Home Shopping

We were home shopping in somewhat of a rush back in 2008, because we wanted to quality for a tax program that gave first time home owners $8,000 (thanks Obama!). We looked at quite a few foreclosed homes with a budget of $90,000.We stuck to the west side of Indianapolis because the homes offer more value per square foot. Also, as a result of the way the city developed, there was a massive inventory of new construction homes sold during the bubble. We were afraid to get an older home, as there is inherently more cost in such a purchase. We made an offer on this one:

The one in the middle, that is. It only had a one car garage, but we liked it all the same. Here it is on Trulia (which is a real estate website). We thought it would be perfect, but someone placed a higher offer than us and we didn't get it. We were discouraged at the time, especially because it pushed us getting into a house closer to our wedding date. After looking at more places with our realtor, we found a common floor plan in late '90s construction that we liked: two story living rooms with lofts. He took us to several with that basic floor plan, but one stood out. Maybe because the front looked so unassuming:

Half that tree was missing as well. The porch was so dark and small, I don't think we were expecting to see this when we opened the door.

I think the biggest surprise was how bright it was. Because we were looking at foreclosed homes, they were often poorly lit. All the south facing windows and open floor plan filled the house with light. There was no noticeable damage either, unlike many of the other homes. To our standards, it was move in ready.

Except for appliances. It did need appliances. And some upper cabinets. Feeling the stress of work, planning a wedding and looking for a home, I told Aaron that we should put an offer on this house and if it fell through, we would just wait till after the wedding. Not wanting to stay in an apartment, Aaron agreed to offer near the top of our budget to ensure we got the house. We probably overpaid, but it was accepted, and soon enough it was ours. Soon enough being the four months it took for the paperwork to be cleared.