House hunting nightmare, take 1.

I hope this is the one and only post I ever have to make about nightmares with house hunting, but I guess we wouldn't be normal if we didn't have at least one bad experience.

So today we went out (beautiful, perfect day by the way) with our realtor and had a task set before us... we had 17 houses to look at in one afternoon.  Holy Buckets!  We knew it was going to be a long rest of the day.  Instead of looking at 17 houses, we only looked at 9 houses, and here's why.

We came across a home that was perfect in every way.  The things that we didn't like about it were so minor that it wasn't even anything to blink over.  It had the most beautiful kitchen I have EVER seen in my entire life... perfect granite countertops, custom-made oak cabinets, and a huge bay window to look out while I would be cooking.  Also the floor plan was very open and spacious, and everything in the house was so high quality and new.  Not only that, but it had a 3 car garage, security system, and was decorated and painted so well that I would hardly make any changes.  Tyler even said while we were there "okay, where do I sign?"  We knew this was the house for us.  So, our realtor grabbed us by the hands and we prayed over the house.  We thanked the Lord for bringing us to this house, and prayed for the closing process to go smoothly.  This was only the 9th house we had seen, but we were done.  We headed back to Olathe to write up an offer, and we were on our merry way when I got the phone call.  It was my Dad, calling from Chad's house, as they had just looked up the house on the internet and had a reservation about it. 

The city just approved an interchange to be built in the next couple years... an interchange that will host 40 train tracks.  Not only did the city approve it, but it will be built within 1.5 miles of our home.  Can you even imagine?  They forsee anywhere from 2-5,000 trains going in and out of town PER DAY!  Complete nightmare.

Needless to say, we are continuing our house hunt effective tomorrow. 

The end.

I need your opinion.

I know, I know... when looking at houses, the only thing that matter is what you/your spouse like, but it's okay for me to ask for opinions, right?  Right.

Do you like these floors?  They are hardwood floors, and the quality of them is incredible.  It is two different colors of stained wood, laid in a pattern. You should also know that it looks better in person.  So be honest, I can take it.  :)

Miss me?

I know, I've been a slacker and have been MIA for the majority of this week.  So much for my New Years resolution to write more.  I'm cramped for time, so I'll just give a brief update of what's going on in my sad little world right now.

-Work sucks and I am so sick of working so much that I could puke.  I don't understand what's so hard about picking up the phone and making an offer to the two people I want to hire.  Instead they'd rather pay me double-OT to work 70+ hour weeks.  *sigh... I need a vacation.

-The house hunt has begun, and wow, it's fun!  (Is 'begun' a word?)  Last night we went out with our realtor, whom we love, and saw 5 houses.  Only one we are even considering, the others were no bueno.  Jacki joked that I am the most picky buyer she has had under the age of 25.  Does that surprise you?  Anyways, I can't get one of the houses out of my head, but I can't decide if that's just because it's the first house we saw that we like, or maybe it's because we really do like it.  Anyways, Sunday we are going out again and looking at 17 houses (maybe more if more listings are added before then), so by then, we'll have a better idea of what's going on and what exactly we like/dis-like.  I never imagined this many emotions could be running through me at one time in regards to buying a home.  Wowzers.

-I know I already said it, but we had an incredible time in Iowa last weekend.  We realized that we haven't spent any of our birthdays together (Tylers, mine, Jodi's, Tiff's, or Mason's) for the past 3 years so we were thankful we were able to make it up there.  The weekend was soooo relaxing... I love visiting other people's homes because I am literally forced to relax.  When I'm home my mind never shuts off about things I "could" be doing, so when I'm at someone else's home, I am forced to sit and be still, which I cherished.  The weather was beautiful so we spent lots of time outside playing with Mason... he is turning into a great boy and we love watching him grow.  Jodi was so happy to have us home and that was a great feeling, especially since the feelings were mutual.  :) I am waiting on pictures from Tiff and then I'll post a few.

-My parents are coming to town this weekend and I can't wait to see them.  I feel so disconnected so hopefully we have time to have some QT together.  I'm going to go ahead and blame my work on feeling disconnected to my parents.  Maybe I should call them more, you say?  Yeah, shush.  ;)

-Tonight I'm going to an uppercase living party, alone.  I think it just hit me today how few friends I have.  Andy (one of my employees) was talking today about how he can't wait for our "housewarming party" and I sat and thought... we would have no one to invite.  Okay, maybe a couple families.  That's going to be one saaaad, pathetic housewarming party.  We're bound and determined to have weekly game nights this summer.  So plan on it.

-I have been a slacker at the gym.  There... I said it.  I have still been going faithfully, but my mindset is not "in it" when I'm there, so my workouts haven't been great. 

That's all.  See?  I told you I had a pathetic little life.  :)  Thanks anyways for reading.

3 things.

1. We leave in 45 minutes to go meet with a mortgage lender.  We're scared, seriously.
2. We spent the weekend in Iowa and had an amazing time... more to come from that in a later post.
3. I love being off of work today. I think I want a new job.

Qualities I love in a home.

Our lease is up in our townhome at the beginning of June, so the hunt for a house begins.  I'm going to go ahead and apologize now, because for the next few months I have a feeling that "house-talk" will take over my blog.  I got an email from our realtor yesterday, and she asked for a list of "qualities" we're looking for in our first home so she could start the process, so I thought I'd share with you what we told her. 

(Disclaimer: some of these pictures are from million-dollar homes, so obviously our home won't look anything like it, but we can dream!)

The Kitchen
We told our realtor know that if the house has white cabinets, to not even bother showing it to us.  Maybe that's "over the top", but remodeling a kitchen would not be cheap, and I really prefer oak over white cabinets any day.  I also really want an island in the kitchen. 


Garage
Tyler wants a 2 car garage and would love a work station somewhere, whether that's in the garage or maybe even a seperate shed in the backyard.


Open floor plan
We love entertaining, so an open floor plan is ideal for us.  Not necessarily a "deal breaker", but it's a big plus. It also makes spaces feel bigger, which is ideal.


Back yard
I want mature trees, Tyler wants a fenced in back yard.  We would also like a big deck for all that entertaining we'll be doing...hehe. ;)


Exterior
We would really prefer vinyl siding on our home to wood siding, but unfortunately in this area vinyl isn't a popular choice for some reason.  Ideally I'd love a mix between brick and vinyl.  Hopefully we'll get lucky.


So there you have it.  A few qualities we love in homes and would like to have in ours.  Wish us luck and pray for us as we begin our search!