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I’m back but I’m still waiting for the pictures that the photographer took of my sister’s house so I can share them with you but let me tell you — it looks awesome!

I was there for one day short of two weeks and worked every single day.  We did go shopping one day and to the beach for a few hours a couple times too, but it was mostly work.

I’m totally ok with that, that’s why I went.

My sister was in over her head trying to get her house on the market and had hired help that ended up creating more work…

I’ve been there!

I just finished “being there” on my own house so I knew what she was going through and went to help her out.

Working so hard on house projects so soon after …working so hard on house projects, made me realize that I am ready to NOT work so hard on a house.

I decided that I wanted to buy a nice new house that didn’t need a whole lot of tearing up and remodeling.  Built ins and decorating- yes!  Tearing out walls, replacing flooring, and every other thing in the house – not so much.

So, we made an offer on the one house that fit the bill (mostly) when I got back yesterday.

The seller came back without budging (hardly) so we walked away.

Now I’m back to looking at total fixer uppers, which are plentiful in this area!

I’m not super excited about taking on a complete home remodel again but it looks like that is what we are going to have to do.

I’ve never, in all my years of buying houses, seen such a poor excuse for options.

At this point, we have to give up on at least one of the things on our list that was a MUST have for our future house.

I can have a house with 9′ ceilings and literally no yard,

or I can have a house with 8′ ceilings with a great yard!

I think we can live with 8′ ceilings for a few years because I know I can make every other aspect of the house super cute and functional and awesome!

The thing I’m worried about is resale…

What would you do?

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Comments

    • Tiffany, that was a great article. Thanks for sharing it with me. I have been trying to focus on buying a house that we could just enjoy “LIVING” in and not have to spend the entire length of our time in it fixing it up. I might still have to do that but I will focus on being much more FUN while I do it! 🙂

  2. We just sold our fixer upper and moved to another state. We ended up buying a newer house that had oak cabinets and trim which I don’t love but that’s ok. It was wonderful to move into a house that truly needs nothing unless i want to do something. Which I will but it’s nice to just be for a while, my kids are growing by the second and I can always remodel when they leave. To me it was more important to spend time with them and work on my house later. Good luck with your decision, it’s hard.

  4. I would go for the yard. I think you will be spending a lot of time there! You are right. You will just make the rest of it super cute. 🙂

  5. Can’t wait to see pics! Our house hunt here took 9 months. We were being extremely picky though. It is worth it b/c we definitely found THE one. Every other house had some glaringly obvious thing that I didn’t want. When we finally found it everything really fell into place. It will be lots of work from a redecorating standpoint but much less crapwork which is nice!

    I feel your pain – at least we weren’t living in corp. housing. I know you are ready for a “real” home! Wish I had some good advice! I know what a roller coaster the search can be!!! Good luck, Sandra. 🙂

    • Yes, you had the best opportunity to stay comfortable in your own home while you looked and then the incredible fortune to sell your own home in 2 days – in this market! Incredible! Totally jealous but more happy for you!

      We will never have that luxury as we never live in one place long enough. Wes has already been doing this job 6 months which is 1/4 of the span of our usual stay in one location. We gotta’ get on it!

      heeehee

  6. Definitely go for the house with a great yard and 8′ ceilings. When I was a Realtor I never once had a buyer worried about ceilings, however, they were all worried about location and yard. I live in a house with 9-10′ ceilings so I definitely see why they are desirous, but I don’t know that it would be harder to sell a house with 8′ ceilings. IMHO……When it all comes down to it, go with your gut. If you don’t get the warm fuzzy about the houses just keep waiting. Good luck and thank you for your wonderful inspiration on your blog!

  7. Yeah, I understand this. I wanted 9 foot ceilings but we have 8 foot ceilings here. We still live a nice life 😉

    The yard thing is important, it sounds like. And the “potential to be awesome” sounds awesome. 🙂

    I look forward to your adventures. I’m kinda hoping you get a fixer-upper because I like to see what you do.

    Dixie

  8. I grew up in a turn-of-the-century house (in a city) with 9-foot ceilings. I live now in a suburban house with double the square-footage and 8-foot ceilings. To be honest, other than being to low for ceiling fans, I’m happier with the lower ceilings.

    The 8-foot ceiling is the standard and has no appreciable effect on resale, at least here in the northeast. In fact, other than gorgeous Victorians, the “McMansion” has a much larger resale value and appreciation potential.

    When it comes to ceiling heights, I’d be more concerned with the basement. A 12-course basement allows finishing off the space. A 10-course basement is doomed to forever be utilities and storage.

    The value of a yard depends on the buyer. Some will see it as an asset, while others only see the work involved as a drain on their spare time and will avoid it, no matter how gorgeous. Except “McMansions”… where the buyer will pay a landscape company to take care of it for the status of having a gorgeous yard.

    Also, figure out what the market in your area wants before sinking too much money into renovation. For example, my real-estate agent aunt (in NJ) told us that hardwood floors didn’t add any value. Maybe not in NJ, but in our market they’re very important and highly sought-after.

    • I will definitely consider local trends before making any changes (if that’s the way we go).

      We’ve always had 9′ ceilings on our “must have” list because my husband is quite tall and this would be the first time we compromised on that but it’s good to know that it is not as big a deal to most as it is to us. We’ll deal with it.

      Thanks for all your great advice.

  9. I know you say that you don’t want to have to work too hard, but I remember someone around here talking about how bored and out of sorts she felt because she didn’t have a project. I know how you feel because I am always saying that I don’t want to take on too much, but then I get so excited about the project that lands in my lap that I take things on anyway. I say, go for it!

    Oh, and p.s., we bought a new home a few years ago, and we have had more problems with it than if we had bought a “used” home (like replacing all our rotting subfloor upstairs). So, new doesn’t promise less work.

    • Hahaha! That is so true, I did just complain about that a few weeks ago. Of course I’d do lots of projects no matter what home we buy, I was just hoping not to be digging in to the kind that leave the entire house in upheaval and me tired and sore every day. Oh well, at least I’ll have purpose! 🙂

      And my goodness, you’re brand new home has rotting subfloors? I hope you got an awesome deal on it or that you have a builder’s warrantee. That sounds like a nightmare. Just goes to show that you never know what you’re getting into when you buy a house!

      Sometimes, you just have to plug you’re nose–and jump in! 🙂

      • We certainly did that (the plugging our noses part)!

        Yup, all the subfloors in our upstairs were rotted out, so we have already replaced all the ones in the rooms and hall, but we still have the bathrooms to go. They are more stable because of the prep work for the tile, though. We did all the work ourselves when our son was under a year. Not the most exciting adventure!

        I know you will find the perfect house for you and your family, though! I can’t wait to see pictures. Good luck! There are lots of us out here thinking about you and sending you good house vibes!

  10. I would agree and say that for most people who aren’t 7 feet tall the ceiling height isn’t an issue. For me the yard would be an absolute must.

    Hopefully one day soon you’ll check the listings and find a home with the perfect balance of everything! (It could happen!)

  11. After reading this post I had my husband measure the ceilings in our house. Most of them are 8 foot but the upstairs and the added on family room are only 7.5 feet! Yikes! You would hate this house!! My husband is 6 ft and he hates the low ceilings upstairs!

    • Wow, 7.5′ ? My husband is 6’5″ so its the same distance from his head to the 8′ ceiling as for your husband and the 7.5′ so I guess the ceiling height issue really is relative! I realize that 6’5″ is taller than average so maybe it’s not a big deal to the GP. ? Right? I’m still talking myself into the idea. 🙂

  12. Since I am living next door to the neighbors from hell, I say go with one that has more land. Next time I buy, the number one thing I am checking is the neighborhood. Ours has gone down hill in the four years we have been here and I have spent a fortune fixing up a house that I will have a hard time selling. But, the ceiling are 9′ if that matters?
    Phyllis

    • Yikes! Another issue that I guess you can’t control. Even if you like the people that live next door when you buy a house, you can’t control who buys that house if those neighbors sell. Now I want a little farm out in the middle of no where…no neighbors, no neighborhood, no problems! Yeah-Right.

  13. Sandra,

    I had a huge house with 9′ ceilings, but NO backyard.

    It was incredibly difficult to sell it, even though I had made it look pretty awesome.

    I know own a smaller house with 8′ ceilings, but a better lot. And actually, I don’t miss the high ceilings at all anymore. The house can still be so cute that it just feels “cozier”.

    The only issue is when the ceilings are covered in popcorn, but of course — that’s fixable. 🙂

    • Oh yeah, gotta’ love the popcorn! The re-sale factor is weighing so heavily on my mind…I can’t sleep! I’m not having any problems eating though so you know it can’t be all that bad. Ha! 🙂

  14. We have 8′ ceilings and I wouldn’t want them higher. More unused space to heat and cool.

    I agree w/prev posters…get as much space between your house and the neighbors’ as possible. Fences don’t make good neighbors, acreage does. 😉

  15. You have been thoroughly spoiled by tall ceilings ;-). 8′ ceilings aren’t so bad if they are smooth and painted ultra-bright white.

    Good luck. And thanks for your email.

  16. Is hiring a construction company to do the really major work before you move in out of the question? Also could you live in a raw space until you could get around to the work on it? My third question is that when Maddie goes back to school in a couple months and you are home alone could there ever be a space that you didnt fix? Oh wait I have one more, how long do you think you will live there? My suspicion is that you are too creative and head strong to not be constantly tweaking your home anyway, but I totally get why if you are going to be there for a year and a half you dont want to get in too deep.

    • We’ve considered every option. Buying a fixer upper and having a contractor come in and get it ready to move in (hopefully quickly), staying in the rental and continuing to store our stuff for $3000 monthly (we didn’t pick the location and had no idea of the cost) until our house was ready. The problem is that our corporate relocation benefits only extend for a 1 year period and that is already half over. We never stay anywhere very long. There is no way to predict but I never plan on being anywhere more than 3 years so I don’t want to spend 1 year of it deciding what to do. It’s better for us to get into something rather generic, something that will be easy to sell again and get on with living. Someday, maybe, we will build our own home and stay there for 10 years. Maybe. We never know! And you are right, I will always find something that I want to change and when I’m finally done changing everything, I’ll be ready to move again. 🙂

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