Sean and Monica love the easy life of Honolulu, HI. Monica has lived in Hawaii her entire life, but Sean moved there in high school, and then returned about 10 years ago. Since his return, Monica and him met at work, fell in love, and married six years ago.
Now the couple has two children together and a son from a previous relationship. On this House Hunters, the happy couple wants to upgrade their home to accomodate their growing children.
Wish Lists
His: Sean wants a contemporary home that’s only one story. He doesn’t want to have to walk up and down stairs. He wants a large rec room and a large backyard.
Hers: Monica prefers mid-century modern style homes. She wants something with curb appeal, and Monica wants a large open kitchen. She also needs a walk-in closet.
Despite their house style preferences, they’re willing to compromise as long as they have everything they need inside the home. They also want an enclosed garage, a double vanity, no carpet, and a bathtub.
Their budget recently increased to $750,000.
House #1, $650,000
The first home is a contemporary cottage. It’s about 30-45 minutes from downtown Honolulu. Monica loves the curb appeal, but Sean hates that it’s two-stories. The couple finds lots of cool design elements like a door arch and square windows throughout.
It has the large kitchen with stainless steel appliances that Monica wants. It also has double vanity an a tub. The garage is quite large, and so is the backyard, but the rooms are smaller than Sean would like. It also combines hardwood floor and carpet.
House #2, $629,000
House #2 is in the same area as the last home. It also has two-stories with stairs. However, to counter that undesirable feature (for Sean) there is a large yard, an open concept layout, hardwood floor, and a decent size kitchen.
This place also has a mixture of hardwood floor and carpet. The rooms are a little bit more spacious than the last home. It also has the double vanity and tub that they want.
House #3, $790,000
Sean finally gets to look at a single story home. The backyard is a lot smaller than the other two homes, but Monica and Sean think it’s a great size for their pets. This place doesn’t have a garage. However, it has this large extra space that could become Sean’s rec room.
The place also has a walk-in closet with a large kitchen. All the rooms are a decent size but not huge.
Decision Time: House #1 would have been our pick for them. It’s under budget and gives them almost everything that they want. House #2 just seemed like it would need too much work. House #3 also was cost too much for a home that didn’t seem that great. It also didn’t check enough of their wish lists boxes.
Well, of course they picked…House #3.
Sean and Monica said that they were willing to make some sacrifices to buy their new home. They also agreed to pay the asking price of $790,000. Sean joked that this would be their forever home because they couldn’t afford anything else.
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