House hunting begins

Adam and I are reving up to become homeowners.  More than likely, we will be buying a condo or a townhouse.  We probably won't buy anything until after we both get our year end bonuses in February.  Saturday was perfect weather to walk around the city so we walked through Olde City and Washington Square before miandering home.  We would love to live in the Washington Square area, but it is difficult to gauge if we can afford the neighborhood.  We went to two open houses for lofts in Olde City and have determined that loft-living is not for us.  We just aren't a big fan of the open ceilings and the gap between the walls and the ceilings - why even have a door if you can hear everything from the other room over the top of the walls?  Just seems silly to us - you might as well just live in a studio if you are going to live in a loft. 

Visiting places really made us realize that we need to figure out just what our price range is before we do anything else.  At the second place we toured, we met a really nice real estate broker who was extremely personable and helpful.  We both got a good vibe from him (he wasn't too salesman-y) and think we might use him when we get serious about buying.  We need to get pre-approved for a mortgage before we do anything else.  Luckily, the fact that Adam works at a bank should be very beneficial, since they offer slightly discounted mortgages to employees. 

Adam has spent plenty of hours playing on relator webpages, so we are getting a sense of what is out there.  We are starting to narrow down our house criteria.  

Here is what we have determined so far:

2 Bedroom/1.5 Bath

At least 1,100 square feet (what we have now, nothing smaller)

30 min or less commute

We aren't willing to spend more on a mortgage than we are currently paying in rent

We really need a place that we can grow into.  We plan on having kids in 2 or 3 years and need to buy something that will accomdate our plans.  My current thinking is that we would get an au pair for the first year or so, because I would like to continue to work.  Maybe after baby #2 I would consider taking time off or working part-time, but I wouldn't want to quit working right away.  That would mean that we need a room (and ideally a bathroom) for the au pair.  Who knows if we can afford this - I realize I am in la-la-la land right now.  That's why getting pre-approved for a mortgage is the next step for us.

We stopped at Borders on our way home yesterday and bought a book for first time home buyers.  It has already been extremely helpful and today we started investigating our credit reports.  I have a clean bill of health, but we had a lot of trouble accessing Adam's records.  I'm sure everything will be fine, but Adam is a little concerned by the uncertainty.