Home at last?

Last year, there was a new housing development that The Man and I checked out. It's actually an area that has houses on one side, condominiums on the other side. It's in one of the nicer areas of the city and a still developing community. We couldn't afford the condo last year - what a wake up call that we needed to save! This year, we're actually looking at the houses to see if we can afford one.
It's not our dream home. But I don't mind. Actually, I've had my eye on the condo we couldn't afford last year. I'm okay with not having a yard because I am not blessed with the green thumb like my my father. But The Man, my parents and our realtor are leaning more towards houses. I'm all about what's more affordable, though. *Side note: I should mention that when we were looking at homes out of our price range, it wasn't just our realtor, it was also The Man looking beyond our means! I like our realtor and I know that both of them thought there was no harm. But as someone who can easily get emotionally attached to inanimate objects, I had to put my foot down ;)*
We've been looking at so many houses, townhouses and condominimiums. Sweet jeezus, I'm tired. There are many beautiful homes. We even saw one that was on 2 acres and practically in the woods! And supposedly in our price range. But it was a short sale and the owners received bids more than what they were asking.
Everyone says it's a buyers' market. The thing is, even in the Bay Area, you need to have a certain amount of money to even look at short sale homes. Unless you're willing to look at fixer uppers. Fixer uppers aren't bad, they can actually be pretty great. But although we (OK, HE) have the skill, we just don't have the energy. And it's still a bidding war. Sure, the homes are a lot more reasonable than they were five years ago but it's still pretty high for (kind of) first time buyers.
Back to the house we have our eye on. As I mentioned, it's not our dream home. But it's new and in an area we like in Hayward. It's close by the hospital, very close to a well-to-do neighborhood (so safe and clean), near the San Mateo bridge and close enough to the major freeway. Surprisingly, it was The Man who convinced me we should look in Hayward. I wanted to look in cities like Fremont or Castro Valley. He pointed out, though, that we should be close to my parents so that if they need anything, we're nearby. Also, when we eventually have kids, my parents can be close by to help us. These were all very good points. Plus our money went a bit farther in Hayward than in my preferred cities. We just didn't like what we saw even though they are better cities. I still know, however, that Hayward does not have a good school district and we agreed to either move when we have school-aged children or look into private schools.)
We'll see. We still need to have another meeting to discuss contracts and The Man and I need to know exactly how much we will spending a month to make sure we can afford it. I think I feel comfortable writing about it because I've learned not to fall in love with houses. If we get it (and we've been approved, we just need to make sure we can afford it!) I'll be happy. It's a fantastic starter home and very nice for my little family. If we don't, well, I am a little over-dosed on looking at homes but I guess we would just keep on keepin' on!