the best of the worst

i went house shopping yesterday...it is so fun to say that!
we had a total of 5 homes to see in our desired neighborhoods (ie good schools). i am struggling with what i want my "dream home" to look like and what we are seeing in our desired neighborhoods. we can buy in another part of the city and get a newer home but the schools aren't accredited and i don't feel a sense of neighborhood/community.
anyway...of the 5:
1. was taken off the market earlier that day. i really liked the look of this house too.
2. one was priced out of our price range with 2 other offers on it. it was a foreclosure and the bank is being difficult. we didn't even go see it. why bother??
3. smelled funny. great backyard. funky layout. small rooms. everything would need to be updated. it was very hard to visualize turning that house into our dream home.
4. foreclosure. funky colors. on the fence.
5. the best of the worst! it would take a lot of work, but i could "see" it becoming our dream home. we would be able to move in right away and not have to do anything major. we could wait til the baby got a little older before we started knocking down walls :) i would want to convert the 3 bedrooms upstairs into 2 jack n jill rooms and relocate the master suite downstairs. i would like to convert the living, family, dining rooms and kitchen into 1 big great room. the backyard is great! just needs a little grass.
zack is going back this weekend to check it out. he is way better at visualizing than i am so i am excited to see what he envisions.

we will be looking at more houses on Monday. wish us luck!!

on a POSITIVE note: OUR HOUSE IS FINALLY OFFICIALLY WIPE OUR HANDS OF IT CLOSED!! i stopped by yesterday to drop off my keys and cried! i loved that lil place! it was so good to us!

i celebrated with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream!!