We didn’t plan on building a house.
Starting in 2017 or so, we started discussing a potential move to Summit County, Colorado. We spent most of our weekends there, and it seemed like it would be worthwhile to try and make it work as our full-time home. So we started internet-stalking properties, setting up Zillow alerts for homes that would be in our wheelhouse. The requirements looked something like this:
- A view
- Within Summit County, and within 15-20 minutes from a grocery store and schools
- 3+ bed, 2+ bath
- A garage
- <$1 million; preferably <$800k
Square footage wasn’t a big concern – our Denver house was 1,300 sq. ft., so anything that fit the 3+ bed, 2+ bath requirement was going to be plenty big enough.
We also started to get some feel for the various neighborhoods we had to choose from, as well as their prices. Downtown Breckenridge was fantastically expensive, followed in line by the rest of Breckenridge and Frisco. Dillon, Wildernest, and Summit Cove generally filled in the next tier, followed by Dillon Valley and some of the outward-lying areas of Blue River. We wanted to avoid the resort areas of Keystone and Copper, since aside from the resorts, neither had much in the way of a community feel.
Over the course of months, it seemed like what we were looking for likely existed. We certainly didn’t find our “dream home” looking at online listings, but we were at least finding things in the ballpark of what we wanted and what we could afford. Often, though, there would be a significant shortcoming. A house with great views and a garage had an odd layout and was 30 minutes from town. Or a house with pretty views of Breckenridge didn’t have a garage, and was without a place to put one. Nothing too concerning, especially since we weren’t ready to move yet, but nothing was squarely in the wheelhouse.
Then we met Shaun.