House Hunting: Alabama Edition

"Living" in a hotel has its perks... I don't have to cook. Breakfast is free. I have a big screen TV a king-size bed in my bedroom. It is bigger than the camper. But it is also a pain in that there isn't a great place to walk Sophie and trying to get her in and out without disturbing other guests is a bit of a hassle. Plus I miss having a house.

We spent the last two days looking at various houses in the Scottsboro area. It reminds me a lot of Searcy. In the early 90s. Except smaller. And no university. 

Actually it is probably more like Heber Springs. Especially since the Tennessee River and its various lakes border the entire area. The bodies of water that border Scottsboro create various inlets and most neighborhoods are on some type of peninsula and with some type of lake access. But nothing is really connected... as in you have to get back on the highway to get to anywhere. Sometimes you go to look at a house with "lake access" thinking that the house is on the water, but what this really means is that the house is within a quarter mile of the water. 

I drove over 100 miles yesterday looking at various houses we had found on the internet. It is so spread out that a lot of areas feel very rural. And even if it is a 10-mile drive to wherever you are going, it feels much farther because you may be driving through endless farmland. I nixed several houses because they were too rural.

It is beautiful country but it feels very isolated. 

We officially meet with our realtor on Monday. We will be spending most of next week here... in the hotel again. We have a list of several houses we are interested in and hopefully our realtor can give us a better feel for the area. We would love to be on the water, but that costs $$$ and the frugalistas in us would need to come across a good deal to commit to a lake house.

This one is in Hollywood, less than 10 miles from TVA. It has 3 acres and is on the upper end of what we want to spend. A bonus is that one of Daniel's co-workers just made an offer on another house in the neighborhood, so we would know someone...

This house would be a great investment. It is on an island with actual waterfront. It has 5 acres that backs up to a cove. It also has a separate shop and garage and an in-ground pool. There is no water view from the house, but there is a boat house and pier. It is a 30-minute drive from the plant.

This house has water access. The big plus for this one is a 4-car garage (Daniel's dream). Plus a screened in porch with a hot tub. This one is about a 15-minute drive from the plant.

These are our preliminary houses that we plan to look at. We have a few others that made our initial short list. Next week I will have more in-depth updates on what we look at and what we decide about these three properties.