Such an undertaking...

Just spent the last hour checking out rental houses in Charlotte online...mainly for motivational purposes. It brings up questions upon questions, lists upon lists in my head, that need to be put down somewhere so that I/we have a chance of pulling off this rather monumental undertaking.

We know we want a house. The good news is if I can find work in my current pay grade, we can afford to rent a house quite easily, provided our credit has improved enough to get us in the door. I pray this is the case. When we get a little closer, I'll need to invest in credit reports for both of us.

The second bit of good news is that the houses for rent in Charlotte aren't dives, by any stretch. I'm not familiar enough with the neighborhoods yet to know where to steer clear, but there wasn't one turkey in the batch I was looking at (from a particular real estate/prop. mgmt company). Some ugly or outdated decor, some age that could prove challenging, but nothing that made me say "no way" at first glance. And that's important, as I'm someone who can drive into an apartment complex and know if it'll work or not for me before I even see the inside of the place.

So many lists to create....

1. Confirming whether or not the house comes with a dishwasher when the pictures show it as having one, but the listing says it doesn't....confirming other appliances too, as I'm seeing that refrigerator and range aren't always automatically present either.
2. Confirming central heat & air...I don't want to look at houses that only have window units, but if we get desperate enough...
3. Confirming whether or not landscaping is covered by the PM or by us.
4. Confirming AT LEAST washer/dryer connections.
5. Confirming what types of repairs we're responsible for vs. when it's time to call the PM to repair something.
6. Are we allowed to paint?
7. Are we allowed to plant anything outside?
8. Are we allowed to hang a clothesline?

I'm looking at strictly suburban homes for the first year, so won't even ask about zoning regulations regarding livestock. It's not worth the struggle, and we're not ready anyway; with any luck, we'll have a small human to tend to in the first year up there, and that will put quite a few things on hold in all likelihood. I'm flexible about certain things (lot fencing, dishwasher), not so flexible on others (CH&A is a necessity with southern summers). The lists need to start happening.

My "bucket" has been half full the last couple of weeks. I'm letting myself be overwhelmed by life, and that's BS. Starting lists and projecting a budget for the move will go a long way toward organizing my thoughts and not letting life just pass me by. My Virgo nature has to count for something in all this.