We weren’t even planning to go house shopping that day, but our realtor hit us up about price drops, so we sprinted out the door and started touring. After a year of renting a 900 sq ft one-bedroom in downtown Austin for $4,000/month, I was like… alright, it’s time to get some space and “grow up” a little bit. We went in with a simple checklist: around $600–615K (even though we were approved up to $715K), four bedrooms so we can grow into it long-term, and a place that’s updated so we’re not immediately sinking money into fixes. My non-negotiables were high ceilings and natural light because filming in the apartment was a pain at night. Ellie’s big one was a bigger kitchen—ideally with an island. We toured three houses: one near Cedar Park that had great light but smaller rooms and felt a bit older, a Round Rock-area house that basically checked every box (minus the tiny backyard and no appliances), and a “Gazebo House” in South Austin that looked amazing but had a weird upstairs layout, a mostly-rock backyard, and taxes that were a hard no. By the end, we put in our first offer on house #2 right as it dropped to $599K—and then got the text: we’re under contract. Now it’s inspection time… and yes, the house needs a dog.