A Journey in House Hunting (Part 2)

 The first bump in our journey was navigating both the small pool of houses and stiff competition for those same houses. I recall feeling shocked by how quickly showings for homes were booked. It was like we had to schedule a showing as soon as we saw a potential house appear online. And even when we stumbled upon a house that fit our standards, we were faced with the sight of a dozen families waiting in line. All of us wore masks and were eager to inspect the inside of a new house within the allotted fifteen minute time frame. It was more stressful than I could imagine because I was also worried about the pandemic and potentially becoming sick if I didn't maintain social distancing rules. So each house viewing was quick but as efficient as we could, mostly because we were grateful to secure a showing. 

But as a result, there was an overwhelming yearn to say 'yes' to everything that we saw. Regardless of whether those houses met our standards, both of us were tempted to place an offer because we worried that we wouldn't be able to secure another house for a long while. It was a valid worry because there was a short supply of houses so we couldn't let a potential one slip through our fingers. In addition, we weren't sure when would be another time for us to hunt for houses so no better time than the present. Looking back, the two of us definitely made the mistake of offering more than we could afford for one or two houses. And we are grateful that those offers never went through. However, it was beyond frustrating and heartbreaking when other people would step in and offer full cash for houses. Like oh, I had no idea that I needed to have thousands of dollars of cash lying around. Just in case. 

While the second bump in the road was finding a balance between our two respectful cultures. My American-born Chinese fiancé leaned more on the traditional side. Traditional in the sense that he firmly believed in feng shui. So he was rarely open to look at houses that had possible feng shui issues. Was the house on a cul-de-sac? Then the chi or energy will only pool and grow stagnant. Is the front door parallel to another door? We cannot have that because the energy will quickly enter one door then leave through the other. As someone who loved him and knew him well, I respected his philosophy and tried my best to be understanding. But I'm only human. My patience began to run short when his approval of homes left us with one or two showings. At times, it felt like his beliefs were restricting us from seeing the true potential in houses. 

Considering we had been house hunting for more than half a year, I worried that we'd never find a place. Everything seemed like an uphill battle but there was no way to secure a way to the top.