We decided that we didn’t want that house. There were some really neat things about it, but neither of us really loved it. We figure that it’s not a good idea to spend that much money on something we don’t absolutely LOVE. So, we spent some time last night on MIBOR and have contacted several realtors about other properties. Hopefully we’ll hear back from them soon. =)

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Also, AdoramaPix is having an amazingly great sale on 11×14 prints. Now’s the time.

Last night, we looked at a house.

While we were moving from GC to Indy and transitioning from employment to unemployment, it didn’t make any sense for us to think very seriously about buying a house. We, while we still had jobs, talked about buying a house – we’d move into the city, rent from a friend for a while, and take stock of our options, then find a cute little fixer-upper somewhere on the Near East side of town. All that discussion was put on hold when I lost my job and David’s year-long term at Taylor ended. Our only option was to rent.

Still, as we moved into this rental house, I was thinking of it as a short-term home. I have a job now. We have since put a lot of work into the house (cosmetic work, mostly) and are getting pretty comfortable. And moving is such a pain…

But renting is giving away money. We’re doing the best we can – we’re giving our money to a friend who’s investing it in this neighborhood – but we’re not making a difference ourselves. It’s been my dream since I first came to this city 5 years ago to do what our friends are doing – investing their time, their money and their lives in this mission field. We’re doing some of that, but in a transient way.

One of my friends, Sarah, told me last week that she’d found a house we should check out. The last time she said that to me, she was talking about the most wonderful house (ever, in my opinion) – one she ended up buying. So, I started the dialog again with David. We talked several times and decided that it couldn’t hurt to go look. The house was inexpensive, liveable, air-conditioned (YES!), and very cute on the outside.

We made an appointment with the realtor and toured the house. Some neat things: very high ceilings and doorways, double doors, lots of space, neat floorplan – lots of potential for someone who wants to spend the time and money to fix up a house with a lot of character. Some not so neat things: in bad need of a complete re-caulk and re-paint on the outside, a vandalized alley just out back and a club of some sort across the street, warped floors on the top floor. We had quite a few questions that the realtor couldn’t answer, so she’s getting back to me with the answers sometime this week.

I’m not dead-set on buying a house, but it is something I’d like to do if we can. We don’t know if it’s feasible right now, but we’re going to talk with a mortgage broker and see where we stand. I think the most positive thing to come out of the experience is that we’re talking about buying a house again.