The first night out, we looked at 4 houses, two of which were no on sight, one that was “eh”, and one that was “wow, but damn that kitchen”. It’s both heartening and disheartening at the same time.

I wasn’t expecting to find something to buy on the first time out, but it was good to see what was available in our price range. The kitchens are all a little on the small side, and not well laid out, but the common rooms were a decent size. The master bedrooms in two of the houses were just too small for us. Most houses also have a formal living room as well as a family room and a rec room, and we’d be fine with two of the three. The dining rooms are all nice sized, and there were eat in kitchens in all of the houses (can’t they get rid of the eat in part and put more counter space and cabinets? ugh)

The house that I loved was very well laid out, with high ceilings, a library, lots of storage, and a screened in deck. But the kitchen was smaller than the ones we have now. It was in a good location too.

It’s nice to see that we can get a good amount of space and what we want in our price range, in decent neighborhoods as well. One house we said no to just because of the street it was on. There were *way* too many cars parked in the street - especially considering most had two car garages. It felt too tight, and we didn’t like it.

The one that we loved except the kitchen is on our list of “maybes”, but that’s it. I went through the listings again, and pulled out the ones with large kitchens to check with Brian before sending to the Realtor. They’re in Herndon, but south of the toll road, and in Centreville, north of 66. But the kitchen layouts look better, so we’ll see.

We won’t be ready to put in a bid until Brian’s house is at least on the market, so this weekend’s focus is on getting Brian’s house ready to sell. The realtor will be coming over on Sunday to give us a list of things to do He’ll be dropping by my house on Monday to tell me what’s wrong with mine Joy, Joy, Joy…