THE LONG AND SHORT OF HOW WE BOUGHT A HOUSE -
It has always been a dream of Perry and I's to move out of the hubbub of the big city. As Perry's job has always required him to be near the city, we figured it would be something we would do when he retired. We have had places that we loved and that we thought we would look at then.
I have always had a hobby of looking at MLS home listings to see what was for sale. I like to look and dream and see what is out there and what the possibilities are. It is a fun hobby!!
Perry about two years ago asked at work what the company policy was on telecommuting. His boss said they didn't have one and if he wanted to try 2 days a week they would see how it went. The group he works with works out of a couple of different offices across the US and they communicate 95% of everything through emails, conference calls and skype type meetings. So he started at two days a week which soon turned into 3 which soon turned into 5. Nobody even knew. They now have several guys who don't even live in a city with an office. As long as he has an internet connection, he can work from anywhere.
So with that event and the fact that our youngest will graduate from high school in the spring and then leave on a mission, we decided to start thinking about moving sooner. We started considering several areas and I started doing more of my hobby. We figured we would get serious next spring.
Our favorite area was out pricing our budget and headed for a major influx of people so we decided that maybe we would consider Sanpete County as it would be closer to my mom, it is reasonably priced, still fairly close to the Wasatch front and not too far from the grandkids. And best of all RURAL!!!! I started perusing the Sanpete County MLS listings for fun. After all I had a whole year or so before we would be really looking. Who knew? I found some fun houses and enjoyed looking.
In June we decided to go "WANDERING" one weekend for our anniversary (definition of "WANDERING": to travel in the car with no real plan, maybe a destination and maybe not. No reservations, Just drive and see where one ends up, may be for n hour, may be for days.) We did have a destination in mind though. We though we would wander through Sanpete County and see if any one town seemed like a likely place to land some day. I had found several houses that were listed for sale in different places through out the county that we thought we would just drive by and see what they looked like. None of them were "the house" just a random assortment of possibilities.
Now, just as a side note, we had a few ideas of things we really wanted to have in our next home. Big gathering area for family dinners, shop for Perry or place to put one, a little space between us and the neighbors, still enough bedrooms for family when they come home, along with not going into debt for it.
So anyway, we headed off with our list of houses and blankets and pillows in case we had to sleep in the car. The first place we stopped in Sanpete County was a little town called Fountain Green. Population 1100, one gas station, one grill/grocery store, Quaint, quiet, pretty. The house we wanted to drive by was a 1914 Victorian with an addition and a separate shop sitting on a little over one acre.
It was a foreclosure and gov't owned. (FannieMae/Freddie Mac). As we drove by I said to Perry, "It's empty lets go look in the windows." So we did and lo and behold a door was open in the garage!!! So in we went. Shhh don't tell!!!!!! We loved it and could see so much potential. We spent over an hour looking and discussing the possibilities. We left and wandered on to the next town and listing. We looked at quite a few more little towns and several listings. We eventually stopped in Fairview, ate dinner at a local restaurant and booked a hotel room.
Perry said, "I wish we had a tape measure." "Why?" I replied. "So we could go back and and measure rooms." "The grocery store will have one." So we went to the grocery store, bought a tape measure and went back. We spent another hour measuring and sketching a floor plan. We left and spent the evening planning and plotting. Now mind you this was all very hypothetical. We had a house and 9 months before our son graduated. But it was so much fun to imagine!!!
We finished the weekend with more little towns and more house drive-bys. It was a great weekend. We returned home with only two houses that we would even consider IF we were looking for real. One that was overpriced for our budget and the little yellow victorian. Neither of which would still be on the market by the time we were really ready to move!!
A few weeks later, the victorian went off the market as an offer had been put on it. I was kinda bummed. That was our house. I looked at other listings online but nothing had the character or potential that it had. Oh well such is life and it was all just a fun day dream anyway. Or was it?
Watch for the next installment coming soon!
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