose we could buy a new couch, but we're holding off for now since we've had to purchase other furniture.

I think you'll feel better about the room once you can buy furniture that fits it better.

This house is about 500 square feet smaller than our house in Arizona. I do like the fact that we have two bathrooms instead of the 2 1/2 we had. Less to clean! The bedrooms are bigger, but the rest of the living areas are smaller.

This is definitely a plus!

Yes, moving is very expensive, especially a cross-country move. We had an expensive outdoor ceramic tabletop get broken, and several pieces of furniture ended up with dings and dents. We do like the neighborhood and the town, but do wish we had looked at more houses. We looked at a dozen houses and the one we bought really stood out from the others and felt right to us. We even went back a second time to look at it. Again, we really liked it, so didn't feel like we should look further.

Another thing that didn't seem like it would be a problem, turned out to be a problem. The master bathroom is beautiful, but it is open to the master bedroom. There is a door for the toilet, but not the rest of the bathroom. The bedroom has sliding glass doors to the screened in lanai, and we soon discovered that when taking a shower, if the blinds on the sliders are open, anyone out on the lanai can see right into the bathroom and shower. We just keep the blinds shut, which makes the bedroom dark. Better than opening and closing blinds every time someone takes a shower.

What about a curtain at the bathroom entrance? (I've seen it done with closets that don't have doors.) Or a standing screen?

Our dining room table is counter height and the light above it is positioned to fit a regular height table, so now it comes down way too close to the top of our table. We're going to have to shorten the chain or replace it. Little things, I know, but they're adding up!

The little things do seem overwhelming all together, but just chip away at them one at a time, and pretty soon, there will be none left on the list and you'll forget all about them!

The driveway is steeply pitched downward (which we knew, of course, but we had never actually driven down it until after we purchased the house) and is a pain to navigate, as it also makes a turn halfway up. The driveway makes it hard to get two cars into the garage.

This would be the most serious one to me, but it may get easier with practice.

On the plus side, we like the neighborhood and the area we moved to. We can be to Disney World in less than 45 minutes and we're thoroughly enjoying being annual passholders!

The proximity to Disney World would absolutely make me feel better about some of the other things!!

I definitely think new houses take some getting used to. Each time we've moved, we've lost certain good things in favor of other (at the time, slightly more important) good things.

One other thing to keep in mind is that you probably haven't made new friends near your new house yet, and in the back of your mind, still miss the old ones. That probably seeps into how you see the house.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

We built our home. We had the land in an area I loved. We signed and bought the land and had a 30 day waiting period. My dh decided to cancel, because of road issues.

He found land another 7 miles away, so now we were 20 miles from our small town, but more near a larger city. Our home sits on 2 acres which takes forever to cut and don’t Get me started on the landscaping to make it look less desolate.

The dining room is too small for when our kids come home with spouses and grandchildren and same with the living room. My dh keeps telling me, he is going to do the basement and get a family room, bedroom and bathroom, but it has been 4 years and he has not done anything to even get an estimate to start it.

The thing I hate the most is no sidewalks or street lights. I walk, not just for physical exercise, but for my mental health too. My dh told me to give him 4 years at this house and you can bet that the 4-sale sign is going up March 1st. I need neighbors and a sense of community. I know many love going to work and coming home and not dealing or knowing your neighbors, but not me.

I totally get this. People think I'm crazy for preferring to be in a busier - even grittier - city than living in the woods. But the ability to walk anywhere is a huge quality of life issue for me. I like having nearby stores, libraries, a YMCA...like you said, a neighborhood.

 

[Christine]

I totally get this. People think I'm crazy for preferring to be in a busier - even grittier - city than living in the woods. But the ability to walk anywhere is a huge quality of life issue for me. I like having nearby stores, libraries, a YMCA...like you said, a neighborhood.

This becomes extremely important as you age. I get the whole "I don't want annoying neighbors and I want peace/tranquility" but I'd be too afraid to live so isolated as I aged.