I've made one major decision on the new home front....

{Dylan and me, he wanted me to sit on the bench with him}

 that I am probably the pickiest, most challenging buyer on the market!  So at this point I have probably been in 50 homes and basically have the MLS memorized, I can drive by half the houses in Ankeny and tell you the price and the year they were built.  For our poor realtor, we are pretty much open to limitless possibilities.  It sorta goes like this, some days I'm like lets live in Ankeny, then Baxter, then Polk City.  Then I think I would like a two story, certainly wouldn't mind a story and a half and I do like ranches (or ramblers for my MN friends) because they have large basements to finish out.  I prefer a newer house, but am open to older ones because we can probably get a little more size, Keith says no to a fixer upper!  Some days I think we should build, others days I want to skip the hassle, but have a hard time spending the same amount on something I don't love.  Even on price, we have a good $75,000 swing of things we look at, so like I said all over the board!  If it were 2006 again, I probably wouldn't be so picky, but after taking a good hit on our house, we are both a little nervous about what we buy.

Last week we met with a builder in the Strahan development in Ankeny, no progress at this time!  Saturday we looked at a few homes in Polk City again.  We do like the home in the picture, but have concerns with the size of the living room and would need to finish the basement right away.  They have a buyer coming back for the third time, so it may be off the market.  Then on a completely random note, we saw a home of one the slip knot band member's house.  Let's just say, Keith and I both felt a little on the funny side when we left! 

Tomorrow we are going back to this home and are meeting with the builder to talk about options with finishing the basement as well as building.  The downside with Polk City is there aren't a ton of homes on the market, so building might be the best option there.  I have been in a few of the homes by this builder and really like some of the things he does, so I'm excited to meet him.  I'm sure I will come home more confused than ever. 

{Looks like we can just hire Dylan for the home inspection}