We Bought A House!

Back in January we had considered buying a house since our rent would go up $300 in May. We figured if we were going to be paying that much to rent we might as well pay that much to own something. We didn't really pursue the house hunt though until we brought up the idea to our ward friend Quinn Butler who's a Realtor. Once the idea was mentioned to him, we were busy house hunting. We spent most of Jan-Mar searching and searching. By that point we got tired out and decided to take a break.

Then one random day at the end of March we get a phone call from Quinn telling us we have to look at a foreclosed house that just went on the market. We looked at it that night, told Quinn we wanted it and we made an offer. (which was 1 of 7 other offers after only being on the market for one day) The bank asked for highest offers, so we made a counter offer, Quinn made a few phone calls and pulled a few strings and our offer was picked! After much paper work, legal documents, visits with our loan officer, frustrations, fixing up the house to make it FHA approved, scrounging for a down payment, and living with my dad for 3 weeks in between the moves, the house was finally ours when we closed on May 18. The loan went through on the 21st and we moved in on Saturday, May 23. Wahoo!!!

The Moving Crew

Thanks boys for letting the
"handicapped" pregnant lady just sit and point :-)

Taking a drink break

The first thing we set up-the Wii :-)

Steve likes to learn new things and he likes projects. So one of the requirements for choosing a house was that it needed to be a fixer upper. I was okay with that seeing that Steve enjoys it so much and that it would raise the equity of the home when we sell it. (it's easy for me to see the potential in this home) A few other requirements was that it had to have a garage, a yard, and at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Our house has 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a garage, a yard, kitchen, laundry room, storage room, mud room, and three family rooms. And we got a stealer deal for it! It's too big for us but perfect for being able to have my sister and her little family stay with us while they're here from DC for her husband's summer internship. My mom's also been staying with us for a while. We love having a full house of love, fun, games, and memories! Here's some before and after pictures to enjoy...














front of house before

After we pulled trees and rota tilled

after we laid sawed

"home teaching" room before

after we carpeted, painted, and some decorating

kitchen before

After we painted and bought a TALL new dining table set

"grand room" before

after we painted, carpeted, and some decorating

upstairs full bathroom before

after we painted and decorated

master bedroom before

after we painted

guest/homework room (my mom's room) before

after we painted

Cooper's room before

after we painted and decorated

garage before

after some organization, a work bench, and decorating

"game room" before

after we carpeted

laundry/storage room before

after a new ceiling and wall

downstairs bathroom before

after we painted

Emma's room before

after a new paint job

close-up of the paint job

Tiff & Justin's room















backyard before

now (with an overgrown apple tree & forest of little Aspen trees)

In addition to re-carpeting and painting we've done a lot of yard work, replaced faucets, got the swamp cooler working, etc. We still have a few more things to do (clean the mudroom & 1/2 bath, re-seed the yard, plant flowers/landscaping, organize, finish unpacking and decorating...) Eventually we'd like to put a new floor, counters and cupboards in the kitchen as well as new floors in the bathrooms and possibly a new shower and sink in the upstairs bathroom. We also have to re-roof the house sometime soon. It's a project worth while and we love it!!!