We're moving, help us choose a new house

[Modem Butterfly]

Poll question: We're moving, help us choose a new house

Will and I are moving. Our house has been sold to a developer and we need to be out by mid-July (the 17th to be exact). We want to stay in the same area because it's close to work for both of us, and we want to stay within the same price range because it's easily affordable, and we're not planning on having children, so schools aren't an issue. Will and I agree on all that, but we don't agree on features/amenities. So, other than the previously mentioned, what is the most important thing our new place should have?

[ZenLefty]

1. Character.

I like the old brick bungalows, myself.

[Modem Butterfly]

3. Character we got

Our house is 92 years old, with a leaky roof, a furnace that's seen better days, and plumbing that's iffy at best. Character we got in spades. Hopefully, we'll find something with charm that's in a bit better shape.

[Mizmoon]

2. More secret passages

you can never have enough of those

and don't come NEAR my garden :)

[progmom]

4. Fireplace and a front porch

Those were two of my important qualifiers.

[Modem Butterfly]

7. We live in the South...

...where front porches, like central air, come standard.

[YankeyMCC]

5. If you have dogs then

definately more yard.

Otherwise LESS yard. In fact screw the dogs...save yourself the yardwork and pave over any lawn the new place might have. Paint it green if you like.

(Can you tell I'm looking forward to working in my yard this spring? :) And BTW I have actually seen several cases of "paving over" yards where I live.)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

6. In Cambridge, we called the paving over of yards

"Portuguese gardens". Not PC, I know, but it's how you could tell a Portuguese house (all asphalt) from an Italian house (lots of garden and a grape arbor for wine-making).