The other day I wrote about that we're moving house on the 20th of June.
It was the perfect house. In the perfect location.
It has a small garden and a rooftop, and we could see ourselves sitting in either, enjoying our lives. Having our breakfast outside every day, as well as our dinners. Something we can't do in the place we're in now.
There was enough to be excited about...

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My dilemmas

My new-found friend @dredreams told me about her real estate agent, and she gave me her details.
This was right around the time we were going to look at the first house, and I thought it'd be good to have other houses to view before making a decision.

We made an appointment to view a house closer to where we are now, and then after I saw it, I wish I hadn't...

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Let me explain:

We walked around the area, and from the outside looks of the house, it was just a normal house. Nothing special about it. It didn't even look very big. But looks deceive...
As soon as we stepped in the door, this first impression changed a bit. But it wasn't until we saw the rest of the house that made me wish we'd never come here.

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Not only did it have 4 bedrooms, one of which was downstairs, and a bit weird, with a shower inside the room, but it also had an extra sitting area on the first floor, complete with sofa and TV.
In my mind, I could see the kids enjoying their programs, and me enjoying mine without their talking through it, all at the same time.

The second floor had two large bedrooms in total,
one of which had their own bathroom, and a separate bathroom on the same floor.
On the second floor, we found another huge bedroom with its own walk-in closet and bathroom...
I could see myself in that bedroom, my very own beautiful space, making it my own.

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But that wasn't all...
On the other side of the hallway, there was a fifth room. It was even bigger than my own claimed bedroom, with its own (small) balcony, a tiny kitchen with cooker and fridge.
It also had some weights, a workout trampoline, and a tradmill hehe. Just in case...
I imagined this being perfect for my eldest and @camthecreator. We'd just have to get a bed for it, and they could have their own studio!

We walked back downstairs, to get the full idea of the living area. I mean, it was massive. Especially for Playa del Carmen standards!
The kitchen would have been my dream kitchen, size wise. Not because of the red kitchen cabinets...trust me.
It had a huge American style fridge so that was amazing. A large gas cooker and oven, as well as an extra electric cooker. So if you don't have gas, you can still cook and vice versa...

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The garden was bigger than the one of the other house too, with one big negative, which some people could see as a positive to be honest: it was completely covered. Meaning it had a roof...
Not a big deal for some, I guess, because there was still openings that had sunlight coming in.
But I like to do my own covering. If I want the sun, I'd like the whole deal, not just part of it.
And if I want to cover, I'll sort a parasol or something...

I really loved the way the house was decorated. It had a very 70's art deco look, from the kitchen to the interior, which brought me back to my childhood a bit. Yeah, I'm that old.
But still hard to guess since the 70's were 10 years long hehe...

Here are some photos, so you get an idea...

The kitchen.

The smaller bedroom and walk in closet :)
Yeah, I said small...

The studio upstairs with gym equipment.

The little extra living area on the first floor.
So pretty!

And this is not even showing the full size of the place. I didn't take more photos.

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A hard choice to make

It was really tough. I nearly cried just thinking about it. And that is why I wished I'd never even laid eyes on this house!
The landlord also seemed really nice, and the real estate agent was lovely too.

So what did we choose?

Our main reasons for moving is the space, and that we wanted to get a bit closer to town.
This house is still at the same distance from town and beach as we are now.
Space-wise, this one wins in every way.
We'd all have our own space, and if the two adults would take the studio, each of us can have their own room and the boys didn't have to share a room.
There is a mall and a walmart nearby. Less than a 10 minute walk, which would make grocery shopping less of an undertaking than it is now.

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The winner:

We ended up choosing the first house after all.
Its winning points are the fact that it is much closer (walking distance) to both the beach and the center.

It has a rooftop which sold it for us the first time around. I can see myself growing little bits of veggies and even fruit there.
We envisioned ourselves sitting there on warm summer nights, enjoying the ocean breeze.
Fairy lights, hammocks, table and chairs...the works.

The garden is smaller but it's still big enough to sit there as well and enjoy our meals there.

The area is really quiet, with enough walking space for us to bring the dogs for walks, and we can even take them off the leads. No one would be around to tell us we can't.

The shops are a bit further away but still walking distance, and we'd be supporting small, local shop owners instead of the big corporations. Something we planned to do when we first came here but never really had the opportunity to, aside from a few street vendors in the area.

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The other house, with all its greatness is situated near a busy road, which would mean we'd have to walk the dogs on that road, or walk quite a bit to get to a more quiet area. Which would also mean that the kids can't really walk the dogs at all.
I'd also be constantly worried about our fanily cat, who wouldn't be safe enough to go on her adventures. It would kill me if she'd get hurt and I could prevent it by moving somewhere where she can roam without issues.

Conclusion

I mentioned regretting ever seeing this second house. That's not entirely true. Now I have an idea of what is possible, when we buy a house, or build one. It gave me ideas on what I'd like to see in our own place.

It was a very hard choice to make. But in the end it wasn't. When we saw the first house, we were happy and knew it would make us happy to be there. When we deliberated about what to do, we mentioned this: We'd be happy in either house, and even though the one we're going to is smaller, we'd have enormous living space outside, as well as 3 lovely pools to enjoy.

We want to live outdoors more than in, so it's perfect for us.
It was truly a luxury problem. Both houses would be perfectly fine for us.

The second house has solar panels but with the price difference, it won't make much difference in costs every month.

Also, we decided, our next home will be our own.
So then, we can decide what we want exactly, and where we want to be.

Until then, I believe we've chosen the perfect house. For us.