The Housing Search

I guess after the last post, I should add something about whether it was all worth it or not, huh? We were able to get in an entire day of househunting on Saturday. My in-laws were kind enough to drive us around the area and look at homes with us. I'm sure they were both pretty bored by the end of the day, but we enjoyed spending time together and discussing the various homes. I'll add here that our joke of the day was that they could feel free to add their 2 cents, but it might not buy them much. :)

I won't give all the boring details of the long day, but suffice it to say we looked at homes from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. with a short lunch break in between. By the end of the evening, Ryan still wasn't satisfied with what we had seen. He continued searching for homes in the Bothell area, which we decided felt like a better fit for us than Renton, where we had spent the majority of Saturday. The next morning, we made a few more appointments, went to church, then drove an hour back to Bothell for a few more viewings. On the last appointment of the day, we found a house we really liked, in a neighborhood we really liked, with a landlord who seemed really great, (that was one of Ryan's stipulations). We drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes and then drove back to submit the rental application. At this point, we're waiting to hear back from them within the next few days. I'll give more details once we find out what's happening there.

I realized a few things from our searching. First of all, the neighborhood was WAY more important to me than the actual house. There are things I can live without if the neighborhood is right. Secondly, I learned that I'm more picky about a rental house than I would be if we were buying. If it were our home, I'd have no problem changing up the carpet, installing new fixtures, installing a fence, etc. But, it's not our home, so I can't make those changes. Thus, the home must be good-to-go as is.

Overall, it was a very productive and exausting trip. Between our late hours, TONS of driving, and analyzing homes, we came home a little less rested than when we left. But, it was completely worth it in the end! I'll keep you posted once we hear on the home...