House Hunt 2010 officially began last Sunday. Although we have been talking about buying a house for several months now, this was the first time we have been able to actually go out and look. Our months-long optimism was quickly squashed as our awesome realtor Anthony took us out to look at eight houses we had previously selected from online listings. From three-foot high water marks in basements, to accidental kitchen skylights, this quickly proved to be a more daunting task than we had imagined. Although we both like remodeling and redesigning, the first houses needed way more work than our schedules or finances will allow. Some painting and carpet replacement? No problem. But rebuilding a porch or replacing drywall in an entire basement? That is a different story.
This pretty much sums up the day: When I asked Brian what we should call this blog, he quickly replied with, “Houses of Horror: the Places and Spaces only the Young, Dumb and Broke would Inhabit.”
Despite a rather rocky start, the day did improve. We saw one listing, a cute little two-story 1927 house, that we both instantly saw the potential in. Although it did need quite a bit of work on the exterior, it has definitely become our house to compare to.
More than anything, our first day out taught us what to pay attention to, what to compromise on and that, in the end, finding one potential house out of the first eight listings isn’t really all that bad. We should have pictures from this first adventure up soon.
Next step? Making an appointment with the bank to see exactly what we can afford, getting pre-approved and opening a joint checking account (which will soon become our mortgage/utilities account). Once we have a better idea of our budget in mind, hopefully Anthony can take us out to look at some more listings– hopefully some of which are move-in ready.
Stay tuned!
