*I started this post yesterday, but due to Bear's refusal to go to sleep in a timely manner, I didn't get to finish it until this morning.
Between yesterday and today, we've seen about 10 more houses. Our options are limited given our price range and CU Land's market--which is, it seems, always a seller's market. So after much debate and realizing we don't want to go over the amount we feel comfortable with (in reality, we could get approved for much more and we could also cover the cost of the down payment and closing costs, but we don't want to be slaves to our mortgage) we narrowed it down to three houses.
1. Square house: the house is a take on a Georgian, by which I mean it is a big square with 4 windows in the front. The advantages: it is, as Archer keeps telling me, a good, solid house. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, as well as a newer roof, updated plumbing and electrical, and a newer furnace. The kitchen has the original oak cabinets, which are in great shape. I'd update the hardware, but that is fairly minor. The basement also looks like it could be finished, making a smallish rec room. The disadvantages: the sellers put in a massive deck, which takes over the already small yard. Seriously, these people must have spent about $20,000 on this deck. It also has no garage, and it is on a really busy street.
2. Celtic house: the older couple who live here are clearly Scottish or Irish, as it is adorned with all sorts of Celtic symbols. The basement has a series of photos from the local Celtic Choir as well. This house is red brick with a picture window in the front. The advantages: it is also, using Archer's phrasing, a good solid house. It is about 70 years old, but it is in excellent shape. The couple who live there have taken excellent care of it. It has a new roof with 35-year shingles, a nicely finished basement, 2 full baths, and an eat-in kitchen. It also had a massive back yard with a lovely rose garden and a vegetable garden as well as a garage. The disadvantages: it is on the small side. Technically it only has 2 bedrooms, but there is a main floor addition that has a small deck, which could be used as the master bedroom. The bedrooms are also large enough that the boys could share one until they are older, at which point one of them could relocate to the basement room.
3. Cookie Cutter house: this is one of many brand new homes being built on the north side of town. It is in, as Archer calls it, Suburbia Hell. It is like any new development in the States. All the houses look alike and are incredibly close together. The advantages: it would be brand new, and we'd get to pick out all the fixtures, cabinets, etc. The development we're looking at would put us about 8 minutes from campus, in a very family-oriented neighborhood. Plus, our wonderful neighbors are looking at the same subdivision, although they aren't likely to move until next summer. The disadvantages: it is a new subdivision. We'd have to pay to put in the privacy fence and any sort of deck, as well as the flowers. There are no trees, and since we're looking in the newest section, we'd be living in a construction zone for about 2 more years.
So those are the choices. Realistically we could wait. We don't close on our house until August 30th, so we do have time to wait. But we're supposed to leave on Friday for the mammoth of all car trips to visit various people on the way to an 8-day stay in Home State. Given my mom's current state of being, we need to be in Home State by the 6th of July. She left this morning, and I'm anxiously awaiting the phone call telling me she survived the shuttle trip to the airport in Big City in adjacent state. I need to be in Home State to go to that appointment with her. I also just need this to be done. We've seen upward of 20 houses, and after the fiasco on The House, I'm really just done. I can't think about anything else, and I really need to focus on work. So it will be one of these houses, unless our agent comes up with something by tomorrow morning, we're putting an offer in on one of these.
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