When I purchased my home from the best real estate agent in Savannah, GA, I used the Power of Positive Thinking to find the perfect home for my small family. Everyone who wants to buy a home has a list of the must-haves, cannot-haves, and negotiables in their mind while shopping for their perfect house. Home buyers have often spent hours thinking about all the things they need to have in a house to make it a home, but sometimes the reality of a situation is wildly different than the image someone conjures up in their head.
Hardwood floors, a lovely yard, and picture windows might provide a stunning visual, but just because something looks pretty doesn’t necessarily make it a good thing. Before passing on a property for these sins, consider whether or not they are actually blessings in disguise.
Carpeting
It is trendy to complain about people in the 70’s and 80’s covering up beautiful hardwood floors with tacky carpet, but people made those decisions for a reason. Not only do hardwood floors get cold in the winter, but they also send soundwaves bouncing through the house like a red rubber ball.
Families with small children, couples with pets, and people with spouses who enjoy exceptionally loud TV and video games could all benefit from the sound dampening qualities wall-to-wall carpeting can provide. In addition to reducing noise, carpeting can also act as a filter, trapping dust, dander, and other allergens in their fibers to be vacuumed away once a week.
No Yard
Sometimes having a yard is a necessity. People with large dogs or avid gardeners might need the outdoor space, but everyone else should think twice before committing to a large, grassy lawn.
The cost of maintaining a yard can be excessive. Mowing, weeding, treating for ants and other invasive insects, and watering the grass can all add up to a significant sum. The cost is large enough that sometimes real estate agents and homeowners can find it difficult to sell a home with a large or ornate lawn to maintain.
Large expanses of grass are also pretty bad for the environment, all things considered. A field of flowers, a few trees, or even something simple like clover or wild strawberries would be infinitely better for the planet, providing food for pollinators and oxygen for the atmosphere. People who tend to feel guilty when burning gasoline in a lawn mower might find a house with a small yard works much better for them. Who knew that buying a new home could be therapeutic.
Small Windows
In a perfect world, every house would come with huge picture windows, providing an exquisite view and plenty of natural light inside the home. Picture windows are often beautiful, but they have tremendous downsides nobody considers while standing around admiring the sunlight.
A floor to ceiling window doesn’t just let in the light, it also lets in the heat. This is the concept behind greenhouses, after all. When you buy a house with walls of glass you are inevitably going to send indoor temperatures soaring and require constant use of an air conditioner in the summer, running up the electric bill and requiring heavy drapes to keep out all that light the window was designed to bring in.
Repairing a picture window can be quite expensive as well. Because it is a single pane of glass, if it ends up chipped or cracked the entire thing needs to be replaced and that is not a cheap fix.
There is a positive side to almost every aspect of home ownership. If the problem with a potential home is relatively superficial take a few moments to think about whether it might be a positive feature rather than a negative one before walking away from a sale.
I hope my experience can help others look past the small details to find the home that can truly bring happiness
