Model Homes

I was thrilled when Jay agreed that looking at model homes would be a fun activity for us.

Several times, we had spotted a sign near our neighborhood for homes being built in Bartlett. 
Saturday we drove to the new neighborhood and met with a realtor, Carol.

30% of this was for real- we wanted to get an idea for the cost of living and see what we could potentially afford. 70% of this was purely for fun. 

We did our best to make that clear to Carol. But of course like any realtor, she went right into sales-mode!

She was talking to us as if we already made the decision to build a house; asking things like,

OK so how do you feel about the flooring? Do you want a dining room? Tell me what you like and don't like about this house. And we're thinking...  
Calm down Carol, we're just having fun. But if this were for real, we're a young couple who have only lived in apartments, and this is a house- I don't think we're too picky.

It was fun to dream a little and discuss things that we would/wouldn't want in our future home.

Turns out the cost of living in Tennessee is SO cheap. The most expensive house we looked at was $240,000.

The houses all had big open kitchens, fancy appliances, gorgeous counter tops and flooring, high ceilings, huge back and front yards, 
and this massive shower...

After touring about 6 homes, Carol sat down with us to crunch some numbers.

Then she started getting technical talking about loan officers, and telling us the house could be ready in only a couple of months.

That's when we reminded her that IF we were to buy a house, it wouldn't be for another year.

She acted as if we caught her off guard when really we were straight with her from the beginning.

It was a little awkward. We took a business card, thanked her for her time and then left.

This experience left me feeling a little house hungry at first. But I feel at ease and I know that our time to buy a house will come.

Out of the 6 homes, this one was our favorite. We call it our "realistic dream home".