House Hunters International

I think it really started to hit me that I'm not just on vacation when I started house hunting.  House hunting in Washington, DC was a really fun, but stressful experience.  Dan and I were buying our first house together using money we'd been saving for years and money we'd received as generous wedding gifts.  It was a really special time.  The actual house hunting was pretty stressful though.  It will come as no surprise to those who know us, but I guess Dan and I can be pretty...discerning?  I'll use that word instead of snobby :)  We have very high standards and want to live comfortably.  We are also pretty realistic about what we can and cannot do ourselves.  We are no John and Sherry Petersik or Dani and Brian.  We did not want to buy a real fixer-upper that required a ton of work.  After months of looking, we finally found the perfect house for us and lived happily there for the next two years.

The point of this little trip down memory lane is that when I thought I was just on vacation here, it was great.  I could deal with all of the little quirks about British houses.  Ok, so what that hot and cold water don't come out of the same tap?  So what that you have to adjust each room's temperature using separate radiators?  So what that the door frames are so small they must have been built for Kate Moss?  But once you start thinking that we'll be living here for longer than we lived in our wonderful DC house, it gets a bit more real.

So with that somewhat negative outlook, we began house-hunting.  I am happy to say though that things are definitely looking up.  I've only seen four houses so far, but I am feeling a lot more optimistic about what's out there.  One house was so small that we literally would not be able to get our furniture in the front door, but the others were really decent options.  Of course the one house that was absolutely perfect in every way was just out of our price range.  But, it really showed me that with a little patience and a lot of luck, we'll find something that perfectly suits us.

Stay tuned...it's just getting good!