House Hunting in the Fort Collins Area.....UPDATED

Well, as of today we've looked at 12 houses, and are down to TWO definite candidates.

There's an open house on Saturday for one that just popped up last night, and we'll be driving over to see that one as well as one that went on the market this morning.

The one I was hoping for, and the one our contractor in-law looked over for us the other evening, has officially been "scratched" by the wife. She just flat out will NOT buy a property that needs major work.

PERIOD.

It wouldn't bother me too much, but while she doesn't want a 100% turn-key ready place, so wants one that's, oh....maybe 95% turn-key ready.

And another one we both loved, and the wife wanted to make an offer on, got scratched after we realized:

1) We don't need a THIRTY-SIX HUNDRED square foot house for the two of us

and

2) It has an HOA that specifically states NO "Communications Antennas" unless they can't be seen, and are approved by "The Committee".

So we're down to to two. One is out off CO-14, Mulberry Street, just past I-25, and is drop-dead beautiful, and the asking price is $420k. Since this is rapidly turning into the "off season" for real estate, sellers are anxious, and buyers are few and far between. Our agent is pretty confident we could get that particular house for well under $400k.

The other one we looked at today is also quite nice, in a quiet, well-established neighborhood, but has a few glitches.

#1, it has three layers of shingles on it, and some are starting to "lift". This means a complete tear-off and re-roof in the Spring.

#2, some of the rework wasn't done to a very high standard, and while it's just some goofs in the drywall, they kind of jump out at me.

#3, the owner won't close before 27 November due to capital gains issues, so we won't be into it before Christmas.

We're going to look at another house in about an hour that also looks promising. This one is a 4br, 4ba,  2540sqft house on a 12,200 sqft lot.

I'd really like the "#1 house" to be our home, but the "#2 house" has a bigger lot (15,500 sqft), and is further West.

None of these have HOA's, and as far as we can tell, the also don't have any restrictive "CC&R's" that would prohibit a tower.

Hey, if I can't have my separate garage, than I'm damn sure going to get a 40~50' tower with a KT34M2 on it, and a new radio!

UPDATE 

We just got back from looking at two more. The first one looked real good "on paper", BUT.....it's going to need ALL new siding in a year or two ($$$!!!), and had a couple of other issues, so we scratched it.

The second one we looked at just became the wife's new "#1 house", and it's a stunner.

3390 sqft, 5br, 3 full baths and a "half bath", fireplace, fully finished basement, on an 11,000 sqft lot. Quiet neighborhood, located on a cul-de-sac, mature trees, fresh paint inside and out, new carpet, etc, etc, etc. The HUGE insulated (but not heated) two car garage with separate, NEW insulated doors and a large work area are a big plus, and there's enough room with good access to build another "car-and-a-half" garage if I decide I need it.

No apparent HOA's or CC&R's, and I saw some TV antennas on homes in the neighborhood.

I posted a question on the NCARC email reflector asking local Hams about it, and I'm stating to get some replies.

Busy Two Days.....!!

Been looking at houses, and have it down to four contenders from the 12 or so we've looked at.

We have one more to look at tomorrow, and we're going back at 1700 to the last one we looked at today. Our contractor in-law is coming with us, and he'll give us a "GO-NOGO" decision on it. It needs a bunch of repairs caused by overly deferred maintenance, and we want to change a few things on it. If he tells us there are no major issues, AND we can get it for the right price, it just might be "The One".

The other three houses are knock-outs, and turn-key ready to move in to, and the one we're looking at on Thursday looks pretty good from the listing pictures.

No, YOU Move!

Found over at Old NFO's place.

I like it!

Getting Settled In.....

The trip here was remarkably UNeventful, except for the YUUUUGE traffic delay in East Vail along the I-70.

The night before, while we were in Grand Junction, a semi that was Westbound on I-70 "lost control", crossed the median and both lanes of the oncoming Eastbound traffic, hit the ditch, flipped over, broke up and came apart, and caught fire.

The trailer was upside down and in big and small pieces, and the tractor was nowhere to be seen.

We just heard tonight that it was further down in the ditch, and not visible from the highway.

Normally, going through East Vail is one of those "don't blink or you'll miss it" drives, but this trip it took us a little over an hour to get through there. And I was low on fuel......

I should have stopped in Vail proper but didn't. We coasted into Copper Mountain with 2 or 3 gallons in the tank.

The other "low fuel" incident occurred when we got off I-15 and on to I-70. There were dozens of gas stations in the 5 miles leading up to the junction around Sulphurdale, but we had about 3/4 of a tank, so I kept going. A few miles East on I-70 I saw the "No Services Next 103 Miles" sign, and knew I should have fueled up.

Oh, well....Press On Regardless!

The country we drove through was absolutely stunning, and my son was just blown away by it.

But man, if you look up the word "desolate", you'll see pix of these areas as an example!

We rolled into Green River with about 1/8 tank. After that, the drive into Grand Junction was quite nice.

ANYWAY....the DIL's brother came by yesterday to move his boat out of the garage here, and then my son, my step-son, and the DIL's brother all pitched in to unload the 6'x12' U-Haul I towed here. We had it emptied out, and things neatly arranged in about 30 minutes, as the trailer was only a bit over 1/2 full.

We finished up just as the rain started to fall, and fall it did.

I had to take my son and wife's BFF to the Denver airport, and with the rain, the road construction, and the Saturday night traffic, it took almost two hours to get there from here.

Coming back, I missed the turn for I-25, and was almost in Boulder before I knew I'd really screwed up. Got turned around, but it took almost 3 hours to get back here.

Took the U-Haul back today, rummaged around in the garage for a while sorting things out, digging out a set of boots that were better than these things I've been wearing since "ever", got out a jacket, a liner, and some long pants, as tee-shirts and shorts with leaky shoes just don't cut it when it's 42* and raining!

Then we had dinner with The Kids, played with baby Noah for a while, and then back here.

If I can figure out how to transfer the pix off my phone to this laptop, I'll post the few I took.

And the dog is settling in, finally. She's back to eating, and seems to have found a preferred spot to do her business when shew wants to go out. BUT....just like back in Long Beach, if it's raining she'll stick her nose out, see it's raining, and then retreat back in.

Wonder what she'll do when it snows?

Got Internet Now, and a Trailer to Unload

Spent about 20 minutes on the phone getting my Boost Mobile 4G/LTE WiFi Hotspot reactivated.

It's a far cry from the 150 MB FiOS we had in Long Beach, but at least I have some connectivity.

We have to completely unload the trailer to get the ammo cans out, as I can't store ammo at the storage place.

Then I'll take the big trailer back to U-Haul, which is located on the South side of Fort Collins. Monday I'll go back there and rent a small open trailer, load up the items that I'm allowed to store, and drag them over to the storage place.

Final Leg of Journey Today

Looks like I-70 Eastbound is open again. Woke up early (for me) when the dog started making a ruckus to go potty, which she FINALLY did today.

This trip has been hard on her, as she's never been in the car for more than 20~30 minutes before.

Time to take a shower, get packed up here, fuel the Jeep, grab a BIG travel coffee, and head out towards Fort Collins.

The Kids don't really have any Internet service at their place in Bellvue, so I'll be using one of my wireless 4G hotspots, *IF* I can get a connection.

If I can't get a connection, posting might be pretty spotty for the next month until we get settled in whatever house we buy.

Talk at y'all later today.......

In Grand Junction for the Night. Next Stop....Fort Collins

Long day driving. Not so much in hours, but in "mental calculation load" terms.

We filled up in St. George before we left, and then twice more. The Jeep was guzzling fuel like crazy towing the loaded trailer through the mountains. Tomorrow we cross the Rockies, IF we can get through the Vail Pass. A semi truck heading West went out of control, crossed all the Eastbound lanes, and then crashed into the side of the mountain and burst into flames. CoDOT is working to clear the mess, but as of  1811, the pass was still closed.

The CoDOT website gives a detour route, and hopefully if Vail Pass is still closed tomorrow they'll have the detour signs in place.

I'll check again Friday morning after we have breakfast.

Made it to St. George

Had very little traffic leaving L.A., so I guess leaving at 1000 on a Wednesday is a good idea.

Went through Vegas around 1600~1630 and hit quite bit until we got out of the city.

Then smooth sailing to our arrival in St. George.

The trailer tows fine, but I think they should have spread the weight of the heavy items a bit more evenly, rather than concentrating almost all of it in the very front of the trailer.

I think it's a bit "nose heavy", but these guys have been packing stuff for 14 years, so I'll cut them some slack.

Tomorrow will be a drive from the SW corner of Utah up to where the I-15 and the I-70 split. My wife took the 15 into Salt Lake City, and will catch I-,80 go through Southern Wyoming, and then catch I-25 South, and come into Fort Collins from the North.

I typically take I70 East, go through the Rockies, and catch I-25 in Denver. Since my son has never seen the Rockies, I think we'll take that route.

Next Stop, UTAH!

Just finished loading "The 1%" remaining in the Jeep and trailer. As soon as the dog finishes up her business in the back yard, we're outta here.

See you tonight, God willin' and the circk don't rise.....

I'm Too Tired To Think Straight.....

12 hour marathon.

House and garage are packed into the 6 U-Boxes (God are those things flimsy JUNK!) and the overflow filled about 2/3 of the 6'x12' trailer.

The house in 99% empty, and the remaining things will go with me, my son, and the dog when we depart Long Beach Wednesday morning.

I was wondering why me feet were hurting so much, and then I inspected the Denali boots I was wearing all day.

They're worn out and shot, and I've only been wearing them for six months!

I not only hurt in places I forgot I had, but hurt in places I didn't know I had.

Next post will most likely be from St. George, UT, our first night's stop. I'm pretty sure we'll need to get gas in Baker, CA, and one place I want to stop is "Arne's Royal Hawaiian Hotel", and abandoned hotel where the two guys on RoadKill made a stop.

I'm hitting the showers, then the sack.

G'night, all.........

T Minus ONE and Counting.....

Good Lord....this is the most monumental PITA I've ever been through.

The packing/loading guys are here filling up the six "U-Boxes" that U-Haul dropped off and positioned yesterday, and "1-800-GOT-JUNK" is coming by for another load.

This is stuff I really wanted to keep, and have definite future uses for, but I'm dumping it to keep peace, or at least try to.

If the marriage survise this, it should be damn near bullet-proof in the future.

My son is coming over tonight after he gets off work, and he and I and the dog will take off tomorrow after U-Haul picks up the U-Boxes.

Per our real estate agent, I'll lock up everything except the front door, leave my keys on the counter by the stove, and set the snap locks, and close the front door behind me.

I'll post from the road, and probably one more from here tomorrow before we leave......