Househunting in England... Week Two

So, as you may have gathered, we are CONSUMED with the search for a house right now.  It was quite an adventure, jumping into the househunting thing right away.  Everything is so overwhelming here at first; making a decision like where to live seems like it should have been so much easier than it turned out.  For Charles and I, the issue was TO MANY choices.  We knew we had to narrow it down.
Luckily, Charles and I were able to narrow down our search fairly quickly- within the first week we knew we wanted to concentrate on the Moreton Hall area just outside of Bury St. Edmunds. This will be a 20-30 minute drive for Charles to work each day, but we both think it is worth it.

First of all, several members of our squadron live there- I'm talking just within a quarter mile or so of each other. It will be nice to have that support system when the guys are away. Second, it is a precious little community with lots of playgrounds and family friendly (and dog friendly) walking paths and parks. There is a community center, small grocery store, and soccer (ahem- I mean football) fields galore! Every time we have driven through the area, at any time of day, we see dogs and kids everywhere! And last, it is within a mile or so walk to the town center of Bury St. Edmunds, with tons of restaurants and shopping and a market that is twice a week.

There are advantages to other areas, I am sure, but Charles and I feel confident this is the area for us. So, it was then time to look at houses only in the 2 mile or so radius of this little "village." Because it is PCS season, there are quite a few popping up on the market- even DAILY.... but they get snatched so quickly! Not much time to really sit back and make a decision. Literally, they will appear on the website at 10am, be shown 2-3 times and gone by 5pm.

We had looked at nearly a dozen houses with different agencies in all different villages. Finally, we found a location we LOVED and a house we really liked; except for one thing: The blue carpet throughout.

This house had a TWO car garage, which are at a premium here!  It also had a FABULOUS parking area out front and lots of curb appeal.

 The backyard was stunning and cared for beautifully!

Blue Carpet.... not our thing- but great living space

A nice dining room that opened to the patio and living room....

And this breakfast nook would have been my little craft area...

Closets throughout.... and yes, that blue carpet went all the way up the stairs and into each room- including the bathroom.  Weird.

 Now, this is no disrespect to those of you who have chosen blue for your homes- I am sure they are lovely. But the Kistler family furnishings consist mainly of Cranberry, Sage Green and Khaki- kind of a challenge to imagine how that would flow. But, we decided we could overlook our vanity for three years in order to score a double garage, great layout, awesome backyard and bonus craft area for Amber.

Well, to make a long story very short, the landlord chose someone else. Yes, you read that right. Here in the UK, you can list your home with multiple agencies at one time, so other people culd be looking that you don't know about. Sometimes, there are 5-10 applications put in for the same house! The landlords pretty much just pick who they like best- getting there first doesn't seem to matter at all. In this case, the landlord had a personal relationship with the people who eventually scored the house, so it was scratched off the top of our list. Bummer.

The agency we worked with felt badly for us, and offered us a house they were marketing exclusively. And WHAT A HOUSE! Three levels, 4.5 bathrooms and 6 bedrooms!

This was the kitchen- very large- and gas burners!

The fridge was a good size, and hidden in built-ins.

And an English classic, it seems- the washing machine in the kitchen next to the hidden dishwasher.  Some of their washing machines wash AND dry, but we have not heard many good things about them. 

A fairly small living room- but large enough for this sectional...

THREE of the bedrooms had en-suites (bathrooms w/ showers)   And see the built in closet behind the door?  Definate bonus- all rooms had them but 2.

This would have been Mallory's room.  Her own bathroom??!!  How old is she again?

Yeah.... the stairs are pretty steep....

A view of the backyard- not much to say....

Now, major downsides are that the dryer may have to be out in the garage, which is a 20 pace distance from the kitchen and through the grass..... not at all something I look forward to in the winter and rain! And three floors is an awful lot to keep clean. There is no patio, and the parking is fairly difficult, and for someone with MY history of backing into things, this was NOT appealling.  The living areas are a bit smaller, but to have SIX other rooms.... I almost feel greedy picking apart a property like this! Plus, we would be living right next door to a person attatched to our squadron, and literally within yards of 2 other families.
Right now, we have an application fee holding this property for us, and the landlord is happy to let us have it.  But believe it or not, another property has popped up in the same area, with a better floor plan and patio and access to the garage is easier.  It is listed with a different agency, and we are the only ones to have seen it.  Stay tuned to see where the Kistlers will call home....