Four Open Houses

J was out of town for the weekend, so I decided to spend the day and go to a few different open houses.

The first 3 houses were in a popular neighborhood in town.  The neighborhood has a pool, lake, gym, and some other amenities.  Because of this, they've added an additional fee to the taxes, so they are ridiculously high.

This first house was way above our price range at $218,000, but I wanted to stop in and see what it had to offer.  I'm glad I did because the realtor gave me a lot of information about the neighborhood that I wasn't aware of.  The house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and is 1900 square foot.

The house had a lot of upgrades, which were very nice.  I appreciated the openness of the kitchen.  The bedrooms were tiny though!  It was a corner lot and the backyard was fenced in, so there was tons of room for the dog to run.

The second house was closer to our price range at $172,500.  It was also 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and was a little under 1500 square foot.  

The first thing that shocked me about the house was how steep the driveway was.  I'd be scared to back out of there.  The house didn't have a dedicated dining area, but there was a small eating area in the kitchen.  The bedrooms were also small in this house.  There was nice fenced in yard for the dog.

The last house I looked at in this neighborhood was priced at $179,900 and is 1500 square feet.  It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  

The house had gorgeous wood floors throughout, which was a definite plus.  The kitchen was very open, but there is no space in the house for a dining table.  The house had a nice screened in porch that led out to a wood deck.  The yard was small, sloped, and wasn't fenced in.

The last house I went and looked at is in one of the main neighborhoods that I'm looking at.  The houses are being sold for great prices and it's a lot of younger families.  The neighborhood also has a very active HOA, but they don't have a lot of rules and their fees are reasonable.

The house is priced at $164,900, which is on the higher end of the scale for this neighborhood.  The house is 1250 square feet and has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  

The kitchen was a nice size with a small pantry.  There were nice wood floors throughout the living room.  The master bedroom was really small and the previous owners had added a built in desk that takes up most of the space.  That would definitely have to come out to give us more room for furniture.  The backyard was fenced in and had a nice screened in porch.  As I was walking around, I noticed that there was no laundry room.  The realtor told me that it was in the garage.  Glad I went to see this house on a freezing cold day because it made me realize that I need a laundry room inside.  You couldn't pay me to do laundry in a garage.

None of these houses were exactly what we were looking for, but I learned a lot about the two neighborhoods.  I also learned a lot about what J and I want in a house (like an inside laundry room).

All pictures were taken from realtor.com