House Hunter

Although I was born and raised in Seattle, over the past fifteen years, I have lived in many places and moved no less than 12 times. During that time I have rented apartments and homes of all shapes and sizes. I’m going to go ahead and admit it - I am an HGTV addict. I tivo episodes of House Hunters every week and watch other buy/sell/rent shows with a vengeance that most people reserve for sports-viewing (since I'm not a sports fan myself).

On the weekends, in addition to checking in on adoption blogs and Facebook friends, I research real estate. Steve thinks I should get my real estate license. But I really enjoy this as an extracurricular hobby. Besides, I truly consider it research - someday I will live in my dream house and actually OWN it so I can make it truly mine. But for now, work transitions and saving for adoption expenses keep us from taking the real estate plunge. Some days that frustrates me – but most of the time, I think it is exciting. I’m not tied down to any specific location. We could end up anywhere, and with the timelines on China adoptions ever-growing, who knows when that will happen or where we’ll be living…but it WILL happen eventually… the good news is, over the past two years, I’ve never lived in a house long enough decorate a nursery, so I’ve never had anywhere in a house to go sit and be sad about the wait.

Anyway, just for the sake of research, this morning I decided to take a look at what kind of single, detached home we could buy for $300k in all the various towns where I’ve lived, and still be in a safe, family-friendly neighborhood which is within a 10-15 min. commute to a downtown area. Here is what I found:

Seattle - 2 beds, 1 bath – 750 sq. ft

This is near the neighborhood where I grew up.

One car garage in back.

Denver - 3 beds, 2. 5 bath – 1500 sq ft

No yard, 2-car garage in back. Close neighbors on both sides!

Des Moines (Iowa) – 4 beds, 2. 5 bath – 2250 sq ft

Lots of land - but no trees and a lot of grass to mow!

Spokane – 5 beds, 3 baths – 3200 sq ft
Backs up to a state park, with no neighbors behind you.

It’s funny when I compare all these places –I’ve imagined myself being able to live quite happily in any one of them. Somehow that is comforting. It reminds me that – no matter where we end up raising Lia – home isn't about renting vs. owning, or how many bedrooms or garage spaces you have...it truly is about where the heart is - so we will be happy. :)