House Hunting - Day 1

My wife and I were on Zillow most of yesterday looking at houses and saving the ones we wanted to go see. Later in the evening we reviewed our list and removed the homes that didn't meet our common criteria.

We started out the morning with a list of 8 homes to see. We met the realtor at her office at 10:15 am to give her the list so she could schedule visits with the sellers.

Zillow is not precise. That should come as no surprise to the experienced home shopper. Many homes came off the list immediately. One house is in the wrong school district, one was already sold, two have pending contracts, two are in option periods. That left two houses available to be viewed right out of the gate.

The first is a new home nearing completion. We looked at two models. We passed on both and here is why. They are called express homes. That means the buyer takes it as is. No upgrades, no swaps, no extra money for perks. It's just whatever is there. So, that was the first and biggest issue.

The first house of these two had small bedrooms and just felt kind of cubical. No tub in main bath, just walk in shower. Large bathroom counter and one sink. Stupid.

The second of these two had slightly larger rooms, but the kitchen was a deal breaker. It has an island with a space for a dishwasher that when open would be right in the way. There was no exhaust duct in the kitchen either. Really weird.

The drive was much farther than we imagined as well.

We skipped over to the next town. This one is much closer to our jobs and current location. This house was looking like a very good choice but unfortunately someone made a cash deal on is about an hour after we looked at it. Bye bye!

Lastly, we went back to our town where one of the option period houses is located. We really liked this one though a few surface cracks in the rear ceiling is concerning. It meets or exceeds most of our important needs/wants. Perhaps it could become available but we won't wait for it. Here are some photos of this one and a video.