I've been househunting for almost a year waiting for JUST the right place to come along. Gotten close a couple times but things kept falling through at the last minute (got outbid on one, another had title/deed issues, and one the seller was just nuts and not worth the trouble of dealing with.) After the month I've had (my apartment was broken into on Wednesday two weeks ago, while I was home. Mal chased the guy out but it was scary as hell, and I'm only just now feeling less-anxious-enough about it to post about it), it was nice to have some GOOD news.
Well, as of Friday, I am now a home owner. :) The house is on almost half an acre in Lancaster (south of Dallas) and backs up to 20 acres that my dad owns which I'm going to lease a tiny portion of as a training field so I can teach classes rather than just privates- it's in a PERFECT location for this, too, since it's right off I-20. The yard is all fenced and gorgeous with great grass, a peach tree in the backyard and a nice big shade tree in front. It's 2 (small) bedroom, 1 bath, with little carport and totally fenced yard. It's not big at all- 850 square feet- but perfect for me and the dogs.
The house itself needs a LOT of work- I'll post photos when I get my digital camera later this week and you guys are going to go "You bought THAT wreck?" but the location and price were exactly what I wanted, and I'd rather spend $15K doing renovations to have EXACTLY the house I want than spend $10K more on the purchase and then another $7K putting things the way I want them. (No carpet, energy-saving windows, new wiring (the neighborhood I wanted to buy in is all quite old houses, and a foundation repair was going to be in the cards with any of htem.) I probably won't be moved until the fall- but at least now the end of the evil apartment living is in sight- and the dogs have a yard, even if I have to drive to it for now!
Cait