House Hunting Part One

House hunting, ladies and gents, is a pain in the ass. If Justin and I were buying a place we probably would've signed papers by now and this nightmare would be over as there is the cutest house in my neighborhood that would be close to family but not across the street. But, we're not buying. Don't even get me started on that. We are renting. And it is a nightmare.

I have been on Trulia and Zillow and others daily for weeks. No luck. Finally, a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a really cute house within our price range, laminate floors, fenced in yard, and allowed pets. Hello, win. Justin called and we went to see it the next day.

First off the bat, the "bird's eye view" picture must have been years old. When we looked online it looked like a very new neighborhood with not many houses in it at all. I'm thinking, "YES. Not a lot of people or dogs to be near Emmy. Plenty of room for her to wander." Well, no. We pull into the neighborhood and I felt myself sinking down into my seat. It was so jammed packed full of houses that I felt claustrophobic.
But, we went and met the owner and took a tour around the house. It felt really small inside even though it had hundreds more square footage than my parent's place. The kitchen opened up into the living room. It was a very nice, open concept. The yard was another 'Ehhh' moment for me. The photo made it look really large but in person I could've spit and hit the back fence. That's not me bragging about my spit skills, that's the truth. It was very small. If we didn't have Emmy, no biggie, but she's used to a lot of space - space that she needs. Back inside, things looked really nice. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. The dream, okay? Two bathrooms is the DREAM.
We plan on a spare bedroom and then me a writing room with another desk for Justin to draw or something. But a little writing room/office would be really lovely for me. It's not very doable to write on the couch all the time because no one really thinks you're "busy" so they ask stuff of you constantly instead of, 'Oh, she's in her office. She's BUSY.' And I am busy, OK? I have a movie deal to get.

So, inside seemed really great and I guess I got caught up in that because next thing I know, we're filling out the application. The guy was nice, we shook hands, I handed over half my checking account in an application deposit and then we left.
And five minutes later I couldn't stop crying. Nerves aside, my gut was all, 'You dumbass. Did you see that neighborhood? You felt like a sardine in a tin! There were houses on houses on houses all within spitting distance of each other. There were kids everywhere. There was nowhere to walk Emmy where it was quiet. WHAT WERE YOU JUST THINKING??'
And, honestly, I don't know. I think I just wanted this to work out so I went along with whatever. But over the next couple of days it just got worse. There was a pit in my stomach, I couldn't sleep, I wasn't eating much. I cried every time I was alone. Dramatic, sure, but my gut was going crazy with THIS IS A MISTAKE.
Then, of course, we get word that our application was approved. I think I drank half a bottle of wine after that. Justin could tell I was troubled, so we talked about it and talked with my parents about it and finally we all agreed that something closer to home and with not as many houses crammed together would be best. I was so relieved. So insanely relieved. We called the guy and apologized, then passed on the spit house.
So, now we're back to square one. And running out of time quickly. We need to be out around Halloween and I'm having such a hard time finding a place. We've seen plenty of nice places but they either don't accept pets or they do, but have no fenced in yard.
Today we found a couple of potentials, so maybe one of those will pan out. They're not as close as I would like them to be, but I'm just going to have to figure out what all to compromise for this to work out. All I know right now is I'm not eating much, I still can't sleep, and my hair is starting to fall out from the stress. Now I'm starting to think we should've taken the first house and Emmy and I could've just been miserable for a year.
House hunting (for renting), I do hate you.

Anyone have any tips for house hunting? Am I missing a great site to check?

Inspired by this LDR Writing Prompt: Defining Moment