One of my favorite shows to watch is "House Hunters." Sometimes the people are nit-picky and annoying, but other times it's fun to find out which house they pick and how they make it their own. (House Hunters International makes me want to buy an Italian Villa or an English Row house to renovate for vacations.)
Me and the Man will be moving out of my aunt and uncle's house on June 7th when they come home from their mission in Wales. So we've been "house hunting." So I thought I'd turn a blog post into an episode of "House Hunters."
We looked at lots of different places. Here are the three we narrowed it down to.
House #1
It's in Surprise, AZ, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, about 1,300 square feet and $850/month in rent.
(Our budget is between 800-900/month)
The inside was nice, all new carpet and tile flooring, double sinks in the master bath, all appliances included.
But the yard was hideous and we'd have to take care of it ourselves.
The neighborhood was nice, lots of jogging paths and families.
But the commute to Midwestern University is about 25 minutes in good traffic.
House #2
Also in Surprise. It's a 2 bedroom+den, 2 bath with about 1,200 square feet. The rent is only $825/month (cheap!). The outside is cute, the neighborhood seems quiet, and there's a ton of shopping within walking distance. Appliances all included.
But the carpet was kinda nasty and the house felt cramped. Also, the commute to Midwestern was about 20+ minutes in good traffic.
House #3
Apartment Building in Glendale with 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, and about 1,200 square feet. All appliances included, also has a pool and gym. I never saw the inside of the apartments, but the Man did and he said they were really nice. Rent is about $900/month, so it's at the top of our budget. But the commute to school would only be about five minutes. We'd save a fortune on gas.
We'll also be closer, or at least more central to where all our new dental school friends live.
So which one did we choose?
House #1 Nice interior, nice neighborhood?
House #2 Close to shopping, cheap rent?
House #3 Apartment building, close to school?
We chose...
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.
.
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The apartment in Glendale!
Not what you expected? Exactly what you expected?
I'll tell you it wasn't what I originally wanted. I'd hoped for a little more elbow room, especially since we've gotten so spoiled used to a bigger house.
But we felt a lot better living closer to the Man's school. After budgeting all our rent costs/gas/other bills, it came up cheaper with this place, even though the rent is more expensive.
After making the decision, I felt good about it. With the other houses, I just didn't feel like I was "home."
It's going to take us a while to make it our own and we can't move in until June 17th (yep, that means 10 days of living in limbo. Not looking forward to it) but as soon as I feel it's blog post worthy (uh... will it ever be? I dunno) I'll do an update like they always do on "House Hunters" and you can see exactly how we adjust and decorate our new little place.
Can't wait.
