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Sunday, May 02, 2010

House Hunting

Last year when Joe found out his follow on assignment was in SC we discussed our options of moving on base, or buying a house off base. I did a little bit of looking at real estate websites to get an idea of houses that were for sale. But being over a year away from our actual move I didn't get very far with that. Plus it was hard to look at houses when I didn't really know any of the areas. I knew general areas to look in, but finding the subdivisions etc wasn't an easy thing to do.

I figured the easiest thing to do would just be to live on base. It's what I've done pretty much all my life. No big decisions to really be made about where to live because you only had a few choices...and base living is pretty much the same no matter what base you're at.

Living on base is my 'thing.' I'm comfortable with it and for the most part enjoy it. Sense of security and knowing all your neighbors are military.

I wasn't really ready to buy a house not knowing how long we were going to be in SC anyway.

So last week I followed Joe to SC since he had to report in to his new base. I followed him down there so we could look at base housing together and decide on which one we were going to take of the ones we were offered. Then I was going to head back to MD over the weekend.

Change of plans.

We're now on a house hunting mission to purchase our first home. We were both very disappointed in base housing. Surprisingly the kitchens were the nicest features about the 8 houses we were offered to look at (and being offered 8 keys was our first clue... that many empty houses meant that many families were choosing to live off base). Usually base housing kitchens are really small. These were actually really large with a lot of counter space. It looked promising. Then we saw the bedrooms. They were so small. We would have a hard time finding place for all of our furniture and toys and etc. There is hardly any storage.

So for the last 4 days we've been out looking at houses upon houses upon houses. It's been fun and exciting and exhausting and overwhelming. We have more scheduled to look at tomorrow.

I am so thankful the kids aren't with us because I can't imagine doing this with carting even one of them around from house to house. Thank goodness my mom has it all handled with them!

Not sure if we'll find 'the' one (but we are close) by the time I head back to MD; but we've looked at enough so if Joe needs to continue looking without me he knows what I'm looking for and we're on the same page with that. Plus they can send me lots of pictures and videos of any potentials homes!

I've never spent so much time online looking at nothing but houses ... and no blogging! My goodness am I behind on what's been going on with everyone! I think my bloglines is going to explode!

Crossing my fingers that we do find something to make an offer on tomorrow!

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18 comments:

Amy said...

That's so exciting! My only suggestion is not to rush too fast into it though and make sure you do all your research. We rushed way to fast (we bought our house in 2 weeks!) because we were PCSing here and now we can't really stand our house anymore. It's definitely been a learning experience for us.

Lacey said...

Are you still taking donations for Carly's family? I was also wondering if you are putting the names of the people that donated so they can see!

Bailey's Leaf said...

When we found our house, we just knew. I literally cried. "How do you know it doesn't have orange shag carpeting?"

"I just know."

You do. You'll find it. In the meantime, breathe. It's a stressful and exciting ride.

:)

Trace said...

Ohhh how exciting!! I hope you find 'the one'!! :)

Anne and Whitney: Up, Down and All Around said...

so very exciting --- i hope you find "the one" soon and can make an offer :) can't wait to see pictures of whatever house you guys choose!!!!!

nicole from much more than a mom said...

Oh, that's super exciting! Congratulations!

Melanie D. said...

Oh just hit select all and delete on your bloglines and enjoy your househunting! How fun for you guys. :0) I've been obsessively online house hunting for a city that we won't even know if we're moving to until Tuesday. It's strangely soothing, knowing we'd have a place to live if we end up having to move!

Bonita said...

Hope you find a home that far exceeds your desires and expectations. You deserve it!

Mom24 said...

Good luck! Exciting and stressful all at once. Hope you do find "the one".

Christina said...

How fun! Good luck - I hope you find the one you love!

Stephanie said...

Good luck! We are looking for a new house too! I am tired, lol!

Nancy M. said...

Good luck on finding a great home!

My New Life As Mom said...

Good luck house hunting and finding time to blog! So exciting!

Anonymous said...

Oooh! Fun! I love looking at houses. I'm so happy that Joe is home!

Shelley said...

Happy house hunting. I hope you find somehting great for your family.

Ladyblog said...

Good luck! It is very exciting and stressful at the same time. It is a good time to buy! My only advice is to check out the schools first because it will matter big time. We are moving again because the middle school and high school in our area are bad, something we weren't thinking about 5 years ago.

Sonya Marie said...

I love your blog and have been following it for some time now! I have nominated you for the sweet blog award! if you go to my blog your award is there :D thanks for enlightening my days :]

Pamela Stillman said...

I hope you find a decent house soon. Just a piece of advise, don't rush into buying one until you have researched and you are sure that there are no hidden concerns and issues about the house.

A cousin who works for a home inspection Minneapolis, MN company said that it is best to seek an expert's opinion first regarding the condition of the house from a certified home inspector before purchasing it.

Here in Minnesota, most Twin Cities home inspection companies provide a thorough inspection, thus avoiding buying problematic houses.


Happy house hunting!