Touring Austin, Texas

On Monday, March 11 I flew from SLC to Austin to go house hunting.  Mark and I have until March 29th to be out of our house - the clock is ticking and I haven't even seen inside one house yet.

It is a strange airport to maneuver.  I eventually got my luggage and found the rental car building.  I heard there are a lot of toll roads, but the rental facilitator told me there is a $35 fee to take a toll road - on top of the toll fees.  I decided right then and there that I was going to avoid all tolls.  Unlucky for me, the facilitator didn't tell me that by not taking a toll road it added 20 minutes onto my commute to the hotel in Cedar Park (just north of Austin).

I also had bad timing.  I'm usually optimistic, however, traffic didn't move.  When I finally arrived at the hotel (1 hour and 30 minutes later) for a 25 mile drive, the front desk clerk informed me that it is "South by Southwest"  - one of the biggest and most attended festivals in Austin.  It lasts for 2 weeks.  Lucky me.

Monday night I drove around the Cedar Park area to get a feel for it.  I looks really nice - it has all the convenient shops that we would like and convenient access to the toll roads and other main roads for Mark's commute.

Mark said I could find a house anywhere within a 30 minute drive radius of his work - FLEX.

The next morning I woke up to dense fog!  REALLY ????  I thought Austin was supposed to be the land of sunshine.  After breakfast I was picked up by the real estate agent.  She is so nice.  My friend in Louisville connected me with her.  So blessed.  We hit it off, however, the houses she showed me didn't impress me.  In Austin - there are NO YARDS!!!  Texas is supposed to be the state with lots of land - not in Austin.  All the yards in our price range and pathetically small - less than half an acre.  House after house - all day long.  She could tell I wasn't finding what I was looking for.  From that conversation she decided to take me out to a place call Santa Rita.  It is a lot further out ... but on the way out there we passed Rancho Sienna.  I liked the look of it and asked her if we could look in there.  I found a few I liked in there - but the thing that I really liked about it was the neighborhood.  The developer kept trees, and developed walking paths, fishing ponds, and natural beauty was preserved.  IT also had a workout facility and a pool that is open 365 days a year.  The first house we came to could have been the perfect one, but as soon as I saw it - it sold.  By 6:00 PM I was exhausted and the houses were blurring together in my mind.

The next day was more of the same - house after house after house.  Unfortunately, I really wasn't seeing the layout or design that I liked.  I was able to over look color (crazy color on walls) and liked most of it, but at each house there was something that just made it a deal breaker.  Either too small of a porch, no storage space, bad floor plan, houses in the back yard (no view).  I'm getting a little discouraged, but I still have my 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks.  I really wish we could stay in temporary housing until we know the area and what the real commute time will be for Mark.

I was so discouraged that I drove over to Round Rock - to a lake development that I had seen on Realtor.com and on the map.  I toured the houses there and found a few that I liked but I was nervous about Mark's commute.  I had been told by my realtor to avoid the 35 area.

That night Mark and I decided on our offer plan.  $380 for the $425 house in Rancho Sienna (2541 sq ft).

On the third we drove in separate cars.  We started with in Round Rock.  We saw some really amazing houses, but then some were not available by the time we needed them, some were above my price range, and then again she kept saying, "You do not want to be on the east side of 35."  I was really set on Rancho Sienna.  While driving back to Rancho Sienna I asked her to see if another builder had houses that would be available by 3/29.  She could tell I was running out of options and patience.  Crazy as it seems, she called me back to tell me the buyers of first house in Rancho Sienna (the one that sold before I could reserve it) did not qualify for their loan, so the house became available today.  Even though I like the size and the lay out of the 2541 house, this house is in the price range that will make Mark happy.  I called him to let him know it had just become available.  What should I do?



He said make a low offer on it $334, for $405 house.  They accepted!  I spent the next several house getting a deposit transferred to Perry Homes, signing contracts, signing paperwork and really wondering if I had made the right choice.  I am always doing this - buying the house by myself.  YIKES!  It's a lot of pressure.

Well that was it - I bought a house.

I flew home that evening.   HOW CRAZY IS THAT!  Now I have two weeks to pack up, sell or give away everything I own back in Louisville.  HEAVEN HELP ME!