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Our main reason for looking for a new home was to find better schools for our kiddos. Secondary to that, Eric and I each had our list of things we were looking for. I wanted a quiet, flat street, a flat driveway for the kids to play, and a designated kids "game room." Eric wanted a cool location.
We looked at some pretty good homes in northwest Austin, a few fixer uppers in Tarrytown, and then fell in love with a foreclosure in Pemberton Heights. After putting in an offer and having our hopes dashed when it wasn't accepted (ours was one of 40+ offers!) it was back to the drawing board. By then Eric was really in love with the idea of living in central Austin, so we started looking at homes big enough for our family of four. Unfortunately most of the homes weren't originally built with four bedrooms in the 1930's and 1940's, so homeowners throughout the years have added on to the homes where they could- and sometimes it didn't make much sense! One house we looked at had an added-on bedroom in the back of the house with windows that looked into the garage!
After looking at a bunch of "re-muddled" (as opposed to "re-modeled!") homes, we started thinking about the idea of renovating a place of our own. By this time we knew every central Austin listing on the MLS by heart, but one night I happened to put in different search parameters- searching by what elementary school I liked- and up popped a really cute little blue house that had been on the market for 10 short days. We contacted our agent and toured it the next day, and after only being in it for 20 minutes we knew it was what we were looking for! Adorable quiet, flat street lined with trees, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, large dining room, lots of light and LOTS of potential to turn it into the perfect home for our family. We put in an offer and after a little back and forth we were under contract!
Although we were extremely excited about the house, we wanted to be sure that we would be able to afford to turn it into our dream home. We contacted a builder that we liked who agreed to meet us at the property to discuss our plans. He brought along an architect, and between the four of us we came up with a rough idea of what can be done and at what cost. Luckily it was within our budget, so we felt confident proceeding to closing- which was today! It's officially ours!
We've been told that it could take anywhere from 10-18 months to complete construction, so the fun is just beginning! Our next step is what we are referring to as "Architect Day." We are scheduled to meet with 4 architects on June 6th to discuss the project. Two were referrals from friends, one is working on another project on our street, and the fourth is the one we originally met with during our option period. We are really excited to hear what they all have to say about what can be done, and hopefully Eric and I will ultimately agree on who to pick to design our dream home!
