Looking at houses
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive November 2005:
Looking at houses
Dh and I went looking at houses this past weekend. Here's one we looked at. What we're in now is okay, but we're on 1/10 of an acre and we'd really love at least a 1/2 acre and we have NO storage room at all. I have to walk behind my Durango before I close the garage door because there's so much stuff in our garage and the kids have to get out before I pull in if dh's car is already in the garage! lol This house has a 3 car garage (enough room for all the kids bikes, skateboards, scooters, etc) and an unfinished basement (for all the stuff that's in the garage now) plus HUGE closets in 3 of the 4 bedrooms. We're already deciding on what we'd like added to the plans (like a bigger patio--the one that comes with it is only 10x10), a door on the master bath (for when I'm up early and dh doesn't need to get up) and stuff like that. What are some things your house has that you couldn't live without??? What do you wish your house has? Since we'd be having this house built we'd like to have everything we want put in from the get go. We're looking at moving next May/June. The builder says they can only do contracts for 6 months out, max. We're going to see if they'll do one for May. There are only 5 lots left that we'd consider, so we really feel we have to move on this. There are lots of builders out here, but this was really the only one we'd want or was within our price range. The rest were either outrageous or didn't have any lots over 1/4 acre. So what do you think? We do still have to put our house on the market, but we should qualify for a loan even with our mortgage. Oh, we'd only be moving about a mile from where we are now, so Randy wouldn't even change schools and it wouldn't effect any of my daycare kiddos. TIA 
Very nice! Whose bedrooms will be above the garage? That's definitely an issue to consider. Our bedroom is above our garage, and although it's not usually an issue for DH and I, it would be if the DK's bedrooms were there. It's fairly loud when the garage doors open or close. The few times DH has come home when I was sleeping, I was rudely awoken by the garage door opening. LOL! Also, will the garage be heated? Although our garage is insulated it's not heated. We have to keep all garage doors closed, especially during winter months, or our bedroom gets very cold. You will love a 3 car garage!
Thanx, Trina! The kids rooms would be over the garage. Robin's would be over the one dh would use (third car section). We have talked about moving them to the basement if they want when we finish it, but that would probably be a year or two down the road. They are both sound sleepers, though. The garage would like yours be insulated, but not heated. We don't leave it open much (it's against the HOA). I will keep that in mind. They have one other model, the Camden, that the master bedroom and sitting room are above the garage, but they don't have one here we can look at. We'd have to drive about 45 minutes to see the model of it. We're looking at calling a lender in the next few weeks and probably doing a contract in December. They will hold a lot for $250 (refundable) but only for a week. Doesn't help us much! lol Oh well. I'll let you know.
Cat, did I miss something? Last I knew, you were thinking of moving somewhere else because your dh was retiring?
Our dks are both over the garage. For some reason my youngest ds's room is really cold, not sure if it is because he is on the end or what. His floor gets REALLY cold in winter, which is an issue because he likes to play on the floor. Looks like a great floor plan. We have a 3 car garage and love it. Dh says he will never buy another house without one. We didn't have a door between the master bath and bedroom when we lived in Calf. I hated it and would definitely have them put one in if they can.
We're definately staying here, Debbie. We decided we really like it here, and there are jobs here for dh. He's been working for one company since June (when he went on terminal leave--officially retired 1 Sept), but there should be another job opening up with someone else in December that he's looking at. They created the job for him, so he should get it! lol It will be doing exactly what he did when he was in the military, just making more. I really like the floorplan, too. Looking at lots of houses, there were some neat features some had. Like one builder has lots of closets because they don't like wasted space in the walls. That same company has the foresight to put linen closets in all the bathrooms and the laundry room. I thought that was a great idea! The main floor of the house we want has just the one closet in the living room, but the closets upstairs make up for it. The master bedroom is HUGE, and with a fire place to boot! lol And the closet off the master bath--WOW! I told the kids that could be their bedroom! lol We'll make the 2nd bedroom upstairs (the big one in the front) into a theater room. We have a huge entertainment center that will go up there. Dh wants to put our pool table that's been broken down and stored in the garage for the past 4 years in the unfinished basement, along with our extra fridge and chest freezer. We'd like to pour a concrete pad in the back yard for a basketball court for the kids. Dh and I were talking and with going from our tiny yard to that one, we think our dog would freak! lol With all that room to run, he'd be SO happy. So I guess if that house is the one we're supposed to buy, it will still be there when we're ready and it'll happen.
One thing my house doesn't have that I wish it did. CABLE EVERYWHERE! I hate that anytime I think, oh lets move this piece of furniture (or the computer) we have to do it around outlets. I would put cable outlets in every bedroom, two or three in each family/tv room and one in the master bath. Really if we ever build I will have a built in tv for my bath
One cool feature of my house is we have a huge built in dresser in our closet (21 large drawers) it is really nice, I have them labeled so we have places for all that "stuff" that we don't use much but keep.
Kaye, I would LOVE a closet like that!
Cat, the house is beautiful!!
We have 2 bedrooms above the garage, and 3 of the kids are in them. The rooms are definitely cooler, but the one with a waterbed always stays much warmer. The noise has never been an issue for any of them, and the door is often left open until I got to bed.
Good luck!!
I just wanted to add something Trina mentioned. Our old house had a heated/cooled garage and it was WONDERFUL! Our current house doesn't and there are times we * really* miss that. If you can do it, I highly recommend it.
Cool house Cat ! It is HUGE !!Our house has 1700 square feet ,the one you may buy has over 3000 !
You guy`s will love it I am sure.
How exciting !!!! Keep us posted,
I think the house is awesome.I hope you get it.
I have to add that you will be so glad that you are not buying an "old charming farm house".
Lol ! I have to go , I am off to remove the paint from my stairwell..
Kaye, cable and phone outlets are standard in every room (probably not the bathrooms, though! lol). I'd love that closet, too! The big one in the master suite is nice, though, and I have plans for it.
Deanna, did you use the garage for something other than cars? I can see heating and cooling it if you did, but if we're just parking cars in there and using it for storage, I don't know why we'd do that. That would be cool, though! Hey, dh could hang out in it! Hm, I'll have to consider that. *eg*
Thanx, Marcia. Now if we can just get it! lol
Oh, Sue! You're house has such character! lol Really, I mean that in a good way. I love your dining room! I'm sure once you're done with the renovations you'll be so happy with it. You love your kitchen, don't you? This house we're looking at is huge, isn't it? Even with the unfinished basement it's bigger than the one we have now by about 400 square feet. It will be SO nice to have the extra room, even if it's just to escape for a while. I had a friend in Montana that used to tell her kids she was going out for a while and then she'd sneak down to the basement and do crafts while Dad took care of them. While I don't agree with lying to your kids, they were little and wouldn't have understood Mommy just needed some "alone" time and that was just her way of doing it. Btw, how's the new kitty?
Dh really thinks we should wait until January to pursue this. I'm really going to try and convince him we need to do it by at least the first of December. His birthday's next week. I plan on asking him if I can buy him a house for his birthday--just to see his reaction.
So you have 3 floors now in your current home? Do you get use to having 3 floors to clean and do you lose things? I know, only I would worry about that. ROFL
Looks like a *very* nice house!! Good luck with your looking and deciding. Thats always fun.
We had a similar house with the garage under 2 bedrooms and it was heated/cooled and made a HUGE difference in the bedrooms above it.
There was only one or two vents in the garage and it was never as warm/cool as the house, but it did enough to help the rooms above it. A friend of ours had a house almost like ours and it wasn't heated/cooled and you could really tell. In the winter, those bedrooms were sooo cold and warm in the summer. If you are doing the construction on the house, it really shouldn't cost that much to add a vent or two in the garage and I bet it would more than pay for itself in the difference it make sin the rooms above it. It was also a bonus to pull into the garage with your car covered in snow and have it all melted off by the warmth. LOL
To answer your question, yes we housed our dog cages (which at that time they stayed in during the day), and also our treadmill. Now our cages and treadmill are in the house. It's okay, but I prefer they aren't. Our current garage is not as big as our old one, so it's basically just big enough for cars and a some storage.
If you don't think you would need it, don't do it. But I would never even consider it if I hadn't already had it that way and it's soooo nice! Especially as we've added workout equipment, it would be nice to have it all in the garage. Just a personal choice!
Can I just say WOW!!!! In CA $240K would get you just the garage...LOL!
I think that house is beautiful and all that room would be so great. We have a 1/2 acre and love it! DS loves to go exploring down in the canyon and the dog has so much room to play.
Gope it works out for you.
Conni, we have two floors now. A ranch with a finished basement. That house will have an unfinished basement. Hopefully that won't need cleaning! I did ask dh who was going to clean that much house, though.
I guess if it makes that much difference having the garage heated a little for the bedrooms above, I may have to look into it.
Andi, I don't know where they got the prices on that web site, but that's not what we'll end up paying. It will still be under $300K, but it'll be a lot more than $240K!
A house like that in our area would cost closer to a million.
Well I thought I'd give you all an update. We've looked at several houses in the past three weeks. We've looked at every model in the area (probably about 2 dozen!) in addition to some exisiting homes. We've looked at some that are decked out (former model homes) and some that are fixer uppers (lots less $, but need the difference in $ in work!). Of all the houses we've looked at, we keep going back to the Yorktown II that I posted the original link for. We actually looked at one last night that's literally two blocks away from us. While it was a beautiful house (one of the former models--complete with wet bar and three sided fireplace in the fully finished basement), dh and I decided we just didn't "love it", ykwim? So we're going to start getting our house ready to go on the market (probably in March or so--we've been told it will probably take about 3-6 months to sell in this area) and we're about 90% sure we're going to go start the contract to build probably next weekend. The building company said it takes them about 4-5 months to build a house, so we're looking at moving in May. We have the lot we want picked out (with 2 backups in case they've already sold it!). It's a nice, level 1/2 acre, three streets away from very good friends of mine, whose son is great friends with my kids (I also used to watch their kids and may end up again next year if everything works out!). So there's my update. We have three doors to replace in our house (hollow doors don't hold up well to misplaced karate kicks! lol) and we'll probably have to replace the baseboards (the wood was so soft the vaccum dented most of them!). We'll also rent a storage container and declutter a LOT! It'll be a good oppertunity to get rid of stuff we don't need/use, too. I'll keep you updated.
I love this house. Where do you live that the cost is so cheap? We live in CT and the price would be much, much higher!
We're in Colorado, Robin. But like I said above, I don't know where they got the prices on the website. It's higher (I wish it was only $240k!) than what they list. Where my mom lives in Michigan houses are even less! Dh has a friend that just moved to TX and bought a house about the same size (over 3000sq feet) and only paid $150k. It's really amazing how the prices differ in different areas.
Oh, and we love the house, too. Dh loves the master suite.
Oh Lordy....that house would be sooooo much cheaper in IN where I live! We have subdivisions like that everywhere around here for a max $150K. It kills me how prices are so different across the country. For $300K in Kokomo, you could get a mansion (new), and I'm not exaggerating at all!
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