House Searching

Starting a life together as a couple can seem very daunting and the demands on time and commitment overwhelming. My fiancé and I are both busy practical professionals and once we were engaged we decided a few months back to have a very small wedding and focus on energy and money on buying a house together. Interest rates were low, the market was preparing for the summer months and we had done our homework to learn about home-buying, financing, home inspections, contingency clauses, etc… We never imaged how draining this experience can be in the Washington Metro area.

Armed with our knowledge, a top notch realtor, our lists of must-haves and nice to haves we began embarking on our journey in early June. A spring breeze carried us through our first few visits, our notepads at hand, meticulously walking through rooms, inspecting window seals for leaks, basement walls and floors for flooding, measuring rooms and closets, envisioning our furniture and belongings in empty rooms. We were a formidable team with our checklists. We would meet after each session with our realtor to debrief about the houses we just visited, comparing notes, pros and cons, creating new lists, researching new neighborhoods, crime and school ratings. Slowly house searching became the third entity in our relationship, we talked, walked, slept, dreamt about houses. Days were spent endlessly looking at house after house.

Finally after weeks of searching, on a cool July morning we walked into a most perfect two level rambler in one of our preferred neighborhood. As we walked room from room, we both sensed this could be the one for us and we decided that evening to put a contract on the house. Things did not work out as we had hoped and we did not get the house we both wanted so badly. So for now, our search continues but we did learn from the experience and are convinced that very soon we will find something that is just right for us!