We have found the house we want, and selling ours is about the only thing standing in between us and it. Here's hoping that no one takes it in the meantime!

We went out looking at houses again yesterday (forgive me - I never actually remember to take the pictures that I intended to take for our PHOTO blog, but I can download the pictures of the outside from the listing site). We actually like a majority of the houses we visited, and if one doesn't work out and another does, we'll be pretty happy.

Oh yeah, but we have to sell this house first...

We actually agreed extremely easily, after walking through the one that I had posted the picture and aerial view of in my last blog, that that was the house that we really want if everything works out just right. It doesn't look huge from the outside, so we were pleasantly surprised with how much space was inside. The amount of closet space can compete with the storage space we'd get with a basement. It was built in 2006, so even though someone's lived there, it's fairly new and not in need of a whole lot of TLC. I am happy that there isn't any debate that, if we had to choose today, this is the top choice for both of us.

I'll go through the ones we looked at yesterday. Keep in mind that they are SE-RI-OUS-LY marked down right now. Really, most of the houses on the market right now are foreclosures, and in viewing the records, a couple of the ones below were originally bought for more than $100K than they are listing.

The first one is in my elementary school's district. That would be neat. It's extremely conveniently located...probably about 3 or 4 miles from where I work (right now I am 7). How nice would THAT be! It's excellent inside - not much on the square footage as it looks like it'd have, which cuts down your cost of living nicely. The master is on the main with three additional bedrooms upstairs and a little front room that we'd use as the office space. It's listing for slightly less than our #1 house, but in need of a bit more TLC around the edges. It has about 5 feet of backyard and then a fence that backs up to the main road (not the greatest), but you can see the neighborhood pool from the front. Lots of trade-offs always!



The next one we visited is also in the same neighborhood as #1. This one's listing a bit over our bottom line, but not so much that we don't think we could negotiate it down below that number. It's a little nicer than #1, as it has hardwoods throughout the main level and berber carpet (I would hesitate to spend the money to replace it, as apparently the owners request that all who walk through it take their shoes off...I think I could live with it if there's not routine shoe traffic). The main down side to this one is that it backs up to a wooded area that could eventually be built upon, and we have no idea what the plans are for it. Wal-Mart? That, and it already has 2 offers on it. We're not counting on it being there by the time we could potentially buy it. When and if, of course. Here it is:



The next one is listed even more than that one and would need even more work, so based on price, we can pretty much exclude it. We like the other too much to think about paying more for this one. It's also strange in that it's in the part of the neighborhood where there is a little mini-street where you access the garage and the basement on the back of the house. There is no backyard...I guess if you were to grill out, you'd be grilling down by the garage, right off that little mini-street. I think I could live with that in light of the gorgeous fixtures that it has throughout. Everything is upgraded. It's also nice that the previous owners left behind tons and tons of junk (but also a really nice pool table in the basement). This is one is one of the more significantly-reduced houses - $110K from the original sale price, to be exact. Talk about a long-term investment! But - we are cognizant of our upper limit and don't particularly want to become a statistic. Here it is:



Next we went up the road a few miles and looked at this house. It was advertised as having a basement, but it actually doesn't. This one is listed well below what we are willing to accept for our house...and I mean, we're not selling our house for an exorbitant amount of money. How nice that would be, but this one doesn't have any more space than ours does and would need a whole lot of TLC. It doesn't have a backyard, but rather a concrete jungle because it's another one where the garage is accessed through the back. Unfortunately, nothing about it screamed that we wanted to live there - it's too far away from work, especially for Andy, and it doesn't have a pool. Ixnay.



Next we went to the adjoining neighborhood and looked at one where it's brand-new, and construction has halted until there is a buyer who can choose all the fixtures. It was really nice, and it does have an unfinished basement. Again, though, too far up the road. Our realtor also pointed out that it's not a good idea to move into a neighborhood where only half the lots have been built upon because it might be a sign that the builder can't afford to complete the job. Another builder could take over the project, and there is no telling what kinds of houses might go in there. I suppose they could decide to put in $1/2-million houses, which would benefit you, or they could put in houses worth significantly less, which wouldn't help your own home value.



FINALLY - we went to this one. I am not a big fan of the neighborhood itself. It's in a great location, has a beautiful lake in the middle (actually right across the street from this house) and swim and tennis, but I'm not a big fan of most of the house fronts. This one, in a vaccuum, however, is GREAT. It was obviously custom-built on the inside - beautifully done. It has a basement and more rooms than we would know what to do with. Everything but the kitchen counter is upgraded (literally). In order to get it sold, it's obvious that it was repainted and recarpeted. That's definitely a plus. This one is listed the most out of our price range, but GREAT for the price...They would have to take a massive hit and be extremely desperate to get down to our number, I think. Who knows, though - I bet the banks are pretty desperate right now. If price wasn't an issue, I might be in favor of it over the others. Here it is:



And that's it...that might conclude our house-hunting until we definitely have a reason to house-hunt. Who knows!