We Are Buying A House!

Before there was an "under contract" sign hanging in a yard...
Before endless papers needed to be signed and faxed...

We were weighing the pros & cons between "townhouse or single family" and "buy now or rent one more year."  Here's a little glimpse into our house hunting experience.  

We started in March of '10, but quickly learned we needed to save more if we were going to own in this part of the country.  So we established a relationship with a realtor referred to us by a family friend and waited another year.  In March of '11 we were good to go, so the hunt began.  I did a lot of pre-viewing while Matt was at work.  Crossed off some.  Revisited others.  All in all we didn't have to look at dozens and dozens of properties like I imagined we would.  It was similar to what one see's on TV and completely different too.  (By the way, my submission to be on House Hunters didn't pan out, but they did consider us and that made me just as happy!)  

We definitely learned to love what you could afford, and the scenario ended up being much better than I once imagined.  Before next week's reveal of the money pit perfect house for us,  take a look below at the homes that peaked our interest more than others:

The only two story home on our prospective list was crossed off fast.  Had a boxy and manufactured feeling, no storage and no dishwasher.  Looks are deceiving on this one, that's all I'll say.  The corner lot wasn't inciting either.  

Despite resembling an upgraded mobile home, this one would have stayed on the list longer had it a second bathroom.  The master walk-in closet with window, landscaped fenced backyard with patio and upgraded kitchen made us consider going back to being a one toilet household... but we snapped back to our senses.  Fast.  

This split personality was relatively spacious, had a deck and heated workshop/garage in a semi-private backyard.  But it was on a busy street, smelled like urine, had only one bathroom, an asphalt backyard and... perhaps the most bizarre sight in all our house hunting... a urinal in the laundry room. 

Though this booger had good bones and a good price, we stayed in it for all of five minutes.  Too much work to do inside.  And bad location, for us at least.  Someone else may love that it is directly across the street from a hardware store.  And gas station.   And pizza place.  And a nail salon.  And your mom.  You get the idea.

Now we're getting closer.  This charming rancher had small but capable bedrooms, a flat fenced yard, fireplace, sunroom and a basement to work with.  But no "it" factor for Matt.  After thinking about it more, I soon felt what he felt.  Or didn't feel. 

This cutie was a game changer for us.  Though it was t-i-n-y inside, it was immaculate.  Wouldn't have to lift a finger after moving in.  New windows, great flooring, two full baths (both of which were updated; the master having a jacuzzi tub, huge walk in shower & double vanity) fireplace, patio, and overall adorableness oozing out of it's everything.  Except it was t-i-n-y.  No storage.  No third bedroom.  No convertible basement.  But it was immaculate!  This house helped us realize we value square footage over updates.

 Little rancher #5 (notice a theme?) was the first house we contemplated putting an offer on.  The screened porch had me at hello.  As did the hardwoods, two amazing large updated bathrooms and ginormous finished walk-out basement.  Matt was enamored with the two story garage/shop wired with electric and heat.  But in the end, the miniature bedrooms and hard to define living/dining spaces made the sparkle wear off.  

This is the second to last house we viewed and something about it appealed to me very much.  Though it needed updates, it had larger rooms, two bathrooms, storage and plenty of living space.  The private wooded backyard was beautiful, but the long steep drop into a creek left no room to play or grow grass.  Matt had a hard time with the split personality.  Luke warm feelings from both of us weren't good enough, so onward we looked...