JD says...

Anyone who wants an exercise in discouragement and frustration can come see me for their 5-step plan:

1. Enter the home buying market in Hampton Roads.

2. Attempt to find a home you can afford that, 3., is in relatively good condition which, 4., is located in an area you want your wife and son-on-the-way to live in.

5. See steps one through four.

Take this one for example. It's a 2 bed/2 bath condo that has been on the market for almost two years...at least on Zillow. The official listing history has it starting at $265K. It's now down to $131K. YB and I looked at it tonight because we were going to low-ball the seller only to find out that the seller is kind of firm on the price. Or how about this one which YB and I looked at a few months ago. I passed on this ground floor condo because the main entrance, living room and bedroom windows face the property line and is located on the very quiet back-side of the condo building. The area is good but even in the middle of the day you never know who is back there and hardly any community residents would see that strange person anyway. Earlier this week I re-thought my decision, walked around the back after dark, and thought we might as well put an offer in on it only to find out it had gone to auction and sold since we last looked at it.

YB and I hope that we can find a 3 bed/2 bath house (or condo...doesn't really bother us except that we can't seem to find 3 bed condos unless they're the cookie-cutter ones built cheaply, look horrible and generally in areas we don't want to live). While our price point is out there, the neighborhoods are not. There were two condos in this neighborhood we were planning on meeting our agent at a few weeks ago but never stayed long enough as I was nervous about driving through there in the middle of the day. Then there are the houses we can afford that are in neighborhoods which seem okay, like this one. This particular duplex looks pretty nice from the street. The problem is that it butts up against a retaining pond with no guard rail, a very serious issue for a couple who is about to have a boy. The particular area this house is in, and others we looked at tonight, is very low lying and have very serious issues with dampness. Of the three houses we walked through, all of them had some kind of moisture damage or outright mold/mildew growing somewhere. If you look closely at that last picture you'll notice a blue tarp on the roof. Under that tarp in the upstairs closet is a sunken-in ceiling with mold or mildew going all the way down to the floor and showing up in the garage ceiling under that.

So YB and I continue to look and now hopefully you have a better idea of what we find on a typical day or night of house hunting.

YB says

It's been awhile since I posted last blog, so I was thinking this is about the time to update the newlywedlife news from the Jr. Dales. ( do you like this, by the way? tee hee ;))

We officially decided to name our Baby Dale " Gavin." We haven't decided on the middle name even though we narrowed it down to two choices- "Jonathan"( following the Dale's tradition) or "Micah( because it sounds good)." I told JD that I really think "Baby Dale" is the cutest name out of all but he said that we can't name Baby Dale "Baby" because he'll be teased a lot as soon as he enters the kindergarten to his teens, adulthood, and even as an old man.

Meanwhile, Baby Dale's been showing some rigorous movement and appetites. Particularly, his exercise begins around 12 O'clock mid night. One day, I was laying down watching TV, and I all of sudden felt that gassy bubbly movement in my lower belly. I wasn't sure if it were Baby Dale or my digestive system, so I gently pressed my hand against my belly to see if it is Baby Dale. Then, there he went again, again, and again. It felt like gentle ocean waves touching the palm of my hand. It was clear that something was pressing ( very very tenderly) against my belly. I could only guess it was my little guy or else, I need to go see the doc.

Baby Dale's been also reaching out for fatty and unhealthy food. So far, we have been cooking enchilada with lots of cheese and sour cream( no reduced fat), milk, yogurt, strawberry ice cream, cream of potato, cheese bread, etc. JD is super excited that he doesn't have to eat stir-fry for seven days a week. Even though he's always told me how much he loves my food and how he doesn't miss junky food, I noticed that it wasn't entirely true. I have been doing the budget for the past 3 weeks or so, and I have learned that some of the money transactions were going to Chick-fil-a, Ordinary(a cafe, where he confessed that he got a steak egg and cheese sandwich in the morning), etc. And, of course, I doubt JD went to Chick-fil-a get a grilled chicken tossed on the salad with nonfat vinaigrette dressing. So, with enchilada for the past three days, JD's been a happy camper.

HOUSE HUNTING is....

painful. JD's been a busy and a good papa Dale trying to bring home food. He's been working nonstop from 7 in the morning till ... I don't know, ... 9 or 10???

On the top of this workaholic life, JD has been house hunting to make sure that we have an extra room for Baby Dale, and let me tell you, it's been long and too long.

My criteria when looking for a house are pretty simple. 1) it is within or well below our price range 2) it has functional kitchen and bathroom 3) it has more than 2 rooms, and 4) the roof is not falling apart.

JD, on the other hand, is a complete different story. He is not happy with any houses that we looked at including the ones that I found in pretty good standing.

I don't think I can impose my ideas to rush him into making decisions to buy a house just because I am really REALLY sick of looking around. I know that we are not gonna buy a mansion right next to John Ashcroft's vacation house on the beach. And, this is going to be our first house, and we'll have plenty of opportunity to move into the bigger house ( whether it'll be 10 years down the road or later).

And comparing to all the houses that I have been to as a child in South Korea, all the houses including the houses that failed to meet JD's standard are mansions in my eyes.

But, JD sees all the flaws in the houses. The kitchen is too small ( as if he'll spend more time in that tiny kitchen that I will), the door is on the side, the house has a structural problem, the washer and dryer are outside, etc.

So, I told JD about the houses that I used to live in South Korea as a child to help him see things in perspective. But, the result was fruitless. He just said,

"Wow, this is why you are so OK. with pretty much any houses we looked at. But, .. umm.... we live in America? So,....."

I wanted to be like,

"Fine, you spoiled American!!!!!!!! You need to go to Africa and live in a mud house with no bathroom. That'll help you put things in perspective!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

But, I didn't say that. Why? because I used to say the something along those lines when JD didn't want to eat certain vegetables and that didn't change his mind about the vegetables that he didn't like. He would laugh about it, but I always ended up being the one who had to move on from there. ( Or secretly find my way to feed him the vegetables he strongly refused to eat).

At this point, i got nothing to say about any houses we look at ( unless the price is outrageous).

So, I just hope that we'll end up moving into one house, ONE house. with at least two bedrooms.

YB says

ASHER

Travis

Caden

Blake

seth

HADEN

GAVIN

So far, these are the potential names of Baby Dale that JD and I agreed upon. Unlike girls' name, we had much easier time agreeing upon picking out a few names. We really like Gavin, but as much as it sounds unique, I am not sure if I see Baby Dale as Gavin. I like Blake, but JD is not a fan of it. JD liked Caden a lot, but my friend's little boy name is Caden, and it stuck with me that Caden is a full Korean boy. OK. We both like Seth, but the name reminds me of a guy who was super skinny and nerdy at my school I don't mind so much about nerdy part, but someone who is so skinny to a point that he doesn't seem that healthy isn't something that I would like to be reminded of when we call our boy.