Upon Further Research...

We got home and raced to check both "Lucas" and "Johnson" out. We found slideshows online and pored over them one by one. Again, Ros preferred Johnson.

Click on the picture of each house below to be taken to the -- slightly dodgy -- slideshows.

500 Lucas

409 Johnson

We researched the Palacios ISD, the Palacios civic data, town history, future developments, financial assistance for first time home buyers and we actually got a kick out of being such grown-ups. We now know things like -- what is expected behavior at Palacios schools, what are the class sizes, what is the town's median income, what is the town's population, what sorts of property developments are planned in the future that could affect our property value negatively or positively and last but by no means least what kind of aid programs are out there that will make our first home purchase easier and less daunting financially.

Over all, we're happy with all of these areas of research. This is the right place for us to raise our family, and a great place for us to invest our money -- long-term. Most of all, we just love that the town is small enough for now that we will be able to make a mark on it. People are so friendly and welcoming that we cannot wait to make new friends in the area and really start living the sea-side life. (We're even thinking of buying a boat some day... we'll keep you posted, it's going to be a while...)

We finally got to the point where we wanted to share pics of the houses with family and friends. Ros posted them on her blog, Peter talked family through the slideshows online. Everyone was enchanted with the small town look and feel of Palacios, but it seemed that everyone had conflicting opinions on which house looked best.

For the most part, feedback was pretty tough. They're old houses, they need a lot of work.. we realize that.. but in exchange for a little sweat, we would be getting a brilliant house, in a great town that we can potentially live in forever. In the end, the "realists" agreed with Ros about 409 Johnson looking like a more solid investment, while the "dreamers" took one look at the red door on 500 Lucas and were as smitten as Peter was.

Ros' mom made one comment that really struck a chord with Ros, "Get the most house you can for the money." <-- now, what she meant by that was, by the nicest, most put together house you can afford on your miniature budget... but what Ros heard was, "Take another look at that big one... you KNOW you love the red door."

So she promptly did. Here's what she thought... The Johnson house is move-in ready and -- while it could use, new paint, new carpets and new fixtures in some rooms... for the most part it's cute and ready for action.

The Lucas house is a wreck... it needs a lot of work, but dammit won't it look incredible when you're done with it? Lucas is the house we can really make our mark on. Johnson is already "marked" with someone else's taste.

The Johnson house has just enough bedrooms for us to squeak by with an office and a bedroom for a baby if we get that far in the next couple of years. But once we're dealing with a toddler it will be time to move again.

The Lucas house is more house than we will need for a while, but it could easily accommodate two adults and potentially two teenage boys if needs be. It won't be overly spacious, but it will do.

The Johnson house has a room for a guest, or couple to stay over with us. With Palacios being a vacation town we are hoping that family and friends will all come through at some point and stay a while with us.

The Lucas house has enough room for a couple of guests to stay a night or two. In fact... with a day bed in the sun room, we could probably accommodate 3 or 4 couples and or a bunch of kids.

The Johnson house is more "modern" and in fact because of it's layout Peter refers to it as "the mobile home house" because the layout resembles a mobile home to him.

Lucas on the other hand has so much character it hurts. Ros can't stop thinking about how great it will be to peel back those wallpaper layers, rip up that carpet to see what lies beneath, replace the 1980's light fixtures and fans, and completely and utterly demolish every inch of that kitchen and start anew.

At the end of the day we know we aren't handy people -- well, we wouldn't really know even if we were... we've never challenged ourselves in such a big way. But we like the challenge of Lucas at this point, so we're going to go for it!! (Well, after we've actually seen the inside in person that is... *blush!*) We're scheduling viewings with Sheila for May 17th and we are starting the search for the perfect mortgage guy to help us with funding.