If you love everything about it otherwise, you could always increase the square footage/tweak the layout by adding on at some point down the road.

Sammy, that was our first thought, but based on the structure our RE agent estimated it would be a $150K+ project, and at that point it really doesn't make sense when we could buy an existing bigger house for less. So if we go with this one, we are going to have to live with the size.

It sounds like the home would be a very good solution given your criteria. Square footage can be somewhat arbitrary in that some homes live much larger than the sq footage sounds. I think it is a smart idea to consider this home and to spend less than your budget, especially now with your income being reduced.

However, the thing that has me concerned is that the sellers want a very broad contingency on finding something suitable for themselves. Is there any time period limitation on this proposed contingency? With this type of contingency you would need to continue to look for a property that meets your needs in case the seller comes back in a month or whenever and says 'we couldn't find anything suitable'. This really means this seller isn't ready to sell.

ETA: I have worked with this contingency one time in my 40 yr real estate career and it was a nightmare. The buyers were my clients and the seller had their own agent. The buyers had to spend money on inspections, appraisals, HOA application and other items to meet the contract deadlines. The contract actually died about 2 weeks before closing because the seller couldn't find a suitable purchase. We ended up getting the contract back together a week later and closing at a later date, but it was extremely stressful for the buyer. Do you want to put yourself through that added stress?

If you're asking here -- you should know the answer -- you're not totally in love with it. Keep looking.

Thanks Martha - unfortunately I'm a doubter, so if we decide to wait for a home that I would have no questions about we'd probably never leave our condo!

I think you should keep looking too. You aren’t sure about this house, that means it’s not the right one. Your heart would know when you find a home sweet home.

I have to say, I struggle a little bit with "following the heart" when it comes to major financial decisions. I had MANY doubts about our current condo, and I definitely did not have that "this is it" moment with it, and yet it has been absolutely perfect for us for the last 7 years and on top of that ended up being a very smart investment as it's looking like it will sell for almost 2x the purchase price. Maybe some people have better intuition than I do?

Getting into a contract that is contingent upon the seller finding a suitable place to live is a condition that I would advise my clients to steer away from. Way too many possible pitfalls.

A 200 sq. ft difference is like two rooms at 10x10. Not insignificant at this size range.

In our area that kind of condition seems to be pretty standard unfortunately (we're in MA, so real estate prices are high and not many can afford to move without selling first).

So it's basically down to:

- Do we compromise on size

- Do we wait and hope that something better comes up, realizing that it will likely be more expensive and in need of more work pre move-in

Well, $80K less than budget means you will be able to go down to one income with much much MUCH less stress; it might allow you to be a stay-at-home mom for longer than you might have planned, which is something that may or may not be a priority for you. It seems like you like everything about the house other than the sq footage (and the cat smell); put some serious thought into your family plans, financial situation, and if the house will accommodate your growing family for at least 5 years or so - you can always purchase a larger home in the future or put an addition.

If the layout works, the square footage is less of an issue. In houses that have a ton of sq footage dedicated to circulation, means less NET sq feet - even though the gross might be higher.

You can mitigate the car urine smell, neutralize it and seal the floor. And you'd have money to do the outdoor things you want and others. (Including the central air) and would have no stress before your due date.

With the less $, that fact that it is in a good location, good lot and you both already started talking about living there - do it. It sounds lovely, by the way.

If the location works for you, and the rooms don't feel too small then I don't understand what the problem is. Square footage is literally just a number and this house meets your bed/bath requirements. I've been in 2000 sq ft houses that felt smaller than my beloved 1400 sq ft house. It's all about circulation, flow, sight lines, and light.

Every home has negatives. You can fix the basement smell.

Ask yourself how you will feel when you find out it is sold. Pretend you look at the listing online and it says under contract. How you feel about that may help you decide.

Thank you all for the input - we're heading out in about an hour to view the house again, so this is all very helpful and some great points to think about.

Regarding the rooms feeling too small, the bedrooms are all a great size. The master bedroom is much larger than we expected with two walk-in closets, one of which is 3x12 - the biggest we've seen so far! The living and dining rooms are right on the cusp of "just big enough" and "could be a little bigger". Kitchen is a great size and with lots of natural light and cabinet space, but the way it's laid out there's no room for a breakfast nook. Master bathroom is a touch smaller than we have now in our condo - not tiny, but the kid's bathtub will have to live in the nursery when not in use. So basically while nothing feels cramped or too small per se (and we've seen houses like that), those extra 200-300 sq ft would be the difference between my current hesitation and 100% perfection.

Right now for me personally the scales between the things we love about the house (and the cost savings) and its smaller size are even - I just can't decide which is more important. Hopefully a second viewing will help us come to a decision. My husband, by the way, is a fan and thinks we should go for it.

I already think you've already answered your own questions. This would be an incredibly tight space that would require things like a temporary tub living in the nursery. Eh- you could probably deal with that. Giving up square footage of living space.

But remember- babies are small and immobile for a very short time. Giving a lot of priority to master closets, etc. vs living space?

Ask yourself how this place lives when baby starts crawling. Babies rarely are safe to leave in their bedrooms. When baby turns into a toddler. Does it work for you? Where will you stash the toys, and are you comfortable with it all living in your slimmer living space?

And if it doesn't work, does the small space make it harder to sell?

It depends on your living style. Some people only want to live small. My husband's family of 9 had a small home 3/1 and only a living room and kitchen. They all were happy with the space. Just remember babies are small but take up a lot of room.

Cat urine will survive the apocalypse. If you smell it now, after it was cleaned for market, it was really, REALLY bad. That will reemerge whenever it is hot or humid. It means cat hair is in your ventilation system too. I hope you - or children - are not allergic.

I'd go for a larger house if I were about to have children.

What happens if the sellers do not find a home or do not qualify for a mortgage or find a home 6 months down the road? You say your closing would be contingent upon them finding a home. That is something that should not be your worry.

If there is cat pee in one area, there is probably more elsewhere. A damp/humid day will bring back the aroma in full force. We skipped on a house that had the cat issues in an upstairs bedroom and we heard they had to rip out wall and flooring in that room to get rid of the cat smell.

I would never buy a house that you already considered to be a bit too small. Babies come with lots of luggage! Swings, playpens, high chairs, bouncy seats, breast feeding pillows, baby tubs, changing tables, glider/rocking chair, strollers (usually more than one!), play mats, etc ... will you have room for all that?

Laundry is also a big part of life with babies.

Garage? Would not want to park outside when having to load/unload a baby in snow or rain.

Rating of the Schools in the town?

We have never regretted stretching in house size and budget, specially in the Boston markets of 1999 to 2007. We bought and sold twice in that period before being transferred.

#4 in your list of pro's says it all:

The layout is great and it actually felt roomier than some 1250 sq ft houses we had visited.

Yeah, and tall ceilings/ ample windows and light can contribute to a feeling of spaciousness too!

Are no. of bedrooms the same? What are you thinking you might need additional space for, and could those needs be accomodated in some other way?

Just to point out the down side of having more space to accumulate stuff--- you then tend to accumulate more "stuff"!

I dont know if Id assume cat pee was everywhere - its not unusual for people to put litter box downstairs and then forget to clean it, which then motivates cat to go outside the box. As the saying goes "out of sight, out of mind."

Your inspection could include bringing a black light device which detects presence of urine. If you find pee throughout the house, then you have concrete evidence with which you can then negotiate. If you don't, then you know.

$80,000 K is a substantial difference - that's real money! Re: resale, youll be fine. I assume this is in an older more urban neighborhood where people would have different expectations than if they were buying in a suburban or new development. Around here the very tiny ones (700 sf ) might take longer to sell but 1000+ is well within the range of normal.

My experience might be different from others, but here is my two cents...

In a large house you learn to live with things that you hated, while in a small house you grow to hate things you thought you could live with. Square footage makes up for a lot of sins. A small house can be great but it limits options and fewer options mean fewer ways to make things livable.

Having said that, having extra money can do wonderful things for your happiness. If you go with the smaller and cheaper house I would avoid sinking any more money into the house than you have to.

Layout can make a big difference in how a house functions. I do believe you can live with less square footage if you have a good layout.

However, 1,000 square feet is really small. That would give me pause.

You being able to picture your furniture and arrangements is encouraging.

The cat pee smell bothers me the most. I assume the basement is poured concrete, which can be porous. It is really hard to get rid of that smell. It might always be there. Smelly basements is always a no for me. (And I am a cat lover and owner, with cat boxes in the basement that are maintained and have nonporous materials under them;)

That said, this is probably not your forever home, and the market is insane right now. Saving $80K when you are about to have your first child is really nice. I am a fan of buying under budget whenever possible.

Our current house is much smaller than what we were looking for, but the location is right and it had the number of bedrooms and bathrooms we needed (we actually took out a bathroom). With 7 houses under our belt, I finally learned the golden rule of real estate means something.....location, location, location. It makes life better, no matter the size of the home.

Hi All,

Just wanted to thank everyone once again for your input!

We visited the house yesterday once again, and even prepared an offer to have on hand if we decided to go through with it today. We slept on it one more night - rather, I slept and my husband read about basement smell remediation (turns out the current owners don't even have cats, yikes), and in the morning both agreed that we had too many reservations to go ahead. It's very hard to walk away from a beautiful house that is priced so well, is in a great location and is move-in ready, but between our concerns and my gut feeling it just wasn't the one for us. Hopefully we won't regret it by the end of the season!

There's an old saying "if in doubt, don't"!

It's definitely hard for me to distinguish regular anxiety before making a big life change vs that bad gut feeling since they are so similar when you are in the moment. But the more I thought about putting in our offer, the more I caught myself wishing it wouldn't get accepted - that just doesn't seem like the right kind of feeling before buying a house you love.

Similar thing happened to me over the winter....we were looking at townhomes in Florida for winter vacations...found one that we really liked, but when it came down to signing the contract, I felt uneasy. Glad we didn't, as now my Mom is mentally not doing well and I have to be "here" and not "there"!

We moved from a 1500 sq. ft. home to one just under 1100 sq. ft. I really wish I had more space. Very minimal closets and small bedrooms are not my friend. We did add on a 3 season room, but there is no storage in there either. I miss closets!!!

We are in a 1200 sq ft condo with minimal closets right now (granted it's mostly open space, so the 1200 aren't nearly as efficiently laid out as in a single family home of the same size), so I do think that ultimately we will be better off in a slightly larger space. I like to think of our condo as our "starter home", so we've already done that, and now we can afford to up the comfort level a touch.

Well, your gut told you to pass, so that's the right choice; you probably never would've been really happy there. Hopefully something you love will come along soon!

Do understand that because you are pregnant, the desire to "nest" is real. It's hard to step back and think about buying a home as a business decision. It's a business decision first and foremost. Just try to keep that in mind.

While you passed on this one, another one will be right around the corner.