House Hunting

Do you know how many houses we looked at?  A lot.  I've never been more thorough.  We discovered houses to be quite expensive here.  Since we still own our home in Rexburg and it will probably take a couple years before we can make any money on it, we are renting.  We started looking in May but quickly found that it was pointless.  All the homes were available right away.  We tried realtors; funny, you don't make a lot of money from renters, so most just waved us off.  All except one realtor...Ed Toohey.  He sent out emails to other realtors and we got a lot of great leads but nothing that worked for us.  So, we settled on a townhouse and worked to finalize the deal.  A week before we were to move, the deal fell through and we had nowhere to live.  We quickly called Ed and he offered us a home that was under contract.  A home he owned.  He offered us a great deal on the rent and was very accommodating.  When we do buy, we will use him.  However, since the house was under contract, that meant we would have to find something more permanent soon.  So we looked...and looked...One house we loved was fairly new and had an unfinished basement.  Three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  It was great except one of the bedrooms had been made into a formal dining room with french doors.  Doesn't make for a very private bedroom.  AND it cost $1900/month.  It was a nice home, but in the end, not that nice.  I thought of the amazing homes we could find in Utah for $1900.  Oh, well.  We looked at another home that was great...except there was carpet in the dining room and it was a twin home.  Another home had NO dining area. Some were on busy streets. One was an older home with steep (scary) stares and a non-existent kitchen. I'm sure you all LOVE reading about our househunting experiences, but really, we've never struggled this hard looking for a home. The one we are in now is great with a big kitchen, open living room, and master suite. The kid's rooms are large and we can keep this place clean. However, there is the carpet in the bathroom and the steep driveway...and the horrible, sand filled yard with the scattering of desert weeds.

We love this house, but the neighborhood is...well, we are eager to move on. A couple weeks ago, we were school shopping. Shem has decided to go all cowboy now that we're, you know, in Wyoming.

So, we went to Boot Barn.  Everything is so expensive in there.  I sat on a chair and allowed Shem to wander the store (with my eyes locked on him) in his content bliss.  Chris and Todd joined us, Chris looking scuffy with his lack of shaving (going on 2 weeks), cut-offs, and a BYU-Idaho shirt.  It's that shirt that led us to our home.  Another family came up to us and asked about the shirt and a long story short, they were members and they had a home right across from them that just went  up for rent.  That weekend, we decided to take a look and the next week, we signed a lease.  We move in September 1st.  It's not our dream home, by any means, but we know that kids live nearby, that we'll have good neighbors, and that we are one step closer to that dream home.  This will be our 10th home.  with all the houses under our belt, we know what we don't want in a home (small yards, retired neighborhood, no closets, etc) and what we can't live without (a decent kitchen, walk-in closets, a master suite, yard). 

 I look forward to settling down, but in the meantime, I feel like I'm getting to try out a variety of homes.  I will tell you, NO CARPET IN THE BATHROOMS OR DINING ROOM for us!