Carol Place

We were meeting with Mitchell, a friend of many years and our realtor. Starting with an announcement of our engagement, we laid out our plan to sell our separate townhouses and to buy a home together. We gave him a copy of our "requirements document." Two months later, the same week we got a contract on Aliceann's townhouse, Mitchell showed us Carol Place.

Five minutes after we walked in the door we knew this was precisely the place we were looking for.

• Enough bedrooms for visitors to feel comfortable accepting our invitation to stay
• Proximity to highways and public transportation, making it easy for visitors to find us and to enjoy the special beauty of DC
• A kitchen with enough counter space for bread baking and enough floor space for guests to hang with the cooks
• A dining room that could accommodate large family gatherings
• A cat-friendly floorplan
• A neighborhood that teemed with young kids

That was Saturday afternoon. By late Sunday, we had paid a second visit and drafted a contract. By Monday afternoon, a counter offer had been made and accepted. The rest? We're going to resist the "is history" option in favor of "when a plan comes together."