The Hunts

BIG NEWS!!!!!

No, I'm not pregnant. I GOT A NEW JOB and WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!

As many of you know, I've been job hunting since I finished grad school in 2008. I finally found a permanent full-time job in June working for a stock photographer and writer named Laurence Parent. It has been a wonderful job, as you can hopefully tell by the way I've been encouraging people to read his new book and review it online for a $20 giveaway. But before I started working for Laurence, I had applied for a super duper writing job at Texas State University. Two weeks ago (yes, state job hiring processes are that long) I was offered that job. Starting Monday, I will be a writer on the publications staff at the university.

I am excited about this job for many reasons -- namely writing and working in higher education, but also state job benefits and tuition discounts for Daniel (who is a student there) -- and...(drumroll)...my salary qualifies us to BUY A HOUSE!

We've been looking at houses for the past 10 days, all within 3 miles of the university. We have narrowed it down to four contenders at this point. (Click on an image to view it full size.)

The Fixer Upper

This house is the cheapest, so we'll call this price "base" and use it as the starting point. It is 3/2 with a garage (important, because Danno needs a place to make creative messes) on about a sixth of an acre in a nice neighborhood. It has been rented by college students for who knows how long, and the inside is UGLY but our realtor says, "The bones are good." It needs roughly $10,000 to $15,000 worth of updating/surface replacing inside. But once that's done, it will be cute like a dollhouse.

3/2/2 @ 1235 sf = $base

PROS: price, cozy layout, fireplace, lots of storage, big garage and cute front porch
CONS: little kitchen, needs work, must wait to move in while remodeling is completed

The Burb House

This house is the most expensive, but also the largest, the newest, the most energy efficient, and the easiest to resell later. It's a 3/2.5 with a garage on a fifth of an acre in a nice neighborhood. It would serve all our needs without spending a dime over the purchase price. I want to be excited about this house, but its interior burb-ness is a wet blanket.

3/2/2 @ 1489 sf = $base + $24,000

PROS: resale ease, rental ease, garage, space, lots of trees, includes fridge and stacked washer/dryer set, very low maintenance, ready to move into with no further changes
CONS: furthest from the university, most expensive, least, um, cute. It just feels like a big suburban house inside.

The Land Lubber

This house is a remodel. We don't know how old it is, but everything inside of it is new. Except the appliances, which are absent. It's a 3/2 on a whopping double lot -- over a third acre -- with a HUGE open living/kitchen area, lots of trees, and big bright bedrooms. The front porch is gloriously shaded. It has no garage, BUT it has a cement pad with wall base from a previous carport that could be turned into a garage/studio for the hubs. Oh, and it has three mature prickly pear cacti. (This one is Daniel's favorite.)

3/2 @ 1360 sf = $base + $10,000

Daniel, measuring his studio

PROS: cute, new everything, lots of yard, quiet neighborhood, great porch, big open kitchen, best bike route to the university
CONS: remodel materials are a bit cheap looking so I wonder how they will wear, no garage, no appliances, needs landscaping work

The Charmer

This house takes the cake for cuteness. It's another total remodel. The highlights include cute-cute-cute bedrooms with well-designed closets, synthetic fiber floors (I totally thought they were reclaimed oak floors), and an amazing kitchen with granite countertops and stainless everything. It's a 4/2 on a fifth acre, and it's about as charming as a non-historic house could be. The garage became the fourth bedroom once upon a time, but with four rooms, Daniel could settle for having his studio in the house.

The drawback is the location. It seems to be the first total remodel in an otherwise aging neighborhood of mid-century bungalows. In Austin, this neighborhood would be ripe for a hipster-cum-yuppy invasion. There are lots of student renters (according to the student neighbors we spoke with). There's a busy railroad track beside the neighborhood, and the streets are all dirt right now, due to utilities work. And the back fence abutts a business: Bum's Billards. (Read this review.) But, of course, the location makes the price very nice.

4/2 @ 1450 sf = $base + $5,000

View through the fence to Bum's Billiards

PROS: price, CUTE!, supernice kitchen, open floorplan, beautiful floor, easiest commute (by free bus) to the university, closest to university
CONS: no garage, trains, roads are torn up for duration of utilities work, abutts a billiards bar, needs a new fence and a shed for bike storage

I'm pretty excited to be back on the house hunt and at the end of a long job hunt. Tell me what you think. Give house hunting advice to Daniel and me. We have never considered spending so much money on anything, not even on education, so we'd appreciate outside input. And pardon my egregious overuse of the word cute.