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Laundry Day by Sascalia, mixed media collage painting on wood, $15

We all have certain milestones in our life that we are hoping to make … graduate from college (check), get a real job I love with my own cubicle & business card (check), get married (check).  Now I want to buy a house, something Mr. Juicefairy and I  are in the process of doing now.

OK, so technically I own a house already.  Mr. Juicefairy bought it before we met so I never went through the home buying process.  I have never had a deed to a house in my name.  This is the milestone that I am about to pass.

Our cozy little 2/1 in downtown Orlando is starting to feel a little suffocating and limiting.  We love to entertain but when more than 4 people are in the living room at a time the room is just uncomfortable and we can’t fit a dining room table.  Mr.  Juicefairy and I  have to keep our clothing and belongings in separate bedrooms because there in no room in our “master” bedroom.  There certainly is no room for a baby if one of those were to come along eventually.

So after saving and saving and saving we decided once we got married we would buy a house.  I was ready for the most exciting romantic adventure of our marriage!  It would be fun and like shopping at the mall of your dreams for the biggest and most expensive handbag you have ever bought.  Yeah … doesn’t really happen like that.

House shopping is really just giving me a lot of anxiety.  Even though we have been researching in preparation to buy a house for over a year I have been filled with a lot of doubts as to whether we were picking the right area to buy, whether the house is too big or too small, and whether in the end we have picked the perfect home for our needs.

Also the market is flooded with short sales and foreclosures.  That is great when it comes to price, but it causes this horrible waiting game to find out if your offer was accepted by the lender.  You have to be prepared to fall in love with a house and then lose it just as easily.

We have been waiting since December to find out if the offer we put on a short sale has been accepted.  Now the lender says it will be another 4 - 6 weeks to get an answer.  They are flooded with paperwork for short sales and they don’t have the man power to get to all of them in a timely manner.

Meanwhile the federal government put a home buyers tax credit on the table.  It is a hefty chunck of change making the market competitive because while all buyers want it they lose out if they wait too long — to get the credit you have to have a contract on a house by April 30th.

This week we saw a house we might even like more than the one we have an offer pending on, but it is another short sale.

Do we give up on the house we put an offer on and gamble that we will get the other house in time to get the tax credit?

Which one needs more repairs or will have better resale value?

Are we going to still have our sanity if we have to wait three months to hear if an offer was accepted on this new house?

And what if it doesn’t pass inspection?  We will be giving up the house we have an offer pending on now?

Maybe I am just an impatient person and that is why it is hard.  Why does this make me so anxious?  Did you go through this when you bought your first house?  I will get to the fun part soon right?