House Hunting

Jonathan and Brooke Bear at Crater Lake in Oregon 

(We were on our honeymoon two years ago that's when we decided we wanted to live here. Now we are only one and a half hours away from this lovely national park)

So I started this blog a few weeks ago between my husbands and my mad dashes from Redding, CA to Medford, OR. We had just moved back from China on a English teacher job; by the way I have a blog link for our experience over in Shenyang, China, you should check out. It was all in all an adventure, but we are both really excited to be home in the United States.

So why did we choose this location to live in after being half way across the globe. Well Jonathan applied to a really great grad school program,  which of course my smart, multi-talented husband got into, and we really love this area since we spent some time here on our honeymoon. We actually also chose this area because we thought is was a great place for setting in some roots. You know the whole settling in for the long hall, becoming part of the community, and making some babies aspect of life that we haven't quite gotten to yet.

So......... How do you go about accomplishing this when we do not even have a place to live, or a job yet. And that was our crazy predicament we were in. Places don't want to rent to you if you don't have a job... and jobs don't want to hire you if you don't have a place to live!

Craigslist was of course the fist place we started to look, since we didn't want to go through a major company that makes you pay a fee too even see the house. Our criteria was a little demanding I admit. A two bedroom home, allows bets, with a yard that I can create a small homestead farm on, all under $1000 dollars a month. Let me tell you it was not easy, and exstreamly frustrating to even find the houses that met all our needs. people who have been in this situation before know what I'm talking about.

We looked at a few different houses that we loved right away, and thought we were in the running to get, but there was always someone who looked a little bit more qualified. It's probably due to the fact that we didn't have any jobs, but hey we had money.... isn't that enough?

Well I have to say after much looking, and a few times almost giving up and getting the crappiest apartment we could find, we found someone to take pity on us. It was the blue house with the white trim and the older lady that "just loves students" who saved us. A rent that was below our budget, and a loft area that can easy be turned into an office/craft room/ extra bedroom! Double score.

So............ we did a few more runs down to Redding to pick up our stuff, and have been moved in officially for a week now. Though it happened a lot less smoothly then I would have liked, It is a good home, and I'm glad we are living in it. Here is a little tour my hubby will take you on.

Brief tour of our new home
Posted by Jonathan Baer on Thursday, April 2, 2015

Now till fill the house with fur babies and get started on the yard...... oh I guess putting some paint on the place.... actually having some furniture....maybe spend a little more time on my cooking skills. wow.... I have a lot more work ahead of me.....

Until Later! Tootles