A Hunting We Will Go

In 2012, J and I began our house hunt.  We had browsed through Realtor websites for a year previously and we were ready to start taking the hunt more seriously.  We have very specific wants, but a very short list.

And NO Split Levels!

Thankfully our wants could balance each other out.  If the home had an unfinished basement with an option for another bathroom and bedroom (or 2).  I was fine looking at a 2 bath 3 Bdrm home with one living space.  And J didn't care where the project was - landscaping, basement, remodel, garage addition.

To make things more difficult?  Our budget would waiver $200k depending on the home.  Some homes we looked at would be at the top of our budget, but would have barely any projects.  Other homes we looked at were nothing BUT projects and fit nothing on my wish list until after a remodel.

The first home that stole our hearts.  And no, I'm not sourcing it - privacy for the owners.

The first home we were TRULY interested in and checked off everything but a 3 car garage.  However, the longer we thought about the home, we realized the layout would not be something I would want with young children.  We knew the home we bought would be the home we raised our children in.  This home had a gorgeous master suite on the main floor and 3 bedrooms upstairs.  I don't know about you, but walking up and down a flight of stairs with a baby, or a baby and toddler, multiple times a day did not sound like a fun idea.  The walk out basement was fully unfinished and a great project for J.  But since this home was at the top of our budget, the likely hood he would get to start working on it right away was slim.  We had to furnish the home too!

We contacted the builders and saw a few more floor plans they've built.  For a solid 5 weeks we were sold on building our home and were looking at neighborhoods they built in.  As time went on, the idea of waiting up to a year for the home to be finished wasn't selling us on building.  Also, we didn't like the locations of a lot of the neighborhoods.  The Helena Valley is vast and the thought of commutes on 2 lane highways during the winter didn't appeal to us.

I finally convinced J to work directly with one Realtor so we could set up multiple viewings of houses on one day.  We had just been calling the listing agent to set up a time to see homes, but I was ready for a more focused search.  I called the Realtor who showed us the first home we loved and sent her a few addresses we were interested in.  Later that week, I found a home that didn't have a basement, but had everything else.  It was an older home, so it didn't have that one main living/eating space.  You know what I'm talking about - the kitchen, dining and living room are all one big room.  I was NOT a fan of that layout (which made house hunting even harder).  I like have a bit more separate and defined spaces.  

I contacted the Realtor and added it to the list on a whim.  We hadn't looked at a single home without a basement.  J was adamant he wanted a basement.  This home was in an amazing neighborhood, with great potential!  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it.

To be continued......

Part 2 Here