Housing

As many of you know, Kevin and I have been looking to "upgrade" our housing situation. We live in a cozy 2 bedroom/2bath condo/townhouse that I bought 5 years ago this month. Happy anniversay. :-) But anyways. It is quite comfortable for Kevin, Calla and I, and we love our neighbors so we don't ever want to leave. However, we are accumulating more things as time moves on and eventually we will have to move out. Not to mention Kevin wants a place to use tools and land where he can mow a lawn, etc. We love this neighborhood, but we can afford what we are in. (This area is REALLY expensive) When we do move out, we will actually keep the place we are in and rent it out. Of course we would not be able to do that if we weren't getting some financial assistance from my Dad. He is giving us a down payment on our future place, so we can con't to build equity (we have 200,000 equity now), and even make money off the rental until the market is great to sell. What a relief that is.
Well, what many of you don't know is that kevin and I put an offer on a house last Friday. It was about 3600 sq. ft. victorian built in 99 with all the upgrades (granite, new paint, carpets, hardwoods, recessed lighting, etc.). It was in a town called Vienna, which is about 20 minutes from our current place, and it sat on a 1 acre lot. P-E-R-F-E-C-T. Well, not perfect for us. We got word from our real estate agent last night that there were 4 contracts on the place, and they did not take ours. I was quite bummed out when we got the call. Partially because of the deja-vu. In September we put a contract on a 5 bedroom brick colonial with an in-ground pool. There were 4 contracts, and they didn't take ours. Get this....on both of the houses we were the number 2 person. On the first house, someone put a cash offer down, so they took that, and on this one, someone outbid us. F-R-U-S-T-R-A-T-I-N-G!!!! I hope the saying of "Third times a charm" is correct.
It is just hard when you get your hopes up so high. I started to think of where what furniture would go where, and how I would go to work, and what we needed to buy. You get really excited and then you feel dumb for all the premature thoughts. I truely believe that everything happens for a reason, so I know we weren't meant to have that house (either one for that matter), but since it happened twice, well, it kinda sucks! I KNOW there is a house out there for us, and it won't be long before we find it. In the meantime, we will just spend time with the neighbors that we love. :-)