TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN'

Well...I've been light on the blog posts lately for a good reason. My good friend is moving here this week from Colorado and so I've been on the hunt for a new house for us to live in. I've been diligently looking for months and have yet to find something. To make matters more complicated, I have been looking at sale houses and rentals. My parents have agreed to put a down payment on a house for us to pay the mortgage on which is insanely exciting. Unfortunately, we couldn't have picked a worse time to do it. The economy is on the up and everyone else wants to buy now too without much on the market. Houses are going for way, way over asking prices and it's a complete guessing game knowing what to offer. In addition, Oakland is tricky. It is mostly large, very expensive houses in the hills or houses in bad neighborhoods closer to the water. There are few areas with nice small homes at the bottom of the hills, but they tend to have tiny lots and sometimes no yard at all:( And they are by no means cheap.

A few "spacious" yards:/

A cute house in a bad area...ya, those bars on the windows come with the house!

A couple weeks ago, I found this house that I've nicked-named "the dream house". It has a huge yard and giant windows that lead out to a deck with an incredible view. I felt optimistic about our chances of buying it because it needs some updating, it is only a 2 bed 1 bath and is not in the fanciest neighborhood but when I went to the open house on Sunday, cars were lined up all the way down the street:(

"The Dream House"

The rental market is even worse. I've viewed countless houses and filled out several applications. A couple places I had to decide against because they were in areas I just wouldn't feel safe in, another we had to turn down because we just couldn't get over how 70s it was(and it wasn't even cheap!), with a few others our application was rejected and there was one perfect house that we actually were actually about to sign on, but in the end we just couldn't see how we could swing the cost. The owner has since decided to sell it instead! Also for more than we can afford... After one open house, his house went into closing...for well over the asking price.

Why yes, that is glitter in the popcorn ceiling. I hope you like retro!

Perfect house, too expensive:( The yard is incredible!

Adding to the trickiness is that my friend has a dog too. Being that she lives so far, our dogs have never met and so it will be a whole extra adjustment! I do think it will be much harder on her dog, than Kaya and Norman though. Of course, this is a major pitfall when looking for rentals. Hi, I have 3 large dogs and a cat, can I rent your house? I haven't run into any breed issues while renting, though Kaya and Norman are passably mutts, but the size and amount of dogs has been an issue in some cases. Some people have said no problem to the dogs, but no to the cat!

How can anyone say no to this trio??

So along with excitement, I'm also feeling a lot of stress! But I can't wait 'til Kaya and Norman have a decent backyard to play in, multiple rooms to enjoy and more people and dog company on a daily basis. And for myself, I am really looking forward to off street parking, a dishwasher and a washer/dryer in the house, not mention a bedroom separate from the living room...woohoo! In the meantime...it looks like there will be 2 people, 3 big dogs and 1 little kitty crammed into my studio apartment:/

Hey, we've managed to cram in here before...

Related Posts:
My Three Pitties
Shaka: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Kaya's Adoption Story