Finding an acceptable house

I bought our house last September. I
t took awhile to find an acceptable house. You think that if you are looking for a house under 400,000 that there would be a lot available, but in certain areas in the country this means that you can only find a moderate house.
We started searching so that the commute was not too far from work but soon found that it was impossible to have all the things we needed like a good school district and a yard unless we moved further away. But even further way the houses that were good got picked up quickly and so you really needed to be right on top of it and make sure you actively went for it. You have to watch the listings every single day and be ready to look and make an offer quickly.
Therefore, it really depends upon the area that there is any sort of housing shortage.