Change of plans 2.0

So after the inspection of

Our beautiful 1885 home in provo, Utah

Fell thru...

We had my sister go tour some homes

Near the BYU campus.

We wanted a home that we could rent out part of,

And live in the other half.

Essentially, we wanted someone else to pay our mortgage

(Who doesn't?)

In case Shaun wasn't able to work full time

While getting his MBA.

But none of those homes panned out either.

I became very discouraged with finding a home.

Road blocks kept finding their way into

Our road trip of finding a home

In Utah. 

We looked at surrounding towns/cities....

And still could not find a match.

So, we decided to stay in colorado!!

Which is great, cuz we love this place...

But also sucked cuz housing costs are expensive.

We looked at every town surrounding Fort Collins....

Loveland, Windsor, milliken, Johnstown, Wellington,

And I even spent a day in Greeley....

And that's the town I wanna tell you about....

We found a super cute brick side-by-side duplex

For sale in Greeley.  It was well below our budget, and we could rent one half of it

And not only have it cover our mortgage, but have an income.

We walk up to the duplex, and immediately 

I see an open bottle of beer sitting on the porch...

Their are chip bags etc laying all over the ground,

And the sketchiest guy walks past and smiles...

Our agent open the door to

What smells like a ginormous 

Cat box...

We walk in...

The wood floors are destroyed..

There is a huge metal grate covering a 2x3 foot hole In the floor...

The main bedroom is about 8x9 ft big...

The basement looked like something from the movie saw...

We skipped the bathrooms for fear of getting hep-a.

And on the way out Caden says 

"This one is nice"
looks like I have an optimist on my hands!

On to the next Greeley property...

This was an older home that was built in the 20s and had

Been split into 3 separate housing units.

The main floor was nice (that is where we would live),

The 2nd unit was in the basement.

We knocked on the door

And an older lady opens it...confused she turns to 

A young girl for translation of what we are saying.

We walk into a one bedroom, one bath unit to find a large family 

Living there....it was sad, awkward, etc

And I wanted to leave.

Greeley got marked off our list, and we were

Back to square one.

Loveland colorado,

The more affordable version of Fort Collins 

Aka foco.

Cross your fingers our house hunt ends soon

(And not because we give up).

Inspection gone bad....(tear)

Yesterday was our anniversary....7 year anniversary

To be exact!

Our anniversary wasn't exactly

What I hoped it would be....

And this is why.

We woke up,

Got the kiddos ready for church

And than got the news that 

The inspection that we had done on

The house did not pass our minimum requirements.

It was super disappointing 

And breakfast no longer sounded very good....

I already had a Halloween party and Christmas party planned

For us to have in that house....

I already had spent hours on Pinterest picking colors

And patterns for bedrooms....

I took a shower and felt a little better about the situation,

But it was still disappointing because we made an offer

On this home a month ago,
(and for the past month I considered it "ours")

And we hoped inspection etc

Would go smoothly....

But there were a few things in the inspection

That would cost to much cash to fix.

The main concern was the attic/roof.

The home had a huge roof leak years ago,

And the leak was fixed, but not until a lot of damage was already done.

2 bedrooms in the second floor had drywall damage

(Easy to fix)

And that was the only damaged part my parents saw when they walked thru the home.

We could not see the damage in the attic.

But we found out that Some of the beams and joist had irreparable damage....

Replacing a beam is very costly,

Replacing several beams is super costly....and that was out of the question!

Along with that, the home needed some electrical repair,

Which we could not do on our own...making the cost even higher.

By the time we added up all the costs for the  repairs needed, it was about 30-40 k!

Which isn't too bad for a 129 year old home 

That is 3900 square feet..... but it was out of our price range after we pay

For the down payment and closing costs....

From the looks of the home we thought for sure that this home only needed cosmetic repairs,

Such as drywall, paint, new flooring etc.

That is why you ALWAYS have an inspection  

Done!

A $500 inspection is going to save us from a huge financial blow.

If we had skipped the inspection (as some people do),

We would have been screwed for years and years to come.

Today I feel better about the whole situation,
and I am now ok with saying goodbye to this charming home.
It needs an owner with a decent cash wad and
a strong desire to do a lot
of structural repair.

Here is a link to the home (if you wanna see pics)
 http://www.zillow.com/homes/690-west-300-south-provo,-ut_rb/

And so, the house hunting continues!

History of our home!

When we bought our first home in wheat ridge colorado

We always wondered what the history of the home

Was...who had lived there in the past 100 years?

How many babies were born under that roof?

How many people died under that roof?

What were these peoples professions?

How much did they pay to build the house in 1912?

I searched and searched and could not find anything.....

We bought the home as a foreclosure, so we did 

Not even know what the previous owners were like...

When my parents were in Utah

Looking at our house that we are currently in the process

Of buying...they noticed an old picture of

The house sitting on the kitchen table.

We called our agent a few days ago, 

And asked if we

Could have a copy of that picture

To frame and display in the home.

(I am obsessed with old pics of current homes, buildings etc)

Our agent than told us that

The Utah office of preservation did a write up on the home in 2000.
I was so excited!      

He sent us a copy of that write up, and here is the 

Short version!

Erick Christian henrichsen and Albine Jensen henrichsen bought the
Lot that the home sits on in 1877.
They paid $370 for half an acre of land
(The home sits on only half that lot now, they sold the other half)

Erick was born in Vejle Denmark on December 30, 1847
Albine was born in Vejle Denmark in 1850

After converting to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(Mormon church)
They moved to provo Utah in 1868.

They were married in the Salt Lake City endowment house July 22, 1872

They had 11 kids!!!

They started  building the house around 1879
And moved in sometime around 1885.

Erick was a potter and owned provo pottery beginning in 1891.
By 1924 he was selling 250,000 pieces a year.
He was also on the provo city council.

Erick died in 1930 at age 83
Albine stayed in the house with her youngest son and daughter in law
(Edwin Roy henrichsen, Beulah Maria Giles henrichsen)

Albine died October 12, 1937 and her son Edwin died 16 days later.

Beulah inherited the home and stayed until 1955

1956-1959 the home was rented to a piano tuner named Delmar Nelson

Before Beulah died in 1968 she sold the home to the current owners,
James and Shirley Hatch.

They put the house up for sale in May 2014,
And we made an offer in July!

In the past 129 years this home has been owned by only 2 families!
We will be the 3rd family to own this historic house!
I cannot wait!