Felicity and Toby’s visit ended earlier in the week: Toby flew home to South Bend, Indiana, on Memorial Day (Monday) and Felicity took off to Quito, Ecuador (on her way to the Galapagos Islands) on Tuesday. Both let us know they had arrived at their destinations OK. We enjoyed their visit but it is restful to have our routine back. A five day visit dragged at times – a long three day weekend visit would have been more activity-filled for our “guests.”
You can follow Felicity’s travels at her Blog Page. (http://www.blog.felicityfields.com) Her posts can be quite entertaining!
The rest of the week was a mixed bag of work and projects. Pam and I had both taken Tuesday off and we had arranged, with our realtor, to view two houses in Montrose. The first was a return trip to the Tulip Circle house; we wanted to review the condition of the house again. On-line auction bids for the house had never gone over $250K and we thought we might place a bid for just over that amount in the current bid cycle. Wouldn’t you know…this time the bids went into the low $250 range and the bank still did not accept any of the bids. We have concluded that given the work needed in the house (some minor repairs) and the restrictions of the HOA guidelines for the Tulip Circle subdivision, this may not be the property for us. I’ll keep an eye on it for curiosity, but move on.
The second stop of the day — Pam had seen a repo place in the listings and we had driven past it during the kids’ visit. We call it the “Underwood home” as it is located on Underwoods Lane. The property is listed well over our budget but the house sits on 10 acres with views of the San Juan Mountains and is built out of blonde brick, both attractive to us. The listing mentioned the house needed an “up-do.”
It needs considerably more than an “up-do.” One room had ceiling damage that indicates a new roof is needed. Ceramic floor tiles were broken (so new floors too), and the place has been sort of converted from propane to natural gas, including the baseboard hot water heating system. The conversion was poorly done. Basically the house would need a new roof and a complete inside gut job and rebuild. This put the idea of a purchase way out of our financial capabilities.
The home has potential; the large kitchen is well-lit and looks out on the mountains and there’s a dandy laundry room located off the back patio entry. The property has irrigation water, large trees, a fenced yard, and an equipment lean-to that would provide some shelter for my toys. A rural setting (but still only about 10 – 15 minutes from Montrose) means we would have the separation from neighbors we seek but still have access to all the services we’d need in retirement.
Here are just a few photos from this place:
Underwood home back yard with trees
Underwood home kitchen
View from kitchen window
Given that summer activities, including trips to The Lot, will take more of our free time over the summer, we will be backing off on the house hunt. (I’ll be towing the RV up to our Sanderling lot this week, in fact.) Pam continues to monitor target area real estate listings but, unless a heck of a deal presents itself, we will probably not be doing a lot of house hunting in the next few months.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Five Cents Worth:
Our realtor likely is becoming frustrated with us – what kind of house do these two really want? – since we ask to view all sorts of “gems” (repos, auction properties, estate sales) with various architectural styles. Fields and I have concluded what we are gravitating toward is the most reasonably priced house in an up-scale subdivision with minimal covenants. Fields wants a mountain view. I want a pleasant water view (pond/stream/river/lake, not just the local irrigation ditch). We want a bit of space (1+ acre) but not a mini-farm (10+ acres).
Sadly, our price point does not appear to be competitive in the local Colorado market for the property we seek. Particularly not in the warm weather months, when sellers are less inclined to make a deal. Most properties we like would need to see a price reduction in the $35,000+ range for us to be able to make an offer. This is not out of the question; Tulip Circle started out at $335,000 in February, it is now at $275,000. A lovely home we viewed in Fairplay last year just sold for $275,000, and it was listed at $310,000 when we did the walk through.
I have offered the opinion to Fields that perhaps the property we seek is not in Colorado. He did not seem at all enthused when I pointed out some listings with water views in Walla Walla, Washington. (!)
Initial conversations with our credit union regarding pre-qualification were successful, but not without controversy. We both resist the conditions mortgage loans put on consumers. The paperwork, even in the initial stages, is outrageous. And I continue to question why we have struggled to maintain a super-high credit rating all our married life, when the “payoff” to us appears to be minimal.
On a positive note, I ordered a tenor ukulele. It should arrive this week.
Kala MK-T Makala Tenor Ukulele (Amazon.com photo)
Happy Trails.
