Never Say Never

After three and a half years of apartment living, Mr. Price and I have managed to become homeowners! We signed our life away and the keys were handed to us on the last day of February.  I didn't mind living in an apartment. The neighbors and the noise were just unfortunately becoming too much. But that's a story for another time...

We began our home search in November 2012. An excellent realtor was recommended to us by a family member, and she got right to work. We could not have been more pleased with her.

She sent us lots of houses to review by email, and then we spent several Saturday mornings touring homes in different areas of town.

I have never been really impressed with the homes here in Roanoke. They just don't seem to have that Southern charm I'm used to. Split-foyer homes are very popular here, and I don't think I've ever seen one in Georgia (where I grew up). Early in our marriage, I remember telling Mr. Price, that I would NEVER live in a split-foyer home. They were the ugliest things I had seen.

After touring one or two of these homes with our realtor, I finally asked her to stop sending them to us to review. I just didn't like them. Especially if it was in a split-foyer only neighborhood.

So we continued our home search for a few more months. We were disappointed to learn that home prices here are relatively high. You can't get as much house as you can in other parts of the Southeast. But since there's nothing we can do about that, except relocate, we just had to get over it.

We looked at several homes, but nothing suited us. Either it was a great price, but needed too much work, or it was in great condition, but just more than we could or wanted to pay. We started to think we were just being too picky.

My husband wasn't a big fan of split-foyers either, but he finally convinced me that we owed it to ourselves to give them another chance. Our realtor told us that they were often the biggest bang for your buck. "But split-foyer homes have no charm. They all look exactly the same," I thought. Mr. Price is very much a function over form kind of guy. So I agreed to give them a second chance.

Shortly after making that decision, our realtor sent us an email about a split-foyer house that had just been reduced by $5,000. So we checked it out. It was a foreclosure that had been purchased by someone who flips houses. And guess what? We bought it!

I really still can't believe it. So what changed my mind? Here are a few reasons:

It has a two car garage. Many of the homes in our price range only had a one car garage, or no covered garage.

It has three bathrooms. Many of the others in our price range only had one or one-and-a-half.

Although small, it has an updated kitchen.

It is in an area of the county that we like and were already used to. The lot size was larger than most we had seen.

A major perk to us was the view of the mountains, which are pictured above.

Lastly, it is one of the nicest looking split foyers I have seen, and another plus for me is that the rest of the neighborhood is not full of houses that look the same.

I wanted to share pictures of the inside of the house with you, but I just can't bring myself to show you what it currently looks like. Everything is unpacked, but nothing has found a home. We are living in lots of clutter. It is driving me a little crazy, but chasing a one year old around all day, doesn't leave me much time to worry about it.

I hope to be sharing some home improvement and organizing projects with you as we are able to complete them. If you have any tips for us, please, please share them!