Good Stuff

Well, we went out with one of WS' old friends from back in the day. He took us out to look for houses. Now that our house in LA is officially sold, we can actually look for a new place to live. We know the area of Denver that we're interested in. Although we really like the area where we are living now (Greenwood Village), we could never afford to buy a house in this area (unless we win the lottery!). So, we're focusing our search on the Centennial area of town. Centennial is south of Denver. The drive would be about 30 minutes for WS to get to work (He's in the Northeast part of Denver). Centennial is made up of lots of families, great schools, parks, open spaces, and covenant communities (you pay a monthly fee and can use tennis courts, a pool, and a clubhouse). Centennial is where WS' sister lives and we just really love the area. It's very similar and nearby to where we're living now.

We viewed about 7 homes today and found 2 that we really like. There are pros/cons to each one. The first one that we liked is in a community called Piney Creek. It's a little bit more east than where we are living now and it seems a little bit newer. The trees are less mature and there is a little bit less character. However, it's still a great neighborhood. Lots of walking trails, parks, etc. It's a little bit farther away from downtown Denver, but it would still be about a 30 min. drive to work for WS. House #1 You can check out the listing on Realtor.com for yourself. What we really liked about this home is that it's very large. It has 4 bedrooms upstairs and an office downstairs, but also a finished basement with a bathroom. We would have ample room for guests and a growing family (you never know ;)!) I'm just not sure if it would feel too far from Denver metro. But a beautiful home.

The second home that we loved is a little bit smaller. It's been updated and is really beautiful. It's a very open floorplan and it would not need any work. Updated kitchen, bathrooms, new windows, roof, etc. Another positive is the very large, private yard. Additionally, this is located in the older, more established part of Centennial. It seems a little bit closer to downtown and the neighborhood has a little bit more character. This is also a community with a pool, tennis courts, great schools, family oriented. The home doesn't have a finished basement, but the trade off is the location and the homes seem to demand a little bit more money in this neighborhood. I would never worry about my home losing value. House #2 This home is a block away from a great park and walking/jogging trails.

We both really like both of these homes. Our agent also has a few more listings he'd like to show us this week. I think that we're also going to meet with a mortgage broker this week to discuss our pre-approval. I'm hoping that we can really narrow things down and be able to make an offer soon.

Tonight we're having a few people over for a barbecue. WS went out and bought a Weber Kettle grill. It's our first grill! Everyone said to go propane, but this isn't our permanent grill, it's just something to get us through. We'll definitely go propane when we are looking to buy something nice. Also, we had a new babysitter come over to watch E while we were looking at homes. That went really well. Things are going well. I see a light at the end of the tunnel!