We spent most of our spare moments last week online looking for houses in Jacksonville. The plan was to narrow it down and have Austin and Rebecca go look at a few houses for us on Saturday morning. We inquired about 35 houses or so throughout the week, and I kept a running spreadsheet of our list, with the addresses, how close it was to the school, price and other notable features. Once I had picked several out, I would send Adam the list, and he would check the neighborhood to make sure it wasn't ghetto.
We made a pretty good little team, and by Friday afternoon, we had a list of four places for the Flaggs to go look at for us. Rebecca took over 200 photos and uploaded them to the PhotoCircle app so that I could see them. This was particularly handy, because we didn't have to text or email all those photos.
The house we ended up renting was the second home they saw. From our week of experience, we knew the rental market was hot, and things were going fast. The realtor on this home texted me and said that if we were interested, it would be best to go ahead and fill out the application and have it held. After talking to Austin and Rebecca, I did just that, while they went on to two more. The fourth house was also another great option in another area.
In the end, though, we decided on this one because it has three bedrooms, great closet storage, a huge backyard and a shed. Adam gasped so loudly when he saw the shed. (We had one in our last house, but we weren't allowed access to it. So lame.)
It got bonus points in my book for the red front door.
They call this room the "Florida Room," which is basically a sun room. You can see that the house has been freshly painted and is a great blank slate. My mom found some photos of the house before it had been re-done, and y'all...it was so dated. This is nice and neutral.
The kitchen has new counter tops and new tile flooring, and the rest is totally fine. I could do without the florescent light, but that's what I get for working in the lighting industry now...I notice things like that. Ha. The bathrooms haven't been updated, but they are just basic tile on the floor and walls. (I decided not to include a photo with a potty in here, because who really wants to see that?!)
And the boys of the house are incredibly excited about the back yard. Rye is especially thrilled about all the space he's about to have, and we're excited that we can just let him out and not have to put him on a leash. And don't even get Adam started on the shed. In between studying, he has visions of all kinds of hours spent with wood and tools in the shed.
It feels SO GOOD to have a visual of where we will be in just 25 days, or so. We're really excited, even though packing, saying "see you soon," and a 17 hour drive stand in our way. We will get there!
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