Draper.
We will be living in the Suncrest development in Draper. If you don't know, this is one of those places that people either love or hate. It's on a mountain. It really is. Our realtor,
Kevin Nielsen, is the dude running up the stairs. He's been fantastic. This guy will bend over backwards to help you out. He's gone above and beyond what his job description is.
Oooooof what a story. House hunting was not fun. Not like I thought it was going to be.
The market is not for the buyer this year.
Most houses seemed like they were short sales.
If we liked a house, it was usually sold before we could even get a look at it (or it had issues).
If we were lucky enough to get in on a house the first couple of days on the market, there were usually 5-8 showings on the first day, then multiple offers the second day coming in. Meaning, you have to be fast and have to pay more than the asking price.
We looked in to building, but it would take too long (school starts on Aug 21) or the lots were tiny etc.
One day we were out with Kevin and Justin wanted me to see the Suncrest area because he loves it (bike trails, and more bike trails). I'd heard how horrible it was to live there and was adamant to never live there, so Kevin wouldn't even take Justin to those homes while they were looking (I was in MN the first 4-5 months of working with Kevin). We stopped to look at my dream house which still hadn't closed and walked through it. Oh my. I love this house. Talk about perfection. Oh well.
Justin saw a house for sale across the street so we grabbed a paper and walked through. The yard is only .15 acres so it never came up in a search (my minimum was usually .30; sometimes .20 if I was feeling extra stressed with our situation).
The view from the back yard is amazing.
We had our second look at the house the day of the Alpine fire, so this is a little distracting :)
We mulled over putting in an offer for a couple days and finally decided to give it a shot. It had been on the market for several weeks with no offers and is a foreclosure. We low balled them big time.
Of course, some one else put in an offer about the same day as us so we had to up our offer. Boo.
We put in their asking price plus for them to give us %3 concessions to pay our loan costs.
About two days later we found out we were chosen for the house.
I guess I need to tell you why I wasn't excited about our offer being accepted.
Here's the list of cons:
Steep windy roads
HOA $133/month
On a main road
NO back yard to garden
Windy
Dogs and more dogs. Wowzers.
These are the main ones. I did add a few later.
There are several pros:
NICE house. I love the house.
View
By trails
Church across the street to be completed in November
Above the inversion
Good location for Justin's work
I told Kevin we wanted to walk through it again, but we had to meet Justin there. And of course he was late. Kevin and I (plus Ammon and Isaac) went to the Club house and had a tour of their facilities: gym, pool. Then talked with the Home Owners Association office.
Holy CRAP.
I was fine until she told me that if you wanted to paint your door a certain color it had to get approved. Even that one didn't get under my skin too much.
It was when she said if we wanted to plant a tree we had to get the variety and location approved.
Of all our gardening. And anything pertaining to the ENTIRE outside of our house/yard, front and back.
PLUS no bussing! We have to drive the kids to the club house twice a day for buses!
U- uh.
What the crap.
You have to be kidding me.
This is the communism I referred to in another post (coming out the end of July in a "random" post).
Kevin and I were both appalled.
When Justin got there, he was excited and started looking at the view but I cut him short. I could have broken it much nicer but I was in shock.
Basically I said that in no way jose would I live where someone can tell me what to do with my yard. I could understand the front, but the back? And soooo anal about it?
We left in a depression.
We had just a few days to back out before we had to pay our 1% to hold it. Kevin left it live.
In the mean time, we still looked at several houses. Nothing was working. Even tried an offer in West Jordan but neither of us really liked it; our offer was not accepted.
Justin called me one night. He said he'd try his hardest to drive kids to the club house. Alright, that was a given *snark*.
But Kevin, said he'd sell the house for free if we didn't like it in a year.
Say what!? Can you repeat that?
Kevin gave me a "get out of jail free card."
This made me tell Justin that'd I'd give it a go.
But still:
Praying.Praying.Praying.
We never felt like we were given an answer so much. I guess it felt more right than wrong.
No stupors going on here.
Paid our 1% in the mean time.
More praying.
The last day to ditch was last Friday. We didn't ditch.
We can still not go through with it, but we'd lose our 1%.
Right now, we've been losing hair and sleep over a loan. I thought that would be the easy part, but nope.
And Justin is in sales meetings all this week and half of next in Deer Valley, so I'm on my own. Blerg.
Regardless, I am excited to have a nice home. The top floor has four bedrooms and, AND laundry.
AND my own bathroom!
The main level has two family rooms, one we are making in to a game room, kitchen, and office.
When I do dishes, I can look at our amazing view. And in the winter, snow.
Justin in his new office.
Have you ever seen that really old Disney, Summer Magic -one of my faves from my childhood? When Nancy Carey comes down the stairs for the dance and her shoe falls off and Tom Hamilton picks it up for her?
Well, I've always wanted a staircase like that and this house has it :)
And a basement that is unfinished. We plan to put in a tv/family room, bedroom (guest), bathroom and toy area. It also has cold storage !!
The back yard is unfinished so we will need to add to the sprinkler system, sod and a trampoline.
I don't know how much we will be able to afford to do in our time frame, but we have big plans.
The home has passed inspection with flying colors; only minor repairs; it is only six years old.
It does need new carpet. I am insisting upon this. Justin is insisting we get it steam cleaned.
Who's going to win?
Off the top of my head, the closing date is August 18th.
