More on the House

Now that we have a signed contract, let me tell you a little more about the house. Overall, I love the house. I would love it more if it were built of bricks, but that is just me. I'm a brick house girl. Every house I've ever lived in my entire life has been brick. In this case, the functional floor plan and large space outweighs the cosmetics of the outside for me though. The house offers a lot in its 3200 sq ft.

Originally, this house was rather similar to the one I live in now -small one story, three bedroom ranch. It had two bathrooms though, where my house has just the one. It was built in 1983. Ten or 15 years later they added the great room at the back of the house. Four to five years ago they built up and added the second story - and they did so that their married daughter and family could move in with them. What that means to us, it was designed for multigenerational households in mind.

We've seen plenty of houses with in-law suites, but most of those layouts placed the inlaw suite upstairs or in a basement. Since my MIL can't do stairs at all, those were ruled out. We've seen other houses that have first floor bedroom suites, but it is usually the owners suite and the nicest in the house. I personally didn't want to give that up. We looked at ranches with finished basements, but still either the master suite would go to my in-laws or we'd all have bedrooms on the same floor and wouldn't have much segregated space to get away from eachother.

This house is pretty unique because the upper level is actually bigger than the main area of the first floor below it and it holds four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, nice storage and a great room with a vaulted ceiling, skylights and a kitchenette. The second floor also has a laundry area tucked into a closet. One of the bedrooms and bathrooms combine into a nice sized master suite with a walk-in closet. Having that great room though is what really sets this house apart. It gives us space to "live" in apart from my in-laws. The great room up here also has a closet with a computer workstation and some storage shelves built in.

The main floor has a master suite and two additional small bedrooms. The master bath on this floor is already set up with a walk-in shower, which is just what my in-laws need. While the closet isn't a walk-in, it is a good size. There is a "formal" living room as you come in the front door, a nicely renovated full bath on in the hall, a beautiful kitchen, a laundry closet built into the nook under the stairs, and the great room to the back of the house. One of the other helpful things about the layout is that they put a side entrance door in that great room. It has easy access to the detached garage and huge driveway. Best of all the step up into the house here is just 2 inches - no handicap ramp needed!

While there isn't basement, which is something we were hoping to have, there is a lot of storage in this house. For starters, there is a floored and finished attic over two upstairs bedrooms. It is a nice space that could be used for more than storage actually. The owner's daughter does crafts up there. Then the attic of the garage is also floored for storage. There is also a finished room in the garage (which could be converted back to a three car garage if desired). The owner has used it for a business office. It has wall unit heating and air. (I'm thinking at least half of it will be an exercise area with TV - and the other half workspace for John.) All of the closets in the house are equipped with closet organizers too. The only things it really lacks if you ask me, is a kitchen island and a pantry.

Outside the landscaping is nice. There are two trex decks, one straight out from the main floor great room via sliding glass doors, and one up at pool level. This neighborhood does not have sidwalks, but the driveway is ginormous, so allows a lot of room for kids to ride their scooters/bikes/trikes while an adult supervises from front porch equipped with a ceiling fan.

It might not be totally perfect, but it is very close. I think we got a good deal, and interest rates are so low right now. If we were going to go big, I guess now is a great time to do it with the housing and lending market the way it is right now. Our contract says we'll close on or before August 4th.