What to do, what to do...

I am getting antsy about getting into our own home. Stinson's home is really lovely but it is too small for our family and it's hard for me to pay someone else's mortgage for them. We were so fortunate that this house was available when we moved to VA from CO but now, almost a year later, I am yearning to become more settled in our home....our longterm home.

Jill has spent a great deal of time driving around looking at and researching homes for us. She has put so much effort into it and I can't thank her enough. I am still not familiar enough with the areas that I don't know what I'm looking for and where. Brad is certainly resist to the idea, he is not psyched about moving again and would like to continue renting until we've got a nice chunk of money put away...both legitimate reasons to stay put.  However, there are some really good deals out there right now.

The tricky part about Richmond is the schools. The city schools are terrible and Cy can definitely go to either Steward or Collegiate but who's to say where we'll be working 12 years from now when he gets to high school. For that reason, I want to stay in the county. Jill and I went looking at some great houses in the county and I really liked these two.

2516 Fillmore Road is super cute with a beautiful yard. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, it's in a great neighborhood and has a wonderful feel about it. I'm not sure what the deal is with this house but it has been on and off the market for the past 2 years. I am going to call the realtor this week to see if we can get in to see the inside. I peaked through the windows and it looks great in there. Nice floors, great big family room and a wonderful play room for Cy. It's big enough that we'll still have a guest room if we do have one more child and if we don't then we can devote a room to an office and deck it out rather than having an office/guest room like we've always done. There are certainly things that need work on this home but at $249,000 it's a steal. I'm pretty certain we can do much better on that anyway. A. it's been on the market for a long time and B. I know it sold in 1983 for $94,000 and hasn't sold since so I think there is some wiggle room with that.

4100 Denbigh Drive is a dream home. I absolutely love it. It's gorgeous inside and out. It's got an acre of land with a stream running through the back. There is a multi-tiered deck off the back and a few fire pits and a pond in the back. It is 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and the kitchen is really amazing. This home is a short sale and will not last long. It has private river access to the James which is a coveted rarity in Richmond. It is listed at $335,000 which is not in our price range but it can't hate to submit a low ball offer to them.  We could handle a mortgage like this but feel like there is no reason to put all of our money into a home when we love to do so much traveling and playing. We need to have some wiggle room and this wouldn't really afford that for us.

What to do, what to do...