We had been talking about going house hunting since we know we are moving in June and Jer finally had a day off. A very good friend agreed to come stay with the kids Sunday night and get everyone off to school on Monday since we decided to leave Sunday and drive down there to look around before the realtor got ahold of us. As we were looking at houses on Monday, we got phone calls from the kids that the schools are letting out early, the roads are a snowy mess, next thing we know, the kids are all in the car and Nick is driving on ice (what a way to initiate a new driver, huh?), and we realize we shouldn't drive home. It was really easy for us to check into a hotel that was 100% nicer than the one on the post we had just stayed at--funny enough that (100) was the price difference too.
I had to take a picture of the bathroom--it was so pretty (props to Hampton Inns, cause the free breakfast rocked too). So the kids get home safely and we assume school will be cancelled the next day. Then the kids call us later to tell us they had no power now. After two hours of that (and hearing the upsetedness in their voices) and realizing the house could get really cold and the kids were alone, my incredible friends came all the way on post to escort the kids back to their house regardless of their own safety on the roads. The kids had a blast with them and then later the next day another incredible friend let them all come over to their house. The kids actually played hooky from school since the city cancelled schools but the post did not. And now, just as I'm typing this, the schools have called another early out today for more snow today. Don't feel too bad for us, the highs are supposed to hit the 50s-60s by Sunday and Monday. Anyhow, when you have six kids, it's hard to deal with making huge decisions and worrying about your kids, but my friends made me feel like my kids couldn't have been safer or in better hands and we had total peace of mind while we were away. Thank you, you guys! I wish we could pack our friends up and take them with us! Monday we got a great look at the area from the realtor, she showed us 2 houses in 3 different school districts and all the way from the bottom of our price range to the top. It was just perfect. She drove by all the schools in each district and since she's lived there 20 years, we figured she knew things pretty well. One of the elementary schools she showed us had the state prison off in the distance and she even pointed it out. Apparently her kids went to that school but we decided to pass.The schools in the area we chose are top notch. We may have one graduating this year but we also have a baby so that was kind of important. We intend (oh please, oh please) for this to be our last move. The elementary is in its very first year and it is gorgeous. It's only about a mile from our house and a brand new high school opens 2012 a mile from our house too. It's supposed to be all state-of-the-arty too. We are excited. When I showed the girls the picture of their new school, Hannah got all scared. It is a little intimidating, but Wow!
I took pictures of housing areas near ours. Can you believe the size of these things?
What do these people do?!
We actually don't care as long as they support the arts since that will help hubby find work after retirement. Here's the view from our front door. Kind of weird since we face the side of a house but it works for me.
Now the neighborhood we picked has these two story "box" houses that are (to me) really unattractive, but they are huge. But getting a one story home was most important to me, given my husband's feet issues. I doubt his feet will ever improve much and I'd like him to be able to enjoy our whole house as time goes on. So the next two pictures are the view to the left and right.
Then ta-da! Here's our house (below). We like the modest look of it--and it's on a corner lot which is awesome. It is the current model home for the neighborhood. They are building a new one directly across the street on the side.
It was just so weird that we got stuck down there Monday night. Because we would have left and worried over what to do for the next several months and probably gone down there several times which really adds up and it just isn't that easy to do when you have 6 kids. Since we were staying, we spent the night deliberating and praying and we decided to look at the model again. It's so hard to know if you just love the house because it's been "staged" so well or you just love the house. The internet was incredibly useful since I found out so much about buying model homes, the builder, etc. What really sold us was the fact that we could buy the house but the builder needed to lease it back until the new model is ready which will be just before we need to move there. And the schools. And the price. And the awesome things we got them to agree to! So anyway, here are some pictures. Just imagine all the fancy "stuff" gone and our junk in it! :-) I won't bore you with pictures of 3 bedrooms that are nearly exactly the same but here's the master.
And the master bath (cause that's the most important). Rose is dying to own that fish. :-) We'll have to see if we can find one like it somewhere.
The girls are going to get to use a jacuzzi tub again. I really only used the one we had in that other house when I was in massive pain with the kidney stones. And how awesome that the toilet is behind a separate door! Yea!
The two bathrooms (and yea, there's only two, no half) have super high shower heads which all these tall guys will appreciate. See me and Jer in the reflection?
The yard comes fenced and we love it. It is a great space. Just big enough for fun but not big enough to kill me when we lose our lawn-mowers (the kids).
I don't know if you can see the main road back there but there is space behind us that another builder owns. No one knows what will happen there so they are going to plant 4 trees behind the fence for us.
Jer couldn't live without more patio since he's a grilling man. They agreed to an extended 10x10 flat to the right of the existing one. That back porch has a ceiling fan which is kind of silly I think but we got flood lights too.
This is my favorite part. There is a room across from the dining area that is open on two sides. I want this to be the computer room but I don't want to kill the openness and light here. And I also want to see what the kids are doing on the computer but I don't want the baby in there destroying stuff. I asked for 2 sets of french doors to be put on the openings and I just know I'm going to love it! And I'm wondering since it has a closet, once the doors are up, can it be counted as a bedroom? That'd be sweet if we ever had to sell.
This will hopefully be the kids' favorite part. The garage is the "sales" office right now. They are going to tear out the display and sheetrock it, then take out that whole "office-y" thing, carpet and paint the room to match the rest of the house and the kids will have their bonus room back! It's already got the HVAC and everything. We lose a garage but we are going to get one of those big vinyl sheds to store bikes and yard stuff in the back. And we haven't used the garage for the cars once this whole snowy winter and it's warmer down there. And through that office window you can see the control for in-ground sprinklers!! I love it!
We always complain about kitchen space and we aren't getting a whole lot more here but it is so pretty! We can just never have a dirty dish though now that the sink faces the living area. We get all the appliances and that door back there is a pantry that's way bigger than what we have now. The coolest thing about getting a model is all the upgrades you get for "free" (yeah, right) since they've been using and abusing the home (for over a year on this house). Granite countertops in the kitchen, surround sound wiring, drawers and cupboards with that automatic close thing, a 1, 2/10 warranty that starts the day we occupy and best of all...
a flat screen tv. No joke--the guy threw it in. Sometimes you can agree to get all the furniture but this is all going over to the other model. We do get to keep the blinds which are really nice. None of that flimsy plastic stuff. And I actually love all the decorating ideas I got from the house and now I have tons of pictures for reference.
Junior pointed out we don't have room here for the freezer but there's always the "bonus" room. :-) That area through the door goes to the main bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Can you tell I love this floor plan?
We got tile in the kitchen and baths and those pretty drop lights above the sink and the security system is only $18 a month...it just goes on and on. I am in heaven. Until we move in and my stuff doesn't look as great anyway. :-) The interest rate is so much lower now than when we bought before that our payment is almost the same and Jer has made rank since then (plus another kid though). We have been experimenting with a budget before we made this decision. We have never used one before and it's kind of blowing my mind how much money we waste. Time to learn wisdom from my mother who can save money like crazy. I think we'll be ok--we didn't go as low as we could have for a house payment but nowhere near as high either. I think we got as much of a really nice house as we could for what we paid and I hope we'll be really happy. People's experiences have made us really, really cautious about buying a home despite it being a buyer's market. And the lenders are way nervous. I think if Jer was any closer to retirement they might have balked. They even wanted to know if we have to pay for child-care. There are foreclosures everywhere and it's scary times, but the thought of finally settling down in a place is just too, too appealing to these tired old people. You're welcome failing economy. Now I'm just afraid I'm not going to want the kids to touch anything because the house is so nice. I forgot they had to live there too...just kidding! And here's hoping everything works out and we're not homeless in a few more months! We did what?!?!?!
Now the neighborhood we picked has these two story "box" houses that are (to me) really unattractive, but they are huge. But getting a one story home was most important to me, given my husband's feet issues. I doubt his feet will ever improve much and I'd like him to be able to enjoy our whole house as time goes on. So the next two pictures are the view to the left and right.
Then ta-da! Here's our house (below). We like the modest look of it--and it's on a corner lot which is awesome. It is the current model home for the neighborhood. They are building a new one directly across the street on the side.
It was just so weird that we got stuck down there Monday night. Because we would have left and worried over what to do for the next several months and probably gone down there several times which really adds up and it just isn't that easy to do when you have 6 kids. Since we were staying, we spent the night deliberating and praying and we decided to look at the model again. It's so hard to know if you just love the house because it's been "staged" so well or you just love the house. The internet was incredibly useful since I found out so much about buying model homes, the builder, etc. What really sold us was the fact that we could buy the house but the builder needed to lease it back until the new model is ready which will be just before we need to move there. And the schools. And the price. And the awesome things we got them to agree to! So anyway, here are some pictures. Just imagine all the fancy "stuff" gone and our junk in it! :-) I won't bore you with pictures of 3 bedrooms that are nearly exactly the same but here's the master.
And the master bath (cause that's the most important). Rose is dying to own that fish. :-) We'll have to see if we can find one like it somewhere.
The girls are going to get to use a jacuzzi tub again. I really only used the one we had in that other house when I was in massive pain with the kidney stones. And how awesome that the toilet is behind a separate door! Yea!
The two bathrooms (and yea, there's only two, no half) have super high shower heads which all these tall guys will appreciate. See me and Jer in the reflection?
The yard comes fenced and we love it. It is a great space. Just big enough for fun but not big enough to kill me when we lose our lawn-mowers (the kids).
I don't know if you can see the main road back there but there is space behind us that another builder owns. No one knows what will happen there so they are going to plant 4 trees behind the fence for us.
Jer couldn't live without more patio since he's a grilling man. They agreed to an extended 10x10 flat to the right of the existing one. That back porch has a ceiling fan which is kind of silly I think but we got flood lights too.
This is my favorite part. There is a room across from the dining area that is open on two sides. I want this to be the computer room but I don't want to kill the openness and light here. And I also want to see what the kids are doing on the computer but I don't want the baby in there destroying stuff. I asked for 2 sets of french doors to be put on the openings and I just know I'm going to love it! And I'm wondering since it has a closet, once the doors are up, can it be counted as a bedroom? That'd be sweet if we ever had to sell.
This will hopefully be the kids' favorite part. The garage is the "sales" office right now. They are going to tear out the display and sheetrock it, then take out that whole "office-y" thing, carpet and paint the room to match the rest of the house and the kids will have their bonus room back! It's already got the HVAC and everything. We lose a garage but we are going to get one of those big vinyl sheds to store bikes and yard stuff in the back. And we haven't used the garage for the cars once this whole snowy winter and it's warmer down there. And through that office window you can see the control for in-ground sprinklers!! I love it!
We always complain about kitchen space and we aren't getting a whole lot more here but it is so pretty! We can just never have a dirty dish though now that the sink faces the living area. We get all the appliances and that door back there is a pantry that's way bigger than what we have now. The coolest thing about getting a model is all the upgrades you get for "free" (yeah, right) since they've been using and abusing the home (for over a year on this house). Granite countertops in the kitchen, surround sound wiring, drawers and cupboards with that automatic close thing, a 1, 2/10 warranty that starts the day we occupy and best of all...
a flat screen tv. No joke--the guy threw it in. Sometimes you can agree to get all the furniture but this is all going over to the other model. We do get to keep the blinds which are really nice. None of that flimsy plastic stuff. And I actually love all the decorating ideas I got from the house and now I have tons of pictures for reference.
Junior pointed out we don't have room here for the freezer but there's always the "bonus" room. :-) That area through the door goes to the main bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Can you tell I love this floor plan?
We got tile in the kitchen and baths and those pretty drop lights above the sink and the security system is only $18 a month...it just goes on and on. I am in heaven. Until we move in and my stuff doesn't look as great anyway. :-) The interest rate is so much lower now than when we bought before that our payment is almost the same and Jer has made rank since then (plus another kid though). We have been experimenting with a budget before we made this decision. We have never used one before and it's kind of blowing my mind how much money we waste. Time to learn wisdom from my mother who can save money like crazy. I think we'll be ok--we didn't go as low as we could have for a house payment but nowhere near as high either. I think we got as much of a really nice house as we could for what we paid and I hope we'll be really happy. People's experiences have made us really, really cautious about buying a home despite it being a buyer's market. And the lenders are way nervous. I think if Jer was any closer to retirement they might have balked. They even wanted to know if we have to pay for child-care. There are foreclosures everywhere and it's scary times, but the thought of finally settling down in a place is just too, too appealing to these tired old people. You're welcome failing economy. Now I'm just afraid I'm not going to want the kids to touch anything because the house is so nice. I forgot they had to live there too...just kidding! And here's hoping everything works out and we're not homeless in a few more months! We did what?!?!?!
9 comments:
That is totally awesome, Linda!! Congratulations! That home looks really nice. It's going to be cool to have you guys so close.
Awesomenessssssssss!!! I'm not surprised you have great friends, since you are such a great friend. So excited for you guys!!
congrats! the house looks perfect!
It is absolutely beautiful!! What a lovely kitchen. The house is fantastic enough but throw in the schools, it sounds like a dream come true. I think my eyes just turned green ;)
Linda the house looks awesome. Sounds like you got a great deal. You should have had them throw in the zebra print stools. They are totally you. The first thing people asked us when we moved here was what team we went for Auburn or Alabama. It is a crucial decsion.
I LOVE IT! Can't wait to come visit!
It is BEAUTIFUL! Sounds like you guys really got a lot of extras. There are a lot of perks to buying a model home. It was a good idea to turn the garage into the bonus room since it already has HVAC. I am SO excited for you guys!! I was impressed with Breland Homes when we went there, and I am so glad you found one. I looked at all your pictures closeup just to get some decorating ideas. I am so ready to change up my decorations! I love that you can already see how to decorate! I need that! Did I say how excited I am for you? It will feel good to settle down and I am SO glad you decided to buy. It just feels good to have a place of your own and no one deserves it more than you guys!
Good things happen to good people.
Love it:)
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