House Hunting - August 11, 2015

Tuesday - August 11th

So house hunting has not been fun at all.  I really thought I would love house hunting.  I imagined that it would be fun and easy.  We'd go see some houses, then when we found the one that was right for us, we would both know.  We would walk in, and both of us would love it and be so excited and just know right away that this is it.  Then we'd go fill out the paper work to make an offer and get our house.  That's pretty much how it went last time.  House hunting for our first house was very enjoyable.  This time.... not so much.

It all started with a call from my friend, Heather.  She had just heard that a couple in her ward was selling their house.  She wants us to live in her ward, so she called them up and found out, how big, and what they were selling it for.  It was big enough and they were selling it for $150,000.  She called me with the good news.  She told me they just put it on the market the day before, but they told her we should act fast because their realtor thought it would go fast.  I got off the phone with Heather, looked online, and saw that I loved that house!
10465 n. 11750 w. in Penrose
5 bedrooms
3 bathrooms
2,778 sq ft.
Lot size:  0.46 acres
Built in 1980











I wanted it so bad!  I called Roger's mom and told her I found our house, but we had to act fast.  I sent her a link to it, she called and arranged for us to see it the next day.  We walked through the house.  Roger could see a lot he was worried about because it was older.  We learned that it has a septic tank and the heater is different from any kind we've ever used.  The layout of the living room and family room were both a little weird, so decorating was going to be interesting.  Also, the kitchen was nice, but needed to be updated.  We decided that we liked it enough that those things didn't bother us.  So, we filled out the paper work and made an offer that night.  The offer stated that they were to let us know the following evening at 6:00pm.
We were the first ones to make an offer and we offered a little more than they were asking, so we felt our chances were really good.  We spent time that evening learning about how to take care of a septic tank and the heater.  The following day, their realtor called Roger's mom and said that she was unable to meet with them and present the offer that day, so they would let us know the following day.  In that time, their realtor, showed the house to 2 more people and let them make their offers, with the knowledge that we had already made one, so they could offer more.  Then she informed us that they accepted another offer and would allow us to be their back up offer, but they want $155,000.00 instead.  That was pretty crappy.  I felt cheated.  Had we known there was another offer, we could have offered more.  The way it all went down just felt wrong and we felt cheated.  We didn't agree to be their back up offer.  We had to accept that it wasn't our house and walk away.

I was pretty bummed after that.  I looked around for a few more houses.  There were 2 that I thought might be good for us.  I sent them to Roger's mom and she made us some appointments to see them the following week.
I lost the info about this house.  The address is 512 w. 720 s.  I'm pretty sure it was a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom house.



The 2nd house is 695 s. 460 w.
Listed for $149,000
4 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms
built in 1999
1,692 sq ft.        .15 acres







During that week, I noticed a house that was under construction and I decided we should look into that also.
This house was listed for $159,500.  It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house.  Being built right now.  1,790 sq ft.  .20 acres and it has a 2 car attached garage.

That got me thinking about the possibility of having a house built.  I started looking into all of our options and Joyce arranged for us to meet at the new construction house with the builder so we could go over our options and if he had a plan and lot that would fit with our budget. The day before we were going to see the 2 houses and the new construction, Joyce found out that both of the houses were under contract now, so it was pointless to go see them.  So, the only house we saw that week was the new construction.  It was really disappointing. The house had a really large garage and a tiny everything else.  Every room was extra small (probably to accommodate for the extra large garage).  It was not a great design.  We didn't love it.  The builder, didn't bring his floor plans as planned.  He showed us a few pictures on his phone.  But every design he had gave us very little room.  All his plans were for 1100-1200 sq ft homes.  It was very very disappointing.  We realized that, in our price range, we won't be able to build something that we would love, unless someone will give us some land for free.  That was a big fat bummer to find out.

This week, Roger's mom had arranged for us to see 4 houses when she came on Tuesday.  During the week I had sent her a link to one house that I liked.  It was out of our price range, so I had just sent it for fun.  I knew nothing would come of it.  So, I had no idea what houses she had arranged for us to see.  The first house we saw was a manufactured home.  It really wasn't bad, but it wasn't big enough to give Roger and Parker a place to get away when I babysit.
The house was listed for $134,900.  The address is 935 s. 550 w.
4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1762 sq ft.
Built in 1998

The house after that was up on marble hill.  That house was crazy!  The lady had a lot of kids.  The house was a disaster.  It was hard to look at anything because of all the kids running around and the clutter everywhere.  The house needed a lot of work.  As we were leaving, she said that they would paint and fix anything we ask, if we write it in the offer.  They have been trying to sell their house for over a year now.  They'd have better luck, if they show it at a time with out all the kids being home, following her around crying and whining, saying things like, "Who are these people?", "Why do they have to be here?", "Can you tell them to leave?", "I don't like them here."  It was really uncomfortable walking through that house.
The address is 11029 n. Wallace
4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1733 sq. ft.
1/2 acre lot, built in 1985

After the house on marble hill, the house we saw was amazing!  It was the floor plan we love, it was so cute, but it was small.  Everything, but the yard, was tiny.  Tiny kitchen and living room, and all of the bedrooms were small.  Also, there was only one bathroom and 3 bedrooms.  In the basements, there was plumbing to add the second bathroom, it just hadn't been added yet.  There was also an office that could be used for a 4th bedroom.  It's just it was all so small.  We walked out of there feeling like we really loved it, but I was a little hesitant about only one bathroom and how small all of the rooms were.  Roger loved it and wanted to make an offer right then and there.

The address of this house is 242 s. 830 w. and it was listed for $159,900
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, built in 2000, 1974 sq ft., .25 acres

We had one more house to see, so we didn't make an offer yet.
We headed to the last house on our list.  I liked the location of the last house.  I thought the house we were seeing was, Brinley's friend, Onnika's grandpa's house.  When we pulled up I realized that I was wrong.  It was 2 houses away from his and it was the house that I sent to Roger's mom, knowing we couldn't get it.  She said, if we loved it, there was a way she could help us get it.  I was so excited!  Anything I liked about the last house just flew out the window, because I realized that I didn't have to settle for the tiny house.  I could have a house more like what I've been dreaming of.  We walked through it and I loved everything about it.  It even had a large area in the basement that was unfinished and would be perfect for rollerblading in.  Roger didn't love it.  He thought the layout was weird.  He felt like it didn't flow.
The address is 780 n. 350 e.  The house is listed for $169,500
5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2800 sq ft.
.33 acres, built in 1979

After seeing the houses, we came home to discuss what we wanted to do.  We could not agree.  Roger loved the tiny house and I loved the older, but bigger, last house we saw.  Since we couldn't agree, we decided to take time to think about it more.  We talked about it a lot that night and decided maybe the smaller house was better.  We told Roger's mom to come back the next day so we could see it one more time and make an offer.  We prayed about it together, we each said personal prayers about it.  A few times, I thought maybe it was right, but as the morning went on, the more I realized that I don't feel sure about it at all.  Then as time continued to go on, I felt more and more sure that it was not the right house for us.  So, we told Roger's mom not to come.
Now we're back to where we started.  Roger's mom, said she'll look for houses each Wednesday and schedule appointments for Saturday each week.  Hopefully some new houses will come on the market soon.  I'm frustrated and sad that we haven't found anything yet.  I guess I just need to be patient.