house hunting

We began and (hopefully) completed our house hunting in 3 days. We looked at several properties in Robbinsville, NJ on the first day. We were optimistic because the prices were so much lower than those of LA. Robbinsville is a newly developed town where most of the homes were built in the last 10 years. We chose our favorite house for the day; it was 6 years young, 3 bed, 2.5 bath, beautiful townhouse with hardwood floor, granite, kitchen countertop,view of woods in the back, nicely finished basement and more for only $350,000. The only comment that Patrick had at the end of the day was "you do realize that it's a house farm?" Yes.... It's a typical image of suburbia. Nothing but thousands of homes that look identical. But the interior was so beautiful and it felt good.

Next day, we looked in Lawrenceville. It seems that the town is split into two distict areas. One is newly developed area with new condos, big malls, big grocery stores, etc. The other part has a historic feel with farms, cows, small fire station, a small bakery, and a quaint main street. The town is located less than 10 minutes from Princeton, and less than 5 minutes from Patrick's work. The place we saw was in the quaint area of town. It's also a townhouse, 23 years old, 3 bed, 2.5 bath, hardwood floor, fireplace, small patio in the back facing the woods for just under $300,000. It felt cozy and we both knew that this was it. Patrick is optimistic about running to work, and I am happy that big malls and stores are minutes away while we live in a quiet, country like setting. Princeton is also a beautiful town and it reminded us of Berkeley with books and coffee.

We looked a bit more on the 3rd day but we decided to go for the Lawrenceville townhouse. Does it seem rushed? Maybe. But we loved the area, we loved the townhouse, and the price was unbelievable. The contract is signed and we are waiting for it to go through 3 day attorney review before it is finalized that the place is ours! I think it's a perfect starter home, and can't wait to start furnishing it.... given we have some money left for that.... probably not....