How It All Began

So, it's nearing the end of the school year in May, 2008. We've gotten away from school early (we're both teachers, at the same school) and are driving home, when I (Glen) decide to take a different route. We're driving along a country road when Todd spots a "For Sale" sign at the end of a long driveway, so I pull over. We can see, sitting about half a mile back from the road, a really cool-looking old farmhouse. "Let's go take a look," Todd says. "No, I don't want to go driving into someone's yard without an appointment," I say. "Just drive up the driveway; I want to get a closer look," he says. So I back the car up, and we head up the driveway. By the time we get to the top of the hill, it's pretty obvious the place is deserted, which is all the invitation we need to get out and peek in the windows. Even though it's in pretty bad shape, we can see this house is REALLY cool. "Let's call and find out how much they're asking," Todd says. "What's the point? It's so far out of our price range we can't even afford to stand in the yard," I reply. "I just wanna find out," he says.

So he calls.

It's in foreclosure, and it's CHEAP.

Of course, it's cheap, because it needs a TON of work. But all we can see is the price tag, which we can conceivably afford. We make an appointment to see the inside.

Looking at the inside, reality tries to set in. It needs new plumbing. It needs a new furnace and central air. It needs a kitchen. It needs new bathrooms. It needs a new roof. It needs structural reinforcement to lift up the sagging floors upstairs. It needs new windows. It needs a LOT of TLC.

But there are some upsides: It has loads of character. It has gorgeous woodwork throughout. Underneath all the nasty carpeting, it has vertical grain pine floors that can be beautiful again. It was moved to it's present location in 1978, so the basement/foundation is concrete block and only 30 years old, as is the wiring and the septic system. At the time it was moved, it was sided with steel siding and thoroughly insulated. It sits on 7 acres, on a hilltop with 360 degree views and lots of mature trees. It's 5135 square feet! And we are in love.

Next comes meeting with bankers to find out if it really is feasible. We have an architect look at it to see if it can be saved. We have plumbers and roofers give us estimates. The bankers give us a green light. Now we just have to decide if we are up to the challenge.

In the meantime, the school year ends, but I am taking 40 kids from my school to New York City for five days. While I'm in New York, the listing agent calls Todd to tell him an offer has come in on the property, and if we want to make an offer, we need to do it immediately. So, while my students are listening to the Lorin Maazel and New York Philharmonic perform Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony, I'm standing in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall on my cell phone deciding whether or not to commit a 110 year old house in Colorado.

We decide to go for it. It would be nice if the next line was "the bank accepted our offer and we were in," but that was not to be the case. Had we known it would be another six months before the house was finally ours, and had we known all that would transpire in those six months, we might well have thrown the towel in right then and there. But that is a story I shall save for another post.