It turns out that buying a house for the first time isn’t the bed of roses I’d hoped for. We’ve been looking at homes, drooling over some and scoffing at others, for quite a few months now. However, now that we’re actually preapproved for a loan and are legitimate home shoppers, the task seems to have gotten more complicated.

For one, it appears that there is no ideal area to live in. One is affordable, but trashy. Another is nice, but out of our price range. Secondly, everyone has opinions and most of them contradict. This is usually not too bad of a scenario as there are some people you just trust more than others, but we’ve gotten differing opinions from multiple people that we hold pretty high. That’s rough. Finally, realtors mean you’re paying too much for your house, in my opinion. Anything on the MLS is 5-10% overpriced since it seems like you could have gotten the same home direct from the buyer without those crazy realtor fees. The flipside is that it takes a lot of work to try to find FSBO homes and scope them out. Plus, a realtor helps with legal mumbo-type jumbo that I don’t feel like touching.

*sigh* I think I need a break. Time to play the Wii.