House Hunting in Western Massachusetts

We are still at the house hunting phase in our relocation to Western Massachusetts process.

We are looking for a home in the Pioneer Valley, specifically Northampton, Hadley or Southampton.

At this point we have actually made offers on two houses. The first was way out of our price range, but the seller's agent said the sellers were very motivated and we should not hesitate to "throw out a number!" So we did, expecting nothing. And we got nothing. The sellers responded by saying they weren't going to respond to such a low number. How rude! (Yes, I hear Stephanie Tanner from "Full House," too.)

The second house we made an offer on was very cute, also at the very top of our price range, and the best house we'd seen that particular day. But, really, in hindsight, we acted way too hastily. We put the offer in, discovered we were dealing with house flippers who started haggling over weird things and acting a bit shady. They rejected our final offer, and then called two days later saying they accepted it.

After that we started realizing that the house was really small, AND we'd go broke having to fix the things that needed fixin', considering the price we were paying for the house was so high. So, ultimately, we backed out of the sale.

Now we are searching again. We've walked through nearly 20 houses at this point. I wonder now if we are going to be one of those couples who is unrealistic in our search, or end up seeing 100 houses before finding "the one."

We also have been a little disappointed because we haven't seen as many of the houses in the style that we'd prefer - colonial or farmhouse.
We've seen some, and a lot need updating or renovations, which we're totally fine with, but they are already nearing the top of our price range, so that doesn't leave much money for those renovations.

We'll see what happens. We're on a little break right now, mainly because we are going away this weekend, Andy's weekend off, so we won't be seeing houses till April 25th, when my mom and step-father come up to visit from NYC.

I'll let you know what happens!