Beginnings

We began our search where all modern searchers of anything begin: the internet.
The interent real estate sites were a good place to start for us because it helps keep you from looking at houses you can not afford- you just tell the search engine what you can afford and tah-dah- it only tells you houses avaible in that price range. Wonderful, the modern luxuries we have, huh?
Then we narrowed down to specific houses we were interested in and gave Jeff (real estate agent/ uncle) a call. Off we went.
So the first few houses we looked at were fixer-uppers for sure.
There was the beautiful victorian: large rooms, high ceiling, enormous kitchen, separate laundry room and separate butler's pantry, two full baths, large back yard, wonderful front porch, and the best part- the original turn knob doorbell- just awesome! Sounds pretty good right? Well then you add: old smelly carpet covering all hard wood floors, gutted kitchen, some rotted wood-inside and out, scary old bathrooms, about-to-fall-down back structure (not sure what to call it- not a backhouse, not really a carport- but mostly because it wasn't attached to a driveway-- very odd). Ok so not awful- all fixable problems, but then you have to factor in the price you are paying, the money you'll have to spend just to get it livable, then the money you'll want to spend to make it look like the picture in your head! Then you think about how long all that will take and if you plan on staying there forever or if this is just a starter home/project. Then you ask your real estate agent about the neighborhood and the possible resale amount of the house after it looks like the picture in your head. If this amount is lower than the price of the house plus the money you'd spend to get it fixed up- DO NOT BUY! If not, you're golden. Unless it needs more initial-just-to-make-it-liveable work than you can afford, then DO NOT BUY! Because living in a house that needs works that you can't afford, doesn't seem fun to us!
So we hope that who ever bought the Victorian felt more risky than we did and will make her shine again.
On to the incredibly small house (not even room for a bathtub) in a very prestigous neighborhood. Nope, not for us. Too small for the money. And actually needed more work than we could have imagined for the price. So...
Next we saw a bungelow and upon finding out that it had cracked joists (it appeared to be an "opps" by a previous owner), we decided against it. Thus we realized we had more than just monetary criteria. We also want a house that is structurally sound! This is very important to both us and our mortage company!