Fail homes!

Here are some more fails from our tour of homes.
This was a basement "workshop." We couldn't tell if they were in the middle of building something or if that was the workspace.


Elk Ridge home with a 50's booth on the second floor:

This was an attempt to match the sink with the booth:

Downstairs dining area:

This was a cabinet 10+ feet in the air on the wall. I guess you'd put your valuables there?

The Elk Ridge idea of a fancy light fixture:


Unfinished basement in Pleasant Grove. There is a door there that doesn't open, but there's a latch you can lift on the plywood. Behind the plywood is a room full of dirt.

A Provo home with some interesting custom size glass. Triangles anyone?

Remember the sauna house previously? Well here is some more wood work and a view from one of the lower levels. You actually enter the house on the top floor. I think they were going for some sort of Medieval Viking look.

An upgraded but extremely messy Provo house. They were using the master suite shower as an area for drying clothes.

This should make you appreciate all the work we went through to find a good house.

More Photos

At everyone's request at dinner, here are more photos of the Alpine house.
The playroom on the second floor:


The bathroom in the basement:

The view from the master bedroom on the main floor:

The coolest cubbie/coat hanging section I've ever seen. This is in the mudroom:

The playroom view from the outside:

The one car garage entrance:

View from the path from the driveway to the front door:

The front entrance:

The side yard north of the house:

Part of our half-acre, but it's uphill and the brush looks like this:


Backyard with rocks!:

Exit from the single car garage to the backyard:

The theater room in the basement (pictures don't really do it justice):

Even larger room than the theater room in the basement:


Bathtub spout:
View from the balcony above the great room:


The great room fan. Unfortunately this is a vaulted ceiling, and so changing those burnt out bulbs will be a hassle:


Master double vanity:

Master jetted tub:

View from the great room up to the balcony/second floor:

A kitchen photo:

The pantry:

View from the kitchen to the hall to the pantry, the 2 car garage, and then the mudroom (washer/dryer) and the single-car garage:

Dining room area:

Main floor guest bathroom:

Front entrance:

French doors in one of the front rooms on the main floor:

Tiled entryway:

Vaulted ceiling fan in a front room on the main floor:

Maybe next time I can add more house fails in a blog post :)

Let's just say it moved me...to a bigger house!

I know, I know. It's been months and months since my last blog post. Ryan and I have decided that with two incomes and the small likelihood of social security being around when we would need it, to move into a new home. We have been working to build up our savings the last several months to put in a large down payment. We were looking at an unfinished home in Springville for a while, but with the time frame the sellers wanted and the daunting task of getting contractors and materials, we opted to look at already finished homes. We did our research at utahrealestate.com, put in our price range and square footage, and began viewing homes.

The first one we viewed was on Halloween--it was a large home in Springville. We toured it and were impressed with the first floor. That feeling ended when we went to the second floor, then the basement. The craftsmanship was shoddy at best. Here's an example of a theme throughout the house:



I'm not quite sure why they didn't just shift the switch when building, or select a smaller door frame, but that was the result.

We looked at several others that looked good on paper and in photo, but the actual result was usually disappointing or not as expected. I learned to view the pictures as the highlights, then view the price and ask myself, "What are the real problems we aren't seeing?" And a walk-through usually took that house off the list. Here are a few fails from various homes that were not featured in the photos in the listing:

This was in the front room of a house in Elk Ridge:



The steps to nowhere:



This was in the basement of a house in Lehi: (the tube was coming out of finished dry wall into the middle of the hallway floor)



This was from a huge home in Provo; it had a sauna but it also was half-finished (the bathroom didn't have a ceiling):



This was a note about a porch in Highland:


And then we found our dream home, in Alpine, Utah. It's 6700 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a nice kitchen, half an acre lot, 3 car garage, and it's got 2 fireplaces. Like I said, our dream home. There's nothing unfinished or really strange. The layout is great, and so as styles change, you can update without it seeming dated. Here are some photos:











We plan to close at the end of January, and to rent out the rest of our home in Springville. Hopefully by the time we get both homes paid off, we can retire and enjoy receiving the rental income from our Springville home. :)