Trying to move on 1 income...

I like my house. I like my neighborhood. I love many things my city has to offer.
I don't love the school system in this city.

Because of that factor, the school system, we are looking to move. Madeline is starting kindergarten in a month. We listed our house back in the beginning of June and we optimistic that we could be in a new house before school started, or soon after. It seemed perfect, Jon had the summer off and could help with cleaning and packing. We were too optimistic.

If you have watched the news lately you know the economy is not great. You also know that banks are not giving mortgages out very easily. I am reminded of this both by the news and my realtor. And the for sale sign that won't budge from my front yard is a daily reminder as well. Now is not a good time to move if you have a house to sell, or not great credit. Because we have worked hard over the years to live within our means we have excellent credit. But we also have a house to sell.


Keeping our credit score also means knowing what we are comfortable affording for a mortgage. We went to get pre-approved yesterday. I was amazed at how much they would give us. It is almost double what we want and feel comfortable paying. If we took the amount they are willing to give us, the options of where to buy a house would grow hugely. But we won't. Because we know what our other bills are. And we know what we spend and how much we feel comfortable spending on our house. And the bank doesn't know that, all they know is how much we can afford based on our income. They don't know that we choose to have money to put into savings for the just in case. They don't know that we may need to buy another vehicle in a few months. we know this and we choose to buy a house based on all of those factors, not simply what the bank says we can afford.

Living comfortable within our income means that if we want a nicer town, and a slightly bigger house, then we buy a fixer upper. That is okay, it is part of the choice that we made. Even with our price requirements we found a house we want. We love this house. It needs help, quite a bit of it actually. But the help it needs is cosmetic which means that we can move in and work while living their. It has three bedrooms, one and a half baths, a living room, kitchen, dining room, bonus room and finished basement. It has a two car garage and 7/10 of an acre. It is in a great town. It is perfect for our family.

So now I continue to keep my house extra clean and hope the phone rings and a realtor wants to show our house. Or even better, that someone has made an offer on our house. It will happen, eventually. I just need a reminder lesson in patience.