House Hunting With Dad

Dad came up this Sunday to celebrate the 4th of July/Matt's birthday with my family and Shelly's. On Monday, he and I went out to Buckeye to look at what type of houses were available. Buckeye is about an hour and a half west of Queen Creek. It is an older town with scattered farms and horse properties. Most of the houses we saw were within a few minutes from I-10 (which can take you out to Queen Creek) and Hwy 85 which Dad will take down to his work only a mere 1 1/2 hrs away. There were a few stores and restaurants just up I-10 with a short 9-15 minute drive. We saw some interesting things out there. I had my camera with me and it has the ability to video tape so I got some footage of the houses. I have to warn you: I occasionally tipped my camera to get a more vertical view. I assumed that since my view finder was showing everything right-side up it would play that way. I was wrong. So you will be getting a neck stretch with these.

Here are our top three choices from what we saw:

Coming in at house #3, this 1977 or 1979 (I can't remember which) rancher is located near many shops and has a little over one acre. It's attached garage was converted into another bedroom, laundry area, and storage room. It has a nice, big kitchen with a lot of cupboards, a fireplace, a detached garage with a workshop with the exterior of a barn and a master bedroom with a small walk in closet and a bathroom with a separate shower and tub. It would need new carpet, has small bedrooms, needs to be repainted, and requires a good 3 yr plan for cleaning up the backyard, and installing fencing and shade for horses. Also, the laundry room is in an awkward spot. I started recording this house but only got 2 minutes worth. Unfortunately, my batteries died.



With fresh batteries installed in my camera, let me introduce you to our Pick #2. It is a newer southwestern style house with about 2,000 sq. ft. It has a cute entrance and courtyard and has a lot of charm and character throughout the house. The master bedroom was large with double sinks and separate shower and jetted tub. The other 2 bedrooms were a good size, the laundry room had nice cupboards, and the kitchen had a pretty corian countertop with an integrated sink. It had a reverse osmosis system hooked up. These are great, because you don't have to buy water from the grocery store! The tile and carpet were in great shape and it had a large "Arizona" room; basically a built-in porch. I did not think it had a great spot for a dining table and the back yard would need quite a bit of cleanup including, once again, adding fencing and shade for horses. Also, the previous owners ran their paint company out of their converted garage. They did not finish the transformation on the outside of the house so you still can see the patch work and it the new stuff is not painted. Overall a great house, just needed a little bit of lovin'.


Coming in at a strong #1, our favorite of the day was one Dad walked through the week before. When I walked in, I said, "Wow! Why did we even go see the other houses?!" This 2400 sq. ft. beauty is and an obvious custom home. It has the best looking neighborhood and sits on just over 1 acre with irrigation. There is not enough good things I can say about this house. It has the most closet space of all the houses we saw, has a 3 car garage, large laundry room with additional cupboards and countertops, beautiful stone/tile work throughout the home, granite countertops, 2 large bedrooms, a large master bedroom with separated bath. Each of the two showers in the home are beautifully stoned with a regular showerhead and an overhead rain showerhead. The kitchen is not large, but it has beautiful cabinets, decent countertops, and has room for a dining table. The front door is a gorgeous wood and there are gigantic wood pillars in the home itself. The back and front porches are large and should be shaded for most of the day. It does not have an R.O. system installed, so that would need to happen, but that is relatively inexpensive. The yard has virtually little cleanup to do but would need to be fenced and shade built for horses. However, a good portion of the land is located on the side of the house. This is where the horse would go and it is partially fenced. There would still be plenty of room for a nice sized swimming pool and even a volleyball court. Did that make you laugh? I know I cracked Dad up with that comment. He he! I not only videotaped this house, but took a few more pictures, too.



The front door:
The garage door that opens to the front porch:
A wood pillar separating the formal dining room from the hallway:Tile detail separating the kitchen from the hallway: