Whaddayawant

You know how they always ask "What are you looking for?" at the beginning of those house hunting shows? That usually starts this looong list of all the things you could possibly cram into a house, from 4 bedrooms over 3 baths to a porch, a patio and a 1-acre yard, a fireplace, hardwood floors, character, charm and, and, and. And while you can cram these things into a house, chances are it can't be crammed into your budget. Not even close. Nuh-uh. Besides, it's a wishlist like the kind you write up for Christmas when you are seven. The kind where you leaf through those glossy toy catalogs and write down every.little.thing. because your parents told you that simply checking off things with a marker does not constitute a wish list. Heh.

Your first draft of the "things we want in our house" list makes your real estate agent twitch and squirm but she takes you out to look at houses anyhow. She knows that after a while of looking at houses and getting a better idea of what's on the market and what fits into your budget you will amend your wish list ... or stop looking.

Hubby and I didn't really start this adventure resolved to buy a house. If you go back to this entry here you know that we began with a crazy idea of having my parents invest in real estate, not us. We were (and really are still) perfectly happy with living in our historical rental. Before the real estate market crashed we were sorely priced out of our own neighborhood. Houses, even fixer-uppers, went for crazy amounts of money that were way out of our price range. Now, things look different, much to our benefit. We made our house hunting adventure difficult by declaring that we

1. wanted to stay in our neighborhood (119 city blocks in an area of approximately 500 acres)
2. wanted a 2-story house (bye-bye darling bungalows, hubby insists on upstairs bedrooms)
3. needed either an extra bedroom or an area with enough wall space for our library (~1900 books and counting)
4. wanted at least 2 bathrooms
5. wanted 4 bedrooms
6. wanted a working fireplace
7. wanted some cool historical features such as original fireplace mantels, Victorian fretwork, etc.
   
8. wanted a big yard
   
9. wanted 1-2 porches, one preferably upstairs
10. wanted at least 2000 sqft
    
11. wanted to spend the same or less per month on our mortgage than what we are currently paying in rent
    

For the past 6 years we have been living in a 1500sqft 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom upstairs apartment with a livingroom/diningroom combo, with a large dead end of our hallway as library and a butler's pantry as main storage, and a lovely 250 sqft front porch. After looking at a dozen houses or so, we began to modify our list in that we

1. really wanted to stay in our neighborhood
2. wanted a livable fixer-upper
   
3. needed wall space for our library
   
4. wanted at least 1.5 bathrooms
5. wanted 3 bedrooms (one of which would be a dedicated guest bedroom)
   
6. wanted a backyard
   
7. wanted a porch
   
8. wanted to spend the same or less per month on our mortgage than what we are currently paying in rent
9. didn't want to deal with short sales (we aren't that patient)
10. didn't want to fix structural issues
    

Point 1 and 8 were the ones putting us in a pickle. Limiting one's search to 119 city blocks -and- a very strict low budget will send you straight to house hunting hell. Luckily, we were hoping for a livable fixer-upper rather than a turn-key house so that helped. The fact that most Springfield houses are spacious and have wood floors and fireplaces did too.

So, how does the Ugly Duckling compare to our List? Let's Take a look

1. wanted to stay in our neighborhood [Score!]
   
2. wanted a livable fixer-upper [Not quite - it'll take a few weeks to bring electric, plumbing and kitchen up to code and up to speed]
   
3. wanted a 2-story house [Score!]
4. needed wall space for our library [Score! We get a whole room]
5. wanted 3 bedrooms (one of which would be a dedicated guest bedroom) [Score! The Ugly Duckling has 3 upstairs and 1 downstairs]
6. wanted a backyard [Score! even though it's not the biggest]
7. wanted a porch [Score!]
8. wanted to spend the same or less per month on our mortgage than what we are currently paying in rent [Score!]
9. didn't want to deal with shortsales [Score! It's bank-owned]
10. didn't want to fix structural issues [Score! Score! Score!]

From an investment point of view, we're playing it probably as safe as you possibly can in an urban neighborhood (the greatest in the world, by the way) although I have to admit in all our soul searching and house hunting this has never been anything we discussed in great detail. We are buying a home for our family. To us, the Ugly Duckling is home first and investment second. Granted, some of the changes we have planned for it will increase its resale value but that is not the reason why we're making them. Right now it meets our needs and wants and if that should change one day we'll have to reconsider and perhaps sell and move on.

Until then, all we want to do is love on this little old house and our neighborhood and be happy :o)