Back in 2010, while house hunting, we posted a series of profiles for several homes we toured. Although our search is finished now, we revisited nine additional houses we casually toured (many on open-house days) before we found our home. We had fun driving around, taking photos, and remembering quirky details (“That was the one with the phone in the bathroom!” “That was the one with the deer in the backyard!”).
The Lake House: This modest home sat just a few blocks from where we live now. It wasn’t in our dream neighborhood, but it was on a lake — which is hard to beat. However, the lower level comprised a large portion of the square footage and had very low ceilings, and adding a bathroom there would have been extremely costly. Those low ceilings couldn’t be changed, so despite being under budget and waterfront, it wasn’t the right fit.
Note: Like our earlier house-hunting posts, we respected each owner’s privacy, so photos have been edited (color and orientation adjustments, filters to obscure details) using Photoshop.
The Big Ranch: We love ranches, and this one had great bones — a huge kitchen (very dated and in need of a makeover) connected to a spacious living room with a large fireplace. We could easily picture opening up the central space to create a warm, open-plan heart of the home. Still, the rest of the layout felt choppy and the price was substantially higher than we hoped to pay.
The Gray Shaker: At first this one seemed promising: it was in our preferred neighborhood and listed at a low price. But the exterior had odd siding that looked like plastic shaker shingles, and the interior layout was broken up with multiple steps down into rooms and narrow doorways and hallways. The price was attractive, but the house didn’t feel right for us.
The Quirky House: This one was the most unusual. The renovated basement looked like an HGTV project, with a yacht-like cabin feel and a built-in banquette that converted into bunk beds for sleepovers. The roofline, a large stained-glass window in front, and the steep price (about $100K more than the house we eventually bought) made it a pass for us — even though the street name amusingly included “Young.”
The Updated House: This contemporary home was fun to tour. Though it wasn’t in our favorite neighborhood and was pricier than the one we ended up buying, it was almost entirely renovated and full of inspiration — especially a giant fireplace in the kitchen. This was also the house with the phone in the bathroom.
The Barn: Located in our dream neighborhood but priced above our range, this house struck a balance between move-in ready and a little fixer-upper. It had a lovely circle driveway, a private yard with a deck, and charming upstairs rooms with peaked ceilings. Still, some layout quirks and the higher price made it less appealing compared with other options.
The Garage Theater House: When we first saw this house it was yellow, which made it easy to miss. The updated paint job looks great now. This property had an amazing backyard with a deck and pergola, and its most memorable feature was a garage converted into a theater — dark walls, a large projector screen, and booming surround sound. The sellers left a note saying it would be easy to convert back to a garage. It was outside our budget, but it sold quickly — and it has been painted since we first saw it.
The Pool House: This home was in our favorite neighborhood but priced out of our range and featured several high-maintenance elements, including a large pool and an expansive surrounding deck. While the pool was tempting for summer fun, the combination of cost and upkeep (for example, siding that would need replacement down the road) made it impractical for us.
The Double Staircase: This grand house in our dream neighborhood needed updating and was well above our budget. It had two staircases and a grand scale that felt too formal for what we wanted. Walking through, we found ourselves wishing a simpler, more modest version of the house existed at a lower price.
Less than two weeks later we spotted another for-sale sign on a quiet cul-de-sac and followed it. This house matched the size of our current home, was comfortably within our budget (nearly $100K less than many other houses we’d seen), and needed a lot of work — the perfect combination for us. It turned into the easiest offer we ever wrote.
And that’s how wandering through open houses can lead to buying a home. Consider yourself warned: you might find “the one” when you least expect it.