I'll tell ya what I want, what I really really want...

When it comes to house hunting for the second time, we have a little more realistic idea of what we want.

When we first came to Iowa on our whirlwind trip back in April of 06, we looked at about eight houses on one weekend. A few were 100 year old farm houses, with choppy floor plans, and ceilings so low even the dog could stand up straight in them. We looked at one that had an AMAZING floor plan, but was completely unlivable because of a leaky roof--which in and of itself wasn't a deal breaker...but the price was. One even had carpet in the kitchen (Yuck!) So when our realtor brought us to this house we were blown away.

I instantly fell in love with the willow trees, the hardwood floors, and the kitchen. Shannon loved the over-sized garage and the amount of land that came with it.

After living here for five years, there are certainly a few things we would change, and there are some things that we know we could do without in our second home. For instance, vaulted ceilings are not my thing. They're difficult to clean, and it's almost impossible to change the light bulbs. I love the amount of light that the sky lights let in, but they're also more difficult to clean.

With all that said...here are some things we know we MUST have in our next home, and some things that we'd like, but aren't deal breakers.

Must Haves:

• At least 4/10 of an acre (we love having a large lot, but we don't really utilize it)
• A minimum of 1800 square feet (I personally want 2000+, but when looking at real estate sites, they don't usually count the finished basement in the total square footage--so keep that in mind)
  
• 3-4 bedrooms
• A bathroom on each floor (I am not running upstairs every time I have to pee! Nor am I running downstairs in the middle of the night, those of you who know me, know my intense fear of serial killers creepin' in the dark!)

Like to Haves:

• A fenced yard (we can clearly do this ourselves...but we'd really like if it were already done)
• Some kind of deck/patio
  
• A finished basement
• A fairly updated kitchen (It doesn't have to be brand new, and I'm not a stainless steel freak like most house hunters, but I don't want a 1970's rust colored dishwasher)
  
• A fireplace
• More than one living space

One thing we know we DON'T want is a pool. The swimming season in Iowa is so short that it's not worth the up-keep to us. A few of the houses we've looked at have above ground pools, which we would most likely take out after the summer.

Of the houses we've looked at so far, none of them meet ALL of these criteria, but there have been quite a few that came pretty close. I figure that having a list here may help me keep all these things in mind when we go on our next house hunt...hopefully next weekend!

Unfortunately, we can't go this weekend, because we have a long laundry list of things we need to do to please the stupid inspection report. Sad Face. But, I'll let you know as soon as we get our search on.