First Home: The want, the need, the this is what you'll getBe

As mentioned yesterday, at the end of March Jarrod and I will be going to the bank so that we can get pre-approved for our very first home loan so that we may begin looking at houses. Of course we have been scoping out homes online, but some houses only have a few pictures and they're usually of the front door, the bathroom and maybe the living room.  I need details people!

A lot of what will most likely end up in these blogs posts about us buying a house will be old news to people.  For me, I looking forward to seeing what we thought we knew about buying a house, versus what really ends up happening.  Jarrod and I have watch so many episodes of Property Virgins we feel as if perhaps we're less of one but none the less it's never going to be the same as on TV I am sure...

So let's begin with what we want/what we need... and based on online research, what we'll most likely end up with:

What We Want/Need:

• A small patch of grass(need).  It could be 3 feet by 3 feet, but if the dogs can pee on it, that's good enough for me.  Honestly for me (and I am sure Jarrod too) nothing will be more wonderful than simply opening a door and letting our furkids run out to use the restroom.  No more leashes, no more elevators, no more picking up poop in little bags(don't worry, we'll still pick it up!) 
• 3 bedrooms(want)/2 bedrooms(need). Ideally we'd like to have 3 bedrooms so that once our family expands by 2 legs there is still a place for guests (cough cough come visit cough cough).  Jarrod has recounted "fond" childhood memories of getting kicked to the couch when aunts and uncles came over, so it's doable, but to make the house last longer, 3 would be better.
• Hardwood floors(want). I really dislike carpet in a house.  Maybe it's the dogs, maybe it's wanting what we never really had, but either way I love me some wooden floors.  The wider the planks the better!  Wooden floors are cool in the summer, which is good here in Houston. In the winter when they're also cool, that's what awesome, brightly colored area rugs are for.  The only downside to wooden floors for me is the clicking of the dogs' nails on the floors.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
• Open floor plan(want). It seems this is on a lot of people's wish list and in a city it makes perfect sense.  If you're going to be restricted by how much space you can own in an urban area, wouldn't it be nice for all that space to be open and flowing and feeling like you have more than you do?  Jarrod and I only really use our living room and kitchen, so having them all in one space would be ideal.  Plus we love to have people over, and based on all the shows we've watched, an open floor plan is ideal for that.
• Projects(wants). Again with all the HGTV we've been watching, Jarrod and I are biting at the bit to get our hands on some ugly cabinets or some worn out tiles and make each room truly our own.  What we are not eager to do is a major renovation, or structural fix so the projects need to be small... but awesome.
• Bedrooms on the same floor(need). We would feel most comfortable if the bedrooms were all on the same level so that the family was near by.  In the future we don't want to have to go down or up flights of stairs for upset children or in the far future mischievous children.  

What We Will Most Likely Get: (based on research and homes we have visited of friends in the area):

• A yard that has no grass and only a small concrete patio.  While there are many homes with grass, the fact of the matter is there are way more homes that are inside units and so have no grassed side yard. We'd have to pull up the concrete so that the dogs had some place to pee because pee on concrete is noooooo good!
• 2 bedrooms is probably the most likely situation.  Because our area caters to young professionals there tends to not be a need for 3+ bedrooms.  Builders have capitalized on this and usually offer large master bedroom suites and while these are awesome, for Jarrod and I they seem like more wasted space than anything else.
• Hardwood floors may actually happen!  Based on what we've seen online many of the available homes have hardwood floors at least in the living areas.  We may need to eventually add it to the bedrooms, but that's a project we're confident we could do ourselves... or with Jarrod's cousin Ben's help :)
• Open floor plan is again another good possibility.  See the reason for the large master bedroom above and that would explain good areas to entertain.
• Projects may or may not happen.  We are nervous about any house in our area that is old enough to have projects because they are also old enough to need major work.  Most housing in our area is either VERY old or fairly new.  We'd feel silly pulling up counter tops that were fine and new, just not our favorite.  That seems like a waste of money.
• Bedrooms on the same floor. This may be the most difficult thing to find.  Our area is mostly townhouses and to make so many fit on one block they have made them very tall and very skinny.  What is typical is a bedroom on the first floor, living on the 2nd and the master on the 3rd.  There is no way we would be comfortable with future kids on the entry level floor, 2 flights down from us.  This may be the deal breaker for most places we look at.

Next up... How do we go about buying a house?! And other serious questions...