Remember that nursery school rhyme, “first the worst, second the best”
Well that is our current situation in the house hunting game. Our first house hunt took place in May, we didn’t know it at the time but our options were scarce. Now, as we just wrapped up our second house hunt, in which we saw four more houses, except these were to a much bigger, better scale. Evidently our options during this “PCS season”(for those of you who don’t know what that means, its just a time in the summer where a lot of people have orders to move and by doing such, for our purposes, open up the housing market) are much more plentiful. We toured four more houses and we stopped when we found our dream house…
Heres a little refresher on our must haves (they haven’t changed):
MY MUST HAVES:
charm, preferably three bedrooms, natural light & a stair case in our home (weird I know, I’ve always wanted my own stair case to decorate during the holidays- but stairs in an Arizona home isn’t popular and my dad is disabled so even then we would never move into a house with stairs)
KYLE MUST HAVES:
good kitchen, modern, parking space, in budget
BOTH MUST HAVES:
outdoor space for our pup(s), good internet connection- it varies widely here and we agreed it would help us stay connected to our families and friends back home.
ITS A PLUS IF:
theres restaraunts, a bakery and grocery shopping because each village is different
House 1: The Backyard House
Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, pet friendly, located on the mountainside, detached house
PROS:
Obviously the backyard house has a magnificent backyard. Kyle said we could have football tournaments there.. a big plus for him
Im a sucker for a good staircase.. gorgeous
completely updated
big bedrooms
pet friendly
nice landlord
one car garage
completely detached
CONS:
an important one: horrible internet
decent drive
CONCLUSION:
we immediately fell in love with the yard and newly renovated house, but when we looked up the internet speed we saw it was at a whopping 6mb.. which is awful. Since we’ve already dealt with the woes of internet we had to pass, but it was a promising start to our house hunt.
House 2: The Multiple Family Home
this house was a bit weird and not what we were looking for… it had two stories each with their own kitchen, living room and bedrooms. It would’ve been ideal for a long term in-law living situation but for our purposes it just didn’t scream “home”
PROS:
three bedrooms
updated kitchen and bathroom
big yard
includes shed
included barbecue cabin
good internet
CONS:
two kitchens
weird living space layout
yard wasn’t fenced
everything that wasn’t updated was circa 1960
20 minutes from base
CONCLUSION:
This house technically hit all our major needs, but it was a little funky and didn’t flow. We don’t have any need for two kitchens and two living rooms. It was overall nice but it was a bit of a drive and to us the quality wasn’t worth the drive.
House 3: The Close to Perfect House
three bedrooms, three bathrooms, large living room, nice kitchen, big yard, natural hardwood floors, balcony and close proximity to horses
PROS:
three bedrooms
clean basement (big deal to Kyle)
separate dining room
large living area
great village
balcony of the master
included wardrobes
big yard
BBQ house
great internet
one car garage
additional parking
nice landlord
close to base
CONS:
small kitchen
CONCLUSION:
this place really hit the mark for us, it is in the same village as we are currently in, which we adore. There was plenty of space for guests and kids (one day). I wasn’t a fan of the tile downstairs but not a deal breaker. Upstairs had beautiful hardwood floors which evened it out. We were very close to taking this house but I had already lined up one for the following morning so, we told them we would call them the next day if we didn’t like the showing we saw in the morning. SPOILER ALERT: we LOVED the house we saw the next morning.
House 4: DREAM HOUSE
five bedrooms, two new bathrooms, open concept living room and kitchen (a rarity here), original hardwood floors, wardrobes included, big fenced yard, this house is a dream.
As soon as I walked in I got butterflies in my stomach, that is perhaps the best part. No, actually the best part is that Kyle felt the same way…
PROS:
open concept (so rare here)
five bedrooms (holy cow can you say man AND woman cave?)
one bedroom is on the main floor (ideal for my dad whom is disabled)
original hardwood floors
gorgeous stair case
detached house
two car garage
large yard
updated kitchen
good internet
four stories
tons of natural light
wood burning stove
CONS:
20 minutes from base
creepy basement (we can suck it up right?)
CONCLUSION:
This house gave me butterflies instantaneously. Its as far as “Multiple Family Home” but here all the Pros make up for the one Con. So, we are in the middle of getting the contract signed then we will be living in our dream home..
