Our family went home for Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday, I was sitting in my parents living room and was bored. I was sitting in the rocking chair/recliner wasting time on my phone. I had checked Instagram, Facebook, Yahoo News, and everything else I could think of. When I ran out of things to look at, I decided to browse home listings back in Eagle. I scanned through all the homes for sale in our neighborhood. Then I saw it. 1.73 acres of land listed for $135,000 a mile from our house. I was sure it was a misprint. I joked to Scott, "Hey, do you want to buy 2 acres for super cheap?" He seemed somewhat intrigued when I told him about it. We have had the dream of building on more land for some time now, but it's only a dream. We see pieces of land and wish we could buy them, but we aren't ever serious. The closest we came was a few years ago when they opened up a neighborhood (Lion's Gate) up the road from us. The lots were just under an acre, and we thought it would be perfect because it would still be in our ward. But then the prices came out, and they were between $160,000 and $180,000. So we remodeled instead.
We talked when we remodeled that we knew it wouldn't be a permanent fix, but hoped it would prolong our needing to move on to something else. The remodel has made living here so much more comfortable, but there are things about our house that we just can't fix.
So back to this lot. I saw it on MLS on Sunday. We got back into town on Monday evening. Tuesday I was driving home from speech therapy, and I decided I'd just drive past it and check it out. I pulled up to the lot and instantly fell in love. I snapped some pictures to show Scott, and I pulled the flyer, which confirmed that it wasn't a misprint. It really was $135,000 for almost 2 acres. For land right here in Eagle, that is an unreal price.
From there I drove to meet up with Scott for some shopping for a birthday present for Aaron and for some lunch at Cafe Zupas. During lunch I emailed the flyer to our friend Randy (he's a realtor), and asked if he could look up some info on it for us.
Randy emailed me later that day with answers to my questions. The lot had originally gone up for sale in 2007 for $489,900, and dropped through the years to where it was now. We would have 24 months before we would have to begin construction, and have 36 months to have it "substantially completed".
That night I went to Savannah's band concert and Scott went to Josh's football practice. After we were both back home from those activities, I told him I wanted him to come see the lot. We told Savannah we'd be right back and we drove over to see the lot together. We walked out into the weedy grass, and I saw that it sloped down into a hill (something I hadn't been able to see very well when I had driven by it earlier that day). We walked down the hill and talked about how it would be a perfect lot to build a daylight basement (which is what we've always wanted). We talked about how we'd have two years before we would have to start building, instead of having to rush into anything. We stood on that hill and a wave of peace came over me, and I knew it was home. I think Scott felt it too.
We drove back home and Scott sent a text to Juston (our builder who did our remodel) and told him when he had the chance, we'd like him to go see the lot and give us his opinion. Juston texted back that he could go now. Juston drove over and picked us up, and the three of us drove over in Juston's truck. By then it was dark, so we parked the truck so the headlights shone out across the lot, and we walked down the hill with lanterns. There was a big storm brewing, and the lighting across the sky lit up the whole lot every time it flashed. Juston's exact words were, "This is a gold mine. If you don't buy it, I will." He looked at the realtor's sign, and said, "I know this guy. I'll give him a call in the morning."
Wednesday morning Juston called the realtor and got the story behind the lot. A couple had bought it a year ago, but the wife didn't really want to build, and fell in love with an existing home in Meridian, and they bought that instead. The realtor told Juston that there had been several offers already (which had been turned down because they were below asking price), and that he had several other people interested in it. Juston got him to agree to hold it for 24 hours while we decided what we wanted to do.
Wednesday night was Aaron's birthday. The kids had picked up on Scott and I talking about this lot, and they were really upset about the idea of moving. I wanted them to see it so we could really make this decision as a family. So after Scott's parents arrived for presents and cake, we loaded everyone up and took them over to see the lot. The kids instantly fell in love with it. I watched the kids run around on the lot and I knew it would be the perfect place for our family. Even Savannah, who was dead set against moving, fell in love with it.
Thursday morning Scott called Juston and told him we wanted the lot, and Scott went to work calling banks to try and line up financing. Juston put $1000 earnest money down on the lot and submitted an official offer. He knew from the realtor, that the owners wanted to move fast, and he knew it needed to be a full price offer because they had turned down lesser offers. So Juston offered a full price ($135,000) full cash offer. He said he would front the money so we could have time to get financing to come through. The couple had till Friday to respond to our offer. Friday morning the realtor called Juston to say they'd had 2 more offers come in over the night. Juston knew we were first in line, and it being a full cash offer was in our favor (quick close), but just to be safe, he raised his offer to $136,000. (I have to add in another fun detail. The house this couple bought, just happened to be one that Juston had built 10 years ago. The wife wanted the floor plans for some reason. Juston wasn't sure he even had them still, but he spent two hours Friday morning digging through his files. He finally found them, and told the realtor the floor plans came with our offer.) We waited nervously all day to hear back whether or not we got the lot. Friday night Juston texted to say he heard we got it, but they still needed to fax over their offer. We waited through the weekend and finally got word that they had faxed over their acceptance of our offer. We are set to close June 12th.
So, we bought a lot. Without even looking to do so, we bought a lot. In a week's time. It's crazy. I know it's completely crazy, and yet, I feel so peaceful about it. When we tell people how big the lot is and how much we paid for it, they can't believe we got such a great deal. Worst case scenario, we change our mind about building and we turn around and sell the lot and make money off it (because land prices are on the rise). Best case scenario, we end up with the home of our dreams. I'm hoping for the best.
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