Are you my home?

So, we've spent the last three months shopping for our first home. That's inaccurate. 'Shopping' suggests a fun, exciting, positive experience, which is exactly the opposite of how I'd describe our home shopping experience. Our weekends center around open houses, drive-bys, the real estate section of the newspaper, zillow.com and our navigation system. (Hayley is less than inspired by this weekend practice.) The mission? Find an exceptionally affordable home that suits our family, and close on it before November 30th to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit incentive. Here's how that's panning out:

Thus far, we've looked at about 40 homes. That doesn't include the other properties we've driven by, creepily peered in windows of, and trespassed into backyards of before determining they weren't a good fit for our family.

Sure, we had a lot of mandatories on our must-haves list, but we thought they were reasonable. One of our must-haves is a big back yard, or... just a moderately sized one. In Michigan, this typically isn't a problem. But here... let's just say if I were spitting watermelon seeds off these backyard patios, they'd likely be hitting a neighbor kid in the face.

We've made offers on three homes.

The first house was a ranch with a small pool in a great neighborhood that had been on the market for a few months. After bargaining for three weeks with the homeowner, we offered him asking price. He verbally accepted, then hours later realized that he didn't want to move anymore, refused to sign our contract and withdrew his home from the market. Awesome.

The second house was a two-level home with a moderately sized back yard in a neighborhood in Hayley's school district. It was a newer home and had everything we were looking for. Unfortunately, the property was a short sale (Realtor code for 'hold onto your pants -- this is going to be the longest home-buying process of your life'). Our offer was the leading offer and the only one being considered by the bank. Unfortunately, while we were waiting for a response the homeowners moved out of the home and took the 3K refrigerator with them (which was included in our contract). Additionally, we noticed a spot of bio-organic growth on the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom. Oh, most importantly, we weren't going to get a response for 90 days which would put us out of the running for our 8K First time home buyers tax credit. Also awesome.

Our most recent moment of house-hunting greatness came last week when we decided to pull our offer on house #2, and make an offer on a third home -- a foreclosure, bank-owned -- that has everything we're looking for except... well, floors. Apparently a rash of trendy homeowners decided that stained concrete floors are an attractive feature. Um, they're not. We'd have to use some of our tax credit to carpet the home. Our offer was low, so we're not exactly expecting to get this Arkansas gem either. But hey... we're on a roll. Why break our awesome house-hunting stride now?

So that's it. Poking around in people's back yards has kept the blog posts lean over the past two months. Say a prayer for us. We'll need them. And as always, we'll keep ya'll posted.

Tie-dye Pajama Pants, Meet Rockin' Pink Thong-Toe Slippers

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, and I'm going to make up for it right here. From the heart of Walmart-y-ville, I bring you "The People of Walmart Blog." It's a blog created by some people who took a trip to Walmart and decided to start saying what all of us were thinking: "Wow, now this is an especially eclectic bunch of shoppers (I wonder where they shop for their outifts...? Oh... Right.)" My team stumbled across this website at work -- and while we found ourselves jaw-dropped and gasping, none of us were really surprised. If these striking consumers are unavailable in a Walmart near you, I can show you where to find some. I've included a disclaimer from the website below as well as a disclaimer of my own. Family, that disclaimer is for you.

Disclaimer from The People of Walmart Blog: This site is not in anyway affiliated with Walmart. If you are looking for Walmart’s official website you can find it by clicking here. This site is simply a satirical social commentary of the extraordinary sights found at America’s favorite store.

People of Walmart was founded in August of 2009 by three friends and roommates after an inspirational trip to Walmart. Let’s face it; we all have seen the people who obviously don’t have mirrors and/or family and friends to lock them in a basement, and they all seem to congregate at Walmart...

Meghan's disclaimer: (you can read more about the idea behind the blog on the "About" page on the website, but I'll forwarn you that it's a little crass -- family, that disclaimer is directed at you).

Instead, I recommend you just visit the "People of Walmart" blog homepage here while you enjoy your mid-morning coffee.