A to Z Challenge: House Hunting

After becoming engaged there were a few things on the To Do list, such as setting a date, (August 11, 1983)  buying a ring and a dress, arranging for the wedding ceremony and reception, and deciding where to live.  Today's post deals with the last task, house hunting.   Since our chosen wedding date gave us only three months to prepare after making the engagement official, the summer of 1983 was just as busy as the summer of 1981 had been.   Of course, in a college town in the spring time, there are usually quite a few options available for the coming fall, but on the ball students do tend to make arrangements for their living options quite well in advance, so the quest for suitable housing can sometimes be more difficult than you might think.  

DH had just graduated from the University a few weeks before I arrived back in the states from my mission to Colombia, and was working full time.  He was not particularly interested in staying too close to campus now that he was finished with his undergraduate degree and working full time, so we started looking a bit further away in some of the surrounding areas, thinking that we would drive in together each day for work and school.  We looked at several apartment complexes, but both felt that we would rather rent a house if at all possible.  After several weeks of looking, we found a house for rent in a community a few miles south of our college town.  It was a bit older and didn't have the newest and fanciest kitchen or carpet, but it had a nice yard and neighborhood.  After seeing the house, we agreed on the rental price, and arranged to come back the next day with the deposit and to sign the rental agreement.   We then went to the county and filled out our marriage license information, and DH listed the address of the new rental home on the license.

A short time later we returned to the rental to sign the lease agreement and put down the deposit, and found that while we were gone, the house had been rented to another couple!   We were back to square one.  I don't remember exactly what we did next, but it was probably back to the local newspaper classified ads, and we finally found the perfect little house for us, right in town, just a few blocks from the college.   I was able to walk to school for my senior year, and DH had a short drive to his work.   We rented the entire upstairs with a large living room, dining area, eat-in kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath.   We even had hookups for a washer, and a little laundry room next door that we shared with the downstairs tenant and the people next door, where we could dry our clothes.  There was a garden spot in the backyard and a little garage that we could use for storage.  DH was able to move in a few weeks before our wedding day.  It was the perfect set up for us as we prepared to begin our married life, and I really did love living in our cute little house!