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Have I mentioned that we have a new house in Suncadia? Once or twice? Ha! I can’t help it. I’m so excited about it.
In 2015 we bought a house in Suncadia as a fun family escape but also as an investment because our intention was to have it in the rental pool. Boy did that ever pay off! The rental income paid for ALL of our expenses (mortgage, cleaning, marketing, utilities, etc.) and the property values skyrocketed. Especially during COVID. Normally in the fall our house would rent for occasional weekends and be open during the week. (Busy rental times are all summer and the winter holidays.). Last fall was crazy though. It was rented almost EVERY DAY. With Suncadia being a fairly quick drive from Seattle everybody was looking for a place to get away to. Many people went up there for weeks at a time because they could do work and school from anywhere.
Last July we went under contract for this new house. At that time it was a pile of dirt but it had already had the plans approved for building and they were ready to start. We loved the floor plan and, after looking at some of their finished houses we knew Bauer Homes was the perfect builder for us. The quality of their workmanship was fantastic and we had complete confidence that they would make great design choices. I was able jump in before the house started and change a few things (swapping in a white counters and white backsplash in the kitchen so more light could bounce around for example) but we left a lot of it just how they had it. The really great thing about Bauer Homes is how well they planned for all of the shortages that were caused by the pandemic. They ordered ahead on all of the building materials and appliances so we weren’t waiting for anything. They got this house done in just about nine months. That’s crazy fast! (We did a full house remodel in six months and we thought THAT was fast. But they didn’t have to put up all the walls!).
The great thing about the timing of our house is that I had my whole slow season (Jan-April) to furnish the house. Since I am not a procrastinator I started ordering everything in January. I had a huge spreadsheet with lines for every piece of furniture going into each room. It included links to the furniture I ordered and prices so I could track our expenses. It had check boxes on it so I knew when I ordered it and when when it arrived. It’s a good thing I DID start that early because the pandemic has led to so many furniture shortages. Some companies were better than others at notifying you when something was delayed or unavailable. Macy’s was the worst. I had to change beds and dressers numerous times and I finally had to call them and just say ‘What DO you have in stock? I’ll take it!’ We filled our garage (and my office, ugh) with so many boxes it looked like we were playing Tetris. Eventually we had to just stop ordering because there wasn’t any room left!
We moved in over Memorial Day Weekend with the help of all our family. We had our own family unit come for the whole weekend and my side of the family also came for the first two days and Allen’s side of the family came for the last two days. (We couldn’t overlap because there were still unvaccinated kids.). It was such a blessing to have all that help putting the furniture together and putting the house in order!
There are a few special things I need to point out. I included all sorts of art in this house. For Christmas last year we asked Dean and Wanda if they would make a huge live edge coffee table for us. What they came up with is so beautiful!
We also asked if Stephen (our brother in law), also a fantastic wood worker, could recreate a headboard for us. I’d seen one done by West Elm but just couldn’t justify the crazy price. Stephen is so talented he made it look easy. He made this headboard in one weekend!
In addition to the beautiful wood pieces, some of the art on the walls was courtesy of Ellie and me. I asked Ellie to put her graphic design skills to the test and make me some graphic representations of cameras for the ‘camera room’.
Finally, I took a BUNCH of pictures around the Suncadia, Cle Elum, Roslyn area and put them on the walls around the house. There are so many fun, colorful places to see around there!
Aside from the art we did not choose anything too ‘dear’ for this house so we won’t worry about it when we rent it out. That’s the key. I am definitely attached since we saw this house built from the ground up but we made practical choices (the floors are luxury vinyl, for example) that will help with rental traffic. Of course we have blocked out all sorts of dates in the fall and over the holidays because we plan on enjoying this house as much as possible!
The house goes into the rental pool on August 1st. If any of you are interested in renting it please let us know as we can get you a significant discount off the standard Suncadia rates. We are open for business!
(Taking all of these house pictures sure does give me an appreciation for real estate photographers. The official rental listing photographs will be much better than these!)