Thank you again for your post. The VA appraisal came back with $305k for the home with both parcels. The sellers owe $320k and can’t lower their price much further.

To be honest my fiance and I both feel relieved escrow didn’t go through. The day before escrow fell through I drove by the house and began regretting our decision; the rosy feeling was just not there and I felt we had over paid.

I am pretty realistic about the type of home we can find in our price range, but the home in Alpine was more if a 1 br as the other br was the size of a small office. The room bugged me, and I know it would have bugged me more having to look at it everyday and squeezing a twin in for a guest room.

It worked out for the best in the end. The house hunt continues. Thank you again for your wisdom.