$5 buys you a lot in Colorado

Friday afternoon we went back to a new neighborhood we had previously visited with our realtor, to go check on a spec house we liked (spec houses are new houses that the builder goes ahead and starts building, with the options preselected in the assumption that someone will buy them). We found out it had sold, but decided to check out what else the builder had. We found a house that we both dug, with pretty much everything we were looking for. The lot is awesome, with a huge park in front and a small patch of designated open space behind, which rolls off downhill into a great view across Parker to the mountains and the city. Plus its got most of what we were looking for as far as floorplan and bedrooms. The yard is huge, which we actually are a little worried about due to the high price of water in Denver, but it would be great for Ella. We asked about putting a hold on it, and they told us it usually requires around $1500 - $2000 earnest money deposit, but they were having a special right now for 5.

"$500?" We both said... thinking "that's a good deal!"...

"No, 5 dollars" she replied.

So we put a hold on the house. Its scheduled to be completed 30-60 days (by the looks of it, its more like 60 days +), which buys us that amount of time to sell our house. If it doesn't work out, we're down 5 bucks.

We're trying not to get too attached to the house, but now that we've invested such a large sum of money in it, we feel like its ours. There's plenty of little things we'd like to change if we could (me being in the business I'm in), but as a whole its definitely our favorite that we've seen (except for the houses that were too expensive for us), and we've seen a lot of houses. Incredible deal compared to orange county. Here's a pic

and a pic of the view from the backyard (zoomed, but that's the back fence).

and the park across the street (the house is right where the boxy green scion is parked in the upper right portion)



Now have some kind of investment (even if its only $5) in a home in Parker, we were thrilled to happen upon a new church in Parker, that we went to this morning. We got a really good vibe about it, even though its still pretty small and growing. We've been to something like 8 different churches since we've been here, (we haven't been as daring as the Santagatas) and we are feeling like this is probably going to be our home church. They are definitely in need of some help, being a growing church, so hopefully we'll figure out where we can best be of use and plug in there.


So the last, and biggest, piece of the puzzle left is the sale of our house back in the OC. All prayers are greatly appreciated on that one, as the market seems really slow, while its starting to pick up again here in Colorado (which is why the $5 hold is a great deal). We will be very, very, very, very excited when that day comes.

So we're seriously hoping this is it, and it will be smooth sailing from here. We can't wait to have a kitchen and a refrigerator, we owe Mike and Rachel some meals... as well as anyone else that wants to come visit. If all works out the Hoskinson bed & breakfast will be open for business by ski season.