Well, I wasn't expecting it at all. I had plans for finding property and building. Then one day a listing for a house popped up in my email Thursday night. It was located in Snohomish near Panther Lake. I was familiar with the area because I have a friend who lives out there. Snohomish School District (Dutch Hill Elementary to be exact). A bit further out than I wished for but close enough that I would compromise if I liked it enough. It was new construction on about .40 acres so I was intrigued but skeptical. I figured it would be all native protective growth or something like that. But regardless, it peaked my interest enough that I immediately forwarded the listing to Chance and told Clint I wanted to check it out.
I knew I would be in the area on Saturday so I didn't want to make the trip to go see it Friday but Trisha decided to scope it out for me first. Her report: You don't want it. She said it was surrounded by trees and not the wide open spaces I was looking for. I relayed this to Chance but he still insisted on driving by it after work on Friday. He ended up running into the listing agent who allowed him to not only look through the one listed but to also walk through the other homes (there were 6 total) that were under construction. One of them had a larger lot (.75 acres). It had more of a side yard, but Chance still felt that I should go see it.
So I drove out the next day with all three boys to the open house. I left them in the car and asked the agent if she could show me other house under construction (not the one listed) and she walked me through it. At the time it was only framed but I was surprised to see that the floor plan was very close to what I would want (if I wasn't getting a rambler):
That being, master bdrm, laundry and den on the main floor as well as a kitchen and living room separated by the dining room but all open. It didn't have a huge bonus room (one of my dreams) but it did have 3 bedrooms and small open bonus area upstairs. But here's what really drew me in besides the floor plan being very close to what I've been looking for: The location. The builder bought some land and is building 7 homes each having about .40 acres with the exception of the house we liked which had .76 acres. It is surrounded by trees, but this house had the almost the entire .75 acres cleared. The yard wasn't flat but I started imaging the boys running and sledding down the sloped part. Playing soccer and football where the yard leveled off to the side, them playing and exploring the woods and getting to ride their bikes and scooters on the private road that would be getting paved. Not to mention putting a hoop on the mostly flat giant 3-car driveway so they could shoot hoops someday. I loved the idea of having neighbors to feel more secure, but still having space and a yard of our own. In fact our house only has one neighbor on the side. The back will be another lot the builder is going to put a house on but is planning on leaving a buffer of trees. My report to Chance was "well I didn't hate it."
This is a map of the neighborhood. Our lot is on the bottom left corner.
We went back to look at it on Sunday. This is what it looked like! Am I crazy for considering making an offer on a house that looked like this?
Though I wasn't initially crazy about an elevated deck in the back I have started brain storming the possibilities (like building it into a storage area for a riding lawn mower!)
This is part of the side of the yard. 171st is on the other side of the trees and bushes in the background . Lots of room to run!
So Trisha was right about some things. It wasn't really what I had in mind. (Certainly the price tag!) But something about this house/lot/neighborhood as a whole had me dreaming a new dream. Chance and I thought about it for a few days and decided to make an offer. We prayed a lot. If this wasn't God's will I really hoped the offer wouldn't be accepted and I really didn't want to get in a bidding war either. We had to wait several days as the seller had decided to take a hunting trip! But we finally heard that he had accepted our offer! The house should be ready around January 1st. Luckily, there were no other offers on it which makes me feel like God may have helped us out there! We were excited and terrified! Picking the home and place you are going to live at is a huge decision. Especially when we plan to settle and have no plans to move until the day we may need to downsize. But there's no going back and we are excited to look forward to this AMAZING new chapter we have been waiting for even before we ever moved from Pasadera. We finally get to move to our "forever home." We feel so incredibly blessed! God has been so good to us!
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