Recently, Russ and I have been spending a lot of our free time looking at houses. We are going to Open Houses, and checking out some of the newer developments, all in an effort to clarify exactly what it is we will be looking for in a house when the time comes to buy—the plan is get serious this coming February. So right now we’re doing our homework, becoming educated consumers. Here’s a little bit of what we’ve discovered so far.
First of all, you know how they always say don’t fall in love with the first house you see? Well, we didn’t. But we fell in love with the second house we saw. That was at least six months ago, and despite all the other houses we have seen since then, this particular model continues to be our favorite. Yesterday we went to an Open House in one of our favorite developments that features this model. I didn’t take my camera, but here are some pics off the internet that accurately represents what we saw.
First, here’s the living room, or “den,” as Southerners like to call it:
This house also has a formal dining area. Note the arched doorways and beautiful hardwood floors.
And here would be the guest room:
The arch motif is repeated. Don’t you love that window???
Of course, there was one thing we saw at this house that we gladly like to keep out of the buying price:
Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous. Apparently it’s a black and yellow argiope, and we googled this pic as an example of what we saw hanging outside the dining area window. Yes, we are still in the south here. Bugs are everywhere. Usually when we go to see new houses, where there’s yet a lot of construction going on, we’ll see a few crickets, sometimes some *normal* spiders. This spider was impressive. You might not be able to tell it from the photo, but it was a good 2-3 inches long.
But enough about the spider! Back to the house hunting! If we don’t get this model, here’s another from the same development that, tho not our favorite, was also nice:
It’s almost impossible to find a newer home that does not feature a fireplace with a nook for a TV above it. Russ and I agree that we would not put a TV in that nook, but would probably fill it in with bookshelves.
Also from this “second choice” house:
The pictures above are from the established development Harper Creek, which is on the North end of town. Russ and I both tend to prefer staying in the north end. Some of our other choices in the North end of town are in Clear Creek (the development right across the street from his brother):
(BTW, this tub with the window over it is also a feature in our favorite model. The bathroom also contains a shower stall.)
We also like the very new area of Hidden Meadows. Here are some pictures off the internet:
And here are a few possibilities on the South end of town. These pictures I took myself when we went out for a Sunday driving, exploring the neighborhoods:
We like Willow Ridge:
Diamond Ridge (note all the huge trees in the distance!):
or Windsong South:
I think what you’ll discover from these photos is that we are looking for a NEWER home, in a newer neighborhood. Personally, we are trying to avoid buying someone else’s bucket of troubles. So, while a house like this 1930 bungalow might be full of charm and character…
…it might also be full of mold and mildew, and badly in need of a new roof or air conditioner (if it even HAS an air conditioner!) So, all in all, we are being very realistic about our house hunting.
Well, this has just been a quick glance at the kinds of houses Russ and I are looking at. I also ought to mention that the houses I’ve pictured here range in price from $139,900 (Hidden Meadows) to $164,900 (the first Harper Creek house, but the seller is dreaming, she’s only had it on the market for one month and we expect to see the price drop perhaps $5,000 to $10,000 before she’ll actually sell it, based on what others in the neighborhood have gone for.)
Oh yeah, the 1930’s house I showed you was $249,000, but mostly because it’ss in the very heart of town, in the “historic district.” The places we’re looking at are anywhere from five to ten miles away from our jobs. That’s a comfortable distance, I think. And in the case of Hidden Meadows, the drive is extremely scenic and relaxing.
Well, I’ll keep you all posted on how the house-hunting is coming along. I have to say, at this point, it’s extremely fun! I hope the whole house buying experience will continue to be so.
