House Hunters

We are officially looking to buy a house! We've got our pre-approval for the loan, we've signed with an agent, and we've already taken a look at a few houses.

It's hard and it's scary. Yes, it's fun, but there are a lot of tough decisions that we have to make. Unfortunately our budget is tiny and there just aren't many choices here that are within our range. Statesboro hasn't been hit too bad with the economical problems that many of the bigger cities have. Local home owners are mostly older, well-established people, who aren't having any trouble paying their mortgages. So homes are holding their value pretty well, and they aren't selling for dirt like they are in Atlanta. It was so discouraging to look online at homes for sale in Atlanta and find that there are homes within our budget with up to 6 bedrooms! We can hardly find a 3/2 in that range here. Most of the ones within our budget are either in a bad part of town and/or they haven't been well maintained and need a lot of work. Since neither of us are particularly handy, a lot of work is not something we want to get into.

So, we've been met with some challenges. There are a couple houses we are interested in, one in particular. But there are things we'll have to sacrifice or settle with. For instance, in our current home we have a HUGE master bathroom with double sinks, tons of counter space, and plenty of ROOM to walk around and get ready in the morning. (we do not have a tub, though, which I would love to have one day) Most of the houses we are considering are older, built in the 70's or maybe 80's. And the huge master bath is somewhat of a newer concept. Back then the master bathrooms were actually smaller than the main bathroom. So, we're struggling with giving up the bathroom luxuries.

There are also just weird decorating things in these older houses---wood panels on the walls, hideous wallpaper, outdated carpet, dark wood kitchen cabinets, ugly colored kitchen counters, hideous tiles in the bathroom or kitchen, etc... Most of this stuff can be fixed or updated, but that takes extra money.

The main house we are considering doesn't have too many ugly features. It does have wood paneling in the living room, which is unfortunate. But we can just paint over it. I've actually seen online and in person several examples of painted wood panels that actually look nice. And if we still hate it, we can always take them down later down the road. The kitchen cabinets and counters are ugly, but we can paint/replace that stuff. There are couple other downsides--no laundry room (it's in a closet in the hall), and no actual dining area...it's shared with the living room space.

BUT the bedrooms are a great size which is unusual for most of these houses. It's in a GREAT location. The house is actually in great condition...there is nothing that needs to be fixed or replaced b/c it's broken or dangerous. The landscaping is gorgeous. And it's right next to a cotton field which is right up our alley coming from the country area we live in now. And it's just minutes from everywhere we go in town. That will be much nicer than the 25 minute commute we have now.

But then you still have consider if it's really where you want to live for the next several years. What if something better comes along? But then--what if someone makes an offer while we're making decisions??

Tough call.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to other than school work, church stuff, and working both my assistantship job and my internship. This is a crazy busy time. I can't believe I'm even taking this 15 minutes to blog! Consider yourself lucky! ;)

Wish me luck with the house hunting! Please be praying that we use God's patience and wisdom in making these decisions. And if any of you home owners have any advice, I'd love to hear it!

~Christy~