Scribble and Scrabble

…is a house in the woods! I don’t know if I’ve told you, but we’re looking at houses. We still want to stay in Rochester (don’t freak out on me) but really want a house with acreage. What prompted this was finishing up one of the last “big” projects on this house. It’s been 9+ years and Andy and I looked at each other and asked “Could we be happy here? We each want woods and acreage but could we be happy here if we got a camp type place somewhere else?”

The answer, was no, not really. We don’t want two places to take care of and two sets of taxes. We want to live in the country, Andy wants to hunt in the back yard, I want chickens, I want the kids to go have an adventure in the woods. And if we’re being honest, Andy wants to go get the mail in his boxers.

So we’ve been looking at houses for the past 6 months. And let me tell you, I’m trying not to get disappointed. We’ve done some private showings and open houses, browsed realtor.com, zillow.com, rochesterhousehunter.com and craigslist. We’ve had friends and our realtor be on the look out for the areas we’re interested in. And nothing. Don’t get me wrong, there have been nice houses…just not the RIGHT house. And we really do have it good here so we’re not going to move for just any house.

What would the right house look like?

Be on 5+ acres with mature trees and woods (bonus points for a stream or pond). So many we’ve seen have just been in the middle of a field.

Not have exorbitant taxes, we can’t afford 10k+ plus a year in taxes!

4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, AC, wood heat/wood stove with gas to supplement (or geothermal would be cool), public water (well would be ok), septic or sewer doesn’t matter, 1800+ sq ft, full DRY basement (bonus if it’s finished, but not necessary)

No fixer upper (been there, done that)…although we would be willing to gut a kitchen and redo bathrooms, move some walls, etc. We just can’t redo an entire house again, even if we “see the potential.” We need to be saved from ourselves as we so easily see what things can be, but forget what it takes to get there.

Most likely not a pre-1900s house, I love the character…but it’d have to be in good shape and have a dry basement. That said we don’t need a brand spankin’ new house either. It can very much be worn and lived in!

Would love a barn, outbuilding or some post frame building for Andy to take over. We’d also like a garage.

This is really low on the list but if we’re being thorough…No split level or raised ranch (been there, want something different). I’m also not really a fan of Tudor style homes, but other than that anything is fair game. I do love craftsman, farmhouse and American four square styles. Log homes are pretty too but also bring a lot of maintenance. Even a nice simple 80s colonial would be perfectly fine if other conditions were met.

Ideally I’d love to stay in Victor/Farmington (I love the Pumpkin Hook area of Farmington and it’s still in the school district). We are realistic though, and the possibility of finding something in Victor schools in our price range is slim…so we’re open to Bloomfield, Ionia, Mendon, Macedon, Farmington (with Red Jacket, Canandaigua or Pal-Mac schools), Perinton, Penfield and Walworth. If not on the east side, we’re also open to Hamlin/Hilton area on the west side. Andy works in Greece and that’d be a much better commute, but our life, friends, doctors, hair dressers (c’mon is this not a deciding factor) are all on this side. That east side snootiness does exist, lol. It’s just so pretty over here too with hills and some great topography. The west side is a bit closer to family though and tends to run a little bit cheaper. There are some amazingly affordable properties with land south of us in Honeoeye, Bristol and Naples but those are just way too far of a commute from Greece.

We most likely can’t build, I just don’t think we could swing it with selling this house and needing somewhere to live while a new one was built. Plus, building is a huge headache and moving to an apartment for a year just to move again doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. We would rather find an existing home that needs a family.

…If you’ve read this far into my house fantasy, I commend you!

So where does that leave us? Hoping something pops up in the spring! We’re in no rush, but timing is a little funny too because I need to register Cassidy for PreK in the spring to get into the school’s lottery system for the fall. Not knowing where we’ll be kind of kills chances of getting into PreK in any another district, but registering for a private one is always an option (albeit an expensive one). So, no hurry, but I’m hoping we can find something in the next year or two. I don’t want to transition the kids out of school much past second grade if we don’t have to.

I’m also hesitant to start seeds for the garden if we’re not going to be around next summer. But I don’t want to go a year without planting and harvesting things either.

So, we’ll see what happens. This verse came to me last week and I feel it’s the theme of this next adventure…

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. – Jeremiah 17:7-8

Trying to be hopeful for the future and patient in the present at the same time. It’s a fine line to walk. We’ll get there. And there will be woods. And a stream!