We're building!!

Things have been a little crazy at the Dixon household these days. I guess the biggest news is that we are building a house! Crazy, I know. We really had no intentions of building, since there are such great deals for existing homes, but everything just kind of fell into place with this house. We are building just north of Thanksgiving Point. We went to look at a house we found on the MLS and to just check out the community (with no intentions of actually building there!). We checked out a few of the model homes and really liked the community. Then we found out they were offering a new incentive (since they are just starting phase 2) and are finishing your basement for free! They also give you a nice landscaping allotment. We'll also get the $4,000 Utah grant, since we'll be in a contract by Nov. 30th. We're hoping that there will be some sort of a federal incentive in 2010, but who knows!? We are definitely spending more than we planned, but it's worth it to have the finished basement. We are super excited, though it still feels pretty surreal. We're finalizing our options this week, and it should be started in the next month. It's insane how quickly things add up. It's also insane what they consider an upgrade--like AC. Are you kidding me!? It's not really an option...but you have to pay for it, since it actually IS an option/upgrade. It's also interesting to see the difference between my needs/wants list and Dan's. For example, the fireplace is on my NEED list (come on, who moves to Utah and doesn't have a fireplace where they can hang their stockings and cuddle in front of the fire during the cold snowy days!). Dan needs the mandoor in the garage, surround sound wiring, and a gas line for the grill. We're compromising and I think we're doing a pretty good job. So, they say it should take about 5 months to build, which means we're looking at moving in sometime in the Spring (we hope!). We are grateful to be in a position to buy and are looking forward to having our own place! It seems like a great community--complete with a church, parks, a baseball field, and a clubhouse with a pool. Here's a few sketches of the house and the community. With the finished basement we'll end up having 5 bedrooms, so know that you always have a place to stay when you're in Utah!

It'll look a lot like this house, only with stucco/rock instead of the siding. Cute, huh!?

House hunting woes...

Shoot me now, please! We've been casually looking over the past several months, but have only recently begun seriously house-hunting. I'm getting a headache just thinking about this whole process. We always thought we were going to live in South Salt Lake county, like maybe Draper or Sandy. The more we looked, the more we realized that there are just fewer options in that area in our price range, and we can get a newer, nicer, bigger home elsewhere, so we widened our search. We have some friends who live in Daybreak and just love it, so we started looking out there. We kind of got our heart set on Daybreak, but the more we looked, the more we realized how many of the homes for sale are short sales, which take forever, and even if you made an offer and waited out the several months, you still don't even know if it's yours! We also came to the conclusion that we moved to Utah to be close to family and it takes forever to get out there. We revamped and started looking in the Traverse Mountain and Thanksgiving Point area. I really have had to get my head around the idea of living in Lehi. I know that kind of sounds snobish, but you have to understand that when I grew up in Highland, Lehi was hicktown, total podunk hicktown. It really was. Thanksgiving Point and Traverse Mountain, that whole area was actually Highland when I was growing up, then it was annexed to Lehi. Lehi has changed alot over the years and it's a very different place now, so I just need to get over it. (No offense to anyone who grew up in Lehi! :) We really like Traverse Mountain area (very close to the freeway), and were ready to make an offer if we found the right house. Well, we went to look at more houses yesterday and our eyes were opened to a few things. We were really excited before we went yesterday and now I feel like we're back to square one. We really like the look of the homes in Traverse Mountain(there are some really beautiful homes up there!). We love that they are relatively new, lots of young families, the neighborhood seems great and the people who live there really seem to like it (despite the wind and a little more snow in the winter). That area is definitely the best deal per square foot and it seems like you get a lot of bang for your buck. Having said that, we have found some problems with the lots, inaccessible yards, etc...so will those homes (with inaccessible yards, or weird lots) always limit/decrease the value of your home? It seems so. And because there is such a high number of foreclosures they have also had some problems with the HOA. They have had so many vacant homes they haven't had the $ to follow through with some of their promises. The particular neighborhood we have looked in apparently had a ton of investors buy homes, then when they can't get the return then they are just letting the banks take them. The builder also went belly up before it was completed, so they have had a huge inventory of new homes, which is part of why there are so many great deals up there. I have a friend who is renting there and loves it so much they are buying in the area. In fact, anyone we talk to who lives there loves it. The people who are moving from there aren't people who don't like the area, they are mostly investors and families who can't afford their homes. Another thing that is frustrating is that Dan and I value different things. We both really want to be in a great community. We seem to like the same areas. Dan wants the biggest bank for his buck, the best resale value. While I also take that into consideration, I don't think we need to have a 4,000 sq ft home, just because it's the best deal, the best price per sq. ft. I'd be happy in a 3 bedroom with an unfinished basement. That would definitely give us room to grow. SO...we are going to step back and rethink our priorities. Again. We may consider a townhome, so that we can just keep it as an investment and rent it out when we outgrow it and can buy a bigger place. I think we'll keep looking in Draper, American Fork, North/Northeast Lehi. I think we'll look in some other developments in Traverse Mountain as well. Oh, and then there's the financing issues, all the insane hoops you have to jump through. I understand why they have all these new guidelines, but it's still frustating to get caught up in the red tape. Well, because Dan has only been an appraiser for just over a year, he does not meet the consecutive 2-year self-employment history requirement (even though he has been in real estate for 10 years). So, even though we have a good down payment and we have the income to comfortably pay the mortgage, it's still crazy getting qualified. I think we have it worked out now, but it's definitely been a crazy process. My mom says to just keep looking and that eventually we'll find an area and a home that just feels right...but where!? Any insight? I'll definitely keep you posted!