the right choice (we hope), part 1

Ok, so we put offers on the first two houses we ever looked at - maybe not the best idea. House #2 falling through put us in a bad place where we were scrambling to find a place to live. We looked at countless houses online, and visited 6 in person, before deciding to build. After seeing other houses, we felt great about our decision, and even in hindsight, felt better about the offers we put out, and even relieved that things worked out the way they did. 

Well, maybe not happy with how everything played out, but nevertheless, happy with the end result. Here is a brief history of what we saw, starting with the two I already mentioned.

House #1: The Quick Offer

3 bedrooms + bonus loft, 2.5 bathrooms, 1800 sq. ft. This house was the very first house we looked at, and we loved it. Built in Oak Terrace Preserve, a neighborhood we love, and next door to good friends, and with a lot of the upgrades we wanted. The third floor loft was additional space we weren't looking for, but liked immediately. Bedrooms all on the second floor, hardwood first floor and carpet everywhere else. We put in an offer, and got outbid.

What we liked: 

• The neighborhood, and even better, the neighbors!
• The first floor plan: nice and open with multiple spaces
• A loft that could become 4th bedroom
• Huge front porch, second porch off master bedroom, AND screened in back deck 
• Beautiful! Grey house, black shutters, gobs and gobs of curb appeal.
• Hardwood floors, granite countertops, and an overall 'green' home

Not-so-much:

• Master was big, but other bedrooms were rather small
• Top of our budget
• Little to no yard
• We would need to paint over everything

House #2: The one that went very far

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1200 sq. ft. This was the serious house that we got pretty far with before it fell through. It's drastically different than the first one we put in offer on, but man, did it have CHARM. It was warm, welcoming, cozy, and under budget - win! We knew it was small, but it was equivalent to the rental houses we had lived in comfortably, and we though it would be a great first house. We put in an offer, beat out other offers, and went as far as we could go before the appraisal came back low and things crumbled. 

What we liked:

• Same quadrant as the previous house, and definitely a nicer area of Park circle
• Loved the open layout, and the fenced in backyard
• Hardwood great room and master bedroom
• For a small house, it had 7 closets and a garage, so tons of storage
•  We loved the idea of making it ours and slowly fixing it up over time

Not so much:

• Size. Was definitely a concern that we would outgrow the house faster than we could say "sold"
• While we loved the idea of fixing it up, we had a LOT we wanted to upgrade, and it was intimidating (not to mention, pricey)
• Backyard was fenced in, but would need a lot of work. 

After House #2 fell through, we looked... A LOT. We looked at countless houses online, made a lot of calls to houses we saw signs for (most already under contract), and kept our realtor busy. Here are a few houses we saw in person. 

2300 sq. ft. 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. This house was... strange. The sitting room was great, as was the master bedroom, but the house basically made no sense. The 5th bedroom was a converted garage and the 6th bedroom was a mother-in-law suite you could only access from the backyard. There was awkward half stairs and sharp turns, awkwardly shaped rooms, and in general and awkward layout. Is 3 awkwards too much? Also, no garage or driveway. A HUGE backyard, but this was definitely a "no" for us.

2100 sq. ft. 3 bedrooms + loft, 2.5 baths. This house had the exact same layout as the first house we saw and put an offer on. On a cul-de-sac, and across the street from an open park square in the Oak Terrace Preserve neighborhood. A decent sized yard, already fenced in. But, and a big but, was that is was WAY overpriced. Unlike the first house, this one was in bad shape, and if the first one was doable-out-of-budget, this one was a "no way".

1400 sq. ft. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths. For sale by owner, a couple who had bought the hose and remodeled to resell. The kitchen was pretty, but still not great, and similar to the other hose, it had a lot of awkward areas to it. Big fenced in yard, where there used to be a pool, but now stood a big tree, and circular filling 'path' (and a diving board, oddly enough). We passed. 

Then the two we loved. This was a hard Hard HARD choice, and even looking back, we are still surprised we made the choice we did in the end. That being said, I still think it was the right one for us.