We can dream, right?

Dave and I were walking on Saturday and took a different route than usual because I was sick of seeing the same yuppy-huts over and over again.  We love to look at houses, and close to our area is a subdivision full of cookie-cutter homes in the $450K + price range.  Nice to look at, but you couldn't PAY me to live in one.  I'm not a fan of 'suburbia' and Dave and I have always dreamed of one day owning a single family home on a nature-inspired (not HOA inspired) lot with incredible views and some respectable amount of privacy.  We love homes with unique architecture, and would never spend money on a home that doesn't have interesting curb appeal.

We have a great townhouse. . .it's in a lower price range for our area but still modern and marketable.  We have excellent views, have updated almost every room (and counting) including a complete bathroom re-model, and with the new light rail construction bringing a train to Denver practically to our front door our property value is on the rise.

On this walk we came upon an older home built in 1983, high up on the hill in a beautiful neighborhood.  It doesn't look like any other house in the area, and every window faces an unobstructed view for miles out to the East and the North.  The driveway is in ill-repair.  The landscaping is a mess.  It's empty and has been on the market for what we think is a considerable amount of time.

This house stopped us in our tracks.

We felt an immediate connection to it: all of a sudden we found ourselves talking about how we'd re-do the cracked, rotting driveway.  How we would take out the not-so-native juniper bushes and xeriscape the front yard, which is a series of 'benches' leading up to the house.  We spent a good 10 minutes staring at this house: it drew us in and like a puppy in a pet store said 'stop kidding yourselves, you LOVE me'. . . .

All of a sudden the gears started turning.  We knew that someday we would be interested in buying a single-family home (we're already feeling a little crunched in our townhouse) but the idea that it could happen sooner?  A little shocking, to put it lightly.   This home sums up everything we love about our own American Dream; it's open, it has amazing views, it has a private lot with aspen trees, it has lots of room for our own improvements, it's welcoming for guests, and believe it or not, it's not a huge over sized mansion-ette.

From the curb it looks enormous, but in reality at about 2500 finished square feet it's smaller than most new homes.

Dave and I quickly walked home and left a message with the selling agent that we wanted a tour.  We looked it up on zillow.com and learned quite a bit about this home that caught our eye.  It's listed quite a bit higher than we would be interested in paying, but consider this: it's a buyers market.  The zillow.com 'selling price zestimate' is listed at $150k LESS than the current asking price.

Pair that with what may be a desperate seller (remember, the home is empty and has been on the market for some time now) some negotiation regarding the poor landscaping and driveway, actual selling prices of several homes in the area, and magically the price comes down to within a few $10k of the current selling value of our townhouse.

In any case, I don't hold onto any hope that this actually will happen.  If it's meant to be, than we'll be moving. . .and if not, it was just here to give us a quick 'taste' of what we *could* have in the future.

The living area.  I'd get rid of that ugly mirror thing and paint the walls in a designer shade of green or a creamy tan.  Dave and I would someday re-do the fireplace in tile.  The carpet is brand new.

The kitchen was remodeled.  We would throw some great orange or yellow on the back splash to spice it up a bit!  I love the hardwood. . .I think the cabinets are original, however.

The loft areas (there are two) are wide open spaces. . .perfect for guest bedrooms, office, etc.  Again, I would update each with some great paint colors.

And my favorite room of all. . .something I have ALWAYS dreamed of having: a sun room.  I would paint this a creamy yellow color and put in some cozy, welcoming furniture.  It opens up to the back/side yard which has aspen trees and mountain views.

In any case, this IS our dream home.  Who knows if we will get to live here or not. . .my fingers are secretly crossed because I'm so in love.  This house looks and feels SO rich, but because it is older construction it is overlooked by the more affluent crowd in our city and people like Dave and I might actually be able to live in a home like this.  The large windows eliminate much need for the use of lights and electricity during the day, an  added bonus to keep the cost of living down.  If we can get it for a reasonable price, Dave says 'why not?'

We can dream, right?