Ever since I was a small lad and visited the Rocky Mountains with my family I have been in love with the scenery. Between the majestic mountains, the bold presence of nature and the endless sunshine I simply can not get enough.
I was fortunate to work for a company with a large presence in Denver so I had regular occasion to trek to the Rocky Mountains. I would regularly finish a day of work in Denver, hop in the car, drive an 90 minutes, take a random exit and find a local place to eat and simply soak in the atmosphere. Later driving back to Denver as night fell across the mountains.
Several of my friends owned properties in the mountains (like Michiganders have cottages in upper portion of the lower peninsula). One of those was in Frisco, Colorado and was the impetus for my first visit (Thank you Jim Kaiser!). I was hooked with the mix of a quaint Main Street, mountain environment, an actual lake!, proximity to ski resorts and only 90 minutes from Denver airport.
I took the family to visit and made several more visits myself. About 5 years ago Tammy suggest we look for property in Frisco. I was shock and assumed she was "messing with me" because I had tried several times over a couple decades to get the family interested in moving to Colorado.
So for the past ~4 years Tammy and I have been searching for a place. We visit during all four seasons to make sure we understood exactly what to expect. We learned there is:
- Summer - there is more to do in summer then winter!
- Fall - Not what a Michigander calls Fall rather a couple days where the Aspen leafs turn yellow (no other color I saw) and fall off
- Winter - beautiful light snow as the mountains are an arid climate (basically a desert in the mountains)
- Mud - when all that snow melts and everything is muddy (duration similar to Spring everywhere else)
Over the long 4th Of July weekend of 2015 we got serious having accumulated knowledge of what real estates costs, the building styles, streets & locations and reviewing countless online real estate listings. Armed with apps from Zillow, Trulia, Century21, Re/Max, Realtor.com, Google Maps with Street View, the web and the expert advice of our buyers agent Jack Carpenter we set out to buy our dream place.
Thursday, July 2 and Friday, July 3 we visited about a dozen homes we were getting glum having not found the "perfect" home. There were 2 contenders but neither "grab" both Tammy and I. One of us would love a place the other was so/so on it. We agreed to break for Saturday & Sunday and get back together with Jack on Monday.
Monday, July 6 we decided to re-visit the contenders and one additional place Jack was able to secure access. None of the contenders really grabbed us and we were resigned to wait until later in the summer or fall to allow more places to become available. As our final action we visited an unlikely home that had been on and off the market through out the winter/spring.
It was a compromise in style for me (not log cabin), location for Tammy (distance from Main Street) but strangely as we toured the place the more it grew on both of us. It was secluded, private, close to the bike/walking path, and roughly equal distance from historic Main Street and modern conveniences of Whole Foods, Starbucks and Subway. Lastly they layout was perfect - a tri-level with an unexpected open concept feel. It had two living spaces (living room open to kitchen and family room open to patio. It had two outdoor spaces consisting of a deck off the kitchen and a patio off the family room with a hot tub. We immediately decided to submit a offer that afternoon.
Tuesday, July 7 we got word another couple had submitted a day before us and the sellers had accepted their offer (damn why had we taken off Saturday & Sunday?!). Needless to say we were devastated and deeply depressed. After all the searching and finding a single place we both loved and losing it by just a day! Wednesday we spent in Vail trying to rationalize what happened in our heads. Thursday we headed home as scheduled. It was an emotionally tough flight home and the next couple days were a struggle.
Saturday, July 11 we got a text from Jack Carpenter asking how we were doing. We shared our disappointment and commitment to trying again in the fall.
Sunday, July 12 in the evening (aren't all Sunday evenings a little depressing?) I got a telephone call from Jack. Apparently the buyers had the home inspected on Friday and the Inspector's report indicated severe mold and they had withdrawn their offer. He was wondering if we were still interested in submitting an offer given this situation? I said we would get back with him.
Tammy and I discussed it for about 15 minutes. Pros, Cons, concerns and options and decided we wanted the house and would determine if the mold was remediate-able following our inspection. We informed Jack to submit an offer that evening.
Monday, July 13 was a anxious day waiting on the response. We were irrationally concerned other buyers where also submitting offers and we could loose it again. The sellers counter offered and after some back-and-forth we reached agreement on an offer! The house was going to be ours.
To underscore that it was meant to be - the buyer's inspector told them Tuesday he had confused two property inspections an the mold issue was with another house. The previous buyers immediately tried to reinstate their offer, but we were already under contract!
Long story made a little shorter our inspection found minor items that owners immediately addressed and we closed on the property Monday, August 17. Tammy and I spent two weeks in the home getting settled and prepared for our return visit over Christmas 2015.
Here are some of the real estate photos of the home:
Click on the picture to advance through the images. Oh did I mention the abundance of hummingbirds?!
Details: Single-Family Home, 4 Bedrooms, 3 full Bathrooms, 2,838 sqft, Lot size: 10,454 sqft, Built in 1999
In the two weeks we were able to spend in the house we met a half dozen neighbors. It is a close knit community of like minded couples of approximate age. We are looking forward to living there full time during the summers and visiting during the Winter and Fall. We might skip Mud season. ;-)
We welcome all our family and friends to visit. We hope you will find much to do and fall in love with the area like we did.