If you were to buy a new house...

[guroo270]

What would you do to it, what wouldn't you? I.e. "I wouldn't buy Berber carpet because my dogs nails get caught up in it." Etc. real wood floors, I'd leave em cause they're solid, or I put in new laminate, manufactured wood because it's the bomb.

[Art Shirk]

Make sure there's no poo under it, install ergonomically sound ball rests on each sink and purchase a timeshare as a fall back domicile.

[Elkhound Odin]

Make sure the house is on high ground.

[doughboyshredder]

Make sure that if there is hardwood or laminate flooring that the contractor put a good underlayment down. For some ridiculous reason some contractors will put in decent $5.00 sf flooring and skip the .10 sf underlayment leaving you with a floor that makes so much noise you can't walk across it at night without waking someone up.

[Bunion 2020]

2 dishwashers.

One for dirty, one for clean.

[gatorboy]

Are you "building" a new house...or buying a previously-occupied house?

I've never built a house....but I would think:
1) wiring for entertainment system (speakers, HDMI, outlets behind wall-mounted tv)
2) wider shower base (but one in our basement recently....it's awesome)

that's all I have

[Obstruction]

Just like the dirt pimps say location, etc, etc.

[El Chupacabra]

X2 on the question: is this a "new to you" house, or is this "new construction"? -- either being custom-built for you, or a tract house that a builder will construct with some finish & trim changes that you can make.

[KQ]

At my age I'd make sure it was ADA compliant - doorways big enough for a wheel chair. One level. Showers wheelchair accessible etc. etc.

Oddly, I got this idea not from thinking about being old but from my skiing accident that put me in a wheel chair for 2 months. My place at the time worked well and it got me thinking - shit happens and if you can it's nice to be able to stay in your own home.

[muted]

If you buy an older house, buy a house with the least upgrades/fixes as possible. You may believe all are easy fixes you can do over the years, but they always take a lot more time than/money than you think. You'll have plenty of house fixes and places to spend money over the years no matter what, believe me.

[guroo270]

I'm planning on buying a small three bedroom and making it an open two bedroom both masters. Split floor plan.

[nickwm21]

- shower head at 90" AFF, not 72"
- deep utility sink in the garage
- urinal in the garage
- no carpet
- hot tub
- built in grill and sink outback
- built in speakers for living room, backyard, garage, and kitchen

[PNWbrit]

2 dishwashers.
.

The dryer also always needs emptying before you can put wet clothes in it.

2 dryers.

His and her's laundry rooms? Obviously I'll still need two dryers.

[t-the-east]

Decent or zero neighbors

on some sort of water - brook or stream, but high enough above it that it'll be safe from flooding

Private

Garage/workshop

Not something that's been added on and pieced together over time and over several different "carpenters"

[Bromontana]

Make sure the house is on high ground.

agreed - must be a legal state. CO/WA/OR

[spankthepow]

two car garage. 1/2 for the car, 1/2 for the toys/shop

[MontuckyFried]

Make sure that if there is hardwood or laminate flooring that the contractor put a good underlayment down. For some ridiculous reason some contractors will put in decent $5.00 sf flooring and skip the .10 sf underlayment leaving you with a floor that makes so much noise you can't walk across it at night without waking someone up.

Haha. Yup. It's amazing the stuff that builders skimp on. I think their logic is if the buyer's not going to see it, then it doesn't matter so why spend the money. So annoying. I deal with this in the audio world all the time. Cable's cheap, yet in order to save the 2 cents per foot, they'll toss in the teeniest tiniest wiring available do inexcusably long runs with said crap wiring. I've had to replace quite a bit for customers this year due to bad interference in speakers, pink snow on their sets from failed, poorly installed, crap quality HDMI cables (you can go cheap which is fine 99% of the time, but then there's TOO cheap), etc. "Oh, underlayment for tile? Meh. Who needs that?" This being in an area with lots of minor seismic activity. Cracked and loose tiles all over my house. The only stuff done right is the stuff I've ripped down to the joists and studs and redid from scratch. I'm not the only one. Lack of underlayments for laminate, tile, and everything else is an epidemic around here. Hell, they even skimped on the foaming of my windows as my freaking trim is drafty and I have to redo all that too. Damn you, cheap ass contractors!!!!

[SKIORFORGETIT]

fireplace is a must

[TahoeJ]

Thick padding under the carpets - makes a huge difference and they last longer too. No matter the flooring surface, never cheap out on what sits beneath it.

Good call on the higher shower mounts above.

Also, do as many projects as possible before you move in. It's just so much easier that way. I still need to finish the damn base boards on my addition.

[Caucasian Asian]

- shower head at 90" AFF, not 72"
- deep utility sink in the garage
- built in grill and sink outback
- built in speakers for living room, backyard, garage, and kitchen

Extra long garage w/8' garage door
Corner sink in the kitchen. Islands are for prep and eating, not washing dishes.

[::: :::]

i'd buy something from an era that used good materials & details, and make sure no one has fucked it up with bad remodels.
solid materials, good details -- the rest is adjustable

i like KQ's long term thinking too

if new construction, that's a much longer post

[KQ]

i like KQ's long term thinking too

Another thing I learned from being in a wheelchair was, make sure the toilet is positioned so you can get the chair beside it otherwise moving from one to the other is a nightmare.

[Mazderati]

Proper seat height, too. Walk-in shower with a seating area.

[guroo270]

I'm a big fan of showers that take up a little more room and have no door or curtain. I'm hoping to do that.

What about energy saving Windows and water heaters? Which ones? It's gonna be hot as fuck so I figure good windows are worth the extra dimp.

[fatnslow]

Don't forget mirrors above your bed so you can do your hair in bed.