Taking into consideration everything from interior to exterior, location, etc., what do you like and what do you not like about your present home?

This home is new to me and we have only lived in it for six months. My wife and I spent a lot of time deciding the type of house, location etc and both converged on a specific area in town because of convenience to work, family and other amenities like fast internet. It’s in an average middle class tract and the houses were all built in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Newer construction in the area sucks. The yards are small, you are either perched on a cliff or down in a ditch, you’re on top of your neighbors.. This was a no for us. We narrowed the search to about four neighborhoods and it was just a matter of waiting for the right house to be put up for sale.

Once it did we were one of several offers on this house the first day it went on the market and were lucky to get it. The yard kills it. It’s level, private plenty healthy oak trees for shade a nice big tool shed converted to a workshop. The construction is split-foyer with a vaulted main level, large windows and a large raised screen patio. It has another finished patio below . Finished basement, good sized garage. Layout, location and comfort all are home runs. Since it’s a 45 year old house it has “old house stuff” that requires a little work but that was part of the deal for me. I enjoy that work and it allowed us to get more house for the money. I wish it was all brick but there is a good bit of siding. Many of the houses in the area were built with reclaimed brick and that look I would like to have on the whole house, not just part. The appliances are a little old and wearing out, several windows are in need of replacement. I’d like to have a larger workshop and an insert in the fireplace. The carpet is new and several areas I’d like to put in hardwood. There are several places where the sub-floor squeaks that I could not remedy and just needs to be replaced. Would not change much else.

The windows are south facing, so I get a lot of sunlight.
I hate that.

I love that for a moderately sized home I have a fairly large covered and screened back patio. I wish it didn’t face west. I also wish there were main grid power lines in the back view, but once they finish building the houses right behind my house I think I won’t see them anymore. The powerlines are quite far away, maybe a half mile away. The sliding doors from the living room to the patio are quadruples which is very nice.

I hate that my kitchen has a lot of space between the counter against the wall and the free standing counter that defines the shape of the kitchen. If the free standing section was moved I could double the cabinets and increase my living room size in one swoop. I find it very frustrating that it’s so obvious it would be so much better. If I had built the house it would be a $4k addition probably. To do it now it would be well over $10k. Plus, I would also want better countertops if I was making changes and maybe tile throughout. Right now I have carpet in the living room.

I also wish I had 42” kitchen upper cabinets and wish I had all 8” doors and windows.

I don’t like that the laundry room is a walk through from the garage to the kitchen.

I love that there is a pocket door that creates privacy for the hallway and secondary bedrooms and bathroom. In other words that section of the house can be closed off from the main public areas. Ideally I would set it up as a guess room and sitting room with desk. That way a guest could basically has a private suite when they needed privacy. Moreover, even though the second bathroom only has a hall entrance, since there is a pocket door to the hallway, a guest has complete privacy to walk from their bedroom to the bathroom in a towel or naked for that matter without concern.

I love the storm door I added to the front door. It’s a very nice one that can be glass or slide down the top to reveal screen. It has a dead bolt lock for security.

I wish my bedroom was two feet wider.

I like that my garage is a little deeper than standard and I can easily walk around the cars.

I like that I have a main water shut off in the garage.

I wish I had lighting under the upper cabinets in the kitchen. I think we are going to add it.

I love being in The Villages. I have two pools I can use within 10 minute walk. There are 80 pools I can use all over town. Supermarket and drug store one mile away. 10 Rec centers with Zumba classes, ballet, discussion groups, and more and more within 15 minutes, I don’t know how many rec centers in town? I can use them all. 30+ golf courses. Everything accessible by golf cart or car; everything from supermarkets to the hospital. The community and lifestyle is more the thing here than what exact house you have.

We’ve been in our house for about 14 years now. We’ve changed it a lot since we moved in. I like that we have so much space around us outside. We have lots of bird and animal life and it’s peaceful. Not quiet, because the birds are damn noisy, but it’s peaceful. We’re far enough away from things not to have to deal with any road noise or pollution, but close enough from a convenience perspective. Within five minutes we can be on a freeway that will take us to the city, or airports. We have schools, hospitals and shopping centres within a 5–20 minute drive.

The house is a good size and we have separate living areas which work well since we have adult children living with us. That means they can be down their end of the house and we still have our own space at the other end. The kitchen is a good size and has everything we need and all the rooms are a good size. We have lots of windows, different forms of cooling and heating depending on what we need. We’ve got solar hot water and power too. We have a great outdoor area where we can sit and relax surrounded by trees. We have a pool which is fabulous at this time of year. It really feels like ‘home’ and we have no desire to move.

The downsides are there isn’t enough wardrobe space in our bedroom. We should have put a walk-in robe in. We didn’t because we thought we’d need the space for something else, but that hasn’t eventuated. I also wish the house was in a more elevated position. I love to be able to watch storms but we have so many trees around us, our view is obstructed. In recent times, our neighbours have built an extension that overlooks our outdoor area. Very irritating. We do have a plan to resolve that.