Our House Buying Adventure
Well, we had a very interesting week last week and early this week. My grandparents came out to see us from Colorado and in the midst of visiting we showed the house many times.
On Sunday morning, we received two offers. The realtor asked both parties to send us their best offer since we had two offers. We had decided to accept one if the other wasn’t better so we called my father-in-law, who is a realtor in Colorado, to see if we ran out to Colorado on Sunday, if we could see a house Sunday night that I had had my eye on that seemed "perfect". We had to see the house that night because early Monday morning my father-in-law was going in for hip replacement surgery and he wouldn’t be able to show us any other houses.
He said sure but he would need to call the realtor to see if we could get in to the house that night.
My grandparents were leaving Sunday morning to come back to Colorado so even though we didn’t have a confirmed contract and didn’t know if we could see the house we quickly started throwing things in their car and packing our car full of my plants and odds and ends that were fragile or hard to move.
We got the car packed and and headed out at 11 a.m. with one son going with us for the 8 1/2 hour drive to Colorado. Just as we were leaving town, my father-in-law called and said we could see the house but it had 3 contracts on it already that hadn’t been accepted yet. So we thought we could offer a little be more than asking price if we really liked it and still have a shot at it.
We heard back from our realtor and he told us we got a full price offer on our house with us paying $2,000 of the buyer’s closing costs so we accepted it. We even get to move the day after school ends!!
We drove all day and went straight to the house to look at it only to be horribly disappointed. It was in a great neighborhood but it was a mess and would need at least $30,000 worth of work that we just couldn’t afford. It was also not very functional for a family.
We were very discouraged and tired but trying to have faith. We had asked God if we were supposed to move to give us a full priced offer and He took care of that for us!
Monday we decided to get pre-approved for our loan and and to drive around looking at more houses, even if we couldn’t get in to see them. We went to the bank and discovered that we didn’t bring the right paperwork. Then we went driving around looking at houses that seemed to be possibilities and stopped at the hospital to see Mike’s dad.
We were very discouraged. We want a larger lot in the one quarter acre range (.25 acre) so that I can still have a garden but most of the lots around here are in the .10-.17 acre range and the houses we were looking at didn’t have enough bedrooms.
We started at 9:00 a.m and by 5:00 we were tired, discouraged and just plain didn’t know what we were going to do. The houses we saw were in bad neighborhoods or needed a lot of work or there was something else major that was wrong. We decided to stop by one last place and discovered a brand new housing area. We found that we could get a brand new site built house on .25 acre lot in a very quiet little town with the schools just 2 blocks away (and all for $20,000 less than we were looking at)!!!
So today we are going to check it out again and hopefully in the next day or two we will have decided on a house.
Thankfully, mom is babysitting 3 of the 4 kids so pray they don’t kill her!!
-Tawra
Hey Tawra….I live in Colorado and know house hunting here can indeed be an adventure! But it’s well worth it! We also live in a small town (after looking in the larger areas) and found it to be much better! Best of luck to you!
Welcome to Colorado.. You are finding out that property in colorado can be very trying at times.. But there are some good deals out there also.. Good Luck in your hunt…We live on the Western Slpoe in Grand Junction… Come see us sometime you won’t be disappointed I promise..
Cheryl I love Grand Junction. My grandmother use to live there. Actually now that I think about it there are to many towns in Colorado we don’t have friends or family living in or have lived in. Hummmm. Now that I think about it why haven’t we moved back sooner. HA!HA!
Tawra –
I pray that this is exactly where God was leading your family. Keep the faith and let us know how the latest house shopping goes. <3
Oh, I pray the rest will work out on the new house. So glad you’ve sold your Kansas house and for full price.
congrats on selling the house and prayers so you find what ur looking for ..
i am so happy for u and the family tawra .. :D ..
It will all work out!
Welcome to Colorado. It is a great place to live!
nancy in Fort Collins
It’s amazing how things fall into place when they are meant to be. Timing is everything in life and this seems to be the time for you to move to Colorado!
But what will you do without living close to the wonderful grandma who is willing to spontaneously babysit 3 out of 4 kids!?!
Don’t worry Debbie I will putting my house on the market too as soon as Tawra is moved. There is no way I can stay away from my grand babies. :) :) Tawra is even trying to find a place where I will be able to buy close to them. I will have 2 grandkids left in Wichita but they are older and can drive out to stay the summer with me or visit when they want.
We live in Colorado SE of Denver and love it here. Make sure you avoid buying a property electric heat because it’s pricey in the winter. Go with gas or hydronic. Houses with electric heat sometimes have a better price tag, but it gets you in the long run. You will find a great home.
~Diana
Elizabeth, CO
That must have been a tiring day! But at the end hopeful!
I hope that this must be the place for you all. And… is your mother living yogether with you at the moment and will she move as well? As I understand from her comment here above I think she will…
She is a real treasure I suppose!
GOOD LUCK again!
Love, Trees
Oops that reply above was not there when I read your story and commented ;-).
So you are leaving your brother and his family in Wichita…Well that is life!
Big hug, Trees
That is awesome news! Jill, have you guys ever talked about a mother-in-law cottage on the property? Lots of people around here have those. I have been thinking about it myself for my mom.
Rachel we have joked about a mother in law’s house and have even considered getting a large enough lot to build something on it for me. As much as we get along and I want to be close I just don’t want to be toooooo close so we will still keep getting along if you know what I mean. :) :)
awesome…..so glad for u….keep looking….
I have always found when it goes so much in our favor…it is God working for us and fav oring us…will pray for that!!
Best wishes on your house hunting, we will be doing it soon. I think the Grand Junction area would be a great option.
Tawra
That is wonderful news! God has a way of working everything out. So does this mean you will have a house built on a lot? or I am so tired from my training sessions with Bella(service dog) that I misunderstood. Forgive me if I didn’t understand. I hope everything will work out.
God bless you all and tell Jill hi
Susan
Susan at this point it looks like they will have a house built on a lot. It will cost less to do that then to buy a used house.
I hope God blesses you with all the desires of your heart Tawra.
I am soooo happy for you! I hope we have good luck selling ours in Virginia Beach, too! We said that we will pay up to $5000 cc with a full price offer.
Do they know how long it will take for a house to be built? Just curious…I think I read they have to be out of their current house by the time school’s out. Can a new house be built that quickly?
This is so exciting for you all!!! Good luck! :)
They said 2 months Angie of course we know to plan on some gliches and it may take a little longer but not enough to be a problem.
Wow! Two months is great! I just didn’t know how long it takes when there is a dedicated crew working on a house.
My dad and his brothers are carpenters. They have built houses for themselves and helped family members and it seems it always takes about a year. Of course, that’s with everyone working a job and then working on the house evenings and weekends.
Much quicker when building the house IS the job! :) I am super excited for Tawra and Mike. How nice to be able to have a brand spanking new house! They will probably get to pick out a lot of options.
I wish you good luck with selling and finding a house in Colorado too Jill! Are you anxious to be there? :)
Thanks Angie. I just talked to them and brother who knows about this stuff said the company that is doing it does unbelievable good work. With careful note to little details and doing extra things which many contractors don’t bother with so it sounds like it will be really nice. Tawra and I are going to go back there in a couple of weeks and pick out the tile, colors etc. which will be fun.
Tawra & Family,
Prayers certainly do help & we were praying for you. Congratulations on selling your home Hope Jill is as fortunate. It is a trying time to find a suitable home for all ones needs. Location, Location is very important. In our younger day, we use to Buy, Refurbish, then Sell homes at a decent profit. Although, at one time in a slow market, we had four (4) houses rented out due to not being able to sell, but were fortunate to be able to sell all before retiring from Califonia to Utah. It
does take a lot of hard work and frugality. We have enjoyed your Newsletter immensely through the years. Thanks for all the great advise and reminders. Much good Luck on Building your new home within the allotted time frame. We will include you in our prayers to accomplish this fete.
Jill
I think that is wonderful! I know you and Tawra will have lots of fun picking out the colors for the new house! Is Tawra going with a whole different color scheme in the new house? You all have been a blessing and I wish all of you the best of luck! keep us updated!
I visited Denver in February! It and its people were lovely. Thank you for the picture. Now, where is the new house photo and plan?
Congrats on the new place & getting your house sold. It all falls into place!!
We moved to Arvada in June 2010; there is a Habitat resale shop very close to us & its now our favorite place to shop. My husband says its better than big lots!
Have a safe move!
We relocated to Colorado from Kansas last spring. We absolutely love it here. We spent this past year in a rental in Colorado Springs, and were fortunate to find a wonderful place in Fremont County to purchase two months ago. Good luck and God bless!
Do yourself a favor when building. If you can do without a 2nd floor and use all the space downstairs, you will be better off with your Fibromyalgia. If you have to have an upstairs, it is easier to take the clothes down (or throw down the stairs) rather than trying to lug clothes up stairs. As you get older, it would be better for the laundry room to be downstairs. I have a two story and if I ever do get another house, it will definitely be one story.
Denise, thankfully everything I need is on the first floor. The laundry, master bedroom, baby’s room, office, kitchen and living room. Downstairs will be the 3 older kids room and a family type room. That’s one reason we got this house. I just can’t do stairs. My last house had stairs and it about killed me. It was a bi-level and just horrid to live with!
Tawra, This is the first time I have seen the picture of your new house. I know by now you are in and enjoying it. I did see your coatrack that you built and didn’t realize it was for your new house in CO.
Hope things have worked out well for you there. There is nothing better than being around family. I have one sister in VA but my other one is in AZ and my brother in NC. Sad to say, we don’t get together much. I just don’t drive long distances any more and with all of us still working (all 4 of us are over 60 now) it makes for a very tiring trip. I hope to get a family reunion together next year when my sister is back in town from AZ.
But I digress. Just wanted to say how beautiful your new house is and to wish you well.