Back when we were house hunting in 2010 we shared a series of posts that each profiled a different house that we looked at (you can see them here, here, here, here, and here). And even though our hunt is over this time around, we wanted to revisit 9 other houses that we casually toured (many of them just on Open House days) before we met The One. So we had fun driving around snapping pictures for you and reminiscing (“That was the one with the phone in the bathroom!” “That was the one with the family of deer in the backyard!”).
The Lake House: The first house was very modest in size and located just a few blocks away from our current house. So although it wasn’t in our dream neighborhood… dude, it was on a lake! But we learned that even with heavy renovations, it would be extremely expensive to add a bathroom on the lower level where half of the square footage was, and the extra-low ceilings down there were also a non-changeable feature (there was no way to make them any higher). So although it was under budget and on the water, it was a no go for us.
Note: Just like last time we shared house hunting pics back in 2010, we wanted to respect the privacy of each home’s owner, so that’s why the photos have been doctored (colors and orientations might be altered, we added a filter to obscure them, etc) thanks to our friend Photoshop.
The Big Ranch: You know we love a ranch, and this baby was actually pretty cool. There was a giant kitchen (crazy dated! needed so much love!) that was attached to a giant living room with a big fireplace, so we could just picture how doing some work could completely transform that area into a great open living space in the heart of the home. The cons were that the rest of the layout was a little choppy for us, and the price was significantly more than we hoped to spend.
The Gray Shaker: This house was initially promising because it was in our dream neighborhood and was listed for a pretty low price… but once we poked around we realized why. There was some unusual siding going on when it came to the exterior (the gray part sort of looked like plastic shaker shingles) and the inside was pretty broken up (steps down into some rooms, doorways and hallways between rooms that felt choppy, etc). So although the price was great, it just didn’t give us butterflies.
The Quirky House: This was definitely the most unusual of all of them. We called the basement “the HGTV room” because it was completely redone and looked kinda like the cabin of a yacht, complete with a built-in banquet that turned into bunk beds for kid sleepovers. However, the unusual roof line, the large stained glass window in the front, and the price (it was nearly 100K higher than our new house) weren’t right for us. Too bad because the street name even had “Young” in it…
The Updated House: This contemporary house was also so much fun to tour, because although it wasn’t in our favorite neighborhood and was substantially more expensive than our new house, it was really inspiring since almost all of it was completely renovated, so it was fun to see what they did – especially the giant fireplace in the kitchen. Oh, and this one was the one with a phone in the bathroom.
The Barn: This house was in our dream neighborhood but was more than we hoped to spend. It was really cute inside (a balance between already-a-blank-slate and we’d-do-a-little-gutting-in-some-areas) and it had a really nice circle driveway and a private yard with a deck along and some cute rooms upstairs with peaked ceilings. But along with being more than we wanted to spend, it had some layout quirks that we thought might be harder to work with than some other homes we had seen.
The Garage Theater House: This house was actually yellow when we looked at it, which almost tricked us into driving right by when we went back to shoot these photos for you guys. The new paint job looks awesome, and this house had THE BEST backyard. Complete with a deck and a pergola. The quirky and memorable detail was that the garage had been turned into a theater room (complete with dark walls, a giant projector screen, and amazingly loud surround sound) but there was a note from the sellers that said converting it back into a garage was easily done. It was priced out of our budget, but we’re not surprised at all that it sold (and has even been painted!) since we looked at it.
The Pool House: This house was in our favorite neighborhood, but was priced out of our range and had a bunch of higher-maintenance-than-we’d-like features… like a giant pool and an even bigger deck surrounding it. So we daydreamed about how much fun that would be, but reminded ourselves that a too-expensive house + high maintenance features (the siding covering the entire house is the kind that will eventually need to be replaced) wasn’t the way to go, even if it had one heckova pool out back.
The Double Staircase: This house was in our dream neighborhood, needed upgrading, but was still priced well above our range and felt a little too grand for us (there were two staircases!). But it was really fun to check out and imagine what we’d do. The funny thing is that when we walked through we had one of those “oh man, I wish the smaller, less grand, lower priced version of this house existed…”
Then literally less than two weeks later we saw another for sale sign, followed it back to a quiet cul-de-sac, and this was staring back at us.
When we learned it was the same size as our current house, well within our price range (nearly 100K cheaper than many other things we casually perused), and in need of tons of love… well, it was the easiest offer we ever wrote.
And that’s how casually walking through open houses can lead to buying a house. You have been warned…
Brittany says
In 3 days we will be moving into the house we found through casual weekend open-housing. We our realtor’s sign and decided to pop in and say hello. Hello turned into “wow this place is amazing! Do you think you could sell our house so we can buy this?” She did (in under a month and for a great price!) and we are over the moon excited! Proof that open houses can work :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing!
xo
s
Claire says
Just saw the bear again. Do you want on-going updates on this? I’ll keep my amusement to myself if not ;-)
Is it a west coast thing since it’s a British Columbia ad?
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY! They said they found it and blocked it! Grrr. We do know it’s regional but we’re not sure where. Thanks for the update Claire! Keep ’em coming :)
xo
s
Margo@Needle little Balance says
Could anyone take a screenshot of this bear? Pretty please! I want to see it too!
YoungHouseLove says
This bear is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
xo
s
KM says
I’m a lifelong Californian and I just can not get over how it appears that all of these houses are in a forest! Big Trees! Big Trees close to houses! So often on blogs you only see the interior or tight outside shots…I like seeing more of the eastern terrain.
Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog says
Thanks for letting us in on your house-hunting process! It’s really fun to see the other options you had to weigh. I definitely think you picked the winner, though! Hope you guys are having a great week!
~Abby =)
Charlotte @ Ciburbanity says
My mother is convinced that we should give up on all the work we need to do to our house, so every time she’s here… she goes to another random open house in the neighborhood. Last time she felt we could afford a place 2x what our home is worth… I’m sure she doesn’t mean to, but she always makes us so happy to be sticking around to fix up our current place! When you know, you know! Happy homemaking. :)
xo
Rashida says
Wow..you are so lucky! To own a house surround by all that great trees. I wish my neighbourhood is like that…
Lily says
That is the most beautiful hutnting house I’ve seen.
Patty says
Ok, I am a first-time home buyer looking in Nebraska. There is an amazing OLD house (built in 1925) that has been pre-inspected and actually appears move in ready (although I love your DIYstuff, I and my husband are lacking the time needed to DIY). However, this house has knob & tube wiring. In your older home search, have you run across this? And if so, what has your experience been? Should I not walk, but RUN the other way? haha Thanks!!!
*not to mention the wood floor slopes slightly towards the fireplace (from almost a 100 yrs of settling)
*and there is questionable asbestos in the basement ceiling (which we would only use the basement for storage)
But this is an absolute adorable bungalow!
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve never courted a house with knob and tube wiring but we have heard from some commenters that it’s a nightmare and others have said it was easy enough to get it repaired/switched out in certain places to make their house safe and cozy. Anyone have tips for Patty? As far as asbestos, I think you can hire someone to deal with it (probably not cheap, but if you love the place and it’s otherwise ready to go, maybe hiring someone for the wiring and asbestos would work for you? I think the wiring is a bigger job (probably more expensive).
xo
s
Tara says
Ok, i feel better that you guys are moving now- the new house is perfect! I was a little shocked and sad at first, but it’s ok now. You can move;)
Ethel says
You need to go to anthropolgies website and check out the “beluga bookends”. Notice a familiar book being propped up!?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! So awesome!
-John
shells says
Ha ha- I can identify with your comment “And that’s how casually walking through open houses can lead to buying a house”….We did the same, thought we’d look to check out the market for when we are ready to buy at the end of our lease- but found the perfect one for us so made it happen……also don’t ever go to a rescue to “just look” at puppy’s….same deal….next morning- “OMG we just adopted a puppy”…..coincidentally her color scheme is a perfect match to our new bathroom ;-)
Margo@Needle little Balance says
We don´t have ‘open houses’ here just ‘open days’ for schools and museums or ‘day of the open garden door’ when some private people show their extraordinary nice rosegarden or sth like that, but their house is not for sale then. So I´m curious – is open house where you can just look at a nice house or is it always ment to sell the open house?
YoungHouseLove says
We do have events like neighborhood house tours where homes are open to view for non sale purposes, but in most cases an “open house” is something a Realtor hosts to let the public view a house that is up for sale. Typically they’re a couple hours long on Sunday afternoons.
-John
Pat says
As a friend of mine said, “There is no such thing as just ‘looking’ at puppies.” I guess that applies to looking at houses, too. :D
YoungHouseLove says
Ha! True!
-John
Erin says
I’ve a question – what about your previous houses that you didn’t like helped you decide on House #3?
For example – the layout of House #2 always seemed a little strange to me (probably because half of the square footage was in an addition).
I noticed that several of the houses you didn’t choose had reasons along the lines of ‘choppy layouts’ etc. Just wondering if House #2 maybe had some impact, etc?
YoungHouseLove says
I think we just like a home without a lot of transitions, step downs, step ups, etc (so one flight of stairs is ok, but we don’t usually like a sunken den or an addition with a big step up or anything). In our first house everything was on one level (not even one step up or one step down) and in our second house it was the same way. So usually when we say choppy, we mean there’s a big thick step or threshold connecting some parts of the house, or there are just many small closed off rooms where we’d rather have one larger room (ex: our kitchen at our second house and new house are nice and open with a hang-out area and a cooking area – so we prefer that to a much smaller kitchen with a smaller room next to it connected only by a narrow door).
xo
s
Erin says
Oh, I definitely understand not wanting closed off rooms! I live in Scotland…and yeah, there are lots of housing options that have hallways where everything is a room coming off of it. A door to my kitchen – not ‘my jam’! Love living in the UK and there are so many positives, but I do miss my big open floor plan townhouse sometimes (particular since I have renters in it now!).
Elise says
Don’t knock a phone in the bathroom! The hotel we stayed at for our honeymoon five years ago had one and we had inside joke with some family friends about phones in the bathroom so we took a picture and texted it to them. By the end of our honeymoon we had learned the value of them. I have a tendency to pass out easily (I have low blood pressure and when I haven’t eaten and get hot I drop fast). Well, the first day of our honeymoon I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and my new hubby and I decided to take a shower together (mind you, I did the typically not eating at your own wedding reception despite my best intentions). I passed out twice in the shower and my poor husband freaked out. I came to fast enough but after that we thought “oh, we might have needed that phone!!!”
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Very handy use of the bathroom phone I’d say!
xo
s
Amber @ Wills Casa says
We bought our second house after an open house tour. We loved it, but thought it was priced too high for the amount of work. I just happened to check the MLS when it was reduced by $70,000 and got our contract in just in time. After almost 4 years, we just sold it and are on the hunt for a new place. Funny how you know immediately when the house is meant for you!
Ashley says
It’s so amazing how things work like that! We just moved into our first house that we found after a spur of the moment decision at 11pm one night to go to an open house over an hour away at 9am the next day. We fell in love when we least expected it! I’ve been following your blog for several years and now I can finally use some of your inspiration in my first home :) Good luck with the new place!!
Ellen says
What kind of filter did you use in Photoshop? Those pics look like a Monet painting, I would love to make something similar (maybe of our old houses?)to hang on our walls!
YoungHouseLove says
It was the “paint daubs” effect I think. I faded it a little since it was more obscure :)
xo,
s