Author Topic: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?  (Read 3398 times)

Dicey

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What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« on: February 22, 2021, 11:07:36 AM »
I found this article hilarious. A safe so small that anyone can pick it up? A snow shovel in sunny California? Just wondering how mustachians would prioritize this list differently.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/reviewedcom/2021/02/17/22-things-you-need-if-you-just-bought-your-first-house/43391669/

theoverlook

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2021, 11:19:52 AM »
Looks like they had 22 sponsors line up for a feature article and figured out how to fit them all in.

Morning Glory

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2021, 11:35:35 AM »
They forgot about the roof rake.  How are you supposed to get snow off the roof without a roof rake?  Of course that always just comes with the house.  That advice about never bringing an old broom to a new house must apply to roof rakes too.  They also forgot about a broom.

In all it seems like an odd mix of practical advice and pointless frippery.

It says you can bolt the safe to the floor, so nobody can just walk off with it.  I never bothered to change locks or get a security system.  We are in the process of downsizing now, and selling a bunch of things has made us realize how little our things are worth.  I suppose if I thought my family was actually in danger I would worry about locks and security, or just move. 

I do like my stand mixer, but I can't see the point in it for someone who doesn't bake.  I prefer corded drills instead of cordless, and charcoal instead of gas grills.  The tiny plastic shed seems pointless too, and $200 for a wifi router seems pretty steep. 

The wifi fucking smart lock seems like a supremely stupid idea.  Much easier to hack than an old fashioned lock with a key.  Plus what happens if your internet goes out or your phone battery dies and you need to get into your house?

Telecaster

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2021, 01:46:54 PM »
The wifi fucking smart lock seems like a supremely stupid idea.  Much easier to hack than an old fashioned lock with a key.  Plus what happens if your internet goes out or your phone battery dies and you need to get into your house?

I really like my wi-fi smart lock.   For one, there is also keyed lock and also operates by Bluetooth so you don't need wi-fi, but the reasons why I like include that it locks automatically when you leave and unlocks automatically when you return. 

You can also give people temporary access codes.  That's been handy as well. 

ysette9

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2021, 08:39:16 PM »
When I saw the title of this thread I was expecting it to be house features, like indoor laundry or a garage. :)

My dream list that I don’t expect to ever get includes:

Attached garage, preferably two-car
Yard
At least four bedrooms
A totally separate in-law/guest suite
Waist-height oven
Radiant floor heating
Indoor laundry
Insulated everything: exterior walls, interior walls, floors, ceilings, attic, crawl space
Great light
Quiet street so my littles can bike safely
Bike friendly location

sealab2021

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2021, 10:42:42 PM »
Digital main deadbolt, dusk till dawn outdoor bulbs, timers on bathroom fans, LED bulbs everywhere. Biggest thing is MORE INSULATION IN THE ATTIC. my electric bill dropped 2/3 in the summer and winter. The attic isn’t for storage, it’s for insulation. As some other posters were talking about trivial things, I will add I like having a tall fence in the yard to keep the weirdos out.

Dicey

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2021, 03:09:01 AM »
When I saw the title of this thread I was expecting it to be house features, like indoor laundry or a garage. :)

My dream list that I don’t expect to ever get includes:

Attached garage, preferably two-car
Yard
At least four bedrooms
A totally separate in-law/guest suite
Waist-height oven
Radiant floor heating
Indoor laundry
Insulated everything: exterior walls, interior walls, floors, ceilings, attic, crawl space
Great light
Quiet street so my littles can bike safely
Bike friendly location
This is a great list! For the life of me, I don't know why interior walls aren't insulated.  Okay, I know it's cost thing for builders, but OMG, it makes such s difference! Our last flip house was near a freeway. Since we replaced all the drywall, we insulated everything, including the interior walls and between the floors. The difference was amazing. You literally felt like the house was a cocoon.

PS I'm fine with this list evolving into anything that's helpful to fellow mustachians ;-)

MudPuppy

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2021, 03:20:22 AM »
@Morning Glory my spouse makes cookies a lot, but I use the stand mixer for savory things mostly. Spreads like pimiento cheese freeze well. And for meat eaters, shredding chicken or pork in the mixer is a dream!

In my dream house there’s a pantry and a full sized laundry room with shelves for storage. Maybe another 2 tenths of an acre of land in the back yard, too.

cool7hand

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2021, 05:50:19 AM »
Four walls, roof, indoor plumbing, heat, a/c (depending on location), basic appliances, a few windows, a few places to sit, a place to sleep, and storage for the things we use to enjoy life when they're not in use.

Morning Glory

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2021, 06:56:01 AM »
Four walls, roof, indoor plumbing, heat, a/c (depending on location), basic appliances, a few windows, a few places to sit, a place to sleep, and storage for the things we use to enjoy life when they're not in use.

This is a good list!!! I would add a place for the kids to play too, but not too big.

Caoineag

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2021, 07:45:09 AM »
Having just moved into a new place (from a van so my needs are a little different than a renter turned homeowner), my personal must haves were a snow shovel, a roof rake, a vacuum, a full sized broom, dishwasher detergent, a washing machine (no dryer as we hang dry clothes), a microwave plate cover, bakeware, real plates and glasses, trash cans, recycling bins and chairs for the island.

I am guilty of having got the stand mixer but that is a nice to have not a must have.

Fishindude

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2021, 08:51:58 AM »
We are getting ready to do a big home addition / remodel.
Some things we intend to incorporate:

A giant kitchen open to the main living area.
Big kitchen island with a commercial stove in it, that you can sit around.
Walk in shower with nothing to step over.
Gas fireplace w/ big screen TV over top of it
All hard surfaced floors, hardwood or tile
A designated laundry room
Big walk in pantry
A hidden room or two behind sliding book cases
Do away with the water source heat pump and go back to regular high efficient gas forced air heat.


zolotiyeruki

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2021, 09:03:21 AM »
When I saw the title of this thread I was expecting it to be house features, like indoor laundry or a garage. :)

My dream list that I don’t expect to ever get includes:

Attached garage, preferably two-car
Yard
At least four bedrooms
A totally separate in-law/guest suite
Waist-height oven
Radiant floor heating
Indoor laundry
Insulated everything: exterior walls, interior walls, floors, ceilings, attic, crawl space
Great light
Quiet street so my littles can bike safely
Bike friendly location
Alright, I'll jump in on this.  Most of those are things I'd love to have.  I'll add a few:
--Back yard backs to a park (some of my siblings have this, and it's AWESOME)
--3+ car garage (a car each for DW and me, plus space for bikes/mower/etc and a workshop)
--Kitchen arranged so that when you're washing dishes or at the stove, you're not staring at a wall (so, either put a window above it, or put it in the island)
--"racetrack"--i.e. a way for kids to run in circles.
--very well air/vapor sealed and insulated
--exterior overhangs designed to shade the windows in the summer but let sunlight through in the winter
--9-foot ceilings in the living areas
--zero-threshold, walk-in shower (no doors, curtains, etc) with multiple shower heads
--I really appreciate having the toilet in the master bathroom in its own little closet
--a urinal, but I don't know that DW would let me
--rooms designed with their intended use and furniture in mind, e.g. bedrooms are designed with lots of wall space for a bed, dresser, desk, etc.
--metal roof
--some sort of riser from the basement to the attic, so it's easy to run future plumbing/electrical/ethernet/whatever.
--no two-story rooms, or oversized rooms
--fruit trees
--brick exterior (minimize maintenance)
--radiant heat with zoning for each room

Do away with the water source heat pump and go back to regular high efficient gas forced air heat.
What's the motivation for this change?

Fishindude

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2021, 09:46:49 AM »
Do away with the water source heat pump and go back to regular high efficient gas forced air heat.
What's the motivation for this change?

Basically just traded a high gas bill for a high electric bill.
Gas bill is now about $30 per month, but it's not unusual to get a $250-300 electric bill from pumping water all the time.

Most importantly, the heat coming out of the registers is not very warm so the house always feels cold.


Metalcat

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2021, 10:10:57 AM »
What a dumb list, why does it assume I don't already own sheets???

Is it assuming I'm moving from my parents' home? Because if so, the list is a fuck load longer and should include a lot more basics.

I can't think of anything I specifically needed when I went from renting to owning in my 30s. I certainly already had friggin' bed sheets. I don't know why owning would suddenly create the need for a stand mixer if I didn't need one already. And what kind of adult had never needed a tape measure???

I can understand needing more tools if you own because so many more repairs become your responsibility, but beyond things like repairs and lawn care, how does buying a place suddenly change what you need in your home???

So stupid.

ysette9

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2021, 10:14:21 AM »
When I saw the title of this thread I was expecting it to be house features, like indoor laundry or a garage. :)

My dream list that I don’t expect to ever get includes:

Attached garage, preferably two-car
Yard
At least four bedrooms
A totally separate in-law/guest suite
Waist-height oven
Radiant floor heating
Indoor laundry
Insulated everything: exterior walls, interior walls, floors, ceilings, attic, crawl space
Great light
Quiet street so my littles can bike safely
Bike friendly location
This is a great list! For the life of me, I don't know why interior walls aren't insulated.  Okay, I know it's cost thing for builders, but OMG, it makes such s difference! Our last flip house was near a freeway. Since we replaced all the drywall, we insulated everything, including the interior walls and between the floors. The difference was amazing. You literally felt like the house was a cocoon.

PS I'm fine with this list evolving into anything that's helpful to fellow mustachians ;-)
Yes, it costs more money. But sheesh, not much. Swap out a marble countertop for almost anything else and use the savings to insulate interior walls. I agree that it makes it feel wonderful.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2021, 10:31:08 AM »
That article is impressive. 22 different items and the only one that wasn't unnecessary, or way overpriced, was the ladder.

Embok

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #17 on: February 26, 2021, 10:21:25 AM »
The list was amusing.  I bought my KitchenAid stand mixer 18 years before I could afford to buy a house, because I bake.  I’m still using it.  But if you don’t bake, why would you want one?

Metalcat

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #18 on: February 26, 2021, 10:27:11 AM »
The list was amusing.  I bought my KitchenAid stand mixer 18 years before I could afford to buy a house, because I bake.  I’m still using it.  But if you don’t bake, why would you want one?

Because you bought a house, obviously.

robartsd

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #19 on: February 26, 2021, 12:47:06 PM »
When I saw the title of this thread I was expecting it to be house features, like indoor laundry or a garage. :)
That's what I thought as well. Very few things on that list are things that you'd actually need for the first time because you are now a homeowner.

I agree with your list for the most part.

I don't care if the garage is attached or detached.

4 bedrooms would be more than I need. [(# of people in household / 2) + 1] seems like the right formula to me so if your household has 5-6 members I think 4 bedrooms is about right.

Four walls, roof, indoor plumbing, heat, a/c (depending on location), basic appliances, a few windows, a few places to sit, a place to sleep, and storage for the things we use to enjoy life when they're not in use.
I don't care about how many walls, just that they completely enclose the space. Right angles are convenient, but not entirely necessary. A single circular wall could work.

--"racetrack"--i.e. a way for kids to run in circles.
--very well air/vapor sealed and insulated
--exterior overhangs designed to shade the windows in the summer but let sunlight through in the winter
--9-foot ceilings in the living areas
--zero-threshold, walk-in shower (no doors, curtains, etc) with multiple shower heads
--I really appreciate having the toilet in the master bathroom in its own little closet
--metal roof
--some sort of riser from the basement to the attic, so it's easy to run future plumbing/electrical/ethernet/whatever.
--fruit trees
--brick exterior (minimize maintenance)
--radiant heat with zoning for each room
I could happily add these to my wish list. My house did come with a brick exterior (that needs quite a bit of maintenance currently) and several fruit trees (with plenty of room to add more).

YttriumNitrate

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #20 on: February 26, 2021, 03:49:48 PM »
If we are talking about real must haves -- rather than the crap being peddled in the article -- I have just one: a good location. Everything else can be changed.

HPstache

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #21 on: February 26, 2021, 04:01:03 PM »
Lol... is the guy modeling the gloves using a bandsaw intended for metal to cut a 2x4?

HPstache

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #22 on: February 26, 2021, 04:04:03 PM »
Our new home "must haves":

4 Bedrooms
3 Garage Stalls
Little to no Carpet
Central Air Conditioning

Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #23 on: February 26, 2021, 04:57:51 PM »
Four walls, roof, indoor plumbing, heat, a/c (depending on location), basic appliances, a few windows, a few places to sit, a place to sleep, and storage for the things we use to enjoy life when they're not in use.

I always feel like a total consumer sucka when I'm thinking the bolded part, but that's really what's "wrong" with our current house. The location is perfect, the size is perfect for the two of us (800 square ft / 75 m2 - 2 bedrooms and a box room, one room for sleeping and two home offices) we just lack storage space. We have one built in cupboard (one door's width and probably 50 cm deep) and that's where the heating system is, as well as all of our camping gear and our suitcase. We don't have much camping gear (tent, two sleeping bags, two sleeping mats) and only one hand luggage size suitcase, but we really try to avoid opening that cupboard because everything falls out and it won't close again.

The other storage space is the pantry under the stairs, we have put up shelves for our food, but we also have to put the ironing board there, and the step ladder, and the vacuum cleaner, and all of our tools, and all the recycling. Our recycling is collected every 14 days, the week before collection the vacuum cleaner lives in the living room because it just won't fit in anymore. We do have a reasonably sized shed but it's not watertight, which means we can't get electricity in there, so it's way too wet and too dark to use for our bikes. So these live in the house too. And we don't have a hall or anything, so all this stuff lives in the living room and we're always tripping over them or bumping into them. Every time I see people post about how happy they are in their tiny homes, in my head I'm just thinking "where do you keep the vacuum cleaner?! Where do you keep the step ladder? Where's the power drill?"

I always say I don't want a bigger living space, I just want a utility room, a garage and an attic! Unfortunately those features generally only come with expensive houses in our country. And financially, it's not a wise decision to just add to our house, it would easily cost 1/3 of the value of the house and we'd never get that back if we sold. Due to the weird sizes of the house it has been difficult to find a wardrobe or other storage furniture to make life a bit more convenient. We're probably going to get it custom made at some point.

Metalcat

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #24 on: February 26, 2021, 05:33:55 PM »
Four walls, roof, indoor plumbing, heat, a/c (depending on location), basic appliances, a few windows, a few places to sit, a place to sleep, and storage for the things we use to enjoy life when they're not in use.

I always feel like a total consumer sucka when I'm thinking the bolded part, but that's really what's "wrong" with our current house. The location is perfect, the size is perfect for the two of us (800 square ft / 75 m2 - 2 bedrooms and a box room, one room for sleeping and two home offices) we just lack storage space. We have one built in cupboard (one door's width and probably 50 cm deep) and that's where the heating system is, as well as all of our camping gear and our suitcase. We don't have much camping gear (tent, two sleeping bags, two sleeping mats) and only one hand luggage size suitcase, but we really try to avoid opening that cupboard because everything falls out and it won't close again.

The other storage space is the pantry under the stairs, we have put up shelves for our food, but we also have to put the ironing board there, and the step ladder, and the vacuum cleaner, and all of our tools, and all the recycling. Our recycling is collected every 14 days, the week before collection the vacuum cleaner lives in the living room because it just won't fit in anymore. We do have a reasonably sized shed but it's not watertight, which means we can't get electricity in there, so it's way too wet and too dark to use for our bikes. So these live in the house too. And we don't have a hall or anything, so all this stuff lives in the living room and we're always tripping over them or bumping into them. Every time I see people post about how happy they are in their tiny homes, in my head I'm just thinking "where do you keep the vacuum cleaner?! Where do you keep the step ladder? Where's the power drill?"

I always say I don't want a bigger living space, I just want a utility room, a garage and an attic! Unfortunately those features generally only come with expensive houses in our country. And financially, it's not a wise decision to just add to our house, it would easily cost 1/3 of the value of the house and we'd never get that back if we sold. Due to the weird sizes of the house it has been difficult to find a wardrobe or other storage furniture to make life a bit more convenient. We're probably going to get it custom made at some point.

Ack, we live in 800sqft and it would drive me crazy to store the bikes in here. We have a ton of storage, but some of that storage is Ikea units, and under-bed bins.

We have a small vacuum and keep it in a side table shaped like a drum.

Abe

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #25 on: February 26, 2021, 07:44:35 PM »
Roof, walls, insulation, reliable electricity, reliable water, reliable sewer. I currently am missing three of those, being in Texas, so am addending the list to include solar panels, a generator and a rain catchment system.

Dicey

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #26 on: February 26, 2021, 08:18:34 PM »
Our new home "must haves":

4 Bedrooms
3 Garage Stalls
Little to no Carpet
Central Air Conditioning
Funny, our actual shopping list when we were in the market was:

4 Bedrooms that weren't all grouped together
Gas Stove
No Pool (Almost 50% of the 4 BR+ houses in our area have pools.)

We finally got that and so much more, but we ended up way over our original budget. Happily, both of our houses sold for more than expected, so it was mostly a wash. Our challenge was so.much.duplication therefore, a list like the one in the article is just laughable in our world.

Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #27 on: February 27, 2021, 03:47:52 AM »
Four walls, roof, indoor plumbing, heat, a/c (depending on location), basic appliances, a few windows, a few places to sit, a place to sleep, and storage for the things we use to enjoy life when they're not in use.

I always feel like a total consumer sucka when I'm thinking the bolded part, but that's really what's "wrong" with our current house. The location is perfect, the size is perfect for the two of us (800 square ft / 75 m2 - 2 bedrooms and a box room, one room for sleeping and two home offices) we just lack storage space. We have one built in cupboard (one door's width and probably 50 cm deep) and that's where the heating system is, as well as all of our camping gear and our suitcase. We don't have much camping gear (tent, two sleeping bags, two sleeping mats) and only one hand luggage size suitcase, but we really try to avoid opening that cupboard because everything falls out and it won't close again.

The other storage space is the pantry under the stairs, we have put up shelves for our food, but we also have to put the ironing board there, and the step ladder, and the vacuum cleaner, and all of our tools, and all the recycling. Our recycling is collected every 14 days, the week before collection the vacuum cleaner lives in the living room because it just won't fit in anymore. We do have a reasonably sized shed but it's not watertight, which means we can't get electricity in there, so it's way too wet and too dark to use for our bikes. So these live in the house too. And we don't have a hall or anything, so all this stuff lives in the living room and we're always tripping over them or bumping into them. Every time I see people post about how happy they are in their tiny homes, in my head I'm just thinking "where do you keep the vacuum cleaner?! Where do you keep the step ladder? Where's the power drill?"

I always say I don't want a bigger living space, I just want a utility room, a garage and an attic! Unfortunately those features generally only come with expensive houses in our country. And financially, it's not a wise decision to just add to our house, it would easily cost 1/3 of the value of the house and we'd never get that back if we sold. Due to the weird sizes of the house it has been difficult to find a wardrobe or other storage furniture to make life a bit more convenient. We're probably going to get it custom made at some point.

Ack, we live in 800sqft and it would drive me crazy to store the bikes in here. We have a ton of storage, but some of that storage is Ikea units, and under-bed bins.

We have a small vacuum and keep it in a side table shaped like a drum.

I could not picture that, so I did a bit of googling, you store it in something like this? https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/foundstone-zadie-drum-end-table-set-w002584362.html   That's a clever idea actually. Our vacuum is quite old, when I bought it all those small and handheld vacuums were crap, but I've heard they're much better now. My friend has a cordless stick Dyson that lives in a corner behind the curtains. I still need to get over the mental hurdle of getting rid of something that still works perfectly (I'd sell or give it away of course, it's not going to landfill) to buy something new. But I hadn't thought of storing it inside a side table.

We have several Ikea Expedit's and I'm a big fan of their systems. I've been looking at their ugly but extremely practical sliding door wardrobes, but I haven't found one that fits our weirdly shaped house. We used to have an Ikea bed with drawers underneath it in our previous place, but our current bedroom is too narrow to be able to open the drawers. So now we have garbage bags under the bed with our winter duvet, woolen blanket, winter clothing etc. That works just as well. And I'm in the process of hanging some kitchen cabinets high up on the wall of my office. I can't convince Mr Imma to put any kind of shelving or cabinets on walls, he loves the look of empty walls and he's afraid it's all going to fall down on top of us, but in my office I can do what I want.

BZB

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #28 on: February 27, 2021, 07:16:31 AM »
What matters most to me is a strong sense of community and good neighbors, and that is not a home feature you can buy. The rest of the home features can be figured out and improved over time.

LaineyAZ

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #29 on: February 27, 2021, 08:45:13 AM »
Unless I missed it, I'm surprised no one mentioned front porch.  So many houses have little to no overhang over the front door, so any visitors are standing out in the weather until they enter.  Also front porches can encourage neighborliness aka being nosy which is good security for keeping an eye on things generally.

I think a foyer/entryway/mudroom of some kind is nice too. 

Metalcat

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #30 on: February 27, 2021, 09:12:10 AM »
I love how the concept of having a "must have" list of things to buy for a new home was such a nonsense concept that the forum couldn't even tolerate it and turned it into a thread of "must have" house features instead.

pennyhandlebar

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #31 on: March 11, 2021, 11:43:11 PM »
I have a friend who built a new house and put the washer/dryer in a closet in the master bedroom. Genius, think of the time saved schlepping to and from the laundry room.

Monerexia

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #32 on: March 12, 2021, 12:36:25 AM »
I don't need any of that crap. When I bought this place it took me seven months to vacuum. I just slept on the floor in the corner of one room. After six months it was almost a point of pride and was going to go for a year. Yeah I have found you can just not do any of it.

Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #33 on: March 12, 2021, 05:00:08 AM »
I don't need any of that crap. When I bought this place it took me seven months to vacuum. I just slept on the floor in the corner of one room. After six months it was almost a point of pride and was going to go for a year. Yeah I have found you can just not do any of it.

If I even skip vacuuming my bedroom for a week I'm already coughing.... we slept on the floor for I think 2 years before we bought our bed, but the bed was definitely worth it. Even though we went to great lengths to air it out, the matrass had been getting moldy on the floor too. The bed from the old rental didn't fit into the room in the new house and we were so busy making the new house habitable that a new (to us) bed wasn't a big priority. The frame was a freebie from a friend but we did get a new matrass.

kanga1622

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #34 on: March 12, 2021, 09:04:08 AM »
Our absolutely must have list when we were shopping as a young couple:
  • 3 bedrooms
    2 bathrooms
    2 tv watching spaces (DH wanted a man cave)
    Preferably a garage but that was negotiable

Our absolutely must have list if we would have to shop for a house now as a family of 4 with a very large dog:
  • 3 bedrooms
    2 bathrooms
    Fenced yard
    Garage
    2 tv watching spaces
    Storage space/room to groom dog
    Prefer laundry on first floor but that is negotiable

Our first home purchase is likely our forever home. We’ve upgraded all carpet to hardwood, repainted, updated lighting, remodeled kitchen, and remodeled the basement here already. The only thing I’d truly change is that someday I’d like to have laundry on the main floor for when we are older. We’ve toyed with the idea of converting the attached garage into 2 smaller rooms: laundry/“mud”room and a room for a hot tub. But by the time we have that money ready, we will probably be empty nesters so I doubt we’d spend it.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2021, 09:14:46 AM by kanga1622 »

AMandM

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #35 on: March 15, 2021, 08:38:03 AM »
We do have a reasonably sized shed but it's not watertight, which means we can't get electricity in there, so it's way too wet and too dark to use for our bikes.

Imma, could you renovate or replace the shed to make it watertight, and then put your bikes and camping gear there? You wouldn't want to put the vacuum or the ironing board in there, but maybe the ladder or the suitcase, if you don't use them very often. That seems like it might be less trouble and expense than a custom cabinet that still takes up living space.

jeromedawg

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #36 on: March 15, 2021, 01:34:36 PM »
Smart devices, particularly lights, cameras, doorbells, garage door opener/sensor, etc

A Ring doorbell (or similar) and other cameras are really useful especially when you're away from the house. Smart lights are great for automating random times to turn the lights on and off in the evening...great when you're on vacation and you want it to seem like someone is at home AND the times the lights turn on/off are unpredictable. The garage door sensor/opener is handy to have more so for knowing if the garage door was left open for any reason - there were times, prior to getting the opener/sensor) that we had left the condo and totally forgot to close the garage door. My wife repeatedly would ask if we closed the garage door - it became such second nature to click the button to close that if we were distracted and actually didn't click the button, it would be easy enough to drive off an not even realize it.

Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #37 on: March 15, 2021, 02:03:07 PM »
We do have a reasonably sized shed but it's not watertight, which means we can't get electricity in there, so it's way too wet and too dark to use for our bikes.

Imma, could you renovate or replace the shed to make it watertight, and then put your bikes and camping gear there? You wouldn't want to put the vacuum or the ironing board in there, but maybe the ladder or the suitcase, if you don't use them very often. That seems like it might be less trouble and expense than a custom cabinet that still takes up living space.

We've been thinking about improving the shed, but the cost is prohibitive. It's way more expensive than a custom cabinet. The cabinet would probably end up costing around €1000. It's true that it would be a waste of living space though, and we strongly dislike the look of built-in cabinets.

Our shed is single brick, no floor, asphalt roof, some bricks are missing, and it's in the lowest part of the garden, so all in all it's pretty wet there. If we demolish it completely, it would be €10k - €15k to rebuild the same size of shed to modern standards (double brick, concrete floor, electricity). I haven't asked around what it would cost to renovate yet, because I'm not completely sure where to start. I'm not good at DIY and I'm physically frail so I can't really do anything like that myself. I ordered a small flatpack kitchen cupboard the other day and I can't complete that in one go.

Our house is small and cheap (value maaaaybe 190-200k) so spending 5 figures on a shed feels disproportionate. I'm not sure that would translate into a much higher value. Adding a utility room to the back of the house would be more expensive but would probably end up being a net positive in terms of value. I would hate to sacrifice any space of our 45m2 garden though.

AMandM

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #38 on: March 16, 2021, 12:03:17 PM »
Wow, sheds are fancy and expensive where you live! To my North American eyes, it feels like overkill in quality. Around here, you can pay a couple of thousand dollars and a guy will come to your house with a pickup full of lumber and by the end of the day you'll have a finished shed. It will be single-walled wood instead of double-walled brick, but it will keep the rain and eth animals away from your bikes, tools, sleeping bags, etc.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #39 on: March 16, 2021, 02:52:44 PM »
@Imma How about replacing the brick shed with a wooden shed? You would need to install a proper concrete floor though.
Something like this:
https://tuinhuiscentrum.nl/tuinhuiscentrumnl/houten-gebouwen/schuren

Linea_Norway

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #40 on: March 16, 2021, 03:18:10 PM »
My list is:
* A very nice view from the living room/dining room.
* Quiet surroundings, no motor way noise or stone squarries or whatever.
* Close (on walking distance) to a forest. Close to the coast and to a walkable hill or mountain.
* On short distance (walking) to a grocery store, post office and library.
* Not to far driving from other shops, doctors, etc.
* A sunny garden of some size and options to plant fruit trees and vegetables, with visiting birds, squirrels and maybe deer.
* An including community. A mushroom club in the vicinity.
* Close to cross country skiing trails, preferably one at ski in, ski out distance.
* Max 4 mil NOK.
* Not too big and not to small. Lots of storage space.
* An interesting coast for free diving and kayaking close by (on walking distance).
* Place for a bathtub, as DH misses this every week in our current rental house.
* Not too far from a big airport and a hospital.

Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #41 on: March 16, 2021, 04:11:05 PM »
@Imma How about replacing the brick shed with a wooden shed? You would need to install a proper concrete floor though.
Something like this:
https://tuinhuiscentrum.nl/tuinhuiscentrumnl/houten-gebouwen/schuren

Something like this is also completely fine with me, as long as it's a decent quality building, so good quality of wood, insulation etc. We want to be able to store stuff there without getting water damage. The only issue is that we've been told that a wooden building is not considered to be a permanent structure so it would be difficult to get the money from our mortgage - which is not a big issue because we could pay cash but we'd like to take advantage of the low interest rates. Our loan to value is only about 60%.

I think building in wood would be a bit cheaper, but probably not a lot. This company you found is cheaper than the ones I've found so far! But they still charge nearly €6000 + the concrete slab + electricity + insulation + unforseen costs. We'd probably still end up at around €10k.

If we would add on to the house, we've been told to expect that to cost €1500/square meter and homes sell at €3000/square meter in our city now. So we'd have instant profit and the mortgage lender would approve that immediately. But I would hate to lose so much garden space. There's an existing addition on the back that we could theoretically demolish and build back slightly bigger and less weird shaped so it could become a utility room, and the footprint wouldn't be a lot bigger than it is now. But it would have to be custom designed etc and I'm sure it would look very nice but it would be quite inefficient because we'd have to demolish the kitchen and the toilet and build them back in the new space.

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #42 on: March 16, 2021, 09:49:32 PM »
My list is:
* A very nice view from the living room/dining room.
* Quiet surroundings, no motor way noise or stone squarries or whatever.
* Close (on walking distance) to a forest. Close to the coast and to a walkable hill or mountain.
* On short distance (walking) to a grocery store, post office and library.
* Not to far driving from other shops, doctors, etc.
* A sunny garden of some size and options to plant fruit trees and vegetables, with visiting birds, squirrels and maybe deer.
* An including community. A mushroom club in the vicinity.
* Close to cross country skiing trails, preferably one at ski in, ski out distance.
* Max 4 mil NOK.
* Not too big and not to small. Lots of storage space.
* An interesting coast for free diving and kayaking close by (on walking distance).
* Place for a bathtub, as DH misses this every week in our current rental house.
* Not too far from a big airport and a hospital.
This sounds idyllic!

Linea_Norway

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #43 on: March 17, 2021, 04:51:50 AM »
@Imma How about replacing the brick shed with a wooden shed? You would need to install a proper concrete floor though.
Something like this:
https://tuinhuiscentrum.nl/tuinhuiscentrumnl/houten-gebouwen/schuren

Something like this is also completely fine with me, as long as it's a decent quality building, so good quality of wood, insulation etc. We want to be able to store stuff there without getting water damage. The only issue is that we've been told that a wooden building is not considered to be a permanent structure so it would be difficult to get the money from our mortgage - which is not a big issue because we could pay cash but we'd like to take advantage of the low interest rates. Our loan to value is only about 60%.

I think building in wood would be a bit cheaper, but probably not a lot. This company you found is cheaper than the ones I've found so far! But they still charge nearly €6000 + the concrete slab + electricity + insulation + unforseen costs. We'd probably still end up at around €10k.

If we would add on to the house, we've been told to expect that to cost €1500/square meter and homes sell at €3000/square meter in our city now. So we'd have instant profit and the mortgage lender would approve that immediately. But I would hate to lose so much garden space. There's an existing addition on the back that we could theoretically demolish and build back slightly bigger and less weird shaped so it could become a utility room, and the footprint wouldn't be a lot bigger than it is now. But it would have to be custom designed etc and I'm sure it would look very nice but it would be quite inefficient because we'd have to demolish the kitchen and the toilet and build them back in the new space.

@Imma
You could build a relatively simpel wooden vertical crate outside your house (in the front perhaps?) to store your garbage bags in. My mother had that, until she got a kliko bin.

An investment in your home to make it better in use is often smart, both for yourself and for a future buyer. A future buyer will probably notice the lack of storage space and might not want to buy it. So why not rebuild the addition for yourself? But if you cannot DIY, then the cost it very high.


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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #44 on: March 17, 2021, 11:22:56 AM »
Something like this is also completely fine with me, as long as it's a decent quality building, so good quality of wood, insulation etc. We want to be able to store stuff there without getting water damage. The only issue is that we've been told that a wooden building is not considered to be a permanent structure so it would be difficult to get the money from our mortgage - which is not a big issue because we could pay cash but we'd like to take advantage of the low interest rates. Our loan to value is only about 60%.
Why do you need to insulate the shed? I'd probably look into repairing the roof of the existing shed. With a non-leaky roof, a shed with a bare dirt floor and a few missing bricks is still adequate for bike storage (as long as it doesn't get muddy which might be a problem in your case, so putting in some sort of floor would be required). Use a battery powered lantern for light when needed. Certainly there are other things that you'd store in a better shed, but bikes are quite bulky and awkward, so figuring out storage for them that does not take up livings space would seem like it would have a lot of value.

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Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #46 on: March 17, 2021, 01:49:57 PM »
@Imma How about replacing the brick shed with a wooden shed? You would need to install a proper concrete floor though.
Something like this:
https://tuinhuiscentrum.nl/tuinhuiscentrumnl/houten-gebouwen/schuren

Something like this is also completely fine with me, as long as it's a decent quality building, so good quality of wood, insulation etc. We want to be able to store stuff there without getting water damage. The only issue is that we've been told that a wooden building is not considered to be a permanent structure so it would be difficult to get the money from our mortgage - which is not a big issue because we could pay cash but we'd like to take advantage of the low interest rates. Our loan to value is only about 60%.

I think building in wood would be a bit cheaper, but probably not a lot. This company you found is cheaper than the ones I've found so far! But they still charge nearly €6000 + the concrete slab + electricity + insulation + unforseen costs. We'd probably still end up at around €10k.

If we would add on to the house, we've been told to expect that to cost €1500/square meter and homes sell at €3000/square meter in our city now. So we'd have instant profit and the mortgage lender would approve that immediately. But I would hate to lose so much garden space. There's an existing addition on the back that we could theoretically demolish and build back slightly bigger and less weird shaped so it could become a utility room, and the footprint wouldn't be a lot bigger than it is now. But it would have to be custom designed etc and I'm sure it would look very nice but it would be quite inefficient because we'd have to demolish the kitchen and the toilet and build them back in the new space.

@Imma
You could build a relatively simpel wooden vertical crate outside your house (in the front perhaps?) to store your garbage bags in. My mother had that, until she got a kliko bin.

An investment in your home to make it better in use is often smart, both for yourself and for a future buyer. A future buyer will probably notice the lack of storage space and might not want to buy it. So why not rebuild the addition for yourself? But if you cannot DIY, then the cost it very high.

Our home is at the bottom of the market, it's really a starter home, a small post-war terraced house. So if we consider re-sale value, people are willing to pay more money for a bigger house, say if we take it from 75 to 100 m2, but 75 to 80m2 and a bit more efficient layout is not going to increase the price that much. Most of our neighbours are just extending over the full width of the house. I guess "normal" people have different priorities and would prefer living space over garden space.

We're still not sure if we want to stay here forever (we've been here 6 years). We've done quite a bit of (mostly DIY, low-budget) work on it over the past couple of years and most spaces work well enough for us now. We only need to make some changes to the bathroom and maybe have that custom cabinet built and we're mostly done then. To make it perfect it would need a lot of work by a professional, and we'd probably have that done if/when we decide to stay here for the long term. In that case we'd also spend the money on a proper shed. As it would "only" improve our life but not the value of the house that's not worth it if we're going to sell in a couple of years. The only thing we've spent real money on so far is energy efficiency, because that's going to pay itself back over time + a higher energy label is always good.

We can do a little DIY but not that much. I like doing it but with my chronic illness it's not easy. Mr Imma is not good at it and has no patience. So any big jobs we'll have to hire out.

Honestly I'm afraid that even if we would have the house professionally renovated for €€€ a future buyer would probably gut it. I've seen what happens when neighbours sell. Most people these days like very modern spaces and that's just not what we like. I've spent a lot of time over the years on our garden because I love gardening, and it looks great now, but people still ask us when we're going to "do" the garden. We've levelled it, dug out dead trees and rocks and rubble and the soil is great now, there are flower and vegetable beds, mature plants, and there's a 90% chance a buyer would just rip everything out and tile it.

Imma

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #47 on: March 17, 2021, 05:02:10 PM »
Something like this is also completely fine with me, as long as it's a decent quality building, so good quality of wood, insulation etc. We want to be able to store stuff there without getting water damage. The only issue is that we've been told that a wooden building is not considered to be a permanent structure so it would be difficult to get the money from our mortgage - which is not a big issue because we could pay cash but we'd like to take advantage of the low interest rates. Our loan to value is only about 60%.
Why do you need to insulate the shed? I'd probably look into repairing the roof of the existing shed. With a non-leaky roof, a shed with a bare dirt floor and a few missing bricks is still adequate for bike storage (as long as it doesn't get muddy which might be a problem in your case, so putting in some sort of floor would be required). Use a battery powered lantern for light when needed. Certainly there are other things that you'd store in a better shed, but bikes are quite bulky and awkward, so figuring out storage for them that does not take up livings space would seem like it would have a lot of value.

We do use our shed, it's used for storing our spare bikes, plastic garden chairs, ladders, all kinds of gardening supplies, that kind of stuff. It's not an unused space. We've put some planks over the dirt floor so it doesn't get muddy unless it rains for weeks. But since everything gets water damage there we can't keep anything of value there. So all those things (the expensive bikes and all our tools) are in the house. As in: a kitchen cupboard full of tools and cans of paint. Which means the kitchen towels are stored upstairs, because there's no space in the kichen. Nothing major, just annoying. I would love to have the kitchen stuff in the kitchen and the DIY stuff in the shed. I agree that for light electricity wouldn't be necessary, we use flashlights now and that works. But without electricity we also wouldn't be able to use the tools in the shed.  Right now we can only use our tools in the when it's warm enough to work outside in the garden and it's not raining, and we don't have any kind of work surface, which very much limits our opportunities for DIY. I'd love to have some sort of workbench or table in the shed to work on projects. I know that's a first world problem, but that was kind of the point of this thread right?

The issue is not the roofing material itself. There's a fairly new asphalt roof on it, I guess the previous owners tried to fix the damp issue. But the wall is desintegrating, bricks are starting to fall out, and the wood under the asphalt roof looks pretty bad too. That's not something I can fix myself. There's no floor and I'm not sure about what kind of foundation there's underneath (it's about 75 years old). We haven't gotten quotes for a renovation yet (still working on that) but when we had our home inspected when we bought our house, the inspector basically told us that demolishing and rebuilding would be cheaper than renovating it.

robartsd

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #48 on: March 18, 2021, 09:06:26 AM »
We haven't gotten quotes for a renovation yet (still working on that) but when we had our home inspected when we bought our house, the inspector basically told us that demolishing and rebuilding would be cheaper than renovating it.
That is sounding likely with crumbling masonry walls and rotting superstructure.

I guess from your description the problem isn't water falling on things stored there due to a leaky roof, but the humidity gets high enough that you get condensation on things stored there.

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Re: What Are YOUR New Home Must Haves?
« Reply #49 on: March 18, 2021, 10:39:56 AM »
We haven't gotten quotes for a renovation yet (still working on that) but when we had our home inspected when we bought our house, the inspector basically told us that demolishing and rebuilding would be cheaper than renovating it.
That is sounding likely with crumbling masonry walls and rotting superstructure.

I guess from your description the problem isn't water falling on things stored there due to a leaky roof, but the humidity gets high enough that you get condensation on things stored there.

Sounds like it might need better venting, or gutters. These are both cheap. Or, you might have a drainage issue that would be more involved to correct. If you post some photos (maybe in a new thread) I bet you'd get all kinds of useful advice on how it might be made more useful.

If you decide to replace it strongly consider a shed design that has a bigger roof overhang than the sheds pictured in the link upthread and definitely put gutters on it with a downspout that directs water away from the shed. I don't know why so many sheds are built without gutters; it just causes the walls to rot from the bottom up.

As for the original question, when I moved from a rental to our first home we ended up buying a bunch of bathroom things. The house was quite a bit bigger and had an extra bathroom compared to the rental apartment so I needed a shower curtain, more garbage bins and and an extra toilet brush. We also needed yard tools, a mower, a ladder and some basic house tools, although those got purchased as we needed them.