House post #1:House Hunting

We decided last summer that we wanted to sell our house in Beaverdale and move to Waukee. We chose Waukee for several reasons: 1)Our whole life was happening out west-school, dentist, chiropractor, church, friends. 2)We are in a garden co-op on a friend's farm on the outskirts of Waukee that means lots of trips to the garden in the spring, summer, and fall. 3)We (mostly Chad) are the beekeepers for the garden co-op which means even more trips.

After a lot of decluttering, updating, and painting of our Beaverdale house, we put it on the market March 13. We accepted an offer on our house on March 18 with a closing date of May 30. That gave us about 6 weeks to find a house and to close at the same time. Plenty of time, right?

A week later, we had a giant list of houses to see with our realtor. The nice thing about the internet is you can  really weed out what you know you don't want. The bad thing is that things always look better in pictures than in real life. Chad and I knew what we wanted and we were not willing to compromise for this next house. We wanted a larger lot, a big pantry, big tub in master bath, fireplace, a nice sized kitchen that wasn't beige, and it had to have an entry (Chad didn't want to walk right into the living room from the front door). The list wasn't extensive but very specific. We buzzed through those houses and within minutes of being in each house, we knew they weren't for us. We realized after that day that when you have specific wants and you are looking at houses in the same price range of building new, that building new is the way to go.

Our realtor hooked us up with a builder and we began the process of finding a lot and finding a house plan that met all of our wants.