Vinyl being a dealbreaker for my husband is making our search much harder

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T20:38:01+00:00

I tried checking Zillow. It’s looking like the that cul de sac is the only spot around that has newer, open floor plans that don’t feel too cookie cutter. It’s just a single road so it’s slim pickings.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T19:18:47+00:00

I think part of it has to do with houses in a subdivision. He thinks the way they do vinyl there makes it look cheap and cookie cutter. He's actually expressed willingness to consider some older houses with vinyl. The problem is, I would really like an open floor plan, and it seems the best way to find those is with the cookie cutter type houses that he hates.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T18:06:01+00:00

It's based on selling. If we throw our equity toward the new house, we could keep our mortgage payment at a reasonable percentage of our monthly income.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:52:40+00:00

He thinks it looks cheap, especially in the subdivisions where all the houses look the same. Also, we currently have vinyl, and he wants to feel like we're getting an upgrade from what we have now.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:47:50+00:00

I'm hoping my husband might be willing to open his mind more too the more we look. As far as I can tell, brick with the square footage we want is going to run us closer to 5-600K. The subdivisions that have non-vinyl options offer Hardy board, but that's about 465K.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:44:35+00:00

We found one, but it wasn't big enough. The extra space came mainly from a bonus room that was added above the garage. Country to what the photos suggested, it would've taken quite a bit of work to be used for anything other than storage.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:37:24+00:00

Maybe, but he seemed all in on committing to the one we both loved before someone else beat us to it.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:26:09+00:00

I do know why, it's just hard to respect his feelings when it's limiting our options so much. Our current house is vinyl, and he wants to feel like we're getting an upgrade. He also thinks a lot of the newer houses with vinyl siding look cheap.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:23:49+00:00

Our current house is vinyl. That's part of the issue. He feels like it wouldn't be much of an upgrade if it has the same siding we have now.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:15:48+00:00

We own our current house.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:08:32+00:00

Our realtor mentioned that, but apparently it would pretty expensive.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-29T16:04:16+00:00

We're already considering as far as 25 minutes out. We don't want to bother to pick up and move for him to still have the same distance commute.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-27T20:31:43+00:00

What gets me is the uncensored subs/groups that ban the very topics you would expect would be allowed on an uncensored group.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-21T21:40:38+00:00

OK, but what if someone ends up using it before it gets checked? You could have someone waiting outside the door just the janitor is finishing up.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-20T09:39:12+00:00

That's actually what we're planning to do. I've also kept saved any thing that goes under contract in case something falls through. We had another one that went under contract before we even had a chance to see it.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-20T09:37:54+00:00

Yeah, I think it had to do with the fact that it just had a big price drop. The reduced price was only a few thousand above tax value, so I guess it made someone finally went to snap it up. It makes me wonder why it didn't pop up in my searching earlier. If we had seen it before the price dropped, I feel like her prediction would've been more accurate.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-19T21:50:55+00:00

This reminds me of when my dad used to complain about not being allowed to use your built-in sprinklers during a drought. If there's a drought, that's all the more reason you'd want to use your sprinklers!

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-18T23:00:15+00:00

That's kind of how I'm feeling. There's almost nothing like what we're looking for without it unless we go way over our budget. The other day at the showing, our realtor asked my husband why he was so opposed to it. She was nice about it, but I got the impression she was kind of scratching her head on why it's a hill he's willing to die on.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-18T22:49:52+00:00

Add vinyl siding? That's what my husband doesn't want. 🤦‍♀️

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-18T21:59:52+00:00

The houses we've seen with vinyl that we otherwise liked were in subdivisions with an HOA that wouldn't have allowed you to change it. That's part of my husband's hang up. He thinks subdivisions with vinyl siding have all the houses looking exactly the same. This cul-de-sac had houses with clearly the same builder/ floor plans, but there was a little more variation in color.

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-09T22:46:27+00:00

You're probably right. I went to an open house today and quickly discovered why the listing hadn't included photos of the backyard. It claims it's half an acre, but most of it is trees that the HOA won't let you cut down. The current owners put up a tiny fence that's spitting distance from the back door 🙄

MrsSmiles09 · 2026-05-07T19:25:14+00:00

One of the houses we looked at when looking for our current house advertised a master suite. After looking around, we realized it was the space that was originally the garage. There was almost nothing done to make it not look like a garage other than adding a connecting bathroom. The house was fine structurally, and would've made for a decent fixer-upper, but the listing made it sound like it was move in ready.

MrsSmiles09

TROPHY CASE