{"id":2305,"date":"2012-08-17T02:30:36","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T09:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/add-vodka.com\/?p=2305"},"modified":"2015-07-09T13:04:25","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T20:04:25","slug":"home-buying-what-we-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/add-vodka.com\/home-buying-what-we-want\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Buying: What We Want"},"content":{"rendered":"

After my post about when we plan to buy,<\/a> we\u00a0decided to do up a list of what we actually want to determine whether it’s attainable now or in the near future.<\/p>\n

It hasn’t changed at all since we looked last year, but I think it’s good to get it down in writing so that if we are completed\u00a0enamoured\u00a0with a home that goes against our basic principles, we can refer back to save ourselves from future\u00a0despair.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Budget<\/h3>\n

I’m uncomfortable with publishing numbers on the blog as far as what we would be setting for a budget, but as a ratio of our take home pay, we would not be comfortable spending more than 25% of our combined after-tax income, including property taxes.<\/p>\n

This should be able to afford us a decent house in one of the suburbs of Vancouver.<\/p>\n

(I am not including the down payment in this\u00a0percentage\u00a0because of closing costs, title insurance, lawyer fees, inspection, appraisal and PMI)<\/p>\n

Type of Home<\/h3>\n

J refuses to consider anything where we will have to pay strata (HOA fees for Americans), about which I agree with him. Strata is a huge waste of money, and the value of condos and apartments don’t go up; it’s the value of the land that increases, so we’ll be looking at a house in the suburbs. We wouldn’t be able to afford a house in Vancouver and I’m not much of a big city person for the long term.<\/p>\n

We want a chunk of land larger than 8,000 sq feet, but the house doesn’t have to be very big.<\/p>\n

Must-Haves<\/h3>\n

We don’t have all that much on our “must haves” list because J is a carpenter and there is not much he can’t do. But what is on the MUST HAVE list is:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • A two story house (for a basement suite = rental income) OR a house with a detached garage\/carriage\u00a0house<\/li>\n
  • 3+ bedrooms<\/li>\n
  • Good bones (no hazards)<\/li>\n
  • Quiet street<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Yes, that’s it. I don’t care if it has the ugliest kitchen in the world, or only one bathroom; we can add on, renovate, and fix things for almost free (my father sells building supplies, J\u00a0is a carpenter).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    I would really like to purchase a house for a really good price that requires some work\u00a0(as long as it has good bones). I would love to renovate and make it my own; I don’t like the thought of living in a newly renovated house because that was the previous owner’s preferences, tastes, and vision. Plus, we would have to pay more for somebody else’s taste! No thanks.<\/p>\n

    The Perfect House<\/h3>\n

    If I could buy the perfect house, it would be a court-ordered sale (foreclosure\u00a0for you Americans). Not many people can buy them, because of timing and subjects; if you are already a home owner, you need to have the house that you previously owned sold already prior to buying one.<\/p>\n

    Plus, the timing is always tricky. But because we rent right now, I am okay with timing and we don’t own a house yet so buying one is a great way to save a few thousand dollars.<\/p>\n

    Ideally, it wouldn’t be all that nice and we could fix it up. The house we were looking at last year was nice on the top floor but the basement suite needed work; I thought that would be ideal.<\/p>\n

    It was also a court-ordered sale, and the\u00a0Realtor\u00a0thought he could get it for $330K – a price unheard of for this area.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So, this is our ideal situation. Does it seem realistic?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    After my post about when we plan to buy, we\u00a0decided to do up a list of what we actually want to determine whether it’s attainable now or in the near future. It hasn’t changed at all since we looked last year, but I think it’s good to get it down in writing so that if …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,231],"tags":[10,227],"class_list":["post-2305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-2","category-money-2","tag-home-ownership","tag-house"],"yoast_head":"\nHome Buying: What We Want<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's what we want in the home we are buying.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/add-vodka.com\/home-buying-what-we-want\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Home Buying: What We 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