A hunting we will go....

[Ryleigh]

dk's and I are off to Toronto tomorrow to me dh. It's been weird with him gone all week. Teacher confrence day here, so we decided to head out and do some more house hunting. We didn't get the "dream " lot we wanted.: so much for the Idea Box village (We don't want to rush into anything, but have to be out of our house by July 20th. We do have relatives we can stay with for a few weeks if need be but thats a last resort deal on my part. They have 4 kids under 8 that 'rule the roost' so to say. With my two added to the mix, it is just crazy. Dh has a few houses and lots lined up for viewing starting at 10:00am to we have to get an early start. dk's should be home from gym. shortly after 8:00 quick bath and off too bed.

[darlene]

Hi Ryleigh. Hope the hunting is successful! I wish I could offer to babysit for you while you look. I have a feeling that our kids would have a blast together!

:)

[KarlaB]

Good luck with your house hunting!!! Something wonderful will come along! :)

[JAK]

Happy house hunting! Hopefully you find something you like.

[Lynda/WA]

When we moved from California to Washington we rented to give us more time to find a house. At least around here once you live in the house for a minimum of time set by the lease (6 months in our case) you can give them one months notice that you are leaving. Perfect timeframe for closing and all that.

How are you going about looking? We have house hunted before so knew what we each considered that most important features and which things would be nice but were up for negotiation. We sat down and made a three part list. What we wanted and wouldn't give up, what we wanted but would compromise on and what we didn't want. I'm not sure what the guy we had helping us was called. He didn't sell houses just acted as a middleman between us and the seller. he would print us up a listing from all the different realtors with our minimum requirements. Pplus we would get the paper and start crossing things out. We looked at everything within our price range and then looked at where it was on the map. Too far from DHs work or in a gridlocked area and we excluded it. Some more houses were excluded based on what school the kids would go to. We tried looking for those in the best two schools but discovered even junk houses sell for alot in those two. We did all that without even leaving the house.
Next came the external driveby. Since we have (and always will have!) a boat that was one of our external tests. One of us could drive by and mark the house as possible or no-go. Many of the houses we looked at have steep drives. Didn't even look at the house any further than that. Some (like this one) didn't already have a built in rec vehicle parking area but had the space. Yard size was another factor. We didn't even consider many of the new houses since around here they have dinky yards. We also looked at what else was in the area when we did our driveby. One house was excluded because it had a low income apartment building (starting to look rundown) out of sight 2 blocks away. One was excluded because it backed up against a protected area. We didn't want to have to worry about future restrictions that would spread to our back yard as well. A couple of the houses made it to drive-bys at night only to get excluded because we didn't like the *feel* at night.

I'd say we did that for over a month excluding nearly every house out of hundreds. We only walked inside of a couple but when we went in this one we immediately knew it was what we wanted. It's not a dream house but it met all of our requirements. Ironically, this was a house we drove by on accident when we became lost looking for another house. They were having an open house and we were the first (and I think only) people to stop. They were selling it on their own so they weren't on the realtors lists. Plus it's on a street that is only one block long. Hard to find just based on the address but very easy with simple directions.

Good Luck!

[Melody]

Good luck with the hunt. I used to love looking at houses. It is hard though when it's rushed. When we sold our old place we didn't have much time to find another and we lucked out that this just came on the market. I didn't get it for the house itself though, we liked the location and the yard.
Hope you find what you are looking for.

[RCT]

Good luck sweetie, you'll find the one that wants ya....have faith...its so fun to go looking at the neighborhoods and the houses....relax and enjoy...you will find something...

[Ryleigh]

No luck yet. The kids found the house they want. The people in it now have an arcade type room with lots of video game machines, pin ball, a pool table, air hockey. etc. They don't believe that the stuff is leaving with the present owner.
We saw one that wasn't bad but needs a lot of repair work. (new roof, new windows, carpets, and definate paint job. The living room is a real dark royal blue. One bedroom is neon green with a orange boarder. what were these people thinking?? To each his own I guess but it not for me.
We did check into renting a couple of different places and may go that way for a month or two but hope to have our own place and be settled before the babies come. Moving is hard enough with two kids, five would be even worse.

[KarlaB]

LOL about yout dks liking the house with the "arcade". Ds is doing the opposite with our house and is worried about what we will or won't take when we move. I told him we get to take all of our stuff, so one day he asked me if we are taking the toilets and doors! :lol:

It is funny how different people's tastes are. The neon room would have been interesting to see!!! When we moved in this house one of the rooms had Holly Hobby wallpaper...the girl was in college! Needless to say, these people did no updating while they were here!

I totally understand you wanting to be settled when the babies arrive. Hang in there. I really think something will come along. I'll keep my fingers crossed! :)

[kat]

:lol: Neon green. My nephew's bedroom and all of his furniture is neon green. It is truely a nightmare!

[MaryL]

Karla remind me...when are you moving? I think I missed that post, but I remember reading about your house hunt and sale.

[KarlaB]

Originally posted by MaryL
Karla remind me...when are you moving? I think I missed that post, but I remember reading about your house hunt and sale.

We move at the end of July - I can't wait! I am hoping to get a big jump on packing within the next few weeks since dh is done with school on Friday. :yippee:

Thanks for asking! :)