Watching the housing market in the past couple of years has been quite interesting. The boom in prices hasn’t been as worrisome for us, thankfully, and it’s been neat to be able to “shop around” online without having to physically be in the area.
Technology has definitely made our housing search easier than it was several years ago. I remember when we were looking to purchase our first house after our son was born, we would be looking through the newspaper’s classified ads for open houses. There were rarely any visuals until we actually got there. We were only provided with general specs: bed/bath/parking and square footage. Our days were spent planning our Sunday route to visit prospective properties, where we could dream up our current and future family. But now, we have the capability to virtually visit most homes on the market from a single website. It’s fun, and definitely easy to place our grown family into the images on the screen.
However, like most things found online, we can’t base our decision solely on pictures and captions. If I’ve learned anything from social media, perhaps it’s that things aren’t always as they seem, and to really know someone, you need to know them in real life. So as lovely as it is to find that dream home online, we know that we’ll need to get to know the neighborhoods, the people, the schools. We need to physically visit these places and learn the history, find the hospitals and nearest grocery store for the last minute ingredient pickup. We need to get a feel of the neighbors and how the breeze feels from the deck…and what does the view from there really look like?
So last week, during our kids’ fall break, we loaded our suitcases and hopped on a plane to Colorado! The first part of the week, we spent on a real vacation, hiking through the mountains of Crested Butte and above Pagosa Springs (more on that in a future post). But our last full day was dedicated to checking out neighborhoods and getting real views of the home we saw online. And I’m so happy we did, because there’s just something about standing in a space you are meant for. (And also discovering the places you aren’t meant for.) For instance, as much as I like solitude and woodsiness, I was not getting that same feel in person—it felt almost claustrophobic. But standing on a quiet street with kids riding through on their bikes, and an amazing view of the Front Range—now that is something I could do everyday. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit all the areas on our list, and we felt for our kids cooped up in the backseat for so long. But it was great to have that short window to take a peek into what God has planned for us.
After returning home, we continued browsing through homes more eagerly, and most of our mornings are spent looking for those newly listed homes. We know that these homes—even the ones we really, really like—will probably get scooped up before we are ready to purchase ours, but there are definitely benefits to looking. We’re beginning to see what’s important for our just right home, and we’re narrowing down our wants and needs. (Like does the back yard/deck have space for a small garden or hot tub? (Want) Or does the kitchen have ample cupboards, pantry, and an amazing prep area? (Definite need!))
We’re about 10 months out (at least) from buying a home, so it’s hard to not be super excited when we find our “dream home.” But what is exciting is we are watching the median prices go down gradually as the interest rates go up. And one of the benefits coming from Hawaii is that our market prices are relatively the same after the boom, and is still a seller’s market. We’re hoping this means we’ll be able to put more into our new home….possibly enough to leave us mortgage free!
And as we continue to “shop” around for homes over the next few months, I’m constantly reminding myself to really keep seeking God first and to pray for His guidance. It’s so easy to get caught up in the glamor of location and house size, and to forget why we are heading there in the first place. Sure, it’s a beautiful area, but if we’re called to move there for a purpose (even if we don’t know what that is), it’s important to seek wisdom from the one who is directing our steps.
No matter where we end up, I’ll keep walking in faith that God has amazing things in store for us!
…there’s just something about standing in a space you are meant for.
