We’re not really in the market to be buying a new house right now, but after finding a listing last night that was intriguing and happened to be having an open house today, we decided to pop in and see what it was all about anyways…

The thought of our current house being a tad bit snug when our new arrival(s) show up later on this year has definitely been weighing on the both of us lately, despite knowing that deep down a) we’re not really in the right place financially to move this year, and b) considering that it would all need to be done this summer with a pregnant wife and me doing most of the heavy lifting, physical and otherwise, we’re not really in the right place psychologically to move this year, either! 😯

Which kinda stinks because it’s going to be even more of a pain to do afterwards, and also Christopher’s getting to the age where we really wish he had a proper yard to run around with the dog … one where we could put up a swing set, one where he could be goofy to his heart’s content without us worrying about him falling in the pool … again … because let’s face it, little boys see fences more as a personal challenge than they do any sort of actual deterrent.

Ultimately, though, today’s prospect was a no-go because despite being out of our budget – at least for now – although it had a great yard with beautiful landscaping that pretty much fully met our requirements outdoors, along with a very nice outdoor patio/kitchen area/general lounging about space, the inside was more troublesome and for that kind of money, the entire thing is really going to have to be pretty much perfect. 

Awkward space seems to be our biggest challenge that we’ve found both in houses we’ve rented as well as this one today and houses we looked at buying last time around … the current owners were technically using it – be it with a cramped pool table or some other kind of sitting room, but it’s certainly not how we’d like to use the space and having quite the list of requirements ourselves, we kind of need to maximize all of the space that we can, lest we be stuck buying some sort of refurbished hotel or something!

The good things that did come out of today’s house hunting adventure, though, are three-fold:

• We now know that about half an acre is roughly the lot size that we’d like, assuming a two-story house … as compared to our current 1/8-acre, barely a yard lot!
• We got a good idea on indoor square footage as well, though here I think we still have some wiggle room depending on how that whole awkward space issue plays out.
• And most importantly, after looking I came home to confirm my suspicions (and double-check the sales agent’s comments) and there are, in fact, many other homes with this size of a lot in our area. Not a ton, mind you, because suburbia does tend to cram houses together as much as possible, but still not the four that this lady cited, anyways!

Finding a new construction is still big on our list, too, so that’ll probably be our next step – to research and find the newer subdivisions that are still being built around us and then see the lot sizes that they have to offer… 😕