On House Hunting

So Matt and I have started ‘house hunting.’ With my new job in Alexandria, VA I was left with no choice but to uproot from the comfort of Northern MD, and head south. Lucky for me, my lovely boyfriend happens to already live in Southern MD so my new destination has been St. Clements Island. St. Clements Island is a very nice, southern area. It has big rolling fields (farmed in the summer time, but fairly desolate right now) and a beautiful water view. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a hike from Alexandria, so Matt and I started the long process of house hunting.

Being a first time home buyer, there is a great advantage to purchasing a home prior to the end of April 2010… and by great advantage, I mean an $8000 tax credit. That being said, we decided it would be very beneficial if we got our tails in gear and started seriously moving on the house project.

Part of being a first time home buyer means that you have NO idea what you’re getting into. Lucky for us, Matt’s parents have a good friend, and real estate agent, who is taking great care of us each step of the way. We started working with him (better not to list his name) sometime in Mid-December. Between then and now, Matt and I have learned that we aren’t going to get our dream home, but if we get lucky, we will get something that meets our needs (and some of our wants!)

Our main goals are to find a home somewhere that is reasonable for both our work schedules – We decided on Prince Frederick, MD. It’s going to be about 50 miles for me and about 20 -30 miles for Matt. Ideally we would find some where right in the middle, but as we quickly learned, pricing for homes is based A LOT on location. We are also looking for something that doesn’t need an extreme amount of work…neither one of us have the time or cash right now to be working on a ‘project’ home. And last but not least we are looking for a house that will be do-able with our furry friend. Ginger needs a lot of space, and we would really like to be able to give it to her. Obviously we won’t give up a great home because the back yard is not huge…but if all goes as planned we are hoping to get something with a nice backyard.

Maybe I’m not going to be moving into my dream home- you know, walk in closets, full cathedral ceilings, a grand foyer, wrap around porch, yadeyadeya… but I couldn’t be happier that Matt, Ginger and I are going to be finding a place to call home!