I think I mentioned before that we are in the process of buying a house. This is a brand new experience for us. We've been in our current rental house for 5 1/2 years and after getting the treadmill and having absolutely no where to put it but the living room, I realized we are so far past having outgrown this place it's ridiculous. I discovered our house is less than 1000 sq ft. It's no wonder I have a constant feeling of claustrophobia.
So I mentioned to Bill that I wanted to look into buying our own home. We had talked about it for a while as a "in a few years" kind of thing. He said to start with the financial aspect first. We didn't want to find THE HOUSE and then have problems securing a loan. So I made a few calls and was immediately pre-approved for the amount we were looking at spending. It was kind of surreal. We've been through some tough financial times in years past, neither of us really were prepared to have an answer that quickly. Yes, things are much better for us now. And we have little debt since both our vehicles are paid off, but it was still a pleasant shock.
So the hunt has begun.
It's the most frustrating and fun experience. I take turns being insanely excited, horribly disappointed, and wanting to run over Bill with our car.
Due to our schedules, we can only look at houses once a week. Monday afternoon. So I spend all week obsessing over the houses we find until we get to see them in person. And we really can't decide if we want to sacrifice some of the things we are looking for in order to keep the girls in their current school. Bill wants a big yard, preferably more than a acre. That's not going to happen in our current area so the girls stay in their school.
He wants land. A garage. I want 4 bedrooms and enough space to have my own craft area. It's not easy to find all of that.
Week 1, we lined up 5 houses. Bill had his favorite, which I wasn't thrilled about. But we found out the school district they'd be in had a reputation for being very racist and homophobic. Not ideals we want our kids to be exposed to more than necessary. So we cut that house out before we saw it.
House #1 looked very promising in pictures. Only 3 bedroom but had an attic that we could finish for a 4th. We got there and the yard was itty bitty. The house was small. The kitchen was wrecked and our first thought upon seeing the garage was "meth lab". We left.
House #2. Dubbed "The Chicken Coop" (we seem to have started a habit of nicknaming houses). 3 bedroom. Large yard with, you guessed it, a chicken coop. But the house felt cramped. Bill loved it. I talked him out of it because I can't go from one cramped house to another.
House #3. Huge house with a finished basement. Big yard. Tons of room. Stinky. Water damage in basement and it felt like a dungeon. Not well cared for. Disappointment.
House #4. 3 BR with a big yard and a pool. I loved the house. It was perfect. Bill hated it for no real reason. I was so mad at him.
Surprise house... "The Yellow House" We found a house in the midst of looking at the others. A very unique looking yellow house. I have always wanted a yellow house. The realtor managed to get us in to see it that day. I loved it. Bill found a million things wrong with it. Punk.
So, no luck. We spend another week combing through listings and lined up 3 more. One of which we both had very high hopes for.
House 1... The house we knew would be "the one"... Sucked. It had a lot of issues. I was crushed.
House 2... "The Secret Passage House" I didn't have high hopes for this one but it had everything we wanted. Large yard, garage, 4 BR, in the school zone. But it wasn't well cared for and needed a new floor in the kitchen. Not new flooring.... there was a spot that felt like it was going to send us crashing into the basement. But the house was a lot of fun to look at. It had a secret passage from the basement into the bathroom of the master bedroom. It just needed too much work for the price.
House 3... Nice house. Small yard. 4 BR. In the school zone. But for the square footage, it just felt tiny.
After talking to the realtor, we went to look at two more. The houses were perfect but the yards were tiny. One house had a manhole cover in the middle of the back yard. The other was so close to the other houses around that you could practically look in their windows.
No luck again.
We have 4 lined up for tomorrow. I'm trying to keep a level head but I'm so in love with one of them. Have been from the start but we hadn't seen it yet because it's a longer commute to work for me. It's dubbed The Monkey House. 2.5 acres in the country. Beautiful A- frame 2 story log cabin. Only 3 bedrooms but it has an unfinished basement. It even has a yellow door. (The whole house has been decorated with a jungle theme and the realtor says they have a real live monkey... hence the nickname) I am beyond excited to see this house. Then we also will see The Guest House (it really has a guest house), Boot Lick (reminds me of Deliverance but Bill wants to go look), and That Other Log Cabin (self explanatory).
Cross your fingers for me. My nerves can't take months of house hunting. I'm ready to MOVE!
Good Luck! I remember when my parents bought their house, we looked at soooo many, there was one I really wanted..it had a Brady Bunch feel to it and I just loved it, but my dad was the punk in this story who said no...hope yall find your dream house soon!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! Looking at houses is so much fun - as long as it doesn't go on too long, of course. And you get to clear out your house and throw out a heap of junk and start again.
ReplyDeleteMy first house was out in the country, very cheap with two and a half acres. Two and a half acres turned out to be a lot more work that I was expecting. It's huge! I only lived there for a year and in that time about half of it went completely wild. I got blisters mowing the lawn. I did love having an enormous vegetable garden and little orchard, but I just couldn't manage it all. So it depends what you want it for.