House Hunting and the Feelings involved

John and I have been actively house hunting for about a year.

The beginning:
There is an old firehouse in Medway, Ma. I loved it since I was a little girl. I wanted it since I was about 9 years old. I love the Ghostbusters so it some what stems from that. Massive square footage, 2400. A 4 car garage, IT WAS A FIREHOUSE FOLKS! The house itself was rough at best, and we missed this house by a day or two. I still whimper driving by, saying, "My house." as we pass.


Soon after we fell in love with a little lake front cabin in Hopkinton, MA. It was a 2 minute walk from my grandmother. Bad thing; it was listed at a point that did not match what the house offered. The house was a two bedroom, with a loft space, a whopping 900 sq ft. It was amazingly cute.  We passed on this house for a lot of reasons, the cost, the updates needed, the fact that one of the bedrooms was in the basement. Larry's only 8, he can't be 2 floors down, and not have an emergency exit. (I'm sure I'll feel differently when he gets to be a teen, and I will want him under lock and key forever.)

So we continued looking, slowly. We would see something that caught our eyes and we'd entertain the idea by going to the house and either being grossed out and just let down.

We have a hefty down payment, but we are only approved for 165K, well we WERE approved for that, the new year came with new laws, so we have a little less. OK, a lot less now.  It's so frustrating.

Living in a state where the realty is so pricy it makes it impossible to actually find a house we love, that doesn't need $100K to make it livable.

I'm no princess. I do not have anything against getting our hands dirty. We would love an older house with character and charm. We just might not find that in our price, in MASSACHUSETTS! This damn state.

We have seen at least 60 houses, ranging from move in ready at $210K to money pits at $150K. There is nothing we haven't seen.

I always question why people who are selling their house, not a foreclosure, allows the house to smell like there are dead animals in the walls. I'm not saying a lot of the houses are like that, but there have been a few.

We have it a little tougher than others, we have this area between John's work and we are hoping to be closer to his work. However we also feel the need to be close to his parents.

We went up to Fitchburg, because they're reasonably priced up there, it's about a hour and a half north of John's Parents, there's a larger crime rate and the schools aren't the best. The house was amazing. It was a Cape style home, with a decent lot, granted most of it was a hill, but it had 3 rooms, a craft room, an office, a large kitchen and dinning room, living room. The house had this adorable little closet that was like a hobbit house inside the actual house, I was imagining a little reading nook. We passed on the house, which we still sort of regret, because of the location.

We have put bids in on houses. We are aggressive but realistic about it all. We know what a house is worth, we have an inspector in the family, but with attachments and memories making all of it slightly skewed from the seller's aspects, it makes it a million times tougher to make a deal.

Often times, foreclosures come with a totally different price tag, they may seem amazing and cheap, then you find out all the copper is stolen and the house needs to be completely rewired because the electrical has not been updated in 50 years.

Also we have found a lot of the houses we love are riddled with Asbestos. We made an offer on a house, which was about $20K lower than asking, and they rejected it. We said ok, whatever, it's not worth a penny more, then we went back, and noticed that every pipe in the basement was coasted, in a lovely layer of asbestos. I can't look up, so unless it was at face level or lower I wasn't going to see it. These people, before the second viewing, called US back, kept lowering their asking price for us. They came within $2.5K of what we initially offered, not worth it. NOT AT ALL.

The feelings involved in this are a wide range. It's basically hit or miss on a house, but it is not easy. I have cried, moped, became instantly overwhelmed. I just don't know why people would do this more than 2X in their life. Then again if I was a millionaire, I would just buy houses for fun I guess. I would.

We have seen it all, one house in Bellingham had dog doors cut right into the wall. Another Bellingham house had a dead bird in it, we assume it wasn't a pet. We have seen mansions near colleges that are so old that they use Asbestos shingles, and lead paint on every surface.

We are bummed out about the dent into our mortgage options. This means looking at cheaper houses, or putting a larger downpayment. Both are options.

John's job is a big factor, and driving 2 hours (on a good day) is too much. I don't work currently, I'm between jobs, which is heartbreaking. I also don't drive, so the closer to a town center or at least some sort of food source is mildly important. I have a Vespa like scooter, but it's not ideal for the country.

We have a lot of learning to do in this area of life, but being closer to 30, and together for longer than some marriages last, we are ready for this adventure.

Here's to the next one being THE ONE!