October 16, 2012
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Houses.
I am getting so discouraged with finding a house! We really want to live in the town where we’ll be working (also the town where we moved from when we moved over here), and it really just doesn’t seem like there’s anything out there we like! I mean…sure…there are some that are “good enough”…but I HATE spending money on something that is just “good enough”…you know? And yes, I’m probably being ridiculously picky, but lord…how hard is it to find houses that have tons of windows in a wooded area? The rest I can either rip out, install myself, or paint to make it how I like it…but the wooded area is a biggie. Hell, I can even add windows! I just hate how so many of the houses that are for sale are in new housing areas, which are essentially fields that have been plowed down to make room for more houses. No mature trees, some places don’t even have mature grass yet.
Jamie has planned for our house hunting trip to be mid-January, and while I know there is time for more houses to come on the market, the winter is notorious for being a bad time to sell. I’m afraid a lot of people will wait a few more months until the spring/summer to put their house on the market. We get 10 days to find a house when we go home…which isn’t much time. We’ll go through our pre-approval prior to that, so we’ll know what the bank will loan us, and we’ll definitely be looking at houses online, as well as working with a realtor, but I’m just nervous. Sigh…I have to keep faith that it will work out and we’ll find something that we like, or else I’m going to drive myself nuts.
So…for now…I’m just looking at places online. Hopefully something fabulous will pop up! If so, I’ll post it on here and show you all!
Hope all is well!
XOXOXO,
K.
Comments (8)
House hunting is always a huge letdown for us too. We see some decent things online and then in person they are immediately out. Ryan saw all the houses we liked online in 2 days and vetoed all of them. I was freaking out, so we had to increase our budget. Our budget was definitely conservative to begin with so it was no big deal, but my big thing is to NOT get into a more expensive house every time. I know you know this, but there is no perfect house….but like you said, all you want is a mature neighborhood with a wooded area. Seems easy enough! Have you checked other places like http://www.fsbo.com? I know that can be a pain, but might be worth looking into. We also have another resource here called Valley By Owner which we wouldn’t have known about unless the locals told us about it (it’s basically for sale by owner). Just make sure you know of EVERYTHING on the market. I don’t trust realtors to find a house for us. And maybe just try to increase your budget a little bit knowing you can get a great deal on it right now
We increased by $50k in our budget, but still got the house within budget!! Good luck…i know all too well that disappointment and frustration!!
@ShamrockLover - No, you are so right…there definitely is no “perfect” house…sigh. We’re definitely looking at a “conservative” budget right now…we’d like to get a 15-year mortgage, while still be able to put away 30% into retirement (which is what we’re doing now). We’re also looking at only using Jamie’s income, because there’s no guarantee that I’ll work after we have kids. I just hate the idea of spending so much money on a house…I’d really like to stay under $250k, but I feel like we might have to increase. Sigh.
I haven’t checked out fsbo.com, only mibor.com and all the realty websites for the big realty agents (century 21, Remax, etc.). Our company pays for a realtor, so we’ll definitely use one (since it’s free), but still do a LOT of legwork on our own (because I’m paranoid and want to be sure it’s all done right). I’m just worried we won’t find something, which I’m sure you totally understand. Hopefully it works out though!
@One_Sly_Bookworm – do you check out http://www.realtor.com as well??
@ShamrockLover - Yep! Plus…we’ve also used Zillow and one other app. Keep them coming though, I’ll take any suggest I can get!
@One_Sly_Bookworm – Sounds like you have everything covered. We don’t mess with for sale by owners either for the same reason. I think there is a foreclosure and/or short sale site if you have the patience for that! And after Christmas you will see new things on the market. Better if its not on now bc it might get snatched up!
We looked at 84 homes before picking. Yes, 84. I was super picky. Started at way under budget at 400,000-450,000. Went up to 500,00. Still couldn’t find anything-a lot of homes that had the space we needed for our family needed things done and at 500,000 I felt that I shouldn’t have to do work to it. I ended up increasing again and bought at 611,000. Not as far under budget as I would have liked but oh well. Hard to know what to do.
Oh and it was torture looking at that many homes! :)
Wow that is not a lot of time to find a house. is there somebody back home who’s judgement you trust and who’s taste is similar to yours that can check out some of the houses in person that you find online?