Firstly, is there a perfect home? It would seem that with home ownership there’s the added ordeal of being responsible for every little aspect of a home – from the annoyance of changing a mere light bulb to more pressing matters like dealing with structural damage. Yet in spite of that, many people want to be saddled with a mortgage, house issues, possible neighbor drama and become home owners. It is definitely something the husband and I have pondered and debated over the years. And now, with my kids getting older, we’ve contemplated the fact that we want to lay down roots and build equity and provide our kids with separate bedrooms as they grown and crave space and privacy.

We started to go to open houses after the appearance of Kid 1 and at one point were close but then pulled back since we were coming off the financial debacle of 2008 and figured it made more sense to build our savings then saddling ourselves in even deeper debt with a mortgage. That was probably the wrong move as real estate has only increased in value. Our neighborhood alone has seen housing prices TRIPLE in the last seven years we’ve lived here. In the last eleven years, we’ve looked on and off, made a few bids, lost them all but come away with more experience and a clearer idea of what we want in our future home.

At times, losing out on a bid has been devastating and there’s a handful of houses I genuinely felt a pang at losing out over but the consolation is that there is something out there for me and my family. And with that we’ve kept positive and continue the search for the perfect house. It’s definitely been a daunting task and although we’ve been in our apartment for 7 years, we have many cherished memories and have forged friendships I know we will take with us wherever we go. When it’s meant to be it will be; in the end, houses are great but a home is wherever my family and I are – not the physical structure but a place where we all are together making more wonderful memories and it will be perfect.