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...it gives me anxiety People are asking $250,000+ for their home that has no been updated since 1982. There was one house with wallpaper or paneling on every wall. It.was.scary! Our absolute MAX budget is $200,000, but we are wanting the country, so it's extremely difficult to find something that has been updated in that price range (even with very little acreage). The last time we purchased a house, it took us TWO YEARS to find one and we were much more open to schools/location, with a much smaller budget. Now, we don't want to pull our kids from their schools and the next home we purchase is going to be our "live in for many years to come" home, if not our forever home. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a horrible problem to have...it just gives me anxiety. #firstworldprobsindeed

We'd give our right arms for anything in that price range. #Californiarealestateisinsane

Sending prayers and mojo that you find something that fits your family.

I loooooooooove house hunting.

But the long-term house does come with so many deal breakers attached, it's more daunting than most other kinds. (I moved every 1-2 years, and usually bought to sell again in 2 years.) But THE house? With limited area, schools, et al? That one worked up some serious stress. Especially, because like you, we were about 100k -at least- below market for what we needed.

(In our area 500k bought a 2b/1ba fixer upper we were going to be majorly house-poor so we needed something liveable. What we wanted, though was double our price range. What we needed was 100k over our price range.).

A lot of the houses we looked at were flat out ungodly (hardwood floors SQUELCHED from having been peed on for over a decade, and the ammonia smell clung to my hair for days... Another was a hoarder died in it house... Another was a drug seizure, so we were optimistic, until it became clear it was a drug LAB, and no. Not raising kids in chem, thanks),

It got to actually be fun.

I started an "Oh HECK no" mini-blog of disaster homes.

So instead of being all sad and discouraged (like I was in the beginning) it turned into a win/win adventure.

Either we'd find THE house... Or I'd find more "fun" houses.

It was also, oddly, self esteem building.

I often feel bad about my total lack of domestic-goddess-ness.

Especially in staged, gorgeous, orgasm-envy homes.

Not so, when looking for diamonds in the rough!

Come to find, I'm far from the worst housekeeper in the world.

So win/win/win.

At least when I turned the problem on its head.

Oh!

You've probably already done this.... But if not... DO check about out-of-district cost & allowances.

I've used this a couple times to expand my search area. When 2k in fees for out-of-district placement will get my kids into the "good" school, and it's only an extra 20-30 minute drive... That's eating breakfast in the car, and getting the low-down on "what'd ya do in school today?" long talk on the drive home. So we've gotten both the great house & great school. I just added the cost of school & gas into my mental budget for buying.

Chesh

Agree with Cheshcat. Hubby just landed a great job. Unfortunately it is 2.5 hours from here, in a suburb of the largest metropolis in our country.

House prices are INSANE. You think you know what you want, quickly learn that unless you win the lottery , it simply isn't happening, and then start to play the want vs. need game. It's actually quite interesting what I am willing to live without, that I never thought I could because I have it here. And I'm not talking things like "oh I'd like granite for all the counters" but "Well, an hour commute each way, sharing one bathroom again, a postage stamp yard and half the square footage sounds ok" .

Luckily we are still a ways out on any sort of major decision but I can't believe the difference in lifestyle. I can't imagine us working sun up to sun down, dealing with horrible traffic every day and scraping by to live in an apartment. It's just not us. Yet we know people who would never in a million years live outside the metropolitan area. Different strokes.

[This message edited by SI Staff at 5:34 PM, March 30th (Sunday)]

Thanks everyone. We currently live in a different district than where the kids attend. Thankfully, we do not have to pay tuition (we do have to transport them to/from school, however). Because gas is so expensive we are spending at least $20/day in transporting them, so we really want something in the district where they attend. Of course, this district is the most expensive one in the county