What We Want (In a House)

House hunting can be fun, but daunting at the same time. You save a lot of money to have a down payment and/or closing costs and spend a good chunk of it quickly. We've been looking on and off for about a year now and still don't have a house. Since last year we've expanded our budget and added a new location that should make it easier to find a house, yet we're still having a little bit of trouble.

Here's our MUST have list...

1. 3 Bedrooms and 1.5+ baths. This way we would be able to have a second child and not have to move if we had a girl or the second bedroom was too small.
2. Parking. We need to be able to park our cars in a designated area whether that's assigned parking, a garage, or driveway.
3. It must be decent. We can get over some cosmetic things and work with it, but if it's a major issue, then we're really not interested.
4. A yard. Doesn't have to be huge, but enough that our little guy can play safely when he's a little bigger.
5. A good location for my husband's commute. It also must be safe. Since he takes the train in, this is important.
6. Adequate storage. Just enough so that we wouldn't have to throw everything away or rent a storage locker.

Things that would be nice to have, but not a must have...

1. A garage.
2. Basement.
3. Attic.
4. A neighborhood with sidewalks (which is rare around here).

Overall, we're just looking for something that is comfortable and would work for our family. We're looking at more houses tonight and this weekend so I guess we'll see!

Continuing our Search

We put house hunting on hold for a while. It was only for a couple of months, but it was well needed. It seemed like every time the realtor and I got together, she would mention something else that we would need to have money for before we could buy. Obviously, it wasn't as easy as it was made out to be and we decided to talk to the lender in April to make sure we knew exactly where we needed to be.

Yesterday we had a talk with the lender and found out that we have enough to purchase with one type of loan and just a few months away using another type of loan. It all depends on which loan the house we want qualifies for.

I'm happy to say we are no longer looking at an FHA loan. It was super stressful since our budget is limited and we would possibly have to do a rehab loan which would make everything more expensive. Instead, we can look for houses knowing that we can put work into it, if needed, over time as long as it's not an immediate need.

So, we're looking at one house and two townhouses on Tuesday. I'm happy to see our options, but not getting my hopes up too high that we will find the right one.

It's hard because everyone is telling us we need to be in our own place before the baby comes, but we (and Phil's parents) agree that if that is not what's best, then we stay here and continue to save.

I'm glad we have a back-up plan, but also miss our own space sometimes. It's still working out much better than I ever thought it would so that's definitely a blessing.

House Hunting

After months of looking online for houses we were finally able to go on a few showings! I know it can take a while and with the baby due in September, we're trying to find a place that could work for us.

So far, I've seen a total of four houses with my friend since my husband has a deadline coming up and he's super busy. This way, we weed out the bad houses and my husband gets to see the ones that are worth considering.

House #1

It said it was a two bedroom two bath house. The pictures were great and made it look like there was a ton of potential. When we went inside, the first story was decent. Kept up well and mostly usable space. Part of the ceiling in the kitchen was a little low, but not terribly. Then, we went upstairs. It was an older house with the steepest stairs. Once we got up there, the ceilings were so slanted that there were parts where I couldn't even stand up...and I'm short! There was no real closet and the stairway was super unsafe. That was not going to work. Plus, the backyard fence could be touched by spreading out your arms from the back of the house. 

House #2

This was, by far, the most interesting situation. When we pulled up, there were five cars in the driveway and a light on. I was surprised that the people could be home, but my realtor assured me that some people don't leave for showings. We walked up to the front door and there was trash in the bushes. Clearly, this place needs to be cleaned well. We were told to come in after knocking and there was a lady making lunch telling us to walk around. She couldn't answer many questions because she said it was her brother's house. This house had a ton of potential, but clearly the people there didn't want to move. There was trash all over and the deck had pots filled with frozen water just hanging out all over between the empty beer bottles and bags of fruit. It was interesting. There were a total of four people upstairs and all of them said to look around. When we went to the basement they had turned it into three more bedrooms. Some of them were vacant, but one of them had a man with no shirt on watching tv in the dark. He told us to turn on the lights and look around...ok. One of the doors was locked and after looking at the rest of the rooms, a teenage girl came out in her pajamas from sleeping. What?! They knew we were coming! It was so awkward. Fortunately, we decided to pass on that house because it literally backed up to the railroad that gets pretty busy and is in the middle of town.

House #3

Best location ever! Adjacent to the library and across the street from a park and wonderful elementary school. Plus, it would put my husband 10 minutes closer to work. We were really hoping to like this one. The outside of the house looked great and the yard was amazing. The inside, however, left much to be desired. There was no space for a queen sized bed so the current occupants were using the living room as their master bedroom! The kitchen was decent, but we would have needed all new appliances. This house was disgusting and not kept clean at all. They had a cat (or two?) and had their litter boxes out and litter all over one of the rooms. We really tried to envision what it could be, but with the cost of renovations and the time it would take, it wasn't the house for us.

House #4

Is my favorite so far! It's small quaint and cozy, but has been updated well. There were only a couple of downsides like the one bathroom on the lower level and the second bedroom is a little small with slanted ceilings, but other than that I loved it. It had a great yard and so many wonderful features to it. It's going for a great price so I'm taking Phil to see it Monday. The realtor says it's going to go quickly and there's an open house Sunday so we'll see. If it's taken off the market by Monday, then it's not the right house for us.

I'm looking forward to taking my husband with me Monday to continue searching. There isn't much in our price range right now in any of the areas we would consider. Hopefully the market will pick up with spring coming soon!