House Hunting

Josh and I went to look at some houses that we've been interested in for quite some time today. We were supposed to look at 3 of them. The realtor we are working with informed us last night that one of the sellers to one of the houses got into an accident on Friday and wouldn't be able to show it today. As bummed as I was about it, I understand completely.

I was still very excited about going out and looking though and we had a good time doing so. We went to house #1 which I had already in my mind that we would not ever buy but I was curious what was inside it. It's on a very, very busy road with no fencing around it at all, so that pretty much ruled it out. The cupboards in it were ugly but those are cosmetic and could be replaced. The house is very deceiving though! We got there before the realtor did and as we were sitting looking at it, Josh says "If this house really is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house, then those rooms are going to be tiny! It's a whole lot shorter than our house and it just looks really small." I informed him to never judge a book by it's cover especially with houses! I was so right! The livingroom wasn't large by any means and neither was the kitchen or diningroom. They were all about average size. There was 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom on the main level of the house. Both bedrooms there had hardwood floors, which I really liked. Then we headed downstairs, and all I could say was wow!! It was Huge!! There is a Family room, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a storage room all down there. One room led into another to make a complete circle. The babies loved running through there. It was vacant so no worries about them getting into peoples stuff, so they had a ball. Josh couldn't believe it either. He was shocked at how big that house really was. Now there was 2 downfalls about it. One being that there was 2 bedrooms down and 2 bedrooms upstairs. That's really a no go with our family. I wouldn't want either of the babies down there either together or 1 down with Garrett. I also wouldn't want any of the kids upstairs and us down. Also, a fire issue is a big thing with me. If my kids were downstairs and I was up, would I be able to get to them in time if a fire broke out? Not in that house. The bedrooms upstairs are on one end of the house while the stairs going down, were on the other. It just wasn't safe enough for my likings with my kids being as young as they are. Our realtor asked what we didn't like about the house. Those were the things I said to him. So, on that note, we left there and headed to house #2.

House #2 is one I have had my eye on since I first started looking. I got onto a website, entered in specific information about what we wanted in a house and this one was one of the first ones to pop up. Since I started watching it, it has dropped $10,000 in price. When we were talking to the realtor today about it, he said that the seller is willing to drop it another $10,000 to whomever wants to buy it. Also, we were the very last people to walk through it. If we weren't interested, she's taking it off the market until spring. That's a good thing, because we fell in love with this house. Everything about it screamed "home" to us. There has been certain things we'd really like to a home but weren't necessities (I'll call them bonus features), that this house had. We couldn't believe how perfect this house was for us. The problem is, we can't buy until ours sells. So, I guess if it's meant to be, our house will sell and the door will open for us to buy that one. If it's not meant to be, well, then, it's not.

This house is another manufactured home that's been completely remodeled. You walk up and onto a nice sized deck (bonus feature). When you walk in, you walk into the laundry room. Then there is 2 bedrooms to the right, full bath to the left and the kitchen straight ahead. Josh has always wanted stainless steel appliances. This house has them (dishwasher, fridge and stove). It has the eating area in the kitchen with a snack bar that kind of separates the kitchen from the livingroom. The 3rd bedroom (master) which has a full bathroom, is off the livingroom. The livingroom also has a wood burning fireplace (bonus feature). Off the livingroom is a sunroom which has stairs that lead down to a full finished basement. Down there, there are another 2 possible bedrooms. They don't have egress windows, which have to be put in to make them bedrooms, but the realtor said that's a fairly simple job. Drop ceilings are down there and those need to be completed, but again, fairly simple and cheap job. In the main area of the basement, which could be a family room, there is a wood burning stove and a slider door that leads to the side yard. In the side yard, there is a fire pit (Bonus feature). This yard is HUGE! I can't believe the amount of space this place has for a yard. It is just perfect for 3 kids and all their play things. The driveway is paved and at the end of the driveway sits a 4+ car garage and a storage shed. To the side of the yard is a small ditch/stream but nothing big. This house is way out in the boonies, where my mother says they pump daylight LOL. That's what I want. A house in the country. Josh said on the way home "Everything you pointed out that you liked in there, I liked it too!" The color of the livingroom in that house, is the exact same color we had picked out to paint our livingroom here in our current house, and never got around to doing it. I asked the realtor if we could sign the papers on it today cuz I loved it so much! Haha! He laughed about it but later told me "If I never see you again, listen to me on this. Look through a house at LEAST 3 times before you buy it. The third and last time you come through, bring a home inspector. Usually what looks so great that very first time, doesn't look as great the next few times you see it. You don't want to buy a house and end up with buyers remorse. Once you buy it, you're stuck."

So, with that said, we wait to see if our house sells and then go from there. If it's meant to be, things will fall into place like they should.

We are hoping to get into house #3 next week sometime, although I'm not looking forward to it as much as I was before today. The realtor told us a lot of things about that house that have pretty much ruled that one out too, but I'm still interested in seeing the inside. House #3 sits in the middle of woods, seriously. There are trees surrounding the place. I'm not sure that much sun gets through to the house with all the trees that are around there. The house is all wood siding, which he said would need to be stained every few years plus treated for termites and other wood eating creatures out there. They would have a feast on all those trees plus the house. Also, he said there are some funny things about the foundation to it too. He said it looks like who ever built the house, wasn't a professional. Things aren't lined up, are crooked, etc. He said it wouldn't get a very good house inspection, that's for sure. Along with all those things, that house also needs quite a bit of work to it. So, this one is pretty much out too, but I'll still have fun walking through it :-D