Bad ex-boyfriend syndrome

I'm pretty much done looking for a house, but our realtor still sends us updates when he sees something he thinks we'll like.

Well, Lancer Oak didn't sell, so now the price has been reduced and it's going to auction. Silly bankers should've just given it to us in the first place! Now, we have to decide whether to put another, lower offer on the house. (We'd still make them pay for a roof and A/C!)

Of course, our first inclanation is to say yes. We fell in love with the house, we should put another offer on it! The problem is, it has what I call the bad ex-boyfriend syndrom. It wasn't perfect, but I fell in love with it, convinced myself it was meant to be. Then, it left and I cried. We had a bad breakup. I thought nothing else would ever compare until I decided to move on and look for something better. I saw some things that were better, maybe not perfect, but better, so I moved on. I decided screw that house! We don't need it! It's not right for us anyway! And I convinced myself that it's over. You don't go back to your ex-boyfriend, right? So we shouldn't go back to this house.

Of course, this is a silly way to look at it, and probably not very mature. I'm just stating the way I feel. I'm over it, but of course part of me wants to go back. Should we go back? Regardless of how bad it hurt to find out the seller decided to back out of the offer two days before closing...it's still an amazing deal on a house. Yes, the house needs lots of work. Yes, there are nicer houses out there in better shape. But so far, those have not been reachable for us because nobody else has accepted our offer. This is a good house. Strong house. It just needs a lot of TLC, which before.. we convinced ourselves was something we wanted to do.

Bah!
Decisions!

Nope

I thought the home in Ocoee was very promising. The house was perfect, I finally got myself comfortable with the neighborhood. We were told there was a good chance our offer would be accepted if we could close by the end of the month, which we can. And guess what!? After making us wait a week..and even having us go through the approval process.. we find out that we weren't the winning bid.

I'm done with this. I said it before and I mean it now. I wish Kevin would give up too. We can't win the type of home we want and we need to give our notice to our landlord by the end of this month so that we can leave this place and move on with our lives. I'm ready to just rent an apartment and be done with it. Sure, I'll be unhappy in an apartment..walking through a dark parking lot late at night...trying to find a parking spot late at night..lugging groceries up and down stairs.. trying to sleep in the middle of the day while neighbors are out and about making all kinds of noise..not having any sort of yard or privacy...not being able to have a dog because there won't be a place for it to run around in...not being able to personalize the place and paint the walls and turn it into a home...not having room for company when they come to vist. The reasons why I don't want an apartment are endless, but what other options do we have? We can't rent another house. After this madness in this market, I won't do that again. Our landlord is having financial issues and because of that we don't have access to all of the community ammenities, we have to come up with the cash if something needs fixed, and we worry that every day we could get a foreclosure notice on the door. I don't want to deal with this ever again. At least in an apartment, you know you won't be foreclosed on.

I'm just so extremely frustrated. Our realtor sent us some new listings tonight, but I'm not interested in any of them. All the houses suck compared to the two we've fell in love with.

I tried really hard not to let myself get attached, but when we started the approval process I had to make up my mind as to whether or not the house was for us. I had to do more research on the neighborhood..and I decided that YES it was the home for us. I had to do that research. If I didn't, then if our offer DID get accepted I wouldn't have been able to say yes or no right away.

Somebody has to have some good advice. Yes, I know the process can be frustrating and long, but we're on a time limit. we need that government tax credit and we're stuck living in a place now that we don't want to stay in.

I told Kevin that we should never have begun looking for a house to begin wiht. Sure, we both want to be homeowners, but we should've dropped out as soon as we realized that the market isn't what we thought it would be. Sure, houses are listed at cheap prices, but those prices aren't what they're selling at. They're selling for a lot more. I just feel like we're wasting our time and energy. Or, at least, I'm wasting my time and energy. If Kevin wants to continue the search, then he can enjoy himself, but I want nothing to do with it.

Today's Find - 2732 S SPRINGFIELD DRIVE, OCOEE

We found a house we really like today. The floor plan is pretty much perfect for us. The place has a lot of storage. It's in excellent shape...appears to have a new roof. The neighborhood seems quiet. Price is decent.

So what's the down fall?
It's awefully close to Pine Hills (for those who don't live around here, the place is nicknamed "crime hills." We often don't even cover shootings there on the news because they're so common.) To make it clear, this house is NOT in Pine Hills, but it's just a few miles down the road from it. This house is in what appears to be a very nice subdivision. I'm assuming the location is the reason why it's so affordable, because we really did like this house.
Here are some pictures. (I have more pics, but blogger won't let me upload more than a few in each post.)

For those of you who are local, here's where it's located in the city.



I figure we'll put an offer on it, and not stress about the decision unless our offer is accepted (which knowing this housing market, it probably won't be. We already know this house is a multiple offer situation.)

Lake Biscayne

Didn't get that house either. Offer wasn't accepted.

This is very discouraging.

Update on San Diego Dr.

Our offer was not accepted on the house.

I'm pretty sure if the seller does accept our offer on the other house, we're going to turn it down. I just don't feel like its the right home for us.

1129 LAKE BISCAYNE WAY

Pros:
Love the overall floor plan...has a formal dining room
The kitchen is big and roomy
Nice tile floors
Ready to move in..needs very little work.
Good neighborhood
Garden tub and decent sized master bath.
Tiled screened in patio

Cons:
Same location as the San Diego house, pretty inconvenient for both of us.
Neighbors on all sides
Not much of a backyard and it isn't fenced
The three guest bedrooms are small.
Carpet needs replaced in bedrooms

13129 SAN DIEGO WOODS LN.

I suppose you'll start seeing more of these posts from me again. It gives you a chance to see the homes we're looking at.








Pros:
Ready to move in to
Kitchen and bathroom have awesome upgrades. granite countertops, cool sinks.
Nice flooring.
The home itself doesn't need any work...not even paint.
Nice floor plan
Master is on first floor, others are all upstairs
4 bedroom instead of 3.
Excellent neighborhood
No HOA fees!

Cons:
No garden tub or room to put one in
No screened in patio
Terrible location for both of us, but at this point.. I feel like we can't be picky with location. It's either a nice house, or nice location. Nice houses in nice locations just don't exist in our price range.
Neighbors on all sides.
Small-ish back yard.
Not a lot of closet space in master bedroom

Moving along...

Today we're off to look at about a half-dozen more houses. There just isn't much out there. And now interest rates are going up.

Most of the homes we're going to look at today aren't in ideal locations, but we're going to see them anyway because we feel like we have to get back out there to keep looking.

The one area, zip code 32824, has a lot of beautiful homes in our price range in great neighborhoods. The only hangup is that it's almost an hour drive to work for me and a 1/2 drive for Kevin + almost $5 a day in tolls. I'm not too excited about that, but we're going to look at those homes anyway because they look so incredibly awesome. One of them was built in 2006 and has never been lived in. It'd be pretty awesome to own a brand new house.

I'll update you later on what I think of the houses.