Trying to play house.

We have viewed a few homes that meet most, if not all, of our wants/needs and are slowly realizing we're going to have to compromise somewhere. Either on location, on size, on price, or on what we really what in our future rental. Our top demand is finding a 3 bedroom in a safe area. We need a master, a baby's room and an office that will double as a guest room. Three bedroom homes are pretty easy to find but they come at a price. Our second demand is a place that allows pets and has a fenced yard for the dog. After a brief moment of sheer frustration last night after touring yet another house, I told Kevin if we don't find a place by the end of September, we're going to move back into an apartment. He agreed but it was more of an I agree with you because you're pregnant and hormonal than an actual sincere "ok." (Now that I think about it, he was probably trying to avoid the waterworks) Neither of us want to go the apartment route again. Eight years is enough. The time crunch stems from the fact that this baby is going to be here before we know it. The 14th of September marks my entry into my THIRD trimester. Maybe it's my irrational thinking or maybe it's my overwhelming urge to nest but I don't want to go into labor thinking oh my word...we don't even have a nursery or a crib setup yet! I keep having these visions of leaving the hospital with a brand new baby and having nowhere to go. {Of course, I know that won't happen. We have plenty of friends and family that won't allow us to live on the streets, but it's the house hunt this time that is making me very nervous.}

The home we toured last night had a great layout! It was a ranch with 3 bedrooms, a utility room, 2 car garage and a very large bonus room. It would be perfect for a playroom for Claire/art room for me. Of course, the more we think about it, the more the cons seem to outweigh the pros:

PRO:
Landlord is my dad's friend
Great layout
3 beds plus bonus room
2 bathrooms
Large kitchen
2 car garage with opener
Nice neighborhood

CON:
Located in Canby
Very outdated and old
Very small (muddy) backyard
Not a complete fence for dog (but will allow us to fence in if we want)
Rent a little on the high side
Very small master shower

Now, my question is...how do you pick and choose what is important and what really isn't? In the end, does it really matter if it has ugly brown carpet or a blue porcelain sink? Probably not. Does it really matter if it's in a safe neighborhood? Absolutely. Perhaps we're being a little too picky or vain? We have a scheduled tour for a townhome in Gladstone on Monday, Sept 5. Hopefully that one will work out. The house that we really want is just at the very top of our budget. We'd really have to watch what we spend down to the dollar to live there or dip into our savings. I'm not sure we're ready to do either of those options, especially with a baby on the way. Who knows how much Baby Claire is really going to cost!?! Ahh, much to this mama's frustration, the search continues.