Should you buy a house you aren’t in love with?

TL;dr my fiancée and I are considering withdrawing our offer on a home after realizing it’s going to need more work than we originally thought. We like the home but don’t love it, but the price is good and we’ve been looking for almost 2 years. We put in an offer for a home a few days ago. The home is 2500 sq ft, 4 beds, 3 baths, and they accepted our offer of $285K. We knew the house would need some work; the upstairs AC doesn’t work and the home was very dirty, so we knew it would need a deep clean. There are also some cosmetic things we want to change like paint and removing the carpet. They told us the furnace was 20 years old, so we figured that may need to be replaced within the next 5 years as well. We did the inspection and it turned up smaller issues we hadn’t noticed originally, like needing new gutters, some windows that don’t open or lock, and may need to be replaced soon. The roof has moss growing on it, and there are trees overhanging the roof that need to be trimmed. The garage door opener does not work, and there’s a spout on the back of the house that has a slow leak. The attic fan is broken (and very dirty), and the attic does not have proper ventilation. The current owners obviously did not care about the house; they did almost no maintenance (looks like the furnace filter hasn’t been changed in years). We made a list of everything we’d need or want to fix in the house and came up with about 25 items. It’s a lot more work than we originally expected and likely will take us several years to get it all done. We don’t love this house; it is definitely not our dream home, but we love how big it is since we are planning to start a family and need more space. We also liked the price since we’ve seen many homes that are smaller than this one but way more money. We are still within the due diligence period on this home and can withdraw our offer. We are considering doing so, realizing we’ll have to put a lot of money and time into a home that we don’t absolutely love. We think we can make the house nicer and come to love it, but that may take a while. The home also has a small yard, which is something we cannot change, and we are pretty bummed about that since we have a nice yard now. Our parents also think the home is a money pit. It’s so frustrating because we’ve been looking for 2 years and have been outbid on all the homes we loved. This home has had no offers in 2 months, which is how we were able to get it for so cheap. I think we can make this home our own, but I also don’t want us to look back and regret buying it. We are not in a rush to move, but we are also tired of dealing with this horrible market. Is it bad to buy a home you aren’t in love with? Or is that just how things are now with the market?

If you don’t love the house, it might be worth waiting for the right one. This sounds like a lot of work for something you’re not excited about.

Buying a house is a huge commitment. If you’re feeling unsure, it’s probably best to withdraw the offer and keep looking.

Danielle said:
Buying a house is a huge commitment. If you’re feeling unsure, it’s probably best to withdraw the offer and keep looking.

That’s what I’m leaning towards. It’s just tough to keep searching after so long.

Consider how much time and money you’re willing to invest. If it’s overwhelming now, it might just get worse once you buy.

Mason said:
Consider how much time and money you’re willing to invest. If it’s overwhelming now, it might just get worse once you buy.

Exactly. I don’t want to be stuck with a house that feels like a burden.

I’ve been in a similar situation. It’s tough to find the perfect home, but if you’re not feeling it, don’t force it.

Jamie said:
I’ve been in a similar situation. It’s tough to find the perfect home, but if you’re not feeling it, don’t force it.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It helps to hear that others have felt the same.

You should definitely love your home, or at least feel excited about it. Don’t settle just because the market is tough.

Vic said:
You should definitely love your home, or at least feel excited about it. Don’t settle just because the market is tough.

That’s really encouraging to hear. I think we’ll take our time with this decision.