Day 87: March 28 - "On the hunt"

Monday was the day we got shot down for house number 4.

I know our house is out there, and I know it's a matter of being patient, but I'm ever becoming one of those "I want it now!" people.

I'm fairly sure these four images will turn into many more by the time we're done with the process, but it's hard to look at each front yard, front door and think that it could be the one we invite our family and friends into our home through.... and then realize later that someone else will be doing it instead of us.

Onward and Upward, right?

Oh, and the point of that rant was to include my column from the Napa Valley Register on Monday.

"On the hunt"

Peter and I are deep in the house-hunting zone.

For the better part of a month, I feel that I’ve basically been consumed by either home showings, offer-making or real estate website–stalking. Add to that the emotions of anxiety, excitement and disappointment and I think you’ll see that to say I’m exhausted is a severe understatement.

I believe that my problem is that I’m “all in” with this process. There’s no way I can just touch my toe in the real estate water without diving in head first. I’m losing sleep dreaming of all the houses we could have, or worse, all the things that could go wrong.

I’m also becoming the queen of justifications.

Oh sure, it has bright Pepto-Bismol-pink walls. But that’s just cosmetic, right? And I know in the picture it shows a tiny bedroom, but I’m sure it will be bigger when we get there.

After only a few days of looking, homes that I never would have put on a list to view suddenly become my future potential residence. I find myself clicking the little heart-shaped “favorite” button on my iPhone application. I know central heat and air started out being the most important thing on my planet, but for the right home, I’m suddenly ready to compromise for a wall furnace and no air at all.

Probably not the best plan I have ever had, since Napa’s mild temperatures aren’t exactly year-round.

I’ve used our central heat something like 30 out of 30 days recently, and I can’t stand being hot, so that air conditioning gets a workout.

I’m thankful each day that our Realtor, Stefan, is a seemingly patient man. I think I’ve sent something like 37 emails in only four days. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. “Can we look at this one? Is it in a good neighborhood? What are our chances? Do you think there’s other offers? How pink ARE the walls?”

Stefan reminds me that there are barely any standards when it comes to real estate reasoning. Just because a house is priced at a certain level does not mean it will look reasonable inside. One house I thought we could get a pretty decent deal on turned out to be a cesspool of mold and bad wiring. No wonder it has been on the market for more than 100 days. He followed that house up with the explanation that everything sells for the right price. Trust me, I was not going to hand over $240,000 for a house of mold.

The whole process makes me feel that I’m at a disadvantage. I’m a natural learner, so I want to know as much about the process as possible (hence the 37 emails to the Realtor) but I also feel like everyone else knows more than I do. Two weeks ago I had no idea what a BPO was, how a short sale worked, what an offer letter looks like, or what contingencies were and why we would need them. I thought in a perfect world you would just find a house you liked, decide to buy it, then start the process. I guess if there were more actual humans selling homes and fewer banks, that might be true.

The process is a relationship builder, though. Peter and I have  learned that our priorities are in line with each others’ preferences, but that different things jump out at us. Upon seeing a listing, I immediately look to the heating/air situation, the terrible tiles on the floor and I check out the kitchen.

If there’s no kitchen photos, I think it’s shady. Who doesn’t want to show off the kitchen in a home that’s for sale?

Peter jumps to silly things like the square footage, price per square foot, foundation style and garage size. Pish-posh, I say. Who cares about these trivial points? Apparently all people but me.

Gal on the Go appears every other week, alternating with Jennifer Huffman’s Surrendering to Motherhood. Contact Michelle at mchoat@napanews.com.