Up until last weekend, the only house hunting I’d been doing was searching online and driving past homes. Window shopping, if you will.

Last weekend, we finally started making appointments for showings and actually stepping foot into the homes I’d been drooling over online.

I’d been told by our buyer’s agent that this was the part of the home buying process to sit back, relax and enjoy. He also explained that photos can be very deceiving online, so to be prepared that something we thought looked amazing in photos may be less than anticipated.

After the first three houses we saw, I realized how right he was, and was starting to feel a little uneasy about our choices.

Home #1

Great location on a quiet cul-de-sac, also a foreclosure home. Yeesh. It hadn’t been cleaned at all, appliances looked to have been literally ripped out of the walls, and there was plenty of junk still strewn about. This wasn’t the worst he’d seen with foreclosures either. Lots of potential, but it would cost much more than our budget would allow to bring it even halfway to its full potential.

I think I almost had the boyfriend screaming for the hills when I joked about the left behind Star Wars toys in the garage being a sign that this could be the one. I was only kidding… mostly.

Home #2

Gorgeous view of the river, but at a safe enough elevation that we wouldn’t have to worry about flooding. However, the moment we started up the stairs, we knew it was wrong for us as we listed to one side on the sagging stairs. The basement was worse, with a clearance so low I had to maintain a hunched over posture.

Home #3

Great location on a large corner lot, gorgeous curb appeal, amazing original woodwork. Problem? Too much character. I loved the cut glass windows, but the stairs frightened me, and the condition of the wood floors concerned me. Moment of hilarity? The shag-a-delic swingers shack in the basement. Seriously, I felt all smarmy just standing in the room with a screaming red hot tub and wall-to-wall 70s patio carpet.

It wasn’t until the fourth home that I finally felt the excitement he was talking about. The moment we stepped inside, I think we both fell in love with it. Granted, it was such an improvement over the first homes we saw that our judgement may have been a little… unbalanced.  However it still stands out as a strong contender. It really was a beautiful home, it had everything we were looking for.

Now it felt like we were actually legitimate home hunters.

The rest of the day went just as well, it would seem we managed to get the worst out of the way right off the bat so that we could really enjoy and appreciate the rest.

I’m shocked at how much it can take out of you to go from house to house, town to town. I’m also a little surprised at the range of emotions I’ve gone through. Walking through the homes, most of which were still occupied, I couldn’t help feel a little awkward. Here we are, walking through someone else’s living space passing judgement on whether or not we find their home to be passable for our own needs.

That bright pink room covered in Princess Barbie decorations? It’d make a great office as soon as we repaint and rip out the flowery ceiling fan.

Oh this furniture is atrocious! What were they thinking with this wallpaper?

I have to remind myself that the moment we close a home, it’s ours to do with as we please.

We’ll get there, that much I know. I’m excited, hopeful, and looking forward to more stories from our hunting that we can look back on and laugh about while we relax in our brand new home.