Decisions

Basement or no basement? Bonus room or just stick with 3 bedrooms? Separate dining area or eat in kitchen? Where should the half bath go? Mess with cathedral ceilings, or no?

Those are the "minor" decisions Chris & I are faced with. We met with our realtor yesterday and looked at two of the homes which models she had originially mentioned. We weren't in love with either one - mostly because of the lack of yard. So many homes now are putting garages in the backs of homes to be able to put more homes on a block - which equals ZERO yard space. I just kept thinking about the yards I played in as a kid, and I just couldn't imagine having kids in a yard about 20' by 6'.

So we left that community just outside downtown, and we immediately decided the area was NOT for us. Definitely a rougher part of town, and while the short commute was attractive, being afraid for my life in the middle of the night - not so much.

So we drove out to a community east of Columbus and immediately fell in love with the first model she showed us. It was more of a traditional style home, with the garage in front, and has the option of both a partial/ full basement and a 4th bonus room. BUT - the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms are tiny, it's an eat in kitchen (not sure that our table will fit) with a half wall into the main room downstairs, AND the half bath is off the kitchen. I know my mom has never liked that about our house in Terre Haute.

We then went to a different model and loved the floorplan even more. Hard to explain, but basically the "great room", half bath, laundry and foyer (with cathedral ceilings) is on the first floor....the kitchen and dining room (or what they call a flex room) is half a flight of stairs up (and looks over the downstairs) - and then another half flight of stairs up is a "catwalk" that looks over the entire kitchen and great room that leads into 3 bedrooms. It's 200 square feet bigger right off the bat, but also starts out at $5,000 higher price-point wise than the other. So, probably wouldn't be able to do a basement. BUT - it's not your "cookie cutter" type home so the resale potential is probably a little higher.

None of these are life-altering decisions, but I feel like we need to make decisions that we'll be able to live with for the next 5 years at least.......b/c barring anything major, I want to stay in this house at least 5 years, to build up equity. And 5 years is a lot of life. 1 child, maybe 2....changes in jobs? Etc, etc.

I feel like I need to sit down with an Excel spreadsheet and put down pros and cons and look at things from a black and white perspective. Obviously cost and mortgage payment is going to the overriding factor, but within that, what can we live with, what do we have to have, what don't we have to have?

We look at lots on Thursday and potentially sign a purchase agreement to lock in rates as early as the middle of March. I just want us to make the right decision(s)....it's a big step! An exciting step, though :)