Date ideas

[missy]

WOW missy! It's beautiful!! Lovely views, and HUGE!

It really is better in person. The only (but a big one) problem with this house is that it is on a major road but when you are in the house it is very quiet and the back of the house faces the river with lovely views. The builder really built it to maximize the views. And you get complimentary lifetime membership to the beach club across the street!

And they have an awesome roof deck where you can see the ocean on one side and the river on the other side. Not sure why that isn't in the pics they included. It really was an amazing view.

I did get some awesome kitchen remodel ideas (future project many years down the road) and that is one of the things I love about house hunting IRL.

Anyway, just another reason I love this as a day date idea because it is fun (and free) and functional and even romantic if you are just starting out and looking for a home together...

Oh I love house hunting! Though SO doesn't see the point if we aren't buying soon. I love going to the more expensive house to see how they are furnished for ideas.

Missy, that kitchen is amazing! So much space. I live on a main road and it's not too bad. You get used to the noise. Living next to the train line was worse but it became light background noise after a while.

Hi Magpie, I agree! The noise doesn't bother me either as we live on a very noisy street in NYC and I'm used to it. It's sort of comforting. When we are at our beach house it's too quiet sometimes IMO though the sound of the waves are very nice.

But, the problem with the house we saw this weekend at the open house is that the road it is on is crazy with traffic in the summer as it is the only road to Sandy Hook beach and Rumson so it gets lots of traffic. I do not do well in traffic. So, while the house is TDF the road it is on is unfortunately a nightmare in the summer. But I am sure it will sell to people who just fall in love with it and don't care that much about the traffic. There is a lot to love about that house!

Oh, and about your SO not being enthusiastic about the open houses I hear you. Believe me, my dh was not thrilled at first and now he enjoys it as much (if not more!) than I do. You should have seen him asking the builder all sorts of technical questions about this house and sharing info etc. My dh's passion is woodworking and so he loves that stuff. But initially, he wasn't crazy about doing open houses either. Now he is the one to suggest we stop when we pass one.

 

[Magpie09]

Just to be clear, we don't pretend we are interested in buying the home. I always tell them exactly what's going on- we were cycling and rode by the open house and wanted to check it out! Hey, that's how we found our current realtor who we ended up selling our first beach house and purchasing our current beach house through! So, every connection is a potential business connection even if you aren't in the market right now. Just saying there's no reason to have to pretend. I hate lying and so I don't.

They're okay with people just looking? I had no idea. I'm always shy about going to "look" at anything, be it in shopping stores or anything at all!

I've never had a problem with this either. Sometimes I offer feedback which they can then use to help sell it to someone else. If I was an agent I would rather have people come in even if they aren't 100% interested in buying than no-one at all.

 

[sweetpea&babycorn]

Just to be clear, we don't pretend we are interested in buying the home. I always tell them exactly what's going on- we were cycling and rode by the open house and wanted to check it out! Hey, that's how we found our current realtor who we ended up selling our first beach house and purchasing our current beach house through! So, every connection is a potential business connection even if you aren't in the market right now. Just saying there's no reason to have to pretend. I hate lying and so I don't.

They're okay with people just looking? I had no idea. I'm always shy about going to "look" at anything, be it in shopping stores or anything at all!

I've never had a problem with this either. Sometimes I offer feedback which they can then use to help sell it to someone else. If I was an agent I would rather have people come in even if they aren't 100% interested in buying than no-one at all.

I never have a problem with just looking, but I can understand where the discomfort comes from, especially when you deal with people who follow you, are so fake nice to you, and clearly just want to garner interest and make a sale.

For those who are annoyed with constant emails from LS and Groupon from multiple cities (I do the same thing!), you can adjust it in your settings page. It might take a little while for the system to read it, but I found that it worked for me when my inbox was flooded with their deals. There was a great chocolate making deal in the Boston area, and I called the bakery first, and she said they were booked out until SEPTEMBER. Since I had no idea where I would be in September we passed on the deal, but I always look for cool classes we can take together, and LivingSocial has an "adventures" tab and sometimes I look there to see if there's anything cool in our area. They have cool outdoor things like kayaking, caving, and bike tours, but none of those are near us

 

[madelise]

Thanks Missy/Magpie for the feedback. There area a few homes in this really good school district that I'd like to go look at So maybe I'll muster up the guts to go some day.. Let's me dream and hope for the future..

 

[madelise]

For those who are annoyed with constant emails from LS and Groupon from multiple cities (I do the same thing!), you can adjust it in your settings page. It might take a little while for the system to read it, but I found that it worked for me when my inbox was flooded with their deals. There was a great chocolate making deal in the Boston area, and I called the bakery first, and she said they were booked out until SEPTEMBER. Since I had no idea where I would be in September we passed on the deal, but I always look for cool classes we can take together, and LivingSocial has an "adventures" tab and sometimes I look there to see if there's anything cool in our area. They have cool outdoor things like kayaking, caving, and bike tours, but none of those are near us

Yes, that's the 'neg' side of those deals.. it takes FOREVER to squeeze your appointments in! I got me a laser hair removal deal that was at a ridiculously low price.. but I can't make appointments that are closer than 2 months away! I read on Yelp that a lot of the buyers couldn't deal with that, and ended up canceling or returning their deals. Oh well. More time for me now!

 

[Magpie09]

Have you heard about or tried Geocatching? It's pretty much a worldwide treasure hunt using a GPS to locate 'caches' (items or log books) hidden by other people. I thought the idea was pretty cool but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[audball]

Have you heard about or tried Geocatching? It's pretty much a worldwide treasure hunt using a GPS to locate 'caches' (items or log books) hidden by other people. I thought the idea was pretty cool but I haven't tried it yet.

I have heard of this, but never tried it! Could be fun.

We haven't done any real in person house hunting, but we have done some driving through neighborhoods at different times of day to scope out some locales. So we do have some target neighborhoods (if we stay in our current city). We'll either stay here or move a few hours north closer to my family (his family is here). We'll settle where the jobs are, though!

 

[madelise]

Have you heard about or tried Geocatching? It's pretty much a worldwide treasure hunt using a GPS to locate 'caches' (items or log books) hidden by other people. I thought the idea was pretty cool but I haven't tried it yet.

:O never heard of this, thank you thank you thank you, that seems SOOO awesome!!!

 

[audball]

It does sound super fun We'll have to try it sometime...you know...when we have free time.