The Quest

Hi gang,

You've heard me discuss, at great length, the current housing dilemma in which Kris and I have found ourselves; namely, whether we should a.) continue renting, or b.) buy.  A month ago, this dilemma didn't exist - buying was out of the question.

The Great Debate.

Now?  Not so much.

A couple months ago, Kris and I were both actively looking for work outside of Florida, as we were getting tired of all the congestion, separation from family, etc.  As if to hasten our job search, the house we're currently renting is going up for sale at the end of the summer, which means we'll either have to find work elsewhere and move before then or else dive into another rental property.

The problem?  There's NOTHING around here that's as big and cheap as our current house:  we scored a huge deal when we signed our lease, and with home buying at an all-time low - and rentals throughout the greater Orlando area at an unheard-of 98% rate - rental prices are sky-high. 

For example, in order to get a similar 3-bedroom/2-bathroom house in the Southchase/Hunter's Creek area - where we'd like to stay - we'd have to increase our monthly rent by at least $200 - $300.  That's an additional couple hundred bucks we'd have to pluck off the ol' Money Tree out back on a monthly basis.  Not so awesome.  And while this whole rental situation is indeed sobering, it's nowhere near as sobering as the prospect of manning up, digging in, and buying a house.

Thank God we weren't in this situation in 2008. . .

True, as the housing crisis has staved off, and property values reached rock bottom, the risk of buying a house down here in Florida has diminished greatly; but it's the idea of permanency that scares us most about buying a house.  That's a long-term commitment, and even though I have pretty good job security at my school, that's at least five or six years more of living outside of Michigan.

That's a long time for kids to grow up without having additional family around.

More or less.

Anyway, as our job searches out of state continued to produce nothing, and our end-of-summer deadline began to loom ominously in the distance, we decided that we'd have to seriously weigh the pros and cons of renting vs. buying in the area.  What we've learned in the process has completely changed our outlook on our current housing options: we could buy a house and pay much less per month than if we were to rent an identical house.

This is crazy.

So, the Great House Quest has officially begun.  Over the last couple weeks, we've spent hours upon hours listing our must-haves, our it'd-be-pretty-cool-to-haves, and our if-we-were-super-rich-and-could-have-its, and we've come down to a list that we've started taking around to realtors.  We know we want three bedrooms (four preferred), two bathrooms, a two-car garage, AC and washer/dryer, a fenced-in yard and covered back patio, and the house has to be zoned for A-rated schools (Alayna will be starting Kindergarten in a year and half. . . which is just plain scary).

A tall order, perhaps, but we're picky-ass people.

Capt. Steve

Kris knows a couple realtors and brokers through her Order of Extraordinary Moms and library play groups, so we were fortunate enough to have a pool of talent to start with.  Through these contacts, we got in touch with a no-nonsense realtor named Steve, who quickly produced a list of eight or nine houses for us to look at yesterday.  All of them would keep us paying basically the same amount of money per month in expenses, and were mostly in pretty good school zones, and each had their pros and cons. 

Here are some stand-outs from our all-day housing adventure:

House #1:  

Pros:  Two, huge living rooms, lots of trees in the backyard, vaulted ceilings, huge kitchen
Cons: Small back patio with torn screens and moldy carpet (who puts carpet outside?), no room for pool, shitty garage, small bedrooms

House #2:

Pros:  AWESOME condition - automated sprinkler system, new roof, pavers, garage door, etc..  Sellers are original owners, there's a garden and tree orchard in the backyard, a shed FULL of tools, vinyl fencing, big bedrooms, gothic-looking safety bars on all the windows, and a large, screened-in patio in the back. 
Cons: Same square-feet as our current house, so we'd have to get really creative with the storage issue, as we'd be losing our Library and Play Room.  Plus, there's this huge, ceramic Virgin Mary statue cemented into the front.  Which is kinda creepy.


House #3:   
Pros:  HUGE house!  Five bedrooms (four upstairs with the master downstairs), three bathrooms, two stories with a hallway overlooking the living room below, huge garage and large fenced-in backyard, big shed.
Cons:  The inside looks like a cross between the Simpsons home and the set of a '70s horror/porn flick - we'd have to repaint everything.  Plus, the carpet was absolute garbage, and would have to be replaced immediately.  Kitchen and the shed are kind of in rough shape, too.


House #4:   
Pros:  Model homes, custom-designed and built from scratch - could customize it right from the get-go and get a really, awesome home for a great price.  Excellent floor plan and brand-new appliances.  Safe neighborhood with pool. 
Cons:  Located way out in St. Cloud, which would mean an extra 30 minute commute for Kris to/from work (mine would stay the same).  Also, no fence in the backyard - we'd have to install one, which would be pricey.

Lots of options to consider here, folks, and plenty of crap to think about.  I'll get back with you when we figure out what the hell we're going to do. 

Stay tuned,

- Brian