House Hunting Problems

It's been awhile since I've posted about our house search...and nothing has changed since the last update.

I'm feeling pretty frustrated, not because there's nothing out there or because I want to be done already (well, both are frustrating, but not the main cause of frustration). I really really really thought House #4 was going to be it for us. And because it's not, I'm feeling let down, bummed, sad...frustrated.

I thought you'd be The One!

I'll be honest: house hunting for our second house is MUCH harder than the first time. Last time had the usual house hunting requirements: this many bedrooms and bathrooms, under this price, etc. This time it's those requirements PLUS we have something to compare it to. And that just makes life harder.

We absolutely love the house we're in now. We really and truly do. The bedrooms are big enough, it feels open and bigger than it really is, the kids have a play room, I have an office and studio, there is so much storage space, it's a quiet neighborhood....the list goes on and on of how awesome this house is. The only problem with it is that it's in the wrong school district. Finding something just as amazing as this house within our budget is near impossible right now.

There are quite a few houses on the market where we're looking. Most of them are really nice houses or have the potential to be a really nice house for us. Some may need work or even a full addition to make it what we're looking for or need, which we don't mind doing...except they're already at the price where it doesn't make sense for our budget to do that. Other houses would be perfect, but we really like food and lights that work, and in order to get the houses, there would be empty bellies and lots of candles lighting our home because we'd be way above budget.

We have considered building. We've spoken to one contractor and hope to talk to another, but building a house plus getting the land is going to probably put us either at our budget limit or above it. We've thought about buying a run down house and just fixing it up as time and our budget allows, but they're either on waaaay too small of a lot or an online auction buying it sight unseen. Ummm....no, thank you.

But I want to see what your inside looks like!!!!

At this point we're still hopeful that we'll find something this year and are still finishing getting our house ready. There are a couple people who have expressed interest in our house, which is wonderful, and having our house sold would make the process a lot faster for us to buy...but we have no place to stay while we search, and on the off chance we don't find something until next year, us staying here without selling first just makes life easier all around.

So that is where we stand right now. We just keep plugging along on getting our house ready while we patiently wait for The One to come on the market!

What are some things you'd be looking for in a house?