I’ve been told all throughout my life that practice makes perfect. Well, there is something I “practice” a lot and that is house hunting. I sometimes get lost in MLS sites for a couple hours if I’m not careful. I love the thrill of finding houses that I could possibly own if I were looking right now and had the salary I hope to have in the future. It’s the dreamer in me – I’m always imagining what my life will be like, and the house I live in is something important to me.
I grew up and live during the summers in a small town in SE Minnesota. The main city I do shopping in is Rochester. It’s a good size city with lots of parks, schools, shopping areas, restaurants, and is home to the Mayo Clinic, so it is definitely a good place to live. I don’t know where I will end up after graduating college, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I moved to Rochester. Because of this, I have subscribed to an MLS email listing of houses under $200,000 for a couple years now. I feel dorky admitting that, but I love houses. What do you expect from me?!
Lately, I have come across a couple that have made my heart rate speed up and a little squeal to escape from my mouth. I am obsessed with old houses, so when a search comes up with one in my imaginary price range, I get really excited! Maybe I will be able to own my dream home right away! Most of the searches come up with split level homes and older ranches that do appeal to me for the most part, but there is something about those old American Four Square and Dutch Colonials with their crown molding and/or hardwood floors that do something to me.
My imaginary house hunting requirements are:
- A yard larger than .15 acres
- At least 3 bedrooms (so there is room to grow and not have to move right away)
- Preferably 2 or more bathrooms
- Can’t be too perfect – I want to do a little work on it
- Enough square feet so that the bedrooms aren’t completely tiny
- Preferably dark stained or white trim and cabinets
- Preferably wood floors in most rooms
Let me show you two of the houses that fit the requirements and make my heart go pitter-patter.
The first one is a beautiful Dutch Colonial with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths that sits on just .15 acres (which is a let down).
Check out some of the interior shots – look at the character in this home!
I spy a window seat and a built-in bookcase.
For more shots of the house, head over here.
The main letdowns are the yard…
…and the basement. It doesn’t match the rest of the house at all, but at least it is finished.
The best part, though, is that it is listed at $179,900, so it fits into my imaginary budget. Yay me!
Okay, now on to the one that I have literally been having wonderful dreams about lately and have even stalked on Google Maps (I hope all my dignity is not being lost in this post).
It’s a gorgeous yellow American Four Square home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths that sits on a nice lot of .23 acres.
Now, the inside has great potential but just needs a tiny bit of work. For more pictures, head over here.
Are those dark stained pocket doors? Are they trying to give me a heart attack?
The kitchen is less than ideal (the ceiling, outdated cabinets), but with some elbow grease and some cash it could at least be painted and the ceiling possible sheet rocked until I could afford (with my imaginary money, of course) to update the whole thing. It’s quite large, though, and potential is key in my imaginary house hunts.
I definitely can’t complain with gorgeous wood floors in the bedrooms!
And the yard is a perfect size (this is only part of it). But something has really imaginarily sold me on this house. I am a HUGE fan of third story attics. Well…
Here is one just waiting for me to finish and turn into a craft room! Yay! And it’s listed at $169,900! Please excuse me while I go sign the imaginary contract and get handed the imaginary keys….
Okay, so am I crazy or what? Please tell me you do this on occasion as well. I hope that the practice-makes-perfect saying applies here. If so, real estate agents are going to love me when it comes time to buy my first house because I know exactly what is out there and how much of a house I can afford in the area (as well as in the Twin Cities – where I do other imaginary house hunts). Do you have any house crushes on homes in your area that you could see yourself living in?
I totally do this – and I’m a homeowner in my 30′s! It’s never too early to start researching ideal house styles and neighborhoods where you can see yourself in 10 years. That way, when you start your non-imaginary house search, you will be an educated prospective home-buyer! Realtors will love you because they won’t have to do that part for you :)
I do it even though I own a house because I love to see what else is out there in case we choose to expand our family or our needs/lifestyle changes and we find ourselves needing a new place.
I do this with every other old house I see! :)
My favorite houses are the ones that are falling apart, although in real life I would want something that could be lived in while slowly fixing it up. I think Realtors would love me because I know exactly what I want and my list isn’t that long: more than 2 acres, private, cheap and old! Beyond that, I’m open for most anything. :)
Kelly,
I was thinking of you when I wrote this post. I’m so glad you commented because I couldn’t for the life of me remember what you changed your domain name to. I’m glad I can read it again after I forgot it!
I would love more than .15 acres for sure, one or more would be ideal, but I don’t think I will be able to find that very easily with an old house on the lot that has character and isn’t completely rundown. Only time will tell, though! :)
-Sarah
Glad to see another MLS search addict besides me! I love pretending that I’m in the market for a mid century ranch house myself. With poured travertine floors oooh. Haha!
I’m another addict :) When we lived in the U.S. I was always house hunting. Now we’re trying to find a house or a lot to build on here and it’s not nearly as fun because they don’t do things the way I was used to…here you have to deal more with realtors to get ANY information and they want to drag you all over creation, looking at forty eleven houses (none of which are what we want). Ugh. I’ve actually bailed on my hubby and told him when he finds something he likes, let me know.
I also used to love the Annual Parade of Homes when local builders would open homes-just-built for a week of looking. So fun!
For sure, having a home is the American dream. I used to be a realtor and loved to go looking at houses for sale when I didn’t have anything else to do. Lots of fun.