House Hunters: Altus Style

Someone asked me today if we had gone house hunting in Altus yet. 

My answer? Nope, and we probably aren't going to. We've talked it over and we're probably going to rent in Oklahoma. I'm kind of bummed out about this but it makes the most sense. We're hoping to only be there for 2 years, and lets face it- Altus isn't exactly the real estate mecca of the world. So we don't want to be stuck with a house we can't sell.


But that doesn't mean I haven't been looking.  Most of the homes for sale are new construction. The town has grown recently (21,000 and growing!) and new homes have been built. It seems to be mainly military families buying and selling these homes.

The other side of the coin is older homes- seemingly from the 70's and 80's era. Possibly from when the town experienced a growth spurt at the time. And from what I can tell from the interiors most have not had any updating to them.

I don't have a problem with houses like this- they intrigue me actually. Looking at the pictures gives me all sorts of ideas on how to update and modernize them. But- since our stint in Altus is short all the hard work wouldn't really pay off.

There is a historic part of town. I saw two house for sale in this area. They look cool and are inexpensive for the size. Which surprised me because homes like this in San Antonio cost a lot more. It seems like most people don't live in the older part of town, most have been moving to the newer areas.

Can you tell which one is my favorite? The interior looks like it needs some help. Hopefully someone will buy it and give it some love. Sadly it's not going to be us. 

We're most likely going to end up in the new part of town.

I'm kind of freaking out about moving to a new construction home. I've gotten so used to living in our 1930's cottage house I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. How will I know if the mailman is at the door if Gracie can't run under the house and bark at him (our house is pier & beam). Because our house is pier and beam it tends to shift with the changing weather. How boring will it be to always come home and not have to jiggle and shake the lock a different way each day? And what will I have to worry about with new non- leaky plumbing? And how can I dream about tearing out walls if the home already has an open floor plan?

Seriously we've put a lot of hard work into this house and we love it. We installed the insulation in the attic, replaced all the lighting, had cable run, painted all the walls, not to mention the kitchen remodel. And besides all the hard work this is where our first child was born- Con-Man! 

We've learned a lot and grown a lot in the short 3 years we've been here- no matter where we end up living in Altus I know we'll have even more good memories to share when we leave.