The Brenda Chapter Has Opened...

          Now to the Brenda chapter. The first day Brenda and I talked, she sent me many house options that we may be interested in. She did this after asking a bunch of questions like the area we were looking for, our budget, where we work, if the age of the house mattered, what we like to do in our spare time, how many bedrooms or bathrooms we were looking for, what type of yard, what kind of community, and all our MUST-haves. Now, at the time, we were pretty open to looking at all types of houses and areas as we didn’t know what community we liked best.  I don’t know what you guys think, but looking at pictures of a potential house to call your own home is very surreal. I LOVE looking at houses. I always used to tell my mom when we would walk that we should have our own show that walks around neighborhoods and comments on what each house could do to make it look nicer, what they could add, trying to figure out what the heck they were trying to do, or trying to find cost-effective ways we could do the same thing.  Not to say I know the best ways/decor, because, let’s be real, I have plenty to learn about in that area! If I had no budget limits though, I feel like I could come up with some pretty awesome stuff! If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you can also come up with some pretty creative ideas on a budget. I feel like all of us have it in us to make our dream house come true whether it be on a smaller scale or not.

Back on task here…as I looked through the houses online, it was a lot of , “This is okay; I don’t know about that bathroom; The bedroom is stuck in the 70s; The yard is nasty; The dining room is too small; The kitchen needs updating; Ooo I love this;" and so on. But, hey, go SEE them! You know the saying that a camera adds 10 pounds; the same is true for houses only it adds 10 pounds of greatness to something or 10 pounds or bad angles to it! If you have the time, go see the places in person. DON’T settle, EVER! When you go, write your pros and cons, write down how you felt walking through the house, and if you see yourself/your family there? Could you drive there every day, could you live in that neighborhood, could you do the activities you enjoy in and outside of the house???—the questions are endless.

My mother-in-law (soon to be at the time) got together and jumped into Brenda’s car the day after she sent me the options and off we were! We saw 12 very different houses that day! So here begins the house hunting journey….