The Search for the "Perfect" House Part 1

I'm back!  It's been quite a while since I have posted much of anything, it's been 2 months since we left for our house hunting trip, moved, and finally got settled into our house.  I guess I should start at the beginning....

In August my hubby and I left the kids with my parents for what we thought would be a quick house hunting trip.  We had 10 days to find a house and get a contract on it, I honestly thought we would find something right away and that it would be a fun, stress-free mini- vacation.  WRONG! 
We had been looking online and had a really good idea of what we wanted in a house with a few specific qualifications for the house.
We arrived late on a Wednesday, and the following morning we met with our realtor and began our search.
When you hear that the market had crashed in certain locations, we really had no idea how bad it really was, and in the D.C./ Virginia metro area,  the market had crashed big time.  It was surprising to see how many homes had been foreclosed on or were in the process of being foreclosed upon.  It was really sad to see so many neighborhoods empty, and houses literally trashed and abandoned.
By day two of our house hunting trip we were getting discouraged and frustrated with the choices that were being shown to us.  We had a specific price that we wanted to stay under, even though we could afford more, we realized (especially after seeing so many homes that people could not afford and had lost) that we didn't want to get a house that would stretch us and not allow for other things down the road.
One of the specific things we were looking for in a house was a finished basement, mainly because we home school and I wanted 1 room set up specifically for school.
On Friday we found a house that was brand spanking new and gorgeous, higher than what we wanted to pay and the basement was NOT finished, after talking with our realtor we decided to offer a price, that was lower than what it was listed for (and still over our original budget) and we would ask for the basement to be finished.  We waited and played the "game" of counter offering the whole weekend- it was not a good weekend, we were on a time line and we were wasting time waiting, so we decided to keep looking while we "patiently" waited.
We found house number 2 over the weekend, this time the house had a finished basement, was gorgeous and was way over the budget.  So again we offered a bid, knowing the house had been on the market a long time, and through negotiations we found out that they had another house being built and they "had" to sell.
Meanwhile, house number one was ruled out, and I started loving house number 2.  It's never good to fall in love with a house you can't afford!  Two whole days of going back and forth we could not reach an agreement on the price and so it is now Wednesday, we have to leave on Friday and we need to have a contract on a house- talk about STRESS!
While waiting for the drama of house number two to play out, we find house number three, which is in the same neighborhood as house number two. 
House number three is way UNDER budget,  has a FINISHED basement, and wood floors throughout ( something I wanted but wasn't a must have) and an UGLY kitchen.
House number two fell through ( and still is on the market, which secretly I am happy for b/c of the behind the scenes story, and in a not very nice way I am getting a kick out of the fact that they can't sell it because it's over priced and way over what it was appraised at) .
We put a bid on house number three and after some negotiating we finally had a contract on Thursday, the day before we had to leave- so much for my nice, stress-free mini-vacation!