Most places don’t work for you at all. They don’t even meet your basic criteria (such as needing two bedrooms and a place for a home office) so they’re easy to discard. It’s still kind of fun to get to know different kinds of houses without committing yourself to any one of them. 

Sometimes you’ll find a house that has a room that you really really like, maybe even love. The kitchen could be spectacular. Or there’s some funky room with a fantastic view that would make a great office. But the rest of the house doesn’t meet your needs at all. You seriously try to make it work in your mind but it doesn’t. You have to let it go. Oh, but that kitchen! At least now you know what you want in a kitchen. 

You continue on with your search. After a while, you begin to wonder if you’re simply being too picky. Perhaps there’s no such thing as the perfect house and you should settle for something that will mostly work for you.

The answer is “No way!” If you settle, you won’t be happy. For example, you may find a great house in all respects except here the kitchen is too small and there’s no real way to remodel to make it bigger. While you can love the other areas of the house, if the kitchen is too small, you’re not going to be happy in the long run. You know you need a bigger kitchen. Don’t settle. There are other houses. Have faith!

Having faith can be hard because there aren’t that many homes on the market at any given time. Your ideal home may have someone in it right now! It’s all a matter of trusting in the timing of the home being ready for you when you’re ready.

One day you find a house that appears to be perfect. In fact, you might go a little nutty and fall completely in love with it. You can’t stop thinking about it! You are desperate to get purchasing negotiations under way. But, for whatever reasons, the seller chooses another buyer. You’re heartbroken! So you grieve, shocked at the intensity of your sadness, at losing this perceived perfect house. After time has passed, you can look back. You realize that the rooms really were kind of small, and even though the house had a lot of storage and was in a great location, but your office would’ve had no windows. Losing this perceived perfect house turns out to be a blessing in disguise, a gift to help you fine-tune your needs. Just the right place will come along. And, when it does, you will know it in your mind, heart, and soul.

In fact, you will most likely find your next home when you least expect it. One day, you’ll walk into a house that’s on the market and you’ll be intrigued (you’re a little more cautious this time now, not wanting to get your hopes up too high or too fast). After seeing the whole first floor, you’re pretty amazed at what you’ve seen so far: Fabulous kitchen! Lots of storage! Cosy living room with fireplace! By the time you get to the second floor, you’re sold. This is the place.

The place might not even be “perfect”. It might not have everything from your list (Screened-in porch? Nope. View of downtown? Not here.) but the essentials are there as well as other things you hadn’t even considered (Fabulous office! Washing machine and dryer upstairs by the bedrooms!). You’re really smitten. You can see and feel yourself living there. That’s when you know you’ve found your new home.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to live in a home forever. You will live in a home as long as it serves your purpose. It’s not that you don’t love the house anymore but the house may no longer be right for you. So you move on. The next “just right” house is waiting for you when you’re ready. Sure, you may live in your home forever but chances are that you won’t. And that’s ok. That’s part of life. Enjoy whatever house you’re in right now in this moment because that’s what you have.

The same principles apply if you’re selling your house. Many people will look at your house and not “get” how great a house it is. They’ll get stuck on the strangest things (“We don’t like all the original woodwork. We’d have to paint it over!”). You don’t want these people buying your house!

Sometimes it looks like you’ve found someone who really digs the house and they make an offer and the ball starts rolling towards buying it from you. But halfway through the process, they suddenly pull out. You can’t take it personally when a potential buyer turns down your house. It’s often for reasons that have nothing to do with your house and everything to do with them and their situation.

Eventually just the right buyer will come along. They’ve fallen in love. They “get” how great the house is that you’re selling. And you want them to have the house! After much rigormarole including financing, inspections, and a couple of expensive repairs that you needed to make anyway, you sell it to them. You’re happy, they’re happy. All is well.

There’s just the right home for everyone. There really is. So have faith!