Finding a place to nest...

The ache for home lives in all of us,
the safe place where we can go as we are
and not be questioned."

It's that time again. After a short hiatus, we're itching to have our own place again so we can set up the baby's room and get all her stuff organized. She's going to be here before we know it. My parents have generously hosted us and the Monst for the majority of the summer and it has been great! All the money that has been saved has definitely made living out of boxes and keeping 99% of our stuff in storage worthwhile. Going into 2012 as our 8th year of moving and rentals (it all started in college), we are adamant about finding the perfect home this time. No more moving every 9, 10 or 12 months. We are thinking of our baby and the fact that we want to create a home for her to grow up in until we decide we are ready to buy a house. A stable, safe and loving home - that is our main goal.

Our last place was definitely perfect for us at the time. The experience gave us the opportunity to learn what we really wanted and didn't want in our future rental or house purchase. It fit our small family, the tiny yard was great for the Monst, we learned to maneuver through the cracker-jack-box kitchen with two people with minimal burns and our neighbors mostly kept to themselves. Then, once Kevin's car was broken into and I saw a dead body being wheeled off the neighbor's front porch, I was done. Hopefully, this next experience will be a more positive one. Baby Claire deserves it.

Given the economy, I am surprised at the lack of good deals to be found regarding rentals. Currently, most people are dying to get out from under their mortgage so you would think they would offer up a rental agreement not to make extra money, but to keep them from losing everything. Perhaps that isn't the case? The rent for most homes in the area(s) we want are willing to live in and that include the lengthy list of our demands is rather steep compared to what we would pay for an apartment or our previous duplex. We've been researching the market to see what is out there and it seems to be slim pickings. We need a 3 bedroom, preferably one-story, with a fenced yard for the dog. It has to allow pets (obviously), be in a safe and somewhat quiet neighborhood and have a reasonable lease. Once we finally do find something we like that that checks all (or most of) the boxes off our list, it's either in a bad neighborhood, too pricey for our budget or has just been recently rented. This whole find-a-house-before-baby may be harder than we anticipated given our current incomes. Fortunately, we both feel very lucky to be sitting where we are. We both have stable jobs, we have a fantastic marriage and we are going to have a baby. What more could you really ask for? Except mayyyybe a rental house with 2 bathrooms. 2 bathrooms would be oh-so-nice!

And the search continues...