How Important Does the Outside of House Matter to You?

Honestly, if I am to buy a house and live in it for the rest of my life, I'm not going to just "Settle". It's going to be exactly what I want inside and out.

Yes--because physical things can always be changed about the house. the location and safety of neighborhood can not.

M

I would go for the inside. Creative landscaping could be a way to spruce up the outside for a small investment.

What's under the roof is what makes a house a home. Some of the sweetest, loving, happiest families ever live in rusty trailer houses. It's all in your attitude, appearances are only skin deep.

We went the not so great outside, but completely updated inside route. We found, it is much cheaper to make the house look great on the outside, then renovate the inside. Shutters, landscaping, hardscapes, all kinds of things can be done to the outside...at a pretty cheap cost. In the inside, there is not only the cost, but living in the mess while you're remodeling. Also, you don't spend all your time outside. Here in Texas, it's hard to even be outside and enjoy the outside in the summer and winter. Yet, you see the inside of your home every single day. You look at and use the outside of the house, you actually live in the inside. I'd rather have the area I'm actually living in be very nice.

I kinda like that our home is deceptively unattractive from the outside--no one's gonna rob us because they would have no clue what's hidden inside ;-) j/k

Of course I would love to have a beautiful home, but it is not in the cards for us right now. Once we buy the house that we intend to live in for the next 40-50 years, we will go all out to make it one that we will love every time we pull up. I don't get that feeling right now when we pull into our garage. So, we will save and save and save some more until we can afford the home that we love.

Would you be able to do anything to the exterior to update it? You might be amazed at what could be accomplished to take turn an ugly home into the most beautiful one on the block.

V.:

If you can get the house of your dreams on the inside with the outside being "OKAY" - I would go with the INSIDE and then get the outside done when we move in...
Yeah - curb appeal is great. but if it means you can get the inside the way you NEED it - you can ALWAYS work on the outside and make it YOURS...

So yes, I would buy a home that doesn't look right on the outside to get what i want on the inside...I can always work on the outside...

if you had to choose between inside & outside then: what's on the inside is more important, sounds so cliche, lol

wow, that is really a tough question. Initially, i was thinking i would buy for the inside, because i'm a home body and that would be what would make me happy,
Then i thought, There is lots you can do to fix the inside, but i don't have the kind of vision to change the exterior of a house. Would painting shutters and planting shrubs really fix what you are talking about?? adding a porch or something??

hmmm, i guess i would have to see them and compare, What a tough decision.

If this is your Forever house, i would hope you could find something that fit better on both the inside and out.

What about the neighborhood as a whole??

I've had both. Beautiful on the outside and OH NO! on the inside and the other way around.

I vote for the beautiful inside. I've seen enough of both on the "fix and flip" TV shows that I would choose the bad exterior. That bad exterior usually has a tremendous impact on the value/price of a home. And you can live in the home while the outside is fixed much easier than trying to live in a home while the inside being is fixed.

If you have real concern for the very bad or outdated exterior that has your "perfect interior", call an architectual design company and find out what they would do to "fix" the exterior. That would give you some ideas and then you can make an informed decision.

(I guess its something like a person. I would rather have to give someone a make over on the outside, than to have to correct some serious character flaws on the inside.)

Good luck to you and yours.

Not without planning on eventually doing the exterior work needed to get the house up to some thing decent. I don't care how nice a home I have on the inside if I have to pull in the driveway to something ugly every day and hate what I see when I'm in my yard. I'm not picky and don't need high-end stuff, but if something were truly an eyesore, I would only buy it if the price were low enough that we could properly budget the necessary amount to get the exterior looking OK. IMO, a huge difference in quality and style between the inside and outside means poor planning on behalf of whoever started the updates.

It all depends. Some homes can have an outside make-over done relatively simply. Some, the outside issues are not really something that can be changed (a really strange shape for example... I have seen ROUND exteriors, or the very dated A-frame, lol). Or if you are not a fan of a long, flat roofed ranch...that could be very costly to try to change.
But, if you find a house that the exterior is pretty "normal" and you want to change from siding to a brick facade, or stucco or something... or add shutters and change the shingles from asphalt to tin or something...that would be not outside the realm of something to consider, assuming the inside was fabulous. Would I get a gorgeous on the outside, hideous on the inside home? No. There are plenty of homes on the market that it wouldn't seem likely to "settle" quite that much. :)

For me the inside should have everything I want. As for the outside, I would take time to make it the way I want it. I would much rather live in a place where it looks fantastic on the inside than having a nice outside and an inside where it would cost a lot more money to get the way I want it.

If it's a house I am going to live in for the rest of my life, then no, I wouldn't buy a house that I didn't love on the outside as much as I loved the inside (depending on the renovation possibilities). Short term, I'd be fine with it and work with what I had. But, if you do buy the house, and change your mind down the line, think about the resale value..what would the next potential buyers think of it?

i moved from a newer prettier curb appeal house with bad space to an older slightly less pretty house with great space.

When you have a family i think it matters more the inside, you can always make the exterior quaint over time with tweaks and landscaping but a bad use of space will forever be annoying.

..........im MUCH happier in the less pretty on the outside house.

Keep this in mind as far as "changing" the outside.
Big changes (structural, architectural)=BIG money
Small changes (landscaping, paint, carpet)=Small money

I think when you're looking for a home, it should "look appealing" from the curb, and suit your space needs on the inside. Like much of life, it's a balancing act and a trade off.
You will KNOW your house when you see it! Keep looking! At LOTS of houses.

Yes I would. I NEED the inside to fit our needs. Plus I love working in the yard with my husband while the kids run around and play. The outside wouldnt bother me much. Even if the actual house looks funny, landscape and some paint or switching out shutters can go a long way and an easy fix.

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Having moved around a lot, I've bought, leased, built and sold several houses. If this is going to be your last house, choose one that has the space you need/want, and the renovations you KNOW you can do/afford. Don't think you'll buy a frame and one day have it bricked. You won't. Don't buy one intending to build on the much-needed extra room, because you may never do it. So whether you get the exterior you like or the interior you like, let the desired changes be what will fit in your financial future. Toward the last of our moves, I refused to move in until the changes were made because my husband was such a procrastinator. We bought our current home six years ago, and only LAST WEEK did I get my bathrooms remodeled that he promised we'd have done "right after we move in."

You mention funny shaped houses. That sounds to me that you don't care for the architecture of the home and THAT is expensive to change. Let's face it, some ugly just can't be fixed. The interior changes would be much easier to tackle-some may even be DIY projects. If you were talking landscape, that is very easy to fix to your liking. Given the choice, I would definitely choose the house exterior that I liked and update the interior to suit me. More cost effective in the long run AND then you can get the interior you really want by updating it yourself.

It is easier to move into a home that is complete on the inside, and solid structure but may need help on the outside(this will be your bargaining tool). It is easier to live in a house that is being renovated outside then living with Joe electrician and Sam the drywall guy arriving at 6am and asking you if you mind if they have a cup of coffee...since it's there. It is not too hard to spiff up the outside with paint trim, flowers and slowly upgrading landscape and plan for a year of what you both picture for the exterior of your home, look over the different possiblities either with a special computer program or with an architect($$$). Some things may be out of date in the shape and color but if it is the neighborhood, the price and in move in condition awesome. Or get a home that needs a litle of both and get your price that way just make sure that the move is very affordable to alter what you want to in the time line you expect and that the house is liveable without those changes in the event a job just disappears and you can't make those changes for awhile. Good luck.

I guess I go with the outside as well because we watched our neighbor who has lived in their house since 1968 change their standard subdivision home into a very modern, beautiful exterior that looks nothing like the original structure without changing any part of the general footprint and without them having to do anything more than go out the back door for 4 months. It is beautiful now and I am jealous their cost was about 20k.

Yes, if it was something we could afford to fix, and if it caused us to be able to get the house much cheaper. If it is a bummer to you and you know you can't get the house much cheaper because of it, and can't afford to fix it, no.

The outside of my house is pink aluminum siding - gag. But the inside - the part that I have to look at most of the time that I'm home - is exactly what I wanted.
I'll get around to repainting the outside when I can afford it, maybe even someday I'll b able to afford to have it bricked. But in the meantime, I live INSIDE the house, so that's what matters most.

Everyone wants the outside to match the inside, but sometimes it's not possible. you live on the inside, so you want it to fit with your family, the outside is something you can work on, but also, it raises your taxes. any improvements made raise the value and taxes, so what they don't see (inside the house) doesn't change anything. Good luck with your new home hunting!!

Would you rather work inside or outside? And is it more important to feel comfortable inside or outside? Are you indoor or outdoor people?

I'm an indoor person. As long as it didn't look like complete trash on the outside, I could take out a few shrubs, paint, etc. over time.

Yes. As long as the outside is well kept, the inside is the most important. I think the outside would be kind of hard to adjust, though! But definitely, out of the two options, I'd look for what's inside that outside.

The inside is most important but we also value that curb appeal.

We built our current home in Allen in 2000. Love the set up inside and outside.

The first home we built in Plano on a golf course. Beautiful home, a bit too small for us, plus it got old going outside in the back yard and getting the cat calls from golfers. The first few times were flattering, after that... It got old.

I love where we are now with some of the first basement homes in the area, backing up to woods and wildlife!

You cam spruce up an outside if you work creatively with landscaping but you can't cover up issues such as cracks, peeling paint, etc.

Good luck shopping for a new home! There are several nice properties in the area!

Yes. My living space is much more important. Its much easier to take your time on the exterior of the home. It will be much easier on your wallet as it is something that does not to be done before you move in or right away. You can completely change the way the house looks over time.
Good Luck! Happy house hunting.

You can always fix the outside if the inside is up to snuff.
Paint, siding, and even brick or stone can be added at a later date...
If the house has crappy curb appeal, the price is usually a little lower...

LBC

I think the way a house is maintained (not necessarily curb appeal--I'm talking peeling paint, roof damage, rotting facia, etc.) on the outside is a really good reflection of the general maintenance of the house as a whole.

It's easy to band-aid and stage the interior but if the outside falls apart then what?

Absolutley. You can always make changes and it's much easier to make improvements to the outside than the inside.

Depends. Would it be cheaper to renovate the inside or the outside of the house? I would pick which ever would give me the greatest resale value for the least amount of money.

Also, I don't do renovations that I know wouldn't have a return. For example, I wouldn't ever install expensive trim in my home. I'll spring for a simple pine "clam shell". It fits the house, looks clean and cohesive and was moderately priced. Bathroom, same deal. It's *oviously* what it is; a 1962 cabin in the woods. No use making the inside look like a colonial two story - no one would PAY for a colonial two story in the inside of a 1962 rural neighborhood cabin.