House Hunting

Our apartment lease is up next month!  Which means....time to find a house!  Looks like we will be staying in the tri-cities, so we have been house hunting.  It has been quite a while since John and I last bought a house, and that went so easy I barely remember it!  This time around, we are taking our time to find a place where we can be settled in for the next 10 years or so.  I have in mind the amount of "house" we need/ want.  3-4 bedrooms, kitchen with plenty or counter top space, a dining room, a basement, and a backyard.  Not much, riiiiight?  Ok.  So it's quite a bit of house for the amount of money we plan on spending.  Which I think is starting to frustrate our Realtor slightly.  We have now been house hunting twice.  And we found a house in Elizabethton and a house in Kingsport that would "work".  But it's not EXACTLY what we're looking for.  I decided today that we should start looking for houses in a higher price range since we can mostly likely negotiate the price down.  I think this will help our search immensely.  I told the Realtor that I "like to cook and we have company in a lot".  John jokes that we want a mansion for $100,000.  He's just kidding - sort of...  :) 

It's hard to comprehend that we could be moving again soon.  Into a very permanent place.  John and I haven't lived anywhere more than 3 years (?) at a time I believe.  If it feels this unreal right now, I can't imagine how I will feel on moving day!  It will be so nice to have a place to call our own though and we're making sure it's everything that we need.  We're not settling or rushing into anything this time.  And believe me when I say we have all of you in mind while we're shopping!  Whether it be if mom's wheelchair can fit through the doors or if there is a place to put guests up for the night.  So we expect everyone to come visit us in our SPACIOUS house just as often as you have patiently crammed into our tiny apartment!

John and I both silently wondered how difficult this would be dragging 2 little boys along with us.  Would you believe they LOVE it?  The first day Eric was so excited to see the first house that he cried when we left.  We explained that we were going to look at more and he was thrilled.  After every house he would ask if we were going to look at more houses with my friend (the Realtor).  After the last house, we had to deal with a complete meltdown once we explained we were done looking for the day.  I'm not sure why it excites him so much, but it has made the process more fun for us.  He walks in and says "Wow!  This house is HUUUUGE!"  with the exception of a foreclosure that we checked out.  He walked in first and said "This stinks!"  And he was right.  I don't know if it is customary for people of foreclosed homes to saturate the carpet and floors in urine or if those people just lived that way, but we are done looking at foreclosed homes.  Unless of course there's a foreclosed $250,000 home running less than half price!  In above average condition.  :) 

We will keep you updated on what we find.  Here are a couple of houses that I am hoping to look at.  They seem ideal.  Maybe one of the m will work out!

http://www.remax.com/property/78195378-60210283/1535-Parton-Dr-Kingsport-TN-37660/

http://www.remax.com/property/75487067-60210283/302-Virgil-Ave-Kingsport-TN-37665/

http://www.remax.com/property/79304658-60210283/1353-Catawba-St-Kingsport-TN-37660/

http://www.remax.com/property/77288517-60210283/3016-Hi-Dr-Kingsport-TN-37663/

http://www.remax.com/property/71213585-60210283/4821-Tinker-Ln-Kingsport-TN-37664/

http://www.remax.com/property/79350076-60210283/457-Independence-Dr-Kingsport-TN-37660/

Cast your votes!