House Hunters

We went house hunting again this Friday. I was nervous. As always. The house part of this move has been really hard. There just isn't anything "perfect" within our price range. And then Dave and I have different priorities. We go back and forth on living in a neighborhood or not. The area is so saturated with LDS members that there are 6 wards within 15 minutes of where Dave will be working. That means six wards we could be living within. Looking into schools, commute times, church, neighborhoods etc...it is just a lot of work. And there never has been "that house" that fits all the criteria, so we have struggled to choose what to compromise. As per this house hunting expedition Dave has compromised a little on the price tag and I have compromised a little on land. We looked at something like 15 homes. 12 hours of house hunting. They should make a reality TV episode just about our epic search and call it something like, "Finding Life after the Army." But, I am happy to report...we were victorious. It might be too early to celebrate. Most would probably wait until the docs were signed. But for Dave and I to find three houses that we both like a lot...that... friends and family is no small miracle. So here they are in the order that we prefer them.

This is our number one choice. click here for the details.

This is our second choice. Click here for more details.

This is our third choice. Click here for more details.

Every house is in a different ward. Mostly different schools too. But each of them has something we really love about it.

The first house is on a cleared acre. Ready for us to put in a garden, orchard, beautiful deck. Whatever we want, it is a clean slate. The property backs up to a greenbelt with a seasonal stream that runs through. The house is a shocker. The garage alone is almost as big as my house. But what really sells it is the possibility for entertaining. We always have wanted a house that lends itself to having company. The kitchen is huge, with a gathering room right off the kitchen with beautiful french doors going out to the patio. But best of all there is a bonus room perfect for toys now and big kid games like pool, air hockey and fus ball later. And then off of that room is a theater room. No windows, split-leveled seating, and a TV for a wall. Super awesome.

The second house is a bit over the "Dave" budget. But it is a gem. No costs were spared. The carpeting alone is like walking on a cloud. The master bathroom has a tub sunk into the floor. Then downstairs is a perfect family room with a wet bar, a scrapbook room, a sauna, three beautiful bedrooms with their own sliding doors to the backyard and two huge closets (more like rooms)for storage. The house is right in town. We would have very nice views out of our wall of windows. But the kitchen is bad and NO PANTRY. It is also in the "older" ward. But five minutes to work, school, shopping and play!

The third house has beautiful curb appeal. It is in a very nice neighborhood. All the homes are on an acre so there is lots of space and privacy. It is in the ward Dave and I liked the most too. We love the lot for this property. Nothing really special about the house. Just good and solid and it meets all of our needs. But the land is awesome. We would have our own seasonal pond. It was beautiful. We would have to clean up some of the wildness of the lot to get views of the pond from the house. But it was so pretty.

Anyway...lots of choices! You can place a vote on the sidebar. Let's see which house has the most "friend and family" appeal!