House Hunters

It has now been almost 6 months since we moved from Georgia to Ohio. When we visited in November last year, we had 2 days to find a house to live in temporarily but one that could still feel like home. Stuart Hunter, our realtor, showed us about 20 houses over those two days....and we saw them ALL! Stuart's rule is if he drives to the house we are going to see it no matter what we think when we pull up! We were EXHAUSTED but pushed forward and finally decided on a house that would work for the next year.

Ever since Kaleb and I have been staying at home instead of going to school, we have become addicted to HGTV and watching "House Hunters"! This did not help my fever to be ready to buy a new house and after talking with Kevin he also was ready to begin looking for where we would purchase a new home in Ohio. So I contacted Stuart and we began the process of looking for a new house. House hunting has come a LONG way over the years with technology. Stuart is able to set up a portal with our criteria and it "finds" houses that fit the criteria. We are able to view the houses while sitting on the couch and "save" or "reject" the house.

After narrowing down to about 50 saved houses, we decided on our top choices to begin seeing. Since Kevin has been swamped at work, we decided that I would go see the houses and report back to him with my notes and decide if it was worth it for him to go back and see. You know you have a great realtor when he prints off the MLS listing information complete with pictures to take notes on. If only I had remembered to take the paper IN the house with me every time. I had to rely on my memory to make notes once we got back to the truck.

On day 1 of house hunting, Kaleb and I saw 8 houses and YES we had to see the insides of even the ones we knew weren't "THE ONE". It actually became fun in those houses to critique the house and even what was in the closets! Is that bad?! Of the 8 we saw, we narrowed it down to 4 to take Kevin back to see at a later time.

Two days later we saw 14 houses! YES I said 14 houses and Kaleb did well. He actually loves to look at houses as much as I do.Once again, we looked at ALL of them and became delirious as the day proceeded. I was ready to fall asleep when I got home. After looking on day 2, we had a total of 10 houses to take Kevin back to see. I knew I had my favorites and I had an idea which ones would be Kevin's as well.

So after a trip to Georgia over the weekend, Kevin and I met Stuart to look at the 10 houses. After almost 11 years of marriage, I would say I do know my husband very well. His top choice was my top choice as well. (We did have a back-up in case something didn't work out with the first choice.)

We have always preferred new construction when house hunting. It just feels weird living in a house someone else has lived in and feels harder to make it feel like ours. So that is one reason this house is the perfect fit for our family.

7789 Cilanto Way Clayton, OH

Side view of back yard that will be sodded before we close

Kaleb walking by the morning room

Other side of morning room and master bedroom

Sold as of September 9

Our own frasier fir in the front yard. Georgians pay big $ at Christmas for these.

garage and entrance

View from the front yard reminds us of living in Georgia with the barn and corn fields

Part of living room looking through front window

I took these pictures the day we signed the contract on the house. We will be going back soon to take more pictures of the inside. You can't tell from looking at the outside but there is a basement the size of the house with a room already finished. That was a HUGE selling point for us. Kevin gets his man room and Kaleb will have a huge area to set up his race tracks and leave them set up in his play room.

If you are in the Dayton area and ever need a realtor, contact Stuart Hunter.

He will make sure you find the house that is perfect for you and your family.