what i've learned while house shopping

1. There are a lot of empty homes in Vancouver and Battle Ground.
2. I need a pantry in the kitchen.
3. The 505 and I are pretty darn good renters. Some of the properties we've visited are rentals and oh. my. goodness. the nastiness. No wonder we get macadamia nuts sent to us from Hawaii.
4. Closet space is important.
5. I like natural light. A lot of it.
6. People don't keep up very well with their fences. Probably at least half the homes we looked at had fences that were falling over. Some of them aren't even cemented into the ground.
7. Some houses will pleasantly surprise you when you walk in the front door.
8. Builders from the 90's liked a lot of white walls, brown doors, and brass door knobs.
9. Realtors lie about a lot of different things on the MLRS listings.
10. I like both ranch style homes and two stories.
11. Having the laundry room upstairs with the bedrooms is blissful.
12. I'm a vinyl siding kind of girl. I don't like T111. (It's a wood exterior that fades and can easily get moldy.)
13. Prices of homes have come down $30-40,000 since we looked three or so years ago. And they're still dropping.
14. Neighbors that keep their lawnmower on their front porch instead of their garage would totally bug the heck out of me.
15. I am easily distracted in the car by watching our realtor's GPS unit.