The Break-up

I think we broke up with The Bad Boyfriend house yesterday. We're dumping him for someone taller & younger. Isn't that typical? Here's the break-down on the break-up.

I thought about the renovations that need to be done to The Bad Boyfriend. At least one bathroom NEEDS to be renovated, that is for certain. Because of the way the master bath is situated, the only way to expand it would be to break into a corner of the large kitchen, resulting in two rooms that need renovation. And not just any two rooms, but the two most expensive home renovation projects that you can do.
So.
I actually decided to be generous.

1. I found a website that will help you figure out renovation costs, taking into account the region in which you live, the quality of materials you'd like to use, the size of the room, etc. I found a fairly average estimate to renovate just the master bathroom & ignored the kitchen for the most part.
2. Then I added the price of the renovations to the listed price of the Bad Boyfriend House.
3. After getting that figure, I looked on Realtor.com and the MLS (that's Multiple Listing Service for those of you who haven't shopped for a house lately) and found a house that perfectly matched the price I was investigating. I had driven past this house earlier in the week & was intrigued. Now I was even more intrigued. Let's call it. Mr. Tall&Handsome.
4. On Saturday afternoon, Tim and I went out & drove past a few houses. We drove past Mr. Tall&Handsome & Tim really liked it, too. So we called the realtor & arranged a showing for that very afternoon.

One word: Wow.

Wow wow wow.

Mr. Tall&Handsome is more than 200 square feet larger than Bad Boyfriend. And the floor plan is perfect for us. And it has a two car garage! And an additional half bath. It even has a nice soaking tub in the master bathroom. And although it's in a newer neighborhood, it has tall pines in back. And the insulated windows make the house feel just as quiet as our current place out in 'burbs.

I immediately knew that it was time to dump the Bad Boyfriend. This other house (Mr. Tall&Handsome) has so much more to offer. Plus it's move-in ready. No need to threaten our marrige with the stress and strain of home renovations.

So are we making a bid on Mr. Tall&Handsome? I don't think so. Even though I think we can afford him, it would be tighter than I'd like, so we're just going to take a deep breath, keep our eyes open, and show some patience.

Sigh. [this time in relief]