House Hunting

Eric and I have decided we'e had enough of the renting lifestyle and we are looking to join the ranks of the homeowners.  We've been saving long enough that we think we can safely make a solid down payment with a nest egg to spare.  We took the first steps by getting pre-approved for a loan at our bank and opening a savings account at Partners, the credit union for Disney cast members. Then today we went out with a realtor to look at a few homes in our area!  Here are the highlights of our favorites so far:

House A is in the neighborhood where we currently rent, so we'd save a lot of miles on the moving truck!  We really enjoy living in this community except that frisbee-ing is not allowed in our park (whose idea was it to make that rule?).  It has a big yard and the pool was recently redone and looks great.  Unfortunately, there's no fence and, though the exterior has just been painted, it's kind of a weird color.  It's pretty roomy with lots of closet space, and there is a neutral color palette so it'll be easy to customize it with our touch. 

House B has a cute red door but also sports an unappealing color combo outside--like rye bread with butter.  Inside, though, it's been recently painted a lovely gold color and you can tell it's been taken care of well.  There's no carpet, only tile, so we could toss out our vacuum and get a Swiffer!  This one also has a large yard and a pool, but it's a little further from where we work.  There also isn't much room for a formal dining area, just a little breakfast nook.

House C sits in the community adjacent to House B but is quite a bit bigger than its neighbor.  Although we were pretty excited at the prospect of 4 bedrooms and both a formal and casual living room, we can't decide if we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot by taking on more square footage to cool and heat.  It's definitely a home we could grow into as we build equity.  There's a pool, hot tub, and fountain, and vaulted ceilings in front.  The carpet needs some work though, and we might have to provide a new fridge, washer, and dryer.  The kitchen is spacious though, with lots of cabinet space, and a grand piano might fit through the double front doors someday! 

We're still trying to figure out the logistics--like the first-time homebuyers' tax credit (since Eric is technically not a first-timer by their definition until June 3)--but hopefully we've gotten the ball rolling enough that by the time our lease is up, we can move in to a house of our very own!