Looking at Buying a Yard for Choodle

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

DK friends:  the time is here, the time is now, DH and I are officially on the house hunt, aka "yard hunt for choodle" (chihuahua+doodle)!  Yay, I thought the time would never come.  We are so ready to leave our condo.  It has been a great place to live but I yearn for the day to open the back door and let the dogs run out and play! 

 

The humorous part of our househunt is our priority list.  Seriously, this is what I told our realtor:

 

1. 3+ bedrooms

2. big yard for my dogs, flat enough area to install a physical fence, existing fence is gigantic plus for us

3. not a "project"

 

HA!  Where is the "large kitchen" (although that is important because I cook)??? 

 

Tomorrow we are looking at a house on 2+ acres. I have already driven by and snooped (it is vacant but totally renovated).  Yard looks good for dogs.  Yahoo!  Can't wait.  4 houses tomorrow and all 4 have suitable yards for Peri and Taquito.

 

I am nuts, I know!

 

Oh and also keep in mind I grew up near the city but on 4 acres of lovely, private land. Mom and dad still live there.  We are looking to be in their neighborhood!  I love the outdoors.  Patio + yard + dogs running  = utter bliss for me.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Search is going well - found a really good candidate with a wonderful back yard.  Could see the dogs running around.  I will keep you all posted!

[Yvonne N]

How exciting!!!!!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Allyson ...... How is the search going?  Are you having a great time?

[Anna and Achilles]

Good luck on the search it can be daunting. I love your priority list. We bought a house 3 years ago and that was top on my list for my first doodle Houdini.

[Becky, Chili & Guiness]

Don't feel like the only nut out there.  We spent a boat load of money updating our home so that we could sell it and downsize.  Then Chili came into our lives last March, so we changed our plan from a condo to a smaller ranch-type home so that we could still have a yard.  A few weeks ago we adopted our second doodle, Guiness.  Guess who just installed a doggie door and now plan on staying here...  because the doods are so happy.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

How exciting!!!  I think that you need to call HGTV and sign up for the show House Hunters - could take the Choodle (LOL that is funny!) with you and we could all see you on TV!  I watch that show constantly - so do my girls :-)  I love looking at houses and dreaming.  We have about a 1/2 acre but there is no one behind us so its nice and open.  I couldn't imagine walking Hunter every time I had to take her out!  Good Luck and keep us posted on what you find :-)

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Ditto on the Mudd Room and make sure the exit to the big yard is through the Mudd Room.  Hope you have a great time house hunting!  I love house hunting.  I can remember years ago this Realtor taking us into this big ole house and he looked at me and he said "Boy do I have a surprise for you ..... you are just going to love this kitchen".  My Mom was with us that day and she just smiled as she knew exactly what I was thinking and knew that he had totally screwed up.  Probably the last thing I cooked was a peanut butter sandwich, and I so didn't appreciate his implying that the little girly should just love being in the big ole fancy kitchen! 

 

Here is my advice (although unsolicited).  Take your time, be pickey, take lots of notes and pictures because you are going to get confused about what you saw in each house, don't get caught up in looking at the furnishing that are there, try to envision it with your things, don't assume everything in the Reators listing is accurate (they like to stretch things a little).  Most of all, have fun!  It is an exciting time.  I have lived in probably 35-40 houses in my life time, so I've had a lot of practice about what I like and what I don't so I'm a really pickey house hunter. 

[Melissa & Porter]

Congratulations!  I would LOVE 4 acres.  Keep an eye on the "mudroom" situation in the houses you look at.  I have a relatively small eat-in kitchen, but because we made a large mudroom, the kitchen gets to be cleaner and devoted to eating--not shoes and sports equipment and dog stuff and snowsuits.

[Smita, Ollie and Juno]

Wow! That is so exciting! Best of luck and looking forward to updates. :-)

 

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

Congrats Allyson!  You will love having the yard for the choodle!!