House Hunters!

I wish we could be on Property Brothers or Property Virgins! Well I wish we could if they really worked the way they show on TV. I know those shows are staged but they make the home buying process seem so much easier! We've found a real estate agent who is also a buyer's agent. Which from my understanding means that she sells houses but she has a specialty in working with buyers. We're looking forward to actually seeing some of these houses we've only seen online. And hopefully she'll be able to find something for us that is in our budget that doesn't require more than minor cosmetic fixes! She definitely has her work cut out for her! We are looking for 2bed/2bath either condo or townhouse for no more than $150K... We want to be closer to a Metro Station than we are right now, be in a good area,with a decent school district - we don't plan on being in this place by the time a kid is ready for school but its better for resale value. We also need parking for two cars.  We looked at these apartments a few years ago where they had ample parking for the residents - at $75 per spot, $100 if you wanted a spot in the covered garage. One would think when they built the place and that huge lot and garage they intended to simply allow residents to park there, especially since they were offering 1 bedroom 600 sq ft boxes starting at the bargain price of $1,500/ month plus utilities and parking. There was no way we were willing to pay that much. So we re-upped our lease and it ends after the 1st of the year. Hopefully we find something that suits us by then. I'm thinking that with our budget we'll probably end up with a foreclosure or a short sale. So it may take a little while to close once we find a place. One of the biggest things we've noticed lately is that there are a lot of homes in the area we want that are eligible for a Home Path Loan. From what I've read about them, it basically attaches a loan for the renovations to the loan for the home. But most of the things I've read mentioned needing to use their preferred contractors and some people online have said it also forces you to get a certain amount of work done whether it needs it or not. So I need to do more research on that. Anyways, wish us luck as we attempt to buy our first place together.