March 7: House Hunting

So for a while now, we have been thinking that we might want to move to a new house.  We love our house.  It is old and quaint and cute.  We have plenty of space here, and we live on a nice block.  So why move when we are happy where we are?  I have been asking this question a lot this week.

We do have a few reasons that a move might be a good idea.  And here they are!!

Reasons Why We Might Want to Move:  (in order of importance)
1.  Better schools.   I'm not super excited about the school Audrey would go to next year, so I really do like the idea of sending her to a better school. 
2.  A quieter and nicer neighborhood.  We do like our neighborhood now.  But our block is right next to a busy business street.  Our alley backs up to that street, which means it is not quiet around here.  There is a lot of foot traffic through the alley and on our block. I would like to live in a neighborhood where I feel comfortable letting the girls play in our yard alone.
3.  A place where the girls can have their own bedrooms.  This was a bigger deal a few months ago when the girls were not sleeping well together in their room.  This alone isn't enough reason to move, but if  we are going to move, I'd like for this to be part of it!
4.  A newer and more efficient house.  Our house is about 65 years old.  Living in an old house is starting to lose its charm for me.  I am freezing all winter long, and we pay a fortune for utilities.

Then, on top of those reasons, I also have a list of requirements for our new house.

Things We Would Like in our New House:  (in order of importance)
1.  3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms
2.  Price under $150,000
3.  An additional room (extra bedroom or family room) where I could teach piano lessons
4.  A kitchen with a pantry or more storage than we currently have
5.  A house that doesn't need a lot of upgrades
6.  An attached garage
7.  A basement
8.  A house with the same space we have now (around 2000 square feet)
9.  A laundry room (in a finished part of the house)

So, I am pretty sure it is impossible to find a house around here that meets all the reasons we want to move and all the things we would like in a house.  I know we are most likely going to have to compromise somewhere.

Last week, we found a house that fit with all of the above except for #7 and #8 on the "Things We Would Like" list.  It was such a cute house, it was in excellent condition, right across the street from a little park, and it was in our budget!  We put in an offer at the same time as another couple...but they went with the other couple's offer.  I am still really sad about it, because I loved that house and the neighborhood.

Now we are back to searching, and I am just not finding anything right now that comes close to the standard of that house from last week or to meeting all of the requirements on my list.  It may be a long hunt. 

In the meantime, we are trying to get our house ready to sell, which means tearing down the wallpaper and repainting the kitchen, as well as several smaller projects around the house and LOTS of cleaning!