And so begins the adventure...

So now we have our approval and I know what price range to look at. I scour all the real estate sites I can find looking at houses in that range. I had also emailed our friend, Judith Abbott and told her we wanted to start the process. She hooked us up with our lendor and then took us out on our first day of looking at houses.

Now in all of my website trolling I had fallen in love with a house that had been listed for 188 days. It had almost everything I wanted. Hardwood floors, big updated kitchen, 2 living areas and cute curb appeal. So when Judith emailed me about setting up a day to go see houses I sent her the link to the house and asked if we could include that in the list of houses we would look at.

The day arrives and we head off to look at houses. Wow. There was definitely quite a mix. Some of the houses we walked into and immeadiately walked right back out. A couple we spent more time in but figured they probably would not be around by the time we were able to gather enough cash for the 3% down required by FHA. Then we came to my website house. I was in love. The moment we pulled up I was happy and excited to get in the door. Once inside I was still delighted. There were a few quirks with the house I wasnt too keen on, such as the "glass" inserts in the kitchen cabinets that was actually plastic and the bedrooms that were very small. But I still loved it. Ron was not excited (he rarely gets EXCITED) but he liked it as well. So that's the house I kept in my mind that I wanted. I started working overtime at work like mad so I could get the downpayment together. All the while I am picturing the house in my head and placing furniture and thinking about what it's going to be like living there. I called my parents and let them know about it. I just couldnt get it out of my head. Everyday I would go to the listing and just look at it.

Then it happened. One day about a week later I went to the listing and it was gone. Someone had bought the house. It had been on the market for 188 days and less then a week after I look at it it's sold. I was crushed. Everyone had told me not to get attached but I had. My mom told me that just meant a better house was coming my way. Judith assured me that we would find a house I would love just as much if not more.

I decided to keep chugging along. I continued working all the overtime I could get (I'm averaging about 25 hrs a week overtime) and I kept browsing the realtor sites.

Then I got an email from Judith and the first thing it said was "do NOT fall in love" and it included a link to some houses she was going to go look at for us. The second house on the list I was immeadiately drawn to because of the architecture. It was a 1950s house with a unique design. No pictures of the inside but I did like the looks of the outside. The price was frightening as it was at the very top of our budget.

I had also found a few on the sites I wanted to look at including a very small house near the area that I grew up in. For some inexplicable reason I was drawn to that house.

So Friday comes and we go meet Judith and look at a couple of houses that I liked but didnt "fall in love" with. Then we went to the unique design house and I got to see the inside. *swoon* It was perfect. As soon as we walked in I had a good feeling about it. It felt like home. It is a large house (1811 sq feet) with a large kitchen and hardwood floors. It needs a LOT of updates but it has such great bones that even Ron liked it. I didnt want to get to excited yet, though. We still had the house in the neighborhood I grew up in to view. It was a much lower price and might be "the one". We took off to see more houses, include "the one". It turns out it wasnt "the one". While it was a cute house there was too many concerns about structural issues that we didnt feel would be a good fit for us as first time buyers. So while we are in that house we decide we want to make an offer on "unique design". We went outside and discussed it in length and we are putting in an offer on the house!