the great new orleans house hunt

on monday i headed down to new orleans to find a place for us to live! we had considered waiting until we got down there and staying somewhere temporary while we looked for something but that posed a lot of other problems - what furniture will we need? washer/dryer? no forwarding address? what if nothing come up right away? stress. stress. stress. So we decided I would go down there for a few days and with some help from tracey, the real estate agent we met while visiting a few weeks ago, I would find us a home!

what we were looking for :
needs :
safe, number 1 priority
uptown location
accepts adorable siberian huskies
1 bedroom + space for office setup
appliances
central heat/air
lots and lots of light :)
close to public transportation (we're a one car family :))
character
washer/dryer hookups (preferably washer/dryer in unit)

wants :
yard or some type of fenced outdoor space
porch
hardwood floors
close to park that allows dogs
close to coffeeshop

oh, and as far as rent. we'll call the top of our price range par, in celebration of my little brother going to state golf the day i headed down there :)

on monday, i arrived at tracey's office and they had two properties to see :

house number one :

very cute half double shotgun (um, google it) ;), the inside had beautiful wood floors and ceiling that matched the door, loved the porch swing, other side neighbor was an emt. shared fenced backyard. also, 75 below par!
on the other hand, the girls living there wouldn't be out until ™'s first day of work, moving in without him no bueno. also, not super excited about the neighborhood.

house number two :



LOVED this house. another half double shotgun although a larger and with a separate fenced backyard. was currently being renovated. right on the street car line we were hoping ™ could take to work. problem was it was 100 over par. remember par was the top of our price range. we could have made it happen, but the added stress just didn't seem worth it.

at this point we had a conundrum. two choices, neither of which we were excited about. we decided to cross central air off our list in order to open up more choices. we would still have window units and it would probably be uncomfortable but we just needed to see more. tracey gave me another list to drive by in the morning to narrow it down for her to make appointments.

round two :

house number three :

six plex, i couldn't figure out where our door would be. not the cutest house in the world, no outdoor space, small, but the neighborhood was amazing. huge beautiful homes with gorgeous lawns. i couldn't wait to walk rosa around ;) i also met a really sweet girl that lived next door with a cute dog. sold and added to the list to see. :)

house number four :

in love. had photos online so ™ and i saw it before we even drove by. he gave me the go ahead to sign a lease on the spot. just a block off magazine (a street with amazing shopping and lots of cuteness) added to the list.

house number five :

um, do you see the falling down house next to it? that was common around the house. along with an abundance of drug dealer vehicles. no thank you.

house number six :

okay, so this photo looks kind of cute. but it was a six plex and the back looked like a million houses pieced together. ewww.

house number seven :

this one was cute, it was split up and we weren't sure which part of it was available. i was getting desperate so it got added to the list to see.

now, i needed a place to of course make lists. what else? i realized i was close to a coffeeshop ™ and i had visited while there a few weeks ago. little did i know my sweet husband planned it that way when he made the order for the tour o' houses. whataguy.

i emailed tracey the three i wanted to see and was arranging furniture in my head for house number four. i told ™ i already lived there and the other two were just for good measure.

tracey emails back house number four has been rented. ugh. house number three would not accept rosa. house number seven was a basement apartment with two windows and floods. no thank you. after a little freak out ™ and i decide it would be a stretch financially, but if we could get house number two to go down a little we could make it work. we call. she's decided to do a million more upgrades and if anyone else asks rent is even more. ugh.

then tracey had an idea. her mom was in a less than idea situation with her property. her tenant was a late paying,check bouncing liar. ™ and i are not those things. tracey calls her mom and the tenant is possibly wanting out of her lease anyway. we run over real quick before i have to get on the plane and take a quick look. LOVE!

house number eight :



*sorry for the tree hidden picture but other better ones show our address and that's a little creepy :) 

a four plex but the lower entrance with the cute porch is ours. :) lots of new orleans character but with two private bedrooms, a large living/dining area and a large kitchen. it also has central air, close to public transportation, washer/dryer hookups, allows rosa,  but no fenced in yard just an open parking area. also, it was 150 below par so ™ was sold. we applied four house and while ™ and i were enjoying gelato in the city market yesterday afternoon, we were approved. as of june 15 this will be our new home!