Well, I started the process for buying a home last week. I contacted a broker who gave me a stack of about 60 sheets for houses in the area I want to live in. I made two passes through the sheets, selecting for what I was looking for in a house. After the dust cleared, I had 8 possibles.

I then took those sheets home, and let my wife see them. We worked together and narrowed it down to five. I visited these five, and narrowed it down to three. At this point, I called the broker (Father of a good friend) and arranged for visitations. I brought my son along, and with the broker we went through the houses.

The first house I went to, because I had a feeling about it, turned out to be the one I wanted. Not only did it have a lot of space, including office space, but it had a spacious garage/barn out back. The garage actually has a second floor that I could put a gaming table in and game at home. It was also a price that I could handle. We still went on, just in case I found a better place in one of the other two.

One house had brown carpet and cigarette burns on the bathroom sink. I don’t think so.

One house had a dead squirrel in the fireplace. It was way overpriced for its condition. I didn’t even look at the workshop, I could see rot all the way around it from the house.

So, my broker is sending me detailed information on the house and neighborhood, so I can make sure this is the house for us.

I’ll let you know how the process is going from time to time. Right now, it’s looking pretty good.