Long Distance

My husband has been living in his temporary housing for nine days now. Nine days, four hours and eighteen minutes. I know, it sounds really pathetic when you start counting the hours and the minutes, doesn't it? I miss my man! We're both feeling the separation now, and can't wait until we're all together again this Friday.

Ed spent the weekend investigating a few new towns. He did some drive-by shooting (of the photographic sort) of a few houses I had found online, and reported back to me with details of the areas and neighborhoods.

This is an important step in the home relocation process. We figure if we can narrow down the towns, then we can save our future realtor from wasting his or her time showing us homes in areas we've already crossed off the list.

I've been taking copious amounts of notes for future reference. This is a good time to get organized in the home search. My lists generally include the following:

* home address and MLS number
* year the house was built
* days on the market
* listing price
* last year's taxes
* number of beds and baths
*square footage of house
*square footage of yard

After doing a quick drive by of the house, we can then add the following to our list:

* condition of the outside
* condition of the neighborhood
* flat or sloped yard (this matters in Pittsburgh!)
* driving distance to nearby amenities

I even take notes on the towns, such as:

* school rankings
* does the town have a library?
* does the town have a Y or other community centers?
* traffic patterns

This system has helped us cross a lot of houses and even a few towns off our list.

The good news is that my husband found a really quaint town that he wants me to see next week. A small downtown shopping district, independent book stores and coffee shops, a really nice library and a really big YMCA. That's the good news! The bad news? Charming comes with a very high price tag! We'll have to see what we can afford in nearby areas.

In the meantime, we keep in contact with lots of phone calls, texts, and emails. I send him photos of silly things, like our dog covered in snow. He keeps me updated on the new job and the quirks of the new city.

We hope to be assigned a realtor this week so that we can begin house tours in the days and weeks ahead.

That is when the real fun begins!