house hunting

Headed up to Ft Bragg this week to look at houses... Initially, we were interested in purchasing a house in the area, but there are too many uncertainties about how long we will be stationed at Bragg to make us comfortable with such a permanent decision. Plus, with me not currently working, we would rather not end up having to rent a house at our next duty station AND keep current on a mortgage if we are not able to find a tenant immediately. (Some days I am frustrated with how risk averse my husband is, but he's not wrong to be conservative in a financial market that is as temperamental as ours is right now.)

Anyway - the houses! The top contenders are:

House 1

our favorite exterior, even though the garages in front isn't my favorite aesthetic.

 she's already got my colors on the walls!

and a lovely open kitchen!

It does have some negatives, though - the porch is very small, about 3x6, and it won't be available until July 1. We were hoping to move mid-June, but Husband's Aunt has graciously offered to let us camp out at her home if we need to.

House 2

The choice of siding and garage door colors is the only major difference between this house and the first one, and they are directly across from each other in the neighborhood.

The kitchen isn't open to the rest of the house, as you can see by the arch in the wall on the right, but it has an island and what looks like substantially more cabinet space. I may feel differently about it in person, but via photos I prefer the first kitchen.

Again, I may feel different after seeing the houses in person this week, but this is the porch. Seriously?

House 3

 A similar exterior to the first two, but without the separate garage doors.

A nice, big, open kitchen - and a gas stove!!

Houses 1 and 2 are both being leased by the same realtor, and the pictures give you a decent idea of the layout of the house and what all of the rooms look like. Aside from the main floor, the bedrooms are all pretty bland and the masters were the only rooms not in the generic builder beige. I've asked the agent for house 3 if he could accommodate a showing while I am in the area, since the pictures of that house focus on the main floor and not the bedrooms.