As of May 23rd - we became the proud owners of our very own home. We had been looking off and on for about a year. The 2 year lease we had on the house in Boise was quickly approaching and we needed to make a decision as to whether we should extend the lease or take the plunge.
Obviously, we were a little gun-shy considering the mess we got ourselves into with the house in Colorado (luckily we barely escaped by the hair of our, and by "our" - I mean my hubby's 'cause I don't have any whiskers...yet, chinny-chin chin). We chalk that "mess" up to being young and stupid. Now we are not as young, and we would argue still not so smart. But this time around, we were determined not to make the same mistakes that we made during our first-time home buying experience.
Lesson #1: Set a price cap and DO NOT go over it. NO EXCEPTIONS!
Lesson #2: The "Suburbs" are not all that they are cracked up to be, avoid them like the plague. Okay, well maybe not like the plague - but it's not all white picket fences and American dreams. People are people not matter how pretty their front yards are or how much the HOA fees are :)
Lesson #3: The latest and greatest are not always the best and square footage only goes so far.
So rewind. Last summer, we had found a house that we really liked. It was certainly a "fixer-upper", but livable. We had dreams finding a "fixer-upper" and making it our own - so this seemed like just the right thing. It was on a few acres of land, with water rights on the outskirts of town. We were in a contract, and had the inspection done. Everything was going along as planned, until the appraisal came back 15K under what the purchase price was supposed to be. The sellers were not willing to come down on the price, and we were not going to pay more than what the house was worth (nor would the bank allow it even if we wanted to). All of this happened a week before we were supposed to close. So we pulled out of it and got our earnest $ back. You would think we were heart-broken because of it, but honestly we felt relief. We were trying to rush it, and it just wasn't the right time. One more year in Boise, and one more year of commuting for Trace wasn't the end of the world, and we knew we would find something. Which leads to a few more lessons learned along the way:
Lesson #4: Be patient and don't push it - even if it's a totally awesome find.
Lesson #5: So what if it was always a dream to find a house that needed some TLC on some land...when reality hits - finding time and $$$ to fix up said house and property kind of takes the romance out of it all. My dreams can turn into nightmares. Simple is good. I like simple :)
Around Jan. of this year, I contacted our realtor. She happens to be the closest thing we have to family out in these parts as well - we love her and her family. She knew what we were looking for and got to work. We set out to maybe find something in foreclosure or short-sale. We knew it would take about 6 months for paperwork to close on such sales, so we were ready to get started. We looked at several homes. There were a few on the short-list of things we liked. One had good storage, and a great size master bedroom - but it was a split-level home and the garage was small. Totally livable, but the lot was a little small. We kind of wanted a little more space between us and the neighbors. We found another one that had a great open floor plan, and it was a foreclosure - but the yard needed a lot of work (no fence, which is a must with my kids) and I hated the dining area. So we kept looking. It's a great buyer's market, but in a small town there are only so many homes that are available - and we just weren't finding what we were looking for. Truth be told - we weren't sure what we were looking for, we just knew what we didn't want.
I couldn't sleep one night, so I got online and started researching. I found some homes that really looked nice. Most were in a particular neighborhood, which was in the newer part of town. But they were in Suburbia central (and by "suburbia" - I mean cookie-cutter homes). Trying to keep an open mind, we went and looked - but we didn't like a single one. In fact, some we just drove by and didn't even walk through. Then there was this other house that I had found online - but it didn't have an address. I got the MLS number and sent it to my realtor. It had just came on the market and she wasn't too sure about the neighborhood. But she thought it was definitely worth checking out. So we did. And how long did it take for me to say that this house was the "one"? Any guesses?!? It was five steps. Five steps past the front door. It just felt right. It's not the latest and greatest. It's not "snob-burbia". It has charm and quirks (was originally a 2 bedroom 1 bath ranch house with a 2 car garage, but then was added on to make it a 5 bedroom 2 bath 2 story home with a detached garage/shop) and most of all space. It's an older home - which means the rooms are bigger. There are actual closets. There's a designated laundry room and a mud room - and they are not the same room! The lot is bigger, with mature trees and landscaping. It has been recently renovated - which meant it was ready to move-in and enjoy. The big plus was it was under our price cap. So we made an offer and it was accepted - three days after the sellers had listed the house on the market, plus it wasn't a short-sale. We made the offer in Feb. and they were willing to wait and close in May. Closing went perfect and we moved into the house on Memorial day weekend. Of course moving could be a post within itself - let's just say it was tough but we survived.
And now for the tour...
Entry way/front room - don't worry the vinyl lettering is already peeled off :)
Kitchen...
Dining area...
Laundry Room, just off the dining area...
Mud room, just off the Laundry room...
Bathroom #1 - love the tile work
Bedroom #1...
Bedroom #2 - which has become our office. Eventually the pink will be painted over...
Bathroom #2 - love the tile work on this one too...
Bedroom #4 - Entry...
Different view....
Bedroom #5 - Master bedroom - Entry...if you look by the window - the room actually extends a little further back to the left (closets) but it was hard to get a picture that made sense of it all...
Different view...
Now on to the backyard...
Trex-deck = Awesome!
Swing-set...kid's favorite :)
And last but no least, the shop a.k.a. the man cave.
We are now completely unpacked, but are still working on hanging pictures. We're getting there. Maybe I'll post some after pictures. Maybe. :)
Oh how this kid makes me smile.
