Feeling Optimistic

So it turns out that the home on S. Tallyho Drive was taken off the market because it is now vacated and bank owned. So I guess it's no longer a short sale! This could be a very good thing, since we wouldn't have to make an offer to the home owners and then wait to get an approval from them and then the bank, we would just directly deal with the bank. It's at the high range of our price range but it is still do able.





I love the area, and I love how simple this house looks. The only thing from these pictures that I'm not crazy about is the kitchen cabinets, which is easy enough to paint or re-stain. I feel like we could easily make this our home.

I guess I really shouldn't get my hopes up too much. But I just can't stop picturing us living there with our baby and some day a dog, and being able to walk over to my friends house just a few streets away.

I just wonder why it hasn't sold. Maybe the bathroom is god awful or something. Lol. Who knows.

Disappointment

So turns out Josh's Uncle was unable to get a hold of the Realtor companies, so we could look at the houses today. Turns out one of the E. Longmeadow houses went off the market as of yesterday as well.

We decided to drive by the other house in E. Longmeadow just to give us something to do. Well I'm not really crazy about the location or the yard and outside of the house.

I'm feeling a little flustered about this whole process. But I'm trying to stay positive. I'm going to take a little bit of a break from scouring the internet for homes. Maybe the market will magically replenish itself with my absence, and we can start all over.

What we are looking for in our "ideal" home

Josh and I have a list of things that we are looking for in a home. This is obviously important, since when you go about house hunting you should have an idea about what you do want and what you don't want... so here is our list of things we want/don't want and what we must have.

The must-haves:

• washer/dryer hook-up
• interior access to basement
• safe neighborhood
• at least 2, but prefer 3 bedrooms
• a master bedroom large enough to accommodate a king size bed
• working heating / electrical / plumbing systems
• full size bathroom with a full tub
• no structural issues
• dishwasher hook up
• outdoor storage
• min .25 acre of land
  

We would like:

• garage
• deck / patio
• single floor / ranch style home
• full basement
• partially finished basement
• appliances included
• gas forced hot air / central air
• fenced in yard
• eat in kitchen
• curb appeal
• interesting layout / architecture
• large picture / bay window
  

We don't want:

• electric heat
• prefab homes
• high traffic areas
• neighborhoods with multifamily homes
  

So Far...

Josh and I had gotten a pre-approval right before Christmas from the bank. We looked at one house in Three Rivers right before that, which unfortunately the next day the sellers had accepted an offer on the house. We had really liked the house and it was a disappointment.

We've since looked at a few other houses. There were two on Dickinson Street in Chicopee, that seemed like they would be nice, and both were horrendous! One wreaked like animal waste in the entire house. We looked at another ranch that was near the down town area of Chicopee in a quiet polish neighborhood. It was nice, but the kitchen was way too small and there was a mold issue in the basement. We looked at two in Indian Orchard, one was near the Wilbraham town line, but the layout of the house just killed it for me, other wise I did like the neighborhood. The second was in a really crappy area, and it was a prefab house, even though it wasn't listed that way on-line. The basement was nicer and more spacious than the upstairs.

We were really excited to find a house in Sixteen Acres, that seemed really nice, but we just found out it was taken off the market over night, before we were able to even see it.

There are two houses in East Longmeadow that we will be going to look at on Wednesday.

I am feeling a little frustrated right now. I was hoping that there would be more options out there for us, however I haven't seen too much as of now. I plan on taking a little break from scouring the web for houses. We will see how those houses go on Wednesday, and I will update about them then.

Hello!

This blog will be about me, my husband, and our baby on the way (which makes 3) and our adventures in finding our first home!