That is the question. At least that’s the question we’ve been asking ourselves quite a lot lately. You see, we have a lovely little home 3 bedroom, 2 bath, open concept, new build that is just perfect for us right now. But this is not our “forever” home (for several reasons, which I’ll address in a moment) and now just might be the perfect time to buy and sell with our given real estate market. Prices are still reasonably good and rates are low, but our house has built enough equity that we might be able to make a decent jump.
But our list of “must haves,” as HGTV would call them, in our price range would have to be a God things… just like our current house was. When we bought this one, we were just graduating from college, very little saved up, trying to decide if we should rent or buy. We were pretty sure we’d like to stay in the area for a while and when we discovered that a mortgage would be cheaper than rent, we were sold. So we looked at every forclosure under $100,000 in our little town. (Please note that while Northwest Arkansas is a booming area, the Real Estate market is one of the cheapest in the country. I realize that if we lived in a bigger city, we would have no where near what we have here, and I am grateful.) Many of them were trashed, well lived, dated and needing a TON of work. We actually put in an offer on one that was a short sale but the next day we saw this house.
It was exactly what we had hoped for. It was in very good shape. It had a fence, 2 car garage, open floor plan, gas log fire place, master suite, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, a walk in closet in not 1 but 2 bedrooms and a charming little entry way that many other homes in the neighborhood don’t have. AND it was a sweet $95,000. We decided to sleep on it… but of course, you know how that goes. The first thing the next morning, we called the realtor, withdrew our offer on the first home and placed it on this one.
Thus far, we have loved this house. I mean, apart from the incredibly steep driveway, the front and center garage, and the lack of historic character, this really has been an incredible house. So back to “should we move?”
1) I have a strong desire to host people, to have people at my home, to make them feel welcome, invited and encouraged. Our current home has a nice open floor plan that lends itself to that, but not really the space that we need to accommodate guests. We’d love to host a small group where families could bring their kids and they could have a space to go play. In an ideal world, we’d have 2 living spaces, one for little people to be all crazy in, and one for the grown ups to hang out.
2) I have a strong desire for my home to have a welcoming charm, some character that makes people feel cozy… some history! Our current home was built in 2005, which is not quite a “new” house… but it’s that new build, cookie cutter style. Boring. Plus, I like a good project, as I’m sure you know! In an ideal world, we will find a home with some charm, character, history and warmth… that doesn’t need major renovations. (Though a little cosmetic updating would certainly be fun!)
3) While it’s not in the works, we will eventually have more children, God willing (though we disagree a bit on the number). While we have no problem with children sharing bedrooms, there are some minor issues we’d have to deal with. For example, an infant sharing a room with a toddler is a recipe for a disaster and severe sleep deprivation for all. And, we have no way of knowing if we’ll have a girl or a boy (though my sister is convinced our next child will be a girl, and I’m inclined to believe her). If it were a boy, eventually, he will need his own room. And then, a third… ok, let’s just not get ahead of ourselves. In an ideal world, we’d have 4 bedrooms, for us, children, guests and a craft/office space.
4) Ansen needs an office. With the amount of free lance work he’s been doing, he needs his own space to work at home. We’ve talked about how we could make that work with another child in our current house, and we could… but it might be more difficult, more distracting, and more going on in our communal living space in order to give the #2 a nursery. In an ideal world, we’d have a 4th bedroom, a bonus room, or at least designated office space that he could claim a corner of for his dual monitor set up.
So there you have it… we’re looking for a 4 bedroom, 2+bath, 2 living space, open concept, historical charmer for under $150,000. Yep, that’s a tall task and I honestly don’t know if we’ll get it all. We’ve seen quite a few that tick many of the boxes, but since we don’t HAVE to move right now, we’re going to be patience (or as patient as possible) and wait for the right house to come along.