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One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that some buyers are looking for the “perfect house.” And honestly, I understand why. Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make. You want to make the right choice, and you don’t want to have any regrets. But here’s something I always remind my clients: there is no such thing as a perfect home.
I’ve even talked with people who have built custom homes from the ground up. They picked the floor plan, chose the finishes, selected the paint colors, designed the kitchen, and made every decision along the way. After living there for a while, they’ll still tell you there’s something they wish they had done differently. Maybe they wish the pantry was a little bigger, the laundry room was in a different location, or they had added another garage bay instead of a larger bonus room. Even a custom-built home isn’t perfect, so it’s probably not realistic to expect an existing home to be.
That doesn’t mean you should settle for a home that doesn’t fit your lifestyle or your goals. It simply means it’s important to know the difference between a home that truly won’t work for you and one that’s just missing a few items from your wish list. Sometimes those “wants” can keep us from recognizing a really great opportunity.
One exercise I always recommend is separating your list into needs and wants. Your needs are the things that truly affect your day-to-day life. Maybe you need three bedrooms because your family is growing. Maybe working from home means an office is essential. Perhaps the location is non-negotiable because of your commute or because you want to be close to family. Maybe you need a one-level home or a decent-sized backyard for kids or pets.
Then there are the wants. An updated kitchen, a three-car garage, mature landscaping, quartz countertops, a view, or a covered patio. Those are all fantastic features, and they certainly make a home more enjoyable. But it’s worth asking yourself if those are reasons to pass on a home that checks every box you truly need. Many cosmetic updates can be made over time, and some of the features you thought were must-haves may not seem as important once you’ve settled into a home you love.
Another thing to remember is that every real estate market is different. Different cities, neighborhoods, price ranges, and even different parts of the country all have their own market conditions. Right now, many markets have more homes available than we’ve seen in several years. In many areas we’re seeing balanced markets or even buyer-friendly markets. That means buyers often have more homes to choose from, more time to make decisions, and a better opportunity to negotiate on price, inspections, seller-paid closing costs, or other terms that simply weren’t possible a few years ago.
Those opportunities shouldn’t be overlooked because markets don’t stay the same forever. If interest rates come down or buyer demand increases, history has shown us what often happens next. More buyers enter the market, competition increases, homes sell faster, and prices begin to climb. Suddenly, that house you really liked but decided to pass on because it wasn’t quite “perfect”, is now more expensive and has several buyers writing offers on it.
I’ve seen buyers look back months later and say, “I wish we had bought that house.” Not because it was perfect, but because it actually fit their needs and represented a great opportunity at the time. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in paint colors, flooring, or light fixtures, but those are some of the easiest things to change. I encourage my clients to focus on the things they can’t easily change: the location, the layout, the lot, the neighborhood, and whether the home fits the life they want to live.
At the end of the day, the goal usually isn’t to find the perfect home. The goal is to find the right home. The one where you’ll celebrate birthdays, host barbecues, decorate for the holidays, enjoy a quiet cup of coffee on a Saturday morning, or watch the sunset from the back deck. Those are the moments that make a house feel like home, and they have very little to do with whether the countertops are granite or quartz.
If you’re waiting for the perfect house, you may be waiting a long time. But if you’re looking for a home that fits your needs, your budget, and your long-term goals, you might be surprised to find that it’s already out there. Sometimes the “great” house you buy today becomes the perfect home simply because of the life you build inside it.
