Moms!

I'm lucky to have a bunch of fabulous and inspiring moms in my life and I'm sure missing them and thinking of them all today! Not sure what I would do without these women. They spoil me in spades.

The Next?

Tuesday, we went under contract on another house we are trying to buy. As Curt always tells me, that is only step 1 of 4 (mutual acceptance, inspection, appraisal, closing) in the house-buying process, and no cause for early excitement, and I should know because we have lost houses at each of those steps. It has been an interesting few months with the ups and downs of looking at houses, making offers, not making offers in time and losing offers for various reasons. Though we started hunting 2-3 months ago, with what seemed like plenty of time before our now-looming condo closing, last week we had to start looking into apartments and short-term rentals since we were going to be moving out and homeless (at least in Denver) in less than a month.

Then we saw a cute house on Monday evening. It was not a bungalow, victorian, ranch, farm house or otherwise in any state a fixer upper like everything else we'd been looking for. It's a lot more like the house we still own in Washington, though it doesn't share any walls and it's about twice the size. It doesn't have a big yard nor the space for the chicken coop I'd been dreaming about building. It is however in a great neighborhood with high asking prices and a new mixed use development almost underway nearby, not to mention directly across the lake we currently live next to, just a mile around it on the other side. We'd both be a little bit closer to work and I would even stay on my same bus route. So we put in an offer and negotiated until it was accepted. The house already had a full price offer on the table but luckily for us, those people had another house they wanted too so they backed off this one. For anyone who knows Curt, you know it would kill him to pay full price, so we were lucky to shave even a little bit off list price - it's hard to do in this market.

While this house is newer and not a fixer-upper, it still has an unfinished basement to play around with as well as a kitchen and bathroom that need updates. Well, need is a relative term. We would change them because we can and enjoy doing it and to personalize the house. But that's about it. Am I sad to have no garden? Yes, but I will keep up the containers I've used the last two summers. Am I upset to have no yard maintenance? No, we are gone most weekends anyway and I'd be content to enjoy the limited time we spend in Denver doing what we want. I have been torn on the big yard versus small yard thing for the last few months. I was completely won over by the big yard (10,000+ sq ft) on the brick ranch we lost. I envisioned a chicken coop, garden beds, firepit, happy pups...and when we lost that house I wondered if my search parameters were wrong because I had originally wanted to be closer to downtown not farther away (where the bigger yards are). I wanted us both to spend less time commuting and more time closer to the things we do in the city, since we now spend a lot of our time in the mountains.

So it took awhile, but now I can admit that location trumps yard and I'd rather be near everything I want to do than attempt to raise chickens and be farther away from our jobs and our friends, who we already don't see enough of. The house we recently lost was only two miles further into the burbs than where we currently live, but it was not really that ideal of a location, the neighborhood was not that appealing and it was not bikeable at all. In reality, our dogs have never been good yard dogs even when we had a small yard in our previous house. They are the type to dig holes, destroy grass, attempt to escape, eat twigs and leaves and bugs, chase birds, maul my garden plants and generally be a pain in the ass if left unmonitored for more than 30 seconds. Plus, they ARE bird dogs, so I don't know how good of an idea the chickens really were in the first place...I just like eggs.  They get the big yard benefits on the weekends in the mountains anyway.

Is this a long-winded way for me to come to terms with this unexpected house purchase we're in the midst of? Kind of. My first thought after seeing this house, even though I liked it and I knew Curt really liked it, was of defeat. And maybe even a little bit of guilt for taking the easier route. As if, because we just built a house, I have to make excuses to myself about not embarking on another difficult, stressful, lengthy and expensive challenge. I didn't think we'd be moving into a 17-yr-old house with current paint colors and stainless steel appliances in an HOA-maintained neighborhood where someone else cuts the grass in the front yard and trims the plants. It has been frustrating being unable to buy the houses we have wanted over the last few months, which was exactly what happened two years ago, and led to us living in a townhouse. In retrospect, that worked out perfectly and allowed us all the time and money we had to spend in Breck. Maybe it was overly ambitious to try to dive into another big house project so soon after finishing our mountain house. We didn't think so, or at least we did not admit that to each other, but the banks called the shots on that and here we are. I do know that when we're ready to buy another house after this one (the two-year timer is about to start ticking again), we will have probably sold at least one or both of our other houses so we have some real cash to work with, and can buy exactly what we want when we want. That's flexibility we don't have right now, but has been a goal and hopefully a benefit of the work we put into our mountain house. Flexibility!

So I'm going to attempt to go with the flow and be relaxed and try to enjoy the bright side of this whole roller-coaster journey, which first of all is a real summer for the first time in two years! No huge projects. No working all day every weekend day. Sleeping in, seeing our friends, riding our bikes, camping, going to concerts/parks/breweries/farmer's markets. Living in a decently cute and comfortable house not even a mile from our nearest and dearest Denver friends that won't fall apart if we don't immediately attend to its issues. I want Curt to take a break (not his strong suit). And just BE, as my friend Cara says.

Of course, that is unless this deal goes haywire, ha ha. Hopefully within a week, we will 100% know for sure that we will be getting the keys to this house. You just never know, but I am not one to pretend I'm not excited even if I'm not supposed to be quite yet. And that's why I'm posting pictures, again, on aother house that is not completely a sure thing. Sue me! :)

Not exactly the brick bungalow we had been searching for!



Living room on the front of the house

Open living/dining/kitchen off the front door

Two sided gas fireplace - needs new tile and that weird mantel removed

Kitchen - ready for a remodel

Sliding door to backyard deck

Loft/office area at the top of the stairs



Master bedroom big enough for our king bed, nightstands and two dressers




Three closets - two full size and one walk-in (mine, duh!)



Spare room (don't get excited by the CURRENT owner's cribs)

Powder room on main floor

Unfinished basement where we'd add a bedroom, bathroom and family room

Back patio

Tiny yard, but no grass to maintain (or for my dogs to eat and then barf up on my carpet, let's be honest)

Laundry closet

On To The Next Next!

Our bank-owned buying dreams crashed to a halt Monday morning when our bank would not lend on the home we were trying to buy. They requested that multiple items from our way overblown inspection report be resolved before closing on our loan. But bank-owned properties are sold as is and the seller is not obligated to make any repairs, so there went that. Even if we had not done an inspection, some of these items would have been brought to the bank's attention during the appraisal, so we were facing an uphill battle. It was disappointing - especially because I loved the style of the house, the huuuuuuge yard and the inexpensive and easy (to us) repairs - but it was still fun to brainstorm all of the ideas we had for the house so it was not a total waste. 

On the bright side, we both knew the odds were not hugely in our favor so it wasn't a shock and at least we only waited two weeks on this house - not four months like the last time this happened. On the even brighter side, they thankfully did not tell us this news last Friday afternoon and waited until Monday, which means we enjoyed a ridiculously awesome weekend snowboarding in a foot of fresh powder and listening to free concerts with our friends, with no inkling of the bad news coming. Well, maybe a small inkling. Nonetheless, I woke up Tuesday morning completely over it and eager to see what else is out there.

We're back on our hunt all over town. This hilarious map made the rounds a few months ago. We're currently over by Casa Bonita and the house we were trying to buy was slightly to the west of Tiny Chinatown (pretty sweet, I thought) and Little Mexico (we love our taco shops). I'm really hoping to end up in the vicinity of Cruiser Bikes or Ravers while Curt is shooting for Mustaches, Flannel and PBR (no surprise). The Most Dangerous Place in Denver is also high on my neighborhood list. We looked at at house there the other day that had about 15 couples our age pass through in less than an hour. Dangerous is in!

On To The Next!

We are in the middle of the fun adventure of trying to purchase a bank-owned home. Two weeks ago, we put an offer on a Fannie Mae HomePath property. HomePath typically favors owner-occupants and discourages investors, which was good news for us since investors are snatching everything else up with full price cash offers. This house had been on the market for 70 days already. They responded to our offer later that day, saying they had received multiple offers and that we needed to submit our highest and best. Hmm. After over three months? Funny, the same thing happened when we tried to buy our Breck house. Multiple offers on a bank-owned home after over three years on the market? What are the odds? Apparently for us, pretty damn good.

Still, since the house was such a great bargain and had recently dropped their already depressed price by $40k, we raised our offer and then waited anxiously...definitely me more than Curt. We didn't hear a peep back until the following Wednesday, after I had already lost a few nights of sleep, when they countered. Even though we accepted their counter and reached mutual acceptance last Wednesday, we did not get our signed contract until over a week later. It has been a slow process and completely unlike everything else that is happening in the ridiculously fast-moving and competitive real estate market in Denver. However, this was a faster process than the last house we tried to buy two years ago. Short sales are much more complicated than regular foreclosures, so at least this time around, we didn't have to wait multiple months to have our offer accepted in the first place.

Last Friday, we had our inspection and it mostly turned up issues Curt had already identified before we placed our offer. We need to replace the water heater and the furnace. Actually, there are two furnaces due to a previous expansion/remodel, and we will probably replace one and re-duct to combine both systems. Those were the two most expensive items. In comparison to the other houses we've looked at, this house actually needs very little renovation and repair. We would clean up the three bathrooms, tear out carpet and replace with hardwoods and tile, update lighting, paint, refinish doors, replace windows, remove the swamp cooler and install AC along with the new furnace - all minor things. No rooms need to be entirely reworked or walls moved. The original (and gorgeous) wood kitchen cabinets can stay. The electrical and plumbing systems are mostly in decent shape as is the roof. The exterior brick looks perfect. All in all, it was a much cheaper house than we had been looking at, with far fewer changes needed. A win win! 

But, just like the house we tried to buy two years ago and lost, the bank giving us our loan has to sign off on us purchasing the house while knowing the extent of the repairs needed. Thankfully we don't have the structural issues like we did on the last house, which is why we lost it after four months and two banks with two different types of loans. Our inspector didn't do us any favors though, and way overstated needed repairs in his report compared to what he told me in person. Boo. I'm optimistic, but could use some fingers crossed! :)



A 1954 brick ranch - my midcentury modern dream



DIWine Storage

Long before we had a closet, mudroom or wine room ready in our house - but definitely back when I was dreaming of alcohol during the dark days of our ice cold, manual labor-filled months - I saw the two pictures below on Pinterest. The first is a wine rack made out of terracotta pipes from This Old House. The second is PVC plumbing cut and arranged in a honeycomb shape for shoe storage. I thought one or both ideas would be cool to use in our mudroom for things like goggles, hats, gloves, scarves, turtle furs and other ski gear that can be annoying to dig through a basket for. After I showed the photos to Curt, he had the idea to turn our scrap PVC pipes into a wine rack of sorts in our wine room.

Many, many months went by before Curt finally had some free time and got tired of the pile of PVC pipes taking up space in our basement. They had been moved from one room to another multiple times and were now laying in the garage. Curt used a saw to cut them all down to pieces about 10 inches long. There were different widths of pipe, and unfortunately when he brought his first cut piece upstairs to test it on a bottle of wine, the pipe was too narrow for the bottle. He also decided to test it using an open bottle, not the many sealed bottles sitting right to the open bottle, and spilled the red wine...oh Curt.

So, as you can see in the photos below, there are about four different thicknesses and four different colors of pipe. He cut and I carried upstairs and started randomly building my rows. We both liked the idea of the varying sizes, even knowing that they can't all fit a bottle of wine. Only the two largest sizes can hold normal sized bottles, but I did manage to fit a skinny bottle of fruit wine (port would work too) into one of the narrower pieces.

I didn't use much of the wall, not even half, and I'm wondering if we should add more pipe to go taller? Or build a shelf over the top? Hang wine glass racks over it? Decide on some sort of organizing or labeling system so I don't have to pull out every single bottle trying to find something?

The best part - everything was recycled! And therefore free.

 

We talked about somehow affixing them together, maybe with glue, and even painting them, but for now I want to see how they work as they are. The nice thing about not being stuck together is that we can still move parts around but they don't actually shift or slide around themselves unless I remove a piece of pipe. It feels quite stable and solid. The nice thing about being unpainted is that the white, off-white, gray and black pipes already coordinate with the other colors in the house especially the kitchen.

Looks like bubbles to me!

With a few bottles...can't wait to add more.

Happy Hooks

I received this beautiful set of five wooden twig-like hooks as a Christmas gift from my mom and I was ridiculously excited because they are exactly the type of thing I had envisioned for our mountain house ever since we started this project. We finally hung them about a month ago. After a lot of stewing over my options and the many expanses of huge empty wall space, I decided on the wall near the front door because I wanted to show them off, even though I wasn't sure it was the most useful spot since they are right next to the mudroom which has plenty of space for jackets and gear and bags already. You can see the front door to the right and the mudroom door to the left in the photo below. So we hung the hooks and they proceeded to go unused like I feared. Nonetheless, I was in love with them.

But a few weeks ago, we brought up a bench that Curt built over a year ago. It was meant to go with our dining table but we have been using it as a coffee table in Denver. Since we had 10 people in our house a few weekends ago, I wanted to make sure we had enough spots for people to sit and put on or take off boots and shed all the outdoor layers. After we put the bench under the hooks, all of the sudden people started using them! I love how the color of the bench is similar to the hooks and it adds some wood and warmth to our cold gray tiled entryway. We also miraculously eyeballed the spacing pretty well, at least in my book. I could not believe that when we put the bench there, it lined up with the hooks perfectly, especially since the bench was more of an afterthought and we used very little rhyme or reason when putting the hooks up in the first place. A small victory in my entire lifetime of poor measuring, not to mention the inevitable husband-wife discord over nailing things into the wall!

I have yet to hang art or anything else to personalize our space, but this is a somewhat practical and still pretty start :)

Finally!

Finally our house is being used as it was intended - full of friends! And skiing and snowboarding and cooking and eating and drinking and board games and dogs and sleeping in. We've had the best month, with multiple friends flying in from Seattle and driving up from Denver. With crockpots and tacos and frittatas and lasagna and coffee and whiskey and a big bonfire dug out of the drifts in our backyard. The snow has been great, the frigid temps have eased a bit, no one broke any limbs while staying at our house and there was only one trip to the ER. Altitude sickness...boo. We have one month of ski season left, the last two weekends of which are full of free concerts so we'll be taking advantage of those in Breck and Vail.

I've hit over 100,000 vertical feet this season (our ski pass includes a free iPhone app that tracks this, as well as posts photos like those below from professional photographers at all resorts) and I wish I could double it before our mountains close on April 14th but I doubt I will. We got a very late start due to our well-below-average snowfall. I'm still trying to catch up to Curt who has about 30,000 more feet than I do, but he also skiied more days than I have this season. We have a friend who works on Beaver Creek who had nearly 500,000 vertical feet over a month ago so I can't imagine how many he has now. Jealous! I've gotten a lot faster on my snowboard, but not THAT fast. So, our next month is going to look a lot like the last month and that makes me happy. We're both hoping our family members follow our friends' lead and come visit us soon :)

Then, once we put our snowboards away, we will get back to tackling a few odds and ends around our Breck house and maybe start finishing the basement. In addition to that, we're about to start a new project - still TBD - but our townhouse is under contract and we are in full house hunting mode in Denver. We aren't making money on our sale but we aren't losing any either. Our neighbor was interested and the timing just worked out because we'd been thinking about moving and either renting or selling anyway. Avoiding the hassle of constantly cleaning and showing to potential buyers (while dealing with our dogs) was a huge bonus.

It's a terrible time to buy because the market here is so hot, and houses are getting snatched up the first day they're listed, often with multiple full price offers. Luckily we don't close on our townhouse until the end of May, so we have some time and we'll need it. We aren't getting to houses quite fast enough, and there aren't enough houses out there to meet the demand from buyers, but it's a fun, exciting challenge and we're both ready to go back to living in a house with a yard in a new neighborhood. Probably a small, old, crumbly house that needs renovations in the kitchen and bathrooms but nothing too major. We have the time now to devote to those types of projects not to mention a little bit more experience, more patience with each other and some money saved in the bank, at last.

Moving will be much less of a pain because we've already moved so many of our belongings to Breck. Part of the goal was to be able to downsize and be more nomadic in Denver, or maybe to eventually not live in Denver at all, but at least for now to able to easily move every couple of years which I think we both just like to do and, looking back, have done the entire time we've been together. I guess that makes us both a little crazy. Where our last move was stressed and rushed and full of anxiety waiting on a short sale house we didn't end up being able to purchase at the very last minute, this move is more relaxed and our parameters are wider. We are both more open-minded about the area of town and style of house and types of projects we will undertake. There aren't even many short sales or foreclosures on the market for us to try to buy and stress over.

Best of all, even if we have to temporarily rent again before we close on a new house, we still have our other house to escape to every weekend, with most of our belongings there and plenty of space. That was the worst part about renting two years ago - being crammed into a tiny townhouse with none of our belongings and nowhere else to go. Even though looking at lots of houses and then watching them go under contract is frustrating, house hunting is still an adventure because we get to day dream and brainstorm and talk about different ideas and projects and eventually, we will find our next (9th) one!