I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I know you have been obsessing about it. "What are those Bruderers up to this time?" Well, I mentioned a little while ago that we were considering building a house. Well it is official now, and my obsession. We put a down payment on a lot a couple of weeks ago which has thrown us into a timeline that is carrying us along like white water rapids! We talked to a lender and learned something interesting. Apparently, with the economy the way it is, we have to sell our current house before anyone will give us financing for the new one. In other words, our house will take 4 months to build, they can't get the building permit without financing, to finance, we have to sell. We would like to move before the beginning of the school year so the kids can start fresh in new classes. So.... we have to sell SOON!
If any of you know anyone who wants to buy a beautiful house in the best neighborhood and ward we've ever found, let us know. I will list a few things about the house below.
Now comes the "fun" part! In order to be competitive in a difficult selling market we need to do some renovations. We have refurbished the cabinets and bannisters, we are replacing hardware on the cabinets and putting in new countertops next week, we have someone coming to do some sheetrock patch work tomorrow(the hole made by the wasps in the ceiling must go, a story for another stellar post), and then we will paint. Anyone who would like to join us for a painting party, let me know! To facilitate all of this work, I have got to get some stuff packed and stored in order to have room to work and really showcase the house to buyers.
How do we know how to "showcase" and "stage" the house you ask? There is a great show on A&E that I watch faithfully every morning as I work out stress on my eliptical. It is called "Sell This House". It is perfect, and we have learned a lot. I also found another show yesterday on HGTV that show bigger home improvement projects that are fun to watch, called "Designed to Sell" Paul even watches some of the episodes with me. We just hope all of their tips will work.
I have also found a couple of really great blogs and websites. One of my favorites is Remodeling Guy. He shows such wonderfully inspiring photos and simple good advice for do it yourself projects. The Nesting Place has a blog carnival called 10 minutes to a room you love where people share their decorating ideas. I also like some of the ideas and the beautiful photos on The Inspired Room.
Now I will shamelessly brag about the house just in case you know anyone who is looking to buy!
If any of you know anyone who wants to buy a beautiful house in the best neighborhood and ward we've ever found, let us know. I will list a few things about the house below.
Now comes the "fun" part! In order to be competitive in a difficult selling market we need to do some renovations. We have refurbished the cabinets and bannisters, we are replacing hardware on the cabinets and putting in new countertops next week, we have someone coming to do some sheetrock patch work tomorrow(the hole made by the wasps in the ceiling must go, a story for another stellar post), and then we will paint. Anyone who would like to join us for a painting party, let me know! To facilitate all of this work, I have got to get some stuff packed and stored in order to have room to work and really showcase the house to buyers.
How do we know how to "showcase" and "stage" the house you ask? There is a great show on A&E that I watch faithfully every morning as I work out stress on my eliptical. It is called "Sell This House". It is perfect, and we have learned a lot. I also found another show yesterday on HGTV that show bigger home improvement projects that are fun to watch, called "Designed to Sell" Paul even watches some of the episodes with me. We just hope all of their tips will work.
I have also found a couple of really great blogs and websites. One of my favorites is Remodeling Guy. He shows such wonderfully inspiring photos and simple good advice for do it yourself projects. The Nesting Place has a blog carnival called 10 minutes to a room you love where people share their decorating ideas. I also like some of the ideas and the beautiful photos on The Inspired Room.
Now I will shamelessly brag about the house just in case you know anyone who is looking to buy!
- New tile and carpet on main floor and 2nd floor last fall
- Bathrooms upstairs have been tiled
- Reshingled roof last Fall
- Furnace replaced 3 or 4 years ago with larger one
- Attic fan for better circulation in Summer
- Garage door and opener replaced 3 years ago
- Newly refurbished cabinets
- Painted outside trim last fall
- New cement front walk*
- New kitchen countertop
- New shower doors in master bath*
- central air
- finished basement
- basement wired for surround sound and wet bar with mini fridge
- 4 bedrooms, 3 baths
- open floor plan with good flow
- great backyard with playset, garden, apple tree, fully fenced
- 1 block from elementary school
- no backyard neighbors
- incredible neighbors and ward, great place to raise children
* Projects we are working on now.
Hey, thanks for making it to the end of this epic post. If you know anyone who is looking for a house, contact us! Thank you for your support!
7 comments:
I'm so sad to see you go, but I know it will be good for your family. I have friends moving to SL from Idaho. They are moving to Draper, but I'm not sure if they are renting while they find something they want to buy or what. I will check with them.
Have you upgraded your light fixtures? We moved into this 10 year old house and I couldn't stand the brass lighting fixtures. We've upgraded and it's made a huge difference. I think that is a good selling point.
Add a pool and a really big rock and you've got yourself a winner!
Good luck, Brooke. You have a big year ahead of you!
Too bad you guys don't live closer to the Utah county area, because in the next few months, we'll probably be searching for our first home(!). Although judging by how nice your house sounds, I'm not sure we could have afforded it anyway. :) We're really excited for it, and the government is giving new home buyers an $8000 tax credit this year! But it's all still in the works, and we aren't actively shopping yet. But keep us up to date on your adventure, building a house sounds very exciting!
Thanks for all the well wishes! Denae, can you give me the name of your rock supplier?
By the way, where are you going to live after you sell but before your new house is done??
To answer your question Mary, ideally we would like to find someone ready to buy but willing to lease it back to us for the mortgage amount while we build. This may be a remote chance and so we have alternate plans to move into my parent's basement for a few months. They have a full kitchen and 2 bedrooms downstairs. Fortunately, they also live in a community with a swimming pool and playground. The library is only a block away and Target, Home Depot and other shopping is about 2 blocks. We would just try to spend most of our days out of the house, and sleep kids wherever we can.
I'm glad to see you guys had fun on your trip! I agree that it is good to get away every once in a while!
Your house sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for! I've only been on the main level but I really like it. Too bad it's not in our price range! Maybe if it is still for sell when we're ready to buy we'll come take a look :)
Good luck, though. I really hope you can sell it fast and get building your new home, that is so exciting! Where is your lot?
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