house wishlist

About 2 years ago now, we started wanting to buy a house in earnest. We had a good amount of money from my mother-in-law's death and we intended to use it as a down payment. But as I'm the only income earner, we had to use my credit to obtain the loan. Turns out, both of us had pretty shoddy credit. 18 months ago, after enrolling in a debt management program and starting to pay off some of our bills, we tried again but my credit was still too low. A former student's mom showed us a house but, although only $54k, was going to need $150k more work in renovations. She sent us a guide for first time home buyers published by Keller Williams and one of the things it said to do was create a wishlist of things we wanted in our dream home. Then we needed to break it down into "want to haves" and "needs" that we weren't willing to compromise on.

Well, as we wait and wait to hear from the bank regarding our offer on the short sale, I started daydreaming about all the things I'd like to have in our new house. When i went to save the file, I found I already had a file on the computer with that name. When I checked it out, I found that it was the wishlist we made 18 months ago regarding the things we wanted in our house. I thought it would be fun to share it here.

Value	Wants	Needs
historic homes/ neighborhoods	large yard	good CH/A system
families	Victorian	access home repairs ourselves
older trees	porch	grounded electrical system
solid craftsmanship	3+ bedrooms	dishwasher (or space for)
good education	storage/closets	a shower and a bathtub
community events	new kitchen appliances	220 for the clothes dryer
individual space/ privacy	fireplace	large living room
energy conservation/ sustainable resources	high ceilings	access to broadband/cable
	Built-in cabinets/bookshelves	no more than 40 minutes from work
	living room & family room	3+ bedrooms
	wood floors	hobby room
	CH/A	laundry space
	house fan	storage
	workshop
	hobby room
	good sunlight in living space
	large water heater
	big bath tub
	crown molding
	3 season room/porch
	room for garden
	space for car work
	fence
	neighborhood
	ease of travel to shopping and work
	larger trees
	back patio
	laundry space
	kitchen for cooking
	stained glass windows details
	craftsman
	prairie style
	good schools
	double entry door
	wet bar/butler's pantry