Buying a House

[BabyMonkeys]

We are going to buy a new house the end of the year, or maybe early next year. What features do you love, hate, or wish that you had in your home? I live in Fl, so a basement isn't an option

[childcaremom]

When we bought this house it wasn't in mind for doing daycare.

Now that I am....

I do wish that I had a walkout basement so everything was on one level. I guess I would be looking for an area where daycare could be contained and kept as just daycare. Separate entrance (or easily accessible). Bathroom on same level (or close). I'd love to have it where it was like an inlaw suite: small kitchen, bathroom, 2 or more rooms for JUST daycare. That would be heavenly

Outside... things that are important to me:
Big yard
Room for big deck
Paved driveway
Nice neighbours
Fenced yard

All of above I have except for paved driveway. Just cause it would be easier to shovel

[Lovisa]

We are going to buy a new house the end of the year, or maybe early next year. What features do you love, hate, or wish that you had in your home? I live in Fl, so a basement isn't an option

Storage, storage, and more storage!!! I live in a old home (updated but old) and so storage space is at a minimum. In house laundry is important (I hate going out to the garage to do laundry). I love lots of windows for light. And my latest thing....when we bought this house 2 years ago from hubby's parents, I thought I would LOVE the pretty laminate floors. But, they are high gloss, and because of all my great windows, I see EVERY dang smudge or footprint. So annoying. I want no gloss floors or tile reeeeeeally bad.

[Jack Sprat]

We have a screened in front porch. I love this. We keep all coats, shoes, etc out there. This is also where I keep our calendar and wall pockets for kids papers etc. We have lots of shade trees this is a must for me. We have a den and living room. I only use the den for napping. It's very nice to have an extra room that is only used for that purpose. Two stories. I love having all our bedrooms upstairs. It makes me feel like we do have some privacy.

Now for what I want/need:

Big kitchen - I mean really big!!
Big laundry room - again I want big..with lots and lots of storage.

[BabyMonkeys]

So far my list includes

Must haves :

No pool. It seems like houses go for 10k less here when they have a pool!

A back yard. It would be nice to have a big yard, but realistically in this area, it's unlikely.

Tile floors. I have pets and allergies. If the price is right, I don't mind having them installed myself before move in. I'm a huge fan of my swiffer! Both of my 20m and my 14m have their own swiffer that I have made just their size. That is their favorite "toy".

Would love :

2 story. It would be wonderful to have an entire private floor only for family.

An extra bedroom specifically for napping.

[Unregistered]

I love having a totally separate daycare area. My home has a small attached one bedroom with its own bath and a small kitchenette which is my dedicated daycare area. I think it would be similar to a mother-in-law suite in your area? I don't have to worry about cleaning up when people come over or having licensing, food program, or dcps coming into my main home. I can "leave" work at the end of the day.

[Laurel]

We are going to buy a new house the end of the year, or maybe early next year. What features do you love, hate, or wish that you had in your home? I live in Fl, so a basement isn't an option

I also live in Florida.

I love that my house is a ranch style (one floor). That's funny that someone else wants a second story. I would hate that. I know I'd forget something upstairs and constantly be doing stairs. When I lived up North I had a split level and hated the stairs. I always thought that with ranch styles you'd be in the bedroom and still be able to hear the t.v. in the living room but that's not true. I can't hear things on the other side of the house at all and our house isn't huge. Most houses here are ranch although they are building new ones with two stories.

No pool. I've had daycare families say they wouldn't enroll their children in houses with pools (which there are a lot here as you know). Unlike up north, there are always places to swim here. Every apartment or condo complex has a pool, every neighborhood has one. Now my son has one so we just go to his house but our homeowner association's pool is nice.

I am retired now but it would have been nice to have a separate area for daycare. That is ideal but harder to find especially since we don't have basements. We do have mother in law suites though although I don't think I've actually ever seen one.

Hurricane shutters are nice for a house to already have. Over the years we have installed hurricane windows and doors (expensive with a capital E). So if you buy in an area where they are necessary already having them is a money saver.

A yard but not a huge yard. Remember, we mow all year long here. ::

I love my wood laminate floors but they are not high gloss. They beat cleaning carpets all the time although I did have a carpet in the daycare room for crawling, etc. My dining room though was carpet and I had laminate put in instead. I hated carpeting in there. Many homes here have tile floors. I much prefer the look of wood.

Laurel

[lovemykidstoo]

We just moved 2 weeks ago. We were moving from a 2,600 sq foot home to an 1800 sq ft. We looked at houses as small as 1,400 sq ft. I needed obviously a daycare space. Where we lived before, I had a formal dining room as my dc room and a formal living as a nap room. It was a 2 story. Of course the kids were able to take the toys anywhere in my kitchen/family room also. It was tough to find a ranch style home where I could have a daycare. We finally found this home. It's a 4 bedroom, so one of the bedroom is now my playroom and then when they cleanup they also nap in it. I also have some toys in my family room, but there in a piece of furniture that I already have and you can't see the toys at all. It is great. The kids nap so much better in the bedroom because I can close the door 3/4 of the way. Before the formal living was all open and they could hear everything. Love it because at the end of the day I close the bedroom door and I don't have to see the toys!! The last house I could see all of the toys from my kitchen. ick!

[kendallina]

I agree and will reiterate what a lot of PPs have said. Must haves for me

preschool space separate from living space

big preschool space (I have about a 19 x 32 foot space)

bathroom (and kitchen) close to preschool space

an entire extra bedroom just for storage (that might seem like overkill, but I like a simple look in my actual classroom and don't like to store things in there)

fenced in yard


Not must haves but things I love
preschool space is right by the front door
direct access to back yard from preschool space

Things I wish I had but don't

the kitchen doesn't look into the preschool space (which I would probably hate when the kids aren't here, but when they are here, I really wish I could see them from the kitchen!)