New House - Almost

We almost bought a house this weekend. 

Seriously. 

Met with a real estate agent, talked to a mortgage lender, toured the house, and had an offer ready to send in to the agent.

Just so you know, we weren't in the market to buy a house, nor were we even looking at houses or felt it was time for us to uproot our family.  We did just finish a fantabulous basement, and are still enjoying the luxurious master bathroom remodel, so nary a thought about moving any time in the near future.

That is until I drove past a house in East Layton on my way to drop Kimberly off at a new friend's house for a violin duet rehearsal. 

I drove by it and fell in love.  It had a complete, unobstructed view of the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island because it sat on a hill, and was sitting next to a huge pasture (aka, no backyard neighbors). The yard was incredible - a lovely .35 acres, with a beautiful wrap-around porch for enjoying the gorgeous view, and from what I could tell peaking into the front window (yes, I know...snooping...I acted like I was going to ring the doorbell, and discovered from a quick glance next to the front door that no one is living there right now). 

I fell in love even more from my sneak peak when I saw the beautiful grand entryway and divine living room/dining room with all the windows you could possibly put in to take full advantage of the view. 

I zoomed home to see what the listing price was, and placed a call to the real estate agent. 

We were in luck - it was priced just for us, and I knew fate had lent its hand in our direction so we lined up a tour of the house on Saturday. 

I was so excited about this new-found house that I couldn't even sleep the night before. 

We met with the real estate agent, who walked us through the house. 

My hopes of the house meant for us slowly slipped from our grasp as we toured the house and saw the problems mounting - massive water damage from the master shower leading down into the dining room, a kitchen that needed a huge overhaul, of which included a miniature oven that wouldn't have even begun to think about fitting my cookie sheets that I use every few days, large cracks in the stucco, a deck that was in severe disrepair, a master bath from the 80s that needed a complete remodel, not to mention the extensive water damage to fix, a driveway that would have needed thousands of dollars to redo, stairs leading down to the basement that were way too steep and would have to be redone...and the list kept going. 

We went for a drive, then out to dinner, discussing the pros and cons of taking on a house with so many repairs.  It still seemed doable, so we wanted to make sure we could seal the deal in good conscience after giving it some time and prayers.

The next day we had our answer.  It wasn't meant to be ours.

So, I learned a very real lesson about not trusting something by just looking at the outside - it may seem like a dream, but underneath a fancy view, there may be massive problems lurking underneath. 

I'm not sad we refrained from making an offer. 
Our house may have a small yard, and a teeny, weensy view of the mountains over by Antelope Island, but its our home, and it is truly filled with love (and only minor repairs), just the way I like it.