Buying A Home
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Update (for those interested).
So we did not get the first condo we put an offer on (see post below titled Frustrating!). That's pretty much worked out how we thought it would.
BUT wait! There's more! We did some more hunting yesterday and found another area we really liked. The place we looked at was a little small and we were really on the fence about it. We were going to go back tonight for a second look with my parents when our realtor called about another unit in that area that came on the market today.
It's a short sale, but is less than the top of our budget. So we put an offer in. It's in really good shape and just needs a bath. I need some good house vibes while we wait! 
Re: Update (for those interested).
Do not buy at the top of your budget (unless it is not more than 25-28% of your take home pay for mortgage+PMI+insurance+taxes+utilities+HOA) or you will find yourself house poor!
Make sure you have a good emergency fund still in place after closing!
Make a list of NEEDS and WANTS - do not compromise on the needs. Be ready to prioritize the wants (you most likely will not get them all).
Good luck. Take your time and you will find something that works.
Thanks for the advice. The top of our price range is within 25-28% of our take home (which is the only reason we would ever consider buying at the top of our price range). Our lender was super conservative with our numbers, which I really appreciated.