House Hunting

Our focus for the past few days - and next several, probably - is on finding a house. We looked at houses with a realtor on Friday and Sunday (about 25 total) and still haven't found the right one. As if you didn't know this - Minneapolis is expensive! There are deals to be had in this market, though, and we are determined to find one.

We have seen some places in our range 1-2 blocks from the river, 2-3+ blocks from the lakes and even one right on Minnehaha Parkway. The homes are nice but small and sometimes awkwardly laid out. So many of the homes are already renovated and we are loath to pay for someone else's work when we could do it our own way for less money.

The house shown is one we looked at. Not necessarily a favorite, but will give you an idea of what we're seeing.

We also went to a real estate auction on both Saturday and Sunday. We hadn't done enough research to feel comfortable bidding, but it was a great learning experience. There seemed to be some great deals, but in other cases people over paid. Mom and Dad - the "crack house" went for about $129,000 if I recall correctly and the nicest one we saw that day (also the first?) went for $335,000.

There's much more for us to see here - there are no lack of houses to view. The real challenge will be choosing the home and location that best suit our needs!