Pictured from Left: Henri, our son Gabe, our Realtor Matt, "R", one of the potential roommates and Cecilia, our daughter. Standing in front of the home we hope to purchase.

Whew! House hunting is hard! Matt talked us out of houses without garages and we weeded out some really nasty neighborhoods and homes with pools. We were surprised that, given the Florida market, some of the homes we saw were filthy. Sometimes a seller doesn't have money to update but they could at least clean!

After looking at about 9 homes this became our first choice. Brick Rancher with 4 good sized bedrooms, new kitchen, 2 car garage, big back yard. 3 minute car ride from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Asking price is now $172,000. It started at $219,000 last August. We have made an offer of $150,000 (don't you hate those buyers?) and we were countered at $165,000. We're holding firm on our price right now as mortgage people tell us that Daytona Beach, in the eyes of the lenders, is a "declining market" and you have to put down at least 20%. Maybe someone should tell the seller!! Roommate rent will cover the mortgage and hopefully, we'll be in a better market when we need to sell. We'll keep you posted on our negotiations. We may have to move on to our second choice and that's the beauty of not being emotionally involved in a purchase.

We're headed to Daytona Beach for Spring Break!!! We're really heading there to see if we can find a house for our son and his 3 to 4 friends. Being Realtors, it doesn't make any sense to rent something, especially in a good "Buyers Market".
We began our search by searching for a Realtor. Our criteria was that they had to be very web savvy, have listings in the area and respond to our phone call within 2 hours. We found the perfect fit for us about 6 months ago and have been communicating via email ever since. Matt, my new friendly Realtor, sends us homes on the market and updates on what is moving and what is not. I am becoming very sympathetic to my buyers as I have changed my mind 10 times on what's most important and where we need this house to be. Matt has been very patient, changing searches, etc.
I've narrowed it down to about 15 houses and I am about to let Matt know what they are. I'm hoping that he knows the area well enough to eliminate at least 5 of those. I'm sure that there will be some that we have missed that Matt knows about and some that we don't even want to get out of the car for. Our price point is indicative of 3 to 4 teenagers habitating here!
Stay tuned . . . More to come.