Tyler was down on one knee in a basement on Saturday afternoon, running his thumb along a crack in the block wall, when our agent said quietly, "That's why it's back on the market."
That was the third of six houses we walked through on October 10 and 11, our first real weekend of house hunting. We got pre-approved in September for up to about $165,000, but we've told each other, and our agent, that we want to stay under $150,000. The house fund is a little over $32,000 right now, and our goal is $35,000 by the end of the year.
Our agent is someone a coworker at the pharmacy used last year. She lined up three houses for Saturday and three for Sunday, and we ate a lot of Casey's breakfast pizza in the truck in between.
The six houses
| House | Price | What we noticed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. 2 bed, 1 bath, 1940s | $119,900 | Smaller than our duplex, no closet in the second bedroom, window air conditioners |
| 2. 3 bed, 1 bath, 1960s ranch | $134,500 | New floors and fresh gray paint everywhere, plus a water stain painted over on the bathroom ceiling |
| 3. 3 bed, 1 bath, 1920s two-story | $118,000 | Back on the market after a buyer's inspection found foundation cracks |
| 4. 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 1970s ranch | $152,000 | The one we loved: attached garage, fenced yard, big kitchen window, roof about 17 years old |
| 5. 3 bed, 2 bath on 2 acres | $145,000 | Well, septic and a propane furnace, 20 minutes farther from both our jobs |
| 6. 3 bed, 2 bath, 1990s | $163,500 | Nicest of the six and right at the top of our pre-approval |
What we noticed, and what we asked
House three is the one I keep thinking about, for the wrong reasons. The sellers had accepted an offer this summer, and that buyer's inspection found stair-step cracks running through the block foundation and one basement wall bowing in. The buyer walked away. Our agent showed us the report. Tyler took one look at the bowed wall and said the price was the cheapest part of that house. Our agent said repairs like that can run well into five figures.
House two looked great in the photos. In person it smelled like fresh paint, and Tyler found the brown ring on the bathroom ceiling under a coat of gray in about thirty seconds. A leak can be fixed. Painting over one without fixing it makes you wonder what else got painted over.
At every house we asked the same questions. How old is the roof? How old are the furnace and the air conditioner? What does the electric bill run in January? After our $246 bill last winter, I will never not ask that one. Has there ever been water in the basement? Why are they selling, and how long has it been listed? What stays with the house? By Sunday our agent had most of the answers written down before we asked, which told me we'd picked the right one.
House five was pretty, but a well, a septic system and a propane tank are three new things to learn and pay for at once, and the extra driving would add up fast for both of us. My dad, who delivers propane, had a few things to say about that tank. We passed.
The one we loved, and why we're still renting
House four has a window over the kitchen sink that looks out on a fenced backyard, an attached garage and a half bath. After almost five years of two adults sharing one bathroom, a half bath sounds like luxury. Moose would love that yard. I was ready to write an offer in the driveway. Tyler said, "Let me think on it," which, if you've read this blog for a while, you know means no.
He was right, and here's the math. The house is $152,000, already over our line. If we put 10% down, that's $15,200, and closing costs at about 3% are another $4,560. That's $19,760 out of a fund of just over $32,000, which leaves us around $12,400. Our lease runs through January, so we'd probably pay rent and a mortgage at the same time for a couple of months, and at $760 a month in rent, two months of overlap is $1,520. And that 17-year-old roof doesn't have many winters left. A new roof would eat the rest of the cushion and then some.
So we're still renting for now, and our target is to buy by spring 2027. By then the lease will be up, the fund should be past $35,000, and more houses usually come on the market once the weather warms up. If house four is still for sale in March, we'll look at it again. If it isn't, there will be another one.
Six houses in two days taught us more than a year of watching listings did. I'm a little disappointed, and I'm also relieved, and I think both of those are the right way to feel.
