We didn't plan to buy a house, or even build for that matter.
I'm in the Army, and coming up on orders, I didn't know where I was going next. This compacted our timeline considerably. When I finally found out, we didn't hesitate to find a place to live; going to scope out Richmond and the areas north of Fort Lee the next day.
Things changed after we saw what our rental dollars would get us. We looked at rentals in South Richmond, Chester, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell. We weren't too impressed with the houses. We could buy for the same price as renting.
So, we decided to see what buying would get us. Our first visit was to a house that seemed like a steal, and too good to be true. It was. It was a short sale, that was not mentioned on any listings online. The house was literally trashed, with iron burn marks on the carpet, holes in many walls, and shoddy paint jobs. Above all, it was simply DIRTY. In addition, the house was in the middle of a dense development, on the top of a high hill with no fence. Checking the outside, our daughter took off running toward the nearest swing, nearly rolling down the hill. Next!
We checked several more listings, mostly centered around the I-95 corridor. We didn't like the neighborhoods, "feel", and I didn't relish the idea of a commute dealing with I-95. I preferred the I-295 commute, which is much less busy and overly populated. However, there were minimal if any houses to buy (or rent) in that area.
That left us with building. We were faced with the same problem of I-95 and communities. We saw a sign for "Mount Blanco" on the eastern side of I-295. We decided to check into it. I texted a friend moving to the same area to ask him where they were building. He said Mount Blanco. After all the houses we saw, I took it as a sign.
I had previously lived in the area, so I knew roughly where the community was located. It was out of the way, but very close to I-295, making the commute easy. We called the sales representation (SR) who (of course) said to come right up and check it out. When we arrived I knew it was the best of what I had seen, and what we wanted. Of course, quality costs money, so I expected to pay a premium for the locale. It was higher than other communities, but not excessive. If this was what we wanted, we would have to make it work.
I'm in the Army, and coming up on orders, I didn't know where I was going next. This compacted our timeline considerably. When I finally found out, we didn't hesitate to find a place to live; going to scope out Richmond and the areas north of Fort Lee the next day.
Things changed after we saw what our rental dollars would get us. We looked at rentals in South Richmond, Chester, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell. We weren't too impressed with the houses. We could buy for the same price as renting.
So, we decided to see what buying would get us. Our first visit was to a house that seemed like a steal, and too good to be true. It was. It was a short sale, that was not mentioned on any listings online. The house was literally trashed, with iron burn marks on the carpet, holes in many walls, and shoddy paint jobs. Above all, it was simply DIRTY. In addition, the house was in the middle of a dense development, on the top of a high hill with no fence. Checking the outside, our daughter took off running toward the nearest swing, nearly rolling down the hill. Next!
We checked several more listings, mostly centered around the I-95 corridor. We didn't like the neighborhoods, "feel", and I didn't relish the idea of a commute dealing with I-95. I preferred the I-295 commute, which is much less busy and overly populated. However, there were minimal if any houses to buy (or rent) in that area.
That left us with building. We were faced with the same problem of I-95 and communities. We saw a sign for "Mount Blanco" on the eastern side of I-295. We decided to check into it. I texted a friend moving to the same area to ask him where they were building. He said Mount Blanco. After all the houses we saw, I took it as a sign.
I had previously lived in the area, so I knew roughly where the community was located. It was out of the way, but very close to I-295, making the commute easy. We called the sales representation (SR) who (of course) said to come right up and check it out. When we arrived I knew it was the best of what I had seen, and what we wanted. Of course, quality costs money, so I expected to pay a premium for the locale. It was higher than other communities, but not excessive. If this was what we wanted, we would have to make it work.
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