House Hunting

Well, house hunting has officially begun. There are a bunch of open houses tomorrow that we're going to go to just to get an idea of the type of houses we can afford, and what to expect.  I'm really torn about where to focus our energy when it comes to finding a house because Vain is working in Hartford, but I'm not sure I want to live there.  It's quite a ways from our friends and the city, but Vain's commute is already 25 minutes just from my parent's house so basically anywhere but Hartford would add more time to his drive that he's not sure he wants to do.  I don't blame him for not wanting to drive more than 30 minutes to work, but I feel it's somehow less frustrating than living in Austin and spending 30 minutes going 5 miles.  At least he'd be going approximately 30 miles on that 30 minute drive and on most days it could be a relaxing country drive and NEVER a bumper to bumper road rage drive.

I'm also struggling with living in town, a subdivision out of town, or just plain country living.  I know living in Austin it was nice to have the sidewalks for walks and living in town would give us the opportunity to walk to the park, library, get ice cream, etc. which I think is necessary with small children.  On the other hand, living in the subdivision could provide us some newer houses and possibly an amenity center just like Austin with a pool and play ground and protection from busy roads.  On the third hand (I'm a mom...I have lots of hands!) country living is also appealing because it could become a permanent location instead of just a starter home.  We do have land and we can always sell that later, but at this point country living means a fixer upper with potential for remodeling drastically in the future.  There are lots of houses in our price range, but most lack character, trees, or are in less than desirable neighborhoods.  Getting out there and looking around is going to help us solve some of the dilemmas, plus we are being very picky and our list of must-haves is very long.  I know that once we start seeing some houses in person we'll be able to change our must-have list to something much shorter and manageable.

These are some of the houses I've been looking at.

3 bed, 2 bath, 1.5 car garage

4 bed, 2 bath, NO GARAGE=snowy cars, in the country

3 bed, 1 full & 2 half baths, 1.5 car garage

3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage, needs work-i think it's a foreclosure & it's not finished inside

3 bed, 1.5 bath, 2 car garage

4 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage