House Hunters

I'm not sure how many of you watch this HGTV show. I've been a fan for a long time, and I always thought that when we began looking for a new home, this show would help guide me in the right direction. When Dan and I first moved into our current home, the goal was to be here 5-10 years before buying a larger single family home. Our more recent plans had us thinking about moving in a year or two. However, a baby who doesn't interact with me every minute of the day had me bored and browsing the internet for houses. Suddenly, I came across one that seemed perfect for us: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a pretty backyard, and an open floor plan. The biggest surprise, though, was that it was right in our price range! I emailed it to Dan with the message that it was too bad we weren't looking now. Minutes later, Dan emailed back: schedule a showing!

So began what is now a full-fledged house hunt. It's like we can't help ourselves! That original message led me to schedule showings for 6 different houses (although we only could see 4, since one declined and one - the original house! - had a contract on it). We also went to some open houses yesterday. Did we find our dream home? Not quite.

Several homes were perfect except for one thing. There was the house that was beautiful, but the backyard was almost non-existent. There was the huge house that was moved out of in a hurry...very dirty, but very inexpensive...I would have ripped out the carpet, painted the walls, and been a happy girl. Well, except for the fact that power lines ran right through the backyard. Somehow, I couldn't envision Emily and Owen swinging on a swingset under the humming electrical lines. Then there were the not-so-perfect homes. The one that boasted several different wallpapers in each room. The one that I thought I'd love - I'd coveted the neighborhood for quite some time. Then we went in. Someone should tell these owners that cleaning the mold off of showers, the toothpaste off of sinks, and the dirt off the floor could work wonders.

We've picked up packets from two different builders putting up new neighborhoods, and there's a third one that we are interested in. We are meeting with one of these builders to discuss options and how much they would add on to our model's price. And tonight, a realtor is coming to look at our house to figure how much we could sell it for. Nevermind that we wanted to get new carpet on the second floor or redo the basement. We'll see what we'd get selling it as is. Chances are, we may wait until next year anyway, but in the meantime, we are having lots of fun doing our own version of one of my favorite shows.