Househunting: Week 2 Wrapup

Went out again yesterday for a slightly more manageable 8-house tour. Of course again we really liked the first house we saw. What is wrong with us?! Ha ha. The location and condition of the house were perfect. There's an attached garage and a big backyard. But, there's only one bathroom and it was just a smidge on the samll side with no basement. I was totally into it but Max did not seem convinced we could fit into a house that size. We'll watch it for now.

Otherwise we saw some homes in the north-central neighborhood that we love (Park Hill), but we didn't absolutely love anything. One house was absolutely filthy and smelled like cigarette smoke, one house was beautiful and huge but was situated on a fairly busy intersection, one house was super-close to my sister's house but was very dark and had an awkward layout.

We went south again to Virginia Vale/Virginia Village and saw a few homes that needed some work and one that was so filthy and messy that I couldn't even see past the clutter to imagine myself there. Think dirty underwear on the floor, dishes everywhere and even hairbrushes floating in the bathroom sink. Yuck! I think we decided we don't love that area enough to keep looking there.

I know it's only the second week so I definitely don't want to "settle" for the first house we saw yesterday. However we are going to have to compromise somewhere, whether we trade a brand new kitchen for one extra bathroom, a two car garage for a basement, or a great location for more square footage. There'a a lot to consider, especially when we both have strong opinions about some of those deal-breakers!

That's about it for now! Happy Monday and happy early Valentine's Day, too. xoxo

Week 1 Wrapup

So as I mentioned yesterday, we went out with Kari to get a look at a wide variety of houses in several neighborhoods. It was the day after our big snowstorm and we definitely got a feel for what the neighborhood roads would be like unplowed!

We started in Park Hill and immediately loved the first house -- of course! It had everything we wanted, was nicely updated and even had a few things we didn't even know we wanted - like a master bath in the bedroom and his-and her closets!

The next few houses are sort of a blur, but they included a house with a super-creepy fish tank (sans fish) where they were also burning candles everywhere (wonder what smell they were trying to hide?) and a house with shelves on almost every wall. There was one fix-n-flip we loved but it only had one tiny bathroom, and one house we both liked with an amazing kitchen and huge garage, but a very small living room. However, almost all the Park Hill houses had qualities we loved - brick ranches on quiet streets with unique architectural detailing like coved ceilings and arched doorways.

After Park Hill we saw two houses in Skyland and Whittier. We had seen the Skyland house online and thought it would be cheap and easy to update, but that was not the case. It needs a LOT of work and I don't think we are ready to replace 50 year old windows, knock down walls, gut a kitchen, etc. I loved the Whittier house - it looked like it was from a Pottery Barn catalogue - but there was absolutely no parking -- not a garage or even a parking space. While that is a drawback for Max, it's still on my list!

Then we headed south to the University Hills area. I had never really considered that area and I think I would have to do some more perusing before I decide if I like it! It's not as central as we would like but the homes are cute and we did see one with an adorable Ikea-remodeled kitchen. The funniest house we saw all day was straight out of the 50s, complete with mustard-yellow appliances, shiny lime-green wallpaper in the bathroom and even wall-mounted hand-mixer.

After all was said and done we liked the first house enough to warrant a second look only to find out it went under contract that day! BUMMER! But we will keep our eye on it in case something falls through and can't wait to see what else is out there next weekend!

First house hunting trip

Our sweet realtor Kari has been taking us around in the snow to look at 13 houses today! I'll write a more in depth post later but here's a couple of shots from the day! Check out that awesome bathroom wallpaper!

House hunting spreadsheet

This weekend we are going out with our real estate agent on a massive house tour. We haven't been in any open houses yet so it will be our first time going inside a house that's for sale (not just peeping in the windows)! Eeee!

Since she's showing us 10-12 houses on this first outing, I decided to make a list I can quickly fill out at each house -- that way when we get home I can remember what ones we liked the most!

Here's the worksheet I am going to use for each one:

	Date/Order:	House Address:	Neighborhood	Rating 1-10
	General Features	Must Have	Nice to Have	This House
	Type	House or Duplex	House
	Price	Under $210K	About $200K
	Age	No Preference	No Preference
	Sq. Footage	1000 sq ft	1400 sq ft
	Lot Size	No Preference	No Preference
	# Bedrooms	2	3
	#bathrooms	1.5	2
	___ car Garage	no	1
	Fireplace	no	yes
	Formal Living/Dining	no	yes
	# of floors		2
	Basement	no	yes
	Attic	no	yes
	Dishwasher	yes
	Laundry Room	yes
	Deck/Patio	no	yes
	Fenced Yard	yes
	Central Heat/Air	yes
	Insulation
	Upgraded plumbing?	yes
	Linen Closet	no	yes
	Walk-In closet?	no	yes
	Pantry	no	yes
	Quiet Street/Safe Neighborhood	yes
	Good Schools	no	yes
	Commute to work Tracy	20 min	10 min
	Commute to work Max	20 min	10 min

Kind of dorky, yes. But I am old-fashioned organized (still use a paper day planner in lieu of my iPhone calendar). Just wait until I show you my color-coded homebuying binder! ;)