House Hunting Woes & Preparing for the Tiny Bro

 

See this picture of my 4 year old self? House hunting gives me the same expression.

House hunting stinks. It is full on my worst enemy. We are in the process of searching for a house before baby boy gets here, and it just seems like the most impossible task around. The last 4 houses I loved sold while we were literally on our way to them. How does that even happen? Today I found one that was spectacular. I loved everything about it. It had only been on the market an hour when... kaboom. Gone. Sold. That marks 5.

Like... do people not have jobs? Do people just wait outside houses they like and run full speed ahead as soon as one goes on the market? Am I the only one who actually needs to tour a house before I spend my entire life savings on a down payment? Really... am I the crazy one?

The wild thing is, I live near Detroit. Yeah, that Detroit. There should be no way on this planet that houses in this area sell like hotcakes during rush hour. So now I'm at the point of pondering what this could mean. Is this God telling us that he's going to change our life plans? Is this his way of preventing us from settling when he has something bigger for us? I suppose this is the time where I need to just trust. That's a bit easier said than done. I need to trust that his plan is better than mine, and that he's got this under control. He's never out of control, so why do I stress?

I just want to feel settled. I want to have a home prepared for this baby. I want to spend time decorating a nursery. I want to "nest" and get everything in place. We can hardly fit our own stuff in our little 1 bedroom apartment in the shady part of town... so what will we do if the baby gets here before the house does? I know we will manage, but I want so badly to have a place that we can call ours.

The good thing about looking through 500 houses, is I've really narrowed down my necessities for a house. I've chosen a short list of things that are requirements for me and combined them with things my husband wants. They are simple. Very simple. Yet, so many houses don't even have one!

1. I want a garage. An attached garage is preferred. I don't know what's up with this area, but very few houses even have a garage. It might sound silly, but in Michigan we have the craziest weather ever. We only have one car... I want to protect that thing.

2. I want a fireplace. I don't care what kind, but it's something that I've always wanted. I know you can purchase fake ones, so that's always an option if we find one that we love without one.

3. Three or more bedrooms and 1.5 or more bathrooms. Again, I'm not looking for a mansion. I'm looking for something that can support a growing family.

4. A basement. Joe would love a finished basement, but even a normal one will do. Again, I've been through too many tornados in this crazy state not to have one.

5. Something that won't need a crazy load of maintenance. We are not handy people. Give me a hammer and I'll probably just hit you with it. (Okay, not really, but whatev.) I don't want to move into  a place that needs extensive remodeling to be livable.

6. Something that's not a little tiny box with walls. I don't need a mansion, but I would like something over 1300 square feet. I want to have space to have space. Does that make sense? One of the problems of our apartment is you can never escape each other. I love my husband to pieces, but sometimes I need my bubble.

7. Safe. I just want to be in a neighborhood where I feel comfortable letting our son out to play. 



See! That's it. I feel like my list is realistic. I don't need a 10 acre yard with a pool, or some 5000 sq ft mansion with a spiral staircase (but if you are offering....) I just want a simple home that we can raise an extremely awesome little boy in.

So, here goes another week of seeing what God's plan is for us. I would appreciate your prayers as we try to get this stuff figured out, and that I would be at peace with whatever we end up with. Here goes nothing!