This past weekend, I decided to start house hunting. The goal of the day was to check out the model homes of all the builders currently building in my desired location. At first I only wanted to look at townhomes but since reality hit hard last month, I’ve been more open to other types of homes. Also, a friend was featured in an article in the local paper a couple of weeks ago about how single women are buying their first home, usually a condo, without waiting for Prince Charming to show up. I thought these women were buying condos because they’re way cooler than I am and condos are so cosmopolitan. After Saturday, I can see why they’d be opting for smaller homes.

I dragged my six months pregnant friend through at least a dozen townhomes and terrace homes (which are somewhere between a condo and a townhome I think), up and down hundreds of stairs so that I could see what I liked/disliked in a home.

I went in to this search requiring the following:

• at least 1.5 bathrooms, but hopefully 2.5 (one just for me, one for any potential houseguests and a powder room)
• 3 bedrooms (two seemed too few)
• an ensuite bath (with a soaker tub, even though I haven’t had a (bubble) bath since before highschool)
• a walk in closet (no explanation needed, I hope: I.am.a.packrat.)

These were bare minimum requirements in my opinion, and I couldn’t see myself settling for less.

Until I saw the prices for the townhomes. And promptly lost the bottom of my stomach and seriously considered that I might be living with my parents until I atrophy. We found the latest version of the model home my pregnant friend and her husband had bought three years ago. It is now $67,000 more expensive. Sixty seven. Thousand. Extra! Is that legal? This new development is less than 5 minutes’ drive from her house. I decided then that I could not afford a townhome, but we still went through the five or six model townhomes, even more expensive than the one that caused me to wail in despair, just to see what I liked/disliked in the different models. We tried to see terrace homes but they had lost the key and had no idea when they were going to find them so we left.

After that, we went to see another builder of townhomes but unfortunately their model homes are about 25 minutes away so I’ll have to see them another day. We went to the third builder of townhomes and these houses were gorgeous. The rooms were great sizes, I loved the ensuite baths and walk in closets. With the exception of one model the layouts were by far my favourite, and the kitchens were very nice.

I discovered something startling though, as I looked through these homes: they seemed too big for me all by myself. Most of the homes had two formal living room areas plus a formal dining room area and a kitchen nook. And a basement too. I don’t need that many places to entertain in; in fact one living/dining room area and a kitchen nook would be more than enough and in all the townhomes it felt like there was at least one room too many on the main floor. The master bedroom was almost too big: once I got my bed in there and a a set of drawers, I wondered what I’d do with the rest of the room (my goal is for my bedroom not to resemble a storage room this time around). And the large ensuite bathroom with its double sink was clearly made for two people. I was surprised that I found the whole thing too much. I was also worried about how I would furnish such a large place.

After I had my revelation, we went to check out some terrace homes. I hated these homes in principle because they don’t have a backyard, some have balconies in the front, which I felt ruined the look of the house, and I figured they’d be too small.

The other thing with terrace homes is that they’re one on top of the other, so if you live on the bottom floor, you walk in to your main floor, then have to go downstairs for the bedrooms. If you live on the top floor you walk in and immediately have to go up a flight of stairs to reach your main floor. Then you go up one flight of stairs to reach the bedrooms.

The bottom floor model was ok but the top floor model was gorgeous! The kitchen was sooo lovely and big for a relatively small house. It had the dining/living room as one and then a very large kitchen nook for casual eating. There’s a balcony off of the kitchen for a barbeque or to hang out. Upstairs, there are two bedrooms, each with its own ensuite. Sadly the closets are not walk in in nature, but they are very generous. And the tubs are not soaker tubs. But the master bedroom has a mini balcony off of it!

If the house didn’t have that tall flight of stairs first thing, I would have been tempted to declare that I had found the house of my dreams.

So, I have an appointment later today to meet with my bank and get pre-approved for a mortgage; and hopefully next weekend I’ll get out to see the other model townhomes I wanted to see, and perhaps rule out townhomes entirely. I also got sucked into looking at some townhomes/terrace homes that are listed for sale so I haven’t completely ruled out buying a place that is a few years old.

All in all, the past few days have been very productive in the house front, and I hope I can keep the momentum going. I really hope the bank approves me for more than a small hovel of my own an hour from the city.

Filed under: Friends, Goals, Money by jummy