House Hunters!

We are unofficially official "house hunters"! After Mike was off work today, we went to look at houses in Medical Lake. We looked at a split level, the "Washington" which I am utterly in love with and a rancher with a basement that Mike really liked, but is about $30k more than we want to spend.

My parents were with us and agreed that the "Washington" would be a perfect fit for us now. We would have room for one child and a baby. Then it would be time to move. But I figure it would be 6-7 years before we would be too big for this one. It meant a lot to me that my parents liked the house that I had already set my heart on. They're very experienced in the buying a new home field. They've had 3 build from the ground up. It was very comforting having them with us. They know all the questions to ask and what to look for. My dad noticed that the "Washington" had nicer cabinets than what the spec sheet had listed. If we built the same house from the ground up, we would have to pay extra for the "oak" cabinets. And this house is already $10k less than building from scratch. I'm not in love with the oak cabinets, but I could always refinish them later... Brad did mention that if we built from scratch, the stain doesn't cost extra on the cabinets, but it does on base boards.

Tomorrow I'm going to call the lender back and get the application process rolling, then I'll call the realtor later this week and probably go out "house hunting" again this weekend. I really have my heart set on the "Washington", but I understand that I need to keep an open mind and look into the possibility of a older home.

I was pretty focused on asking questions and "ooohing and ahhhing" at the house, so I forgot to take pictures. The only one I got is of the front walkway. I mentioned the cool rocks embedded in the side of the concrete...

I am just bursting with excitement about being a potential homeowner.

I'm nervous about the whole mortgage process. Will we qualify? How much can we borrow? Will we be able to afford a house we like? What about property tax and homeowners insurance? How much will it cost to heat/cool? The cable company is a small local place, but the realtor (I'm going to call him by name now, Brad) said they offer high speed internet and High Definition video. The upside is they're probably cheaper. Comcast is absolutely raping us. $125/month for high def/DVR in one room, basic analog in one room and high speed internet... We will really have to tighten the wallet on any and all unnecessary spending. Maybe we'll cut digital cable and hook up an antenna... We may cut out Netflix and online gaming. No more take and bake pizza.... It would be good for us to cut out all that stuff anyway. Maybe it would help with eating healthier and that's already a goal for 2009!