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This is part III of a series on buying our first home. Part I was about us getting started, Part II was about the beginning of our search, and today starts off with a place M and I could see ourselves living in…finally.

So there we were: standing in the midst of a three-bedroom condo on the top floor of a building in the exact neighborhood we wanted to live in. This was more than we thought we would ever get—but was it too good to be true?

Well, it was a little expensive but there was some good news: the previous owner had been relocated to another state and as part of the relocation package, the employer had purchased the home. That meant they had it on their books and, unlike a typical buyer or investor, wasn’t interested in getting as much money as possible. They just wanted it off their books quick, and that meant the price was very flexible.

So we went home, looked at the pictures, crunched more numbers, and asked ourselves: can we afford this place? Do we really, really want it?

There were some drawbacks: no place was perfect. At least that’s what our broker and every first-time homebuyer show out there had taught us. The floors were creaky and old, the master bedroom’s view was of a brick wall and another building next to it, and there was only one bathroom.

We thought about it for a day, my parents actually went to check it out with us and a few other places and gave this one the thumbs up, and after a few days we knew the answer: we weren’t comfortable spending what it would take to buy this place.

Our broker spoke to the listing agent “frankly” and figured out what it would take to snatch it: we didn’t want to go that high. So that was that: we were back to square one.

And we didn’t notice it right away, but our broker started to look at us with a new squint in his eye: Are these guys ever going buy something?

A month later and some 15 places later, we thought we had our answer: YES!

That’s when we saw this place. It was the first time that the sacred word of homebuying came into play: offer. The square footage was incredible, the finishes were brand new (and we could still pick some of them), the parking was included in the price our broker could get us (he knew the developer), and the location was pretty good.

I told M that it would be a HUGE mistake if we didn’t take this place. The price per square foot was insanely low because of the top floor area. It was almost like buying a house (or the closest thing to it in our price range).

But as we all know, all places have issues. This was had a few things going against it: the kitchen was in a weird kind of floorplan in a hallway space and it only had one bathroom (the top floor could have another one built into it but it wouldn’t be code…a no-no). And on top of that, we couldn’t see exactly what the kitchen would look like because it wasn’t finished yet.

This one wasn’t about the money…it was about the kitchen.

After telling our broker how much we loved this place, he could tell how close we were to buying it. He told us he could get us a sweet deal with the developer but we had to act quickly if we really wanted it. This was it. But time passed and we talked ourselves out of it. The kitchen was weird, it had one bathroom, and the initial excitement faded. I was a little depressed because after that I figured if that place couldn’t get us pumped up enough to make an offer, nothing would.

Afterwards, our broker basically told us that we were being too picky and that if we were serious about buying we’d have to step up. As in buy something already.

This was when our fallout began.

After that happened we basically split with our broker and decided to take some time off. It had been almost two years of looking and we were emotionally spent. Sure, rates were at record lows and prices had been falling the whole time (the so-called “perfect” time to buy), but we were down and out on the whole thing. As the winter of 2009 approached, we decided to take a break.

Little did we know how quickly everything would happen once we stopped trying so hard.

This post was included in the Carnival of Money Stories over at Suburban Dollar. It’s got a cool bracket theme to it so check it out. It was also an editor’s pick at Len Penzo’s Best of the Best in Money and Personal Finance Carnival.

Other Posts You May Like:

• Buying a Home Part IV: Closing Time
• Buying a Home Part II: The Search Continues
• Buying a Place: The One That Got Away
• Buying a First Home: The Feedback
• Buying a House When You “Can’t Afford It”