After much debate and discussion, Tracy and I have begun the process of looking for a new place to live. No, we aren't getting evicted and we aren't looking for something smaller; we are in fact looking for something some what bigger, like say 2500 square feet. Our current house, which we do love, is just squeezing us a little bit. Tracy enjoys to entertain, not always fancy, but guests over. This house makes it possible, but not always comfortable.
The process has only just begun, we haven't even chosen a realtor, much less listed the house. Mainly we have been looking around at what Wylie has to offer in the square footage we are interested in seeing. We started on the high end to see what we like, even that which we knew was out of our price range, and worked our way down to homes we could pretty easily afford. This way we got a good idea of what the market is currently offering, which in turn is giving me an idea of what my house might be worth. We have finally settled on a price range and an upper limit; I've even gotten pre-approval for a loan to insure that we can move forward if we desire to do so.
While looking at a house that we thought we would like we met a buyer's agent that works with a listing agent, they are partners. After talking to him about how he does business and his partner do business, we decided to give his partner an interview. Obviously if we decide to work with both of them, we get a slightly better rate on the listing agent's commission; under 5%. Mike, the buyer's agent, also put me in touch with a broker that actually put together an interesting loan offer that I am reviewing.
So we have begun the process. We aren't 100% certain about the move as we have a few restrictions. First, we have to stay in Wylie. The recent custody decision requires that both Courtney's mom and dad live in Wylie. This doesn't bother me much, as I really like Wylie. The other is the price range we are interested in at the moment. We are just shy of some of the nicer homes with more features and character, but want to spend more than many of the houses just about our current house. Basically it limits our home choice, meaning that if we can sell our house we might not be able to find a house we both like to purchase. That thought is a little daunting. We can't really afford to buy then sell, the cost of closing the deal are just too high.
This weekend we are going to look at more houses and hope to make a decision on putting our house on the market by Friday. Then of course we have to pack up items we don't really need to make the house more inviting to possible home buyers. There's a chore I'm not looking forward to!
If you are interested in seeing some of the homes we have visited, take a look HERE. You can also find the photos, and future photos of our House Hunt, in the Photo Gallery.