Wednesday, August 1, 2007

House Decisions...

So for people who don't know yet, my mother-in-law is subdividing her beautiful property (her property includes a creek that runs through the back yard with an island in the middle of the creek) so that Andrew and I will be able to build a house there when Andrew is done at MIT. We are very excited for many reasons:
1. We will be close to family- having grown up in the same town as each other and having our families (Andrew's sisters, my grand parents) in the same town, we kind of always took the close proximity of family for granted. Now that we're living 3 1/2 or 4 hours away, we're realizing how nice it is to have family close by.
2. We will be able to get pretty much exactly what we want in a house since we will be building it ourselves (or picking it out- as the case may be).
3. We will have our house on the same property as where Andrew grew up, and as much as he tries not to act like it, he's a sentimentalist.
4. As I said above, the property is BEAUTIFUL!

We have been thinking a lot about what our house will be like. We have a pretty good idea of what we want. We have it basically down to 2 very similar choices. Choice 1 is 2106 sq ft and Choice 2 is 2316 sq ft . Choice 2 is only $3,200 more than Choice 1. That's not too bad for a slightly bigger house. But should we go with Choice 1 and be able to add some of the upgrades that we want sooner rather than later? We would like to add windows on the side walls in the living room and the bedrooms, and we would like to add skylights onto the living room. What do you think? Also, please tell me what you think is a "Must Have" in a house, and what could you live without. The more information I have, the better off we will be to make a decision.

2 comments:

breliggan said...

I would say choice one just because I'm a bells and whistles sort of girl, who cares if you're down a few feet? As for what I would consider "Must Have"- an aquarium. hah. I don't know, Kier. I think whichever house you choose, you and Andrew will be happy.

MOM said...

Hi Andrew and Kieran,

I would say go with the house you like as $3000 over the life of a mortgage isn't much. I do have a suggestion though. I think skylights are a bad idea. Not a single friend I know who had them build in (guaranteed) or added later has NOT had them leak. You could compensate by larger windows or a window wall letting the outdoors in, or a screened in porch that you could put windows up in the winter. My friend had a brand new house and the skylights leaked and her kitchen ceiling had to be redone. In the winter they were covered with snow, and in the summer they looked like they needed washing.

Well to each his own--so enjoy what you do.

Love MOM