Where you see the depths of our insanity
Because we don't have enough on our plates right now and because we are, in fact, certifiably insane, we have finally made the decision to start looking for a new house. In our grand scheme plan of the next phase of our lives, we intended for Steve to get his teaching qualifications, find a job up near my parents (about an hour NW of where we are now) and move. For a number of reasons.
First, our neighborhood is slowly becoming a gang area. Gang kids from the city are moving west & for some reason, our area is quite pleasing to them. We have a little park about a block from our house with a play area for the kids, a baseball field & a tennis court. This park has begun to be commandeered by our little thugs. If there's one thing a mom alone with 3 kids really doesn't want to deal with, it's facing thuggy gang boys while your kids are trying to swing. Or dealing with empty booze containers littered around the play area. Woo-hoo.
Second, as we get older, we're really realizing the importance of extended family. How important it is for the kids to be close to their grandparents - and since my parents just built a new house, they ain't moving down here.
Third, we can actually get quite a bit more house for our money up there, which is a huge selling point. Our 1500 square foot home is busting at the seams with 5 of us & I'd actually do something extreme to have a finished basement in which to squirrel away the children.
So. Last week we were up there & we took a peek at some new construction model homes right near where they're building the new high school. If all goes according to plan, Steve would get a job there next year & we were hoping to be close to it. The homes were very, very nice - but then you realize that the models are PACKED to the gills with every extra, optional, money grabbing feature they offer. So they're amazing. We're looking for a house with 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths (with the ability for Maggie to have her own bathroom so we don't have to deal with the fighting), a finished basement and a den/office for Steve. These first builders have only one house that would work. It starts at $294,000, but with the options we'd want (extra bedroom w/bath on top floor, morning room off the kitchen, possible full unfinished basement) it would probably take us up to $350,000 or so. And that's not even including upgrading to nice flooring or kitchen cabinets or anything. Actually- you can take a peek at it here:
The Golden Gate
Really quite nice. Then we looked at another new site across the road from the 1st one. It's called Sweetwater (which....ew.) and the models were much less nice. The only one that came close to working for us was their top of the line, but they didn't have the option of another bath on the top floor. The good part, though, was that the master bedroom was H.U.G.E. I mean, LOOK at this picture:
Ridiculous huge bedroom
If you go straight ahead, to the left there is a little office-type area big enough for a desk, bookcase, chair - whatever. Directly to the left is a monstrous walk-in closet. Just. HUGE.
We also viewed another new construction site called Apple Creek. (Which makes me start singing, "Up on Apple Creek, she sends me, if I spring a leak, she mends me...") They actually had 5 or 6 models to look at, which was double what the others had. Whoever Kirk homes hired to do their decorating needs a big, big raise. A. Maze. Ing. But, of course, the largest model was the one that would work best for us. The biggest problem with it (other than what the price would probably turn out to be...$450,000) was that the 2nd floor was all open in the middle with railings. All I can see is boys racing to see who can throw the most things over the railings or playing "Let's See if Henry Can Fly". Yikes.
Today, however, we went & looked at 3 "used" homes and were pleasantly surprised. Actually, we may have found our house. Wanna see?
Really nice possible home for us.
I think we'll probably go back & see it again on Thursday & hopefully make an offer. Wish us luck, okay??