House Hunting in Texas

These past four weeks have been exhausting.  We have had long days and long evenings.  Poor Caden is just ready to be settled back into a regular routine, as are we.  Thankfully during the days while Collin is at work, Caden and I have been able to meet up with various friends and visit the zoo, museum, and play at the park.  Also he has enjoyed seeing my parents and siblings as well as some of Collin's family.

Since our household goods arrived last Thursday, we decided we needed to make a decision this weekend. This is difficult as we are both extremely picky. We came across two great options.  Here are the two options we're considering.

House #1: Perfect, beautiful, new, but top of our budget. Cons: far from family and Collin's job - it's on the other side of town so we'd deal with bad traffic. Pros: good schools and close to friends and church.

House #2: Pros: Great price and closer to Collin's job and my family. Neat neighborhood with water park and bike trails, etc. It has a strong HOA and many kids in the neighborhood go to private school. Cons: 8 years old, not as good of schools, at least ratings wise. On the other hand, we could afford private school if we go with this option and there are several really good private schools nearby. There's also the possibility of homeschooling.

If we bought House #2 we would plan on later renting it out and expanding our housing portfolio. Basically, we'd buy it and "rent" to ourselves until we decide to move. If we buy House #1 we plan on living in it for a long time, at least 10+ years.

What would you do? Go with House #1 or House #2 and why?  Thank you to those who have responded on Facebook.  If you have not put in your two cents, please do so.  We have made our decision and are making an offer tomorrow on one of the houses above.  More news to come!