The hunt.

Be veeeeeewwwy quiet. We're hunting houses.

We spent yesterday afternoon driving around the triangle with our realtor, looking at 11 different houses. It was a long afternoon. In the end, we were able to narrow down our options to 4, with an additional "maybe" we saw in one neighborhood that hits the market on Monday (and is 13k less than the house we were looking at in that neighborhood - score!). So here's the recap of our faves.

1. Wickersham (in NE Raleigh)
Okay, so we'll admit that the agent used some sort of camera trick to make everything look bigger than it really is when photographing this house. It's not a giant place by any means - just over 1200 square feet. But good grief, we both like it quite a bit. Upsides: um, KITCHEN. Granite countertops, new appliances (needs a fridge), new fixtures, etc. Downsides: we'd need to get the yard fenced, and there's a definite lack of storage. We did find out that we should be able to add an attic pull-down and use the attic for storage... so we'll see.

2. Emmit (NE Raleigh)

Hello, large, open living room. This house feels bigger than it is (about 1300 sq. ft.). It has a really cute porch, a little deck, storage shed in the back, and AMAZING master bath with a garden tub with a skylight over it... Aaaah I love it. Downsides? No storage. Seriously. What do people do with no storage areas at all? This is another one where we could add an attic pull-down and use that space for storage.

3. Duke Homestead (Durham, near the Duke Tobacco historic site)


This was our "we're surprised, but we really like it" house. Maybe it's the amazing polished hardwood floors throughout (with the exception of the kitchen, unfortunately). It has a kinda fun layout. Nice deck out back and a small storage shed. Like all of the houses we found, it could use some more storage space inside and we'd need to fence the backyard for Olive. This one also needs quite a bit of finishing touches - all those brown doors are super cheap and scratchy, all of the fixtures are super cheap and ugly... we're a little unsure of the neighborhood as well. But it's still on our list. At 1256 sq. feet, it's in the same size range as the other houses we like, but it's also quite a bit more pricey. (In fact, the houses on this prioritized list increase in price as you go - which is pretty nice since our favorite is also the least expensive of the four.)

4. Big Bluff (in the Eno Trace subdivision, waaaaaay North Durham)


Oh, Big Bluff... the house we really really WANT to love. Jonathan is even more excited about the porch on this one than I am, which is pretty impressive! It does wrap all the way around to the back. This house is on a corner lot, and it has a huge fenced backyard. Problem: it's pretty swampy back there. We think it's the low-point for a few of the neighborhing houses so we get all the run-off. Another problem: the kitchen. See the accordian doors there on the left? That's the washer and dryer. Not a big fan of that location. The vinyl floor is peeling up (you can see a line from the corner of the oven to the accordian doors). The paint throughout the house is just painful. Really, painful. And the carpet. So there's some immediate work to be done - nothing we don't think we could do, but still work for sure. We've got the limited storage issue again - no pantry or anything in the kitchen either... So this one is kinda up and down in our book. At 1510 sq. ft., it's the biggest, but it's also much closer to the top of our affordability range. Up and down...

We may get lucky and find another house in this neighborhood - the one that hits the market tomorrow - for 13k less. We're definitely hoping to give it a look this week.

For now, our plan is to head back to our #1, Wickersham, with family in tow to help us have critical eyes this week. We'd like to look at the other Eno Trace house this week as well, and then decide whether we'll make an offer on Wickersham... Whew. It's a little bit exhausting! But it's also pretty fun. And terrifying.