I have hesitated to put this on the blog yet as if feels like it's not totally real yet. Our dream when we first decided to move to Colorado was to move up into the mountains. Due to still owning a home in Kansas and not knowing the area, we decided to rent and figured we would continue to rent for quite some time though we never intended on staying in this duplex longer than a year.
A year came and went and then our renters in Kansas vacated, leaving us with double house payments. Those four months were some of the toughest financially we have ever dealt with and also some of the most blessed. God provided through friends and family beyond what we could have anticipated and then when our house finally sold in March, our finances took a 180 and suddenly it didn't seem impossible to actually consider buying a house.
Without the home in Gardner we were pre qualified for more than we expected and with the help of our landlord (who is very nit picky about his duplex) we decided it was time to seriously look. But still we convinced ourselves that the mountains were out of the question for now. Maybe if we could afford another 100k it might be worth looking. At least that's what we thought. So we found a realtor - a great one - and started looking down on the front range, as far west as we could. It was very frustrating. Houses here in the metro are in such demand, especially on the west side, that they would be under contract in just days after being listed. Even though we could look at the MLS every day, it seemed the "good" ones went so fast, for much more than asking, and usually involved a bidding war which we were NOT interested in. Plus, in our price range, the amount of house we could buy and the neighborhoods we could afford were much more like "starter" homes. In fact, our Gardner home was nice than about 75% of the houses we saw. After talking things though with our realtor, she convinced us to just "take a look" at what was up in the mountains since that's where we really wanted to go anyway.
I figured Bailey was just too far. I had put it out of my mind until one day after I had a cry fest over a house that had five bids on it for over asking that I had really fallen in love with down in the metro. Upset, John said, lets go for a drive. So we drove to Bailey. And surprisingly, it didn't feel as far as I thought it would. we drove by some of the houses on the list and then we found it. The house. You know the one they say you will just know when you walk in. Well, it was locked but the property was gorgeous and to us, huge. It was vacant and the back door happened to be unlocked. Or broken. Who cares, either way, it was too tempting to not go in. We walked through the house not knowing the specific specs of it but if felt nice and roomy. I was sold. John was very guarded and tried not to get too excited about it. When we got home we called the realtor and set up a date to go up and see it.
When we finally went up with Danna, our realtor, it was snowing. A lot in the mountains. Yeah - it was the day after mother's day and Conifer got 14 inches of snow! But we wanted to see what it would be like in the snow and what the commute would be like. Ironically, though Bailey is farther than Conifer, they typically get less snow and even slightly warmer temperatures because of how the mountains are formed. It wasn't bad at all. We put an offer in that night. By Wed of that week we had received and accepted a counter offer! And not only that, but it was significantly less than the original asking price from when the house first went on the market in January. The paperwork was signed and the date was set for closing on June 13th!
But the story doesn't end there. Our lending is all approved which is awesome but the inspection came back not so good. There are quite a few things wrong with the house that we did not know about. And they are big items. The sellers do not have a lot of cash to deal with. After we found out that we would need a new roof, a new furnace, some work done to the plumbing, a new septic tank, a reverse osmosis drinking filter for the well water, and some work done to the old Federal Pacific electrical panel we were quite discouraged. We submitted a request to to the sellers called an inspection objection to have all of these items fixed prior to closing. That is a huge thing to expect the sellers to pay for. But we felt at peace knowing that if this is the house, it will work out and the things will be fixed. If not, God must have other plans for us and we will walk. Either way, we know that the mountains are do-able and while we love this house, we do not want to end up with a money pit.
The sellers were actually relocated for the husbands job and they have a relocation company that is helping them sell the house. They are very eager to sell it and move on. As a result, the relocation company is going to buy them out and then fix the issues so they can sell to us. They have agreed to fix all of the items listed and are in the process of getting bids for everything! What? That's crazy. And there will be a final inspection before closing to make sure everything works and was done properly - a condition our lenders are requiring. So all of the major big items will be new! Now we wait. We are apparently still on track to close June 13th though I have my doubts. We've been assured the work can get done in time but we are only two weeks out now! Time will tell.
In the meantime, we are packing up our duplex and making all kinds of plans for future projects. It's quite exciting. And to make things even sweeter, we unexpectedly received an early inheritance check from John's Uncle K! His timing couldn't have been more perfect. We are so very grateful! If you want to check out the link, here is the listing. Of course it needs new paint inside and out so the pictures are not awesome. It's kind of one of those have to see it person things. And we'll have plenty of room for company... I'll keep you posted on what happens.
The House Listing - Oops! I didn't realize the address and stuff was on the link so I have removed it. I don't really want that advertised to the world. If you would like to see the MLS, please email me or FB message me and I'm happy to send you the link personally. I just don't want the address floating out there for the world to see. : )
A year came and went and then our renters in Kansas vacated, leaving us with double house payments. Those four months were some of the toughest financially we have ever dealt with and also some of the most blessed. God provided through friends and family beyond what we could have anticipated and then when our house finally sold in March, our finances took a 180 and suddenly it didn't seem impossible to actually consider buying a house.
Without the home in Gardner we were pre qualified for more than we expected and with the help of our landlord (who is very nit picky about his duplex) we decided it was time to seriously look. But still we convinced ourselves that the mountains were out of the question for now. Maybe if we could afford another 100k it might be worth looking. At least that's what we thought. So we found a realtor - a great one - and started looking down on the front range, as far west as we could. It was very frustrating. Houses here in the metro are in such demand, especially on the west side, that they would be under contract in just days after being listed. Even though we could look at the MLS every day, it seemed the "good" ones went so fast, for much more than asking, and usually involved a bidding war which we were NOT interested in. Plus, in our price range, the amount of house we could buy and the neighborhoods we could afford were much more like "starter" homes. In fact, our Gardner home was nice than about 75% of the houses we saw. After talking things though with our realtor, she convinced us to just "take a look" at what was up in the mountains since that's where we really wanted to go anyway.
I figured Bailey was just too far. I had put it out of my mind until one day after I had a cry fest over a house that had five bids on it for over asking that I had really fallen in love with down in the metro. Upset, John said, lets go for a drive. So we drove to Bailey. And surprisingly, it didn't feel as far as I thought it would. we drove by some of the houses on the list and then we found it. The house. You know the one they say you will just know when you walk in. Well, it was locked but the property was gorgeous and to us, huge. It was vacant and the back door happened to be unlocked. Or broken. Who cares, either way, it was too tempting to not go in. We walked through the house not knowing the specific specs of it but if felt nice and roomy. I was sold. John was very guarded and tried not to get too excited about it. When we got home we called the realtor and set up a date to go up and see it.
When we finally went up with Danna, our realtor, it was snowing. A lot in the mountains. Yeah - it was the day after mother's day and Conifer got 14 inches of snow! But we wanted to see what it would be like in the snow and what the commute would be like. Ironically, though Bailey is farther than Conifer, they typically get less snow and even slightly warmer temperatures because of how the mountains are formed. It wasn't bad at all. We put an offer in that night. By Wed of that week we had received and accepted a counter offer! And not only that, but it was significantly less than the original asking price from when the house first went on the market in January. The paperwork was signed and the date was set for closing on June 13th!
But the story doesn't end there. Our lending is all approved which is awesome but the inspection came back not so good. There are quite a few things wrong with the house that we did not know about. And they are big items. The sellers do not have a lot of cash to deal with. After we found out that we would need a new roof, a new furnace, some work done to the plumbing, a new septic tank, a reverse osmosis drinking filter for the well water, and some work done to the old Federal Pacific electrical panel we were quite discouraged. We submitted a request to to the sellers called an inspection objection to have all of these items fixed prior to closing. That is a huge thing to expect the sellers to pay for. But we felt at peace knowing that if this is the house, it will work out and the things will be fixed. If not, God must have other plans for us and we will walk. Either way, we know that the mountains are do-able and while we love this house, we do not want to end up with a money pit.
The sellers were actually relocated for the husbands job and they have a relocation company that is helping them sell the house. They are very eager to sell it and move on. As a result, the relocation company is going to buy them out and then fix the issues so they can sell to us. They have agreed to fix all of the items listed and are in the process of getting bids for everything! What? That's crazy. And there will be a final inspection before closing to make sure everything works and was done properly - a condition our lenders are requiring. So all of the major big items will be new! Now we wait. We are apparently still on track to close June 13th though I have my doubts. We've been assured the work can get done in time but we are only two weeks out now! Time will tell.
In the meantime, we are packing up our duplex and making all kinds of plans for future projects. It's quite exciting. And to make things even sweeter, we unexpectedly received an early inheritance check from John's Uncle K! His timing couldn't have been more perfect. We are so very grateful! If you want to check out the link, here is the listing. Of course it needs new paint inside and out so the pictures are not awesome. It's kind of one of those have to see it person things. And we'll have plenty of room for company... I'll keep you posted on what happens.
The House Listing - Oops! I didn't realize the address and stuff was on the link so I have removed it. I don't really want that advertised to the world. If you would like to see the MLS, please email me or FB message me and I'm happy to send you the link personally. I just don't want the address floating out there for the world to see. : )
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