House Hunting

I spent the better part of last week in Virginia for work, and while I was there did some house hunting. This is the first trip that I have rented a car and actually explored the areas we may want to live in when we move. The rental market is so fluid and it was hard to get appointments set up. I was able to see 7 houses total (and one by proxy - Annie). I saw 1 in downtown Vienna, 2 in Annandale, 1 in Reston, 1 in Falls Church, 1 in Alexandria and 1 in Oakton. Nothing was exactly what we wanted or if it did come close to working, it didn't fit our time frame. I did put in an application on a house in Annandale, but then the owners decided to sign a 2 year lease with another family. I think it was for the best though, because houses in that neighborhood are selling reasonably and we'd possibly be wasting rent when we could be home owners.

I still think renting is the best option for us at this point, but I want to find something that (a) is reasonably priced (b) close to work for me (c) accepts pet with a reasonable security deposit and (d) is close to a good school. Oh and a few other things that we would like, but those are the main things. It's a tall order in a very high cost of living, crowded area. After this trip and this house hunting, we have decided to enlist reinforcements in the form of a realtor. I thought we could do this on our own, but it's just too difficult from 2,000 miles away. I need boots on the ground, someone who can preview these homes and help us secure something if it suits our list of needs and time frame.

I'm sure everything will work out but this trip was a bit discouraging. I guess I hoped I could line something up while I was there but that didn't happen. There is plenty of time though and I really think we are going to see more rentals popping up for our late May/early June time frame. And at least now I know what would be good locations, having driven most of the routes myself. So now to find a realtor and get him/her working for us...more to come!