The House Hunt

I'm so excited - we have reservations to fly to our Northern Retirement Destination State (NRDS) next week to begin the search for a home! The plan is to buy a house there, live here in So Cal for another 2.5 years, then move to the home in the NRDS! We have been in contact with a realtor up there (we actually met him a year ago when we were thinking about buying property and building a house), and we will be spending some quality time with him!

I have given Super Realtor (SR) my wish-list, the list of deal makers and breakers and have searched the MLS lists to be able to send him things I am interested in - at least from the picture and the limited description. In my organized mind he will have a schedule of places to go, and the tax info as well as the association fee info for us on every house. I promise I won't be bitchy if he is totally disorganized!! HA!!

It is interesting how much and how little is in the description of homes for sale. For instance:

"This darling home has many upgrades, It is not your typical home. It has been professionally decorated. It has ceramic tile in kitchen & dining area, mandoor from garage to backyard, kitchen nook and many more. Beautifully painted colors, A truly comfortable home to be enjoyed."

Ok now, what is "not you typical home"? Is this a good or bad thing? From the 3 pictures they give you it is evident they have painted in colors that go with their furniture - - However - - they would not go with my furniture, so what use is their "professional decorating" to me? There is one picture inside of the house (the living room), one of the backyard and one of the front of the house. The sidebar tells me it is a 3 bedroom, but are any on the main floor or all upstairs? Is the master bedroom big enough to hold my bed, is there a separate shower and tub - or all in one? Does it have a separate living room or a den or a great room? What is a "mandoor"? Is the stove gas or electric - is there a pantry? And "many more" - - what? Who writes these descriptions anyway?? This is supposed to prompt me to run right out and look at it? Clicking on the "map this property" link only brought me to the generic town center - not the street address! So other than "south" I have no idea what part of town it is in!

Ok - enough griping! It's just that I am looking for homes 1000 miles away from where I live and I have so many more questions that they just don't address! If I ever do this again I will write my own description so the prospective buyer will have a better picture of what my house has to offer! And no pictures of dead grass in the back yard!!

I hadn't heard much from SR recently, except for a link he sent me for a house that was too old, on too much property and too expensive. I emailed him yesterday to make sure we were on the "same page" as far as what we wanted to look at and to make sure he did have time for us next week. We are hoping for at least 3, maybe more, concentrated days of looking at homes - and if he really didn't have the time in his schedule I wanted to give him an "out" if he wanted it. I realize we are sort of pushed for time since we will only be in town a week and would love to make an offer before we leave! Morning Glory has a realtor she worked with recently and we could contact him if necessary. Since I already had a connection with SR I did want to give him first shot, but I did want to make sure he really had time for us! His return email took about 5 minutes!! We are to be at his office at 9 the first morning and he said he has a bunch for us to look at!! Not only the ones I sent him but more beyond those! Wahoo!!

This whole thing is so exciting!! We are pretty sure that God is good with our plan so far since our home here sold so quickly (1 week, full price!) and we are not running up against any closed doors - so we are really trusting that He has the right home in NRDS is just waiting for us to claim it!