Capt Steve
US Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,674
- Reaction score
- 2,979
Two years ago yesterday we closed escrow on our new home in Payson Arizona. We had been living north of Tucson for 15 years and I finally had enough of the HOA, heat, traffic and snowbirds. The market up here is very hot with everyone and their dog looking to buy a place up in the mountains to escape the Phoenix heat and Covid.
We looked at the house and made a strong offer to beat out a low ball the sellers already had. Paid cash and closed escrow in just 18 days. Payson is a smallish town located 90 miles north of Phoenix at 5,000'. If you look at a map of Arizona Payson is just about the ten ring. Heavily treed we now live in the middle of the largest Ponderosa Pine forrest in North America. Elk are frequent visitors including some massive bulls.
The house had been a rental for 10 years and while not a fixer upper it was definitely a diamond in the rough and we immediately began to polish. The .57 ac property had not been trimmed much less fire wised for 10 years according to the neighbors so we went to work. It took 6 weeks and a couple dozen trips to the brush pile at the land fill but we got er done {the neighbors were delighted}.
The 37 year old house needed some serious upgrading.. We started with the kitchen, new granite counter tops and walnut cabinets came out nice. I eventually remodeled both bathrooms and we added carpet for all three bedrooms. We had 2 gravel driveways one 30 yards and the other 50. Got a deal on having them both asphalt paved and it has made a huge difference as at 68 I was pushing around an 875# Indian Springfield and that probably was not going to end well.
I added parking pads for our 24' Class C motorhome and my 10' Cargo trailer and transformed the freestanding garage out back into a nice mancave {dropping about $1,500 at Harbor Freight along the way} Our neighbors are awesome and we have adopted the widow next door.
The weather is awesome ranging from 2.5' of heavy wet snow to Monsoon thunderstorms that can drop a couple of inches in minutes. Even put in a nice garden { 20 X 20' surrounded by 7.5' elk fence} and it is spitting out Jonathan apples, Bartlett pears, lots of blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes and even a few jalapeños.
We have been married for going on 53 years and we have never been happier anywhere. Shopping is just a mile and half away for pretty much anything you can think of and the city is nearing completion of an amazing park complete with a small lake, waterfall, streams and trails, athletic fields and maybe even an indoor pool. Being just 3 blocks up the street our house is getting a nice kick and has gone up over 30%. Sometimes things just come together but this has been an ubelievably pleasant experience.
We looked at the house and made a strong offer to beat out a low ball the sellers already had. Paid cash and closed escrow in just 18 days. Payson is a smallish town located 90 miles north of Phoenix at 5,000'. If you look at a map of Arizona Payson is just about the ten ring. Heavily treed we now live in the middle of the largest Ponderosa Pine forrest in North America. Elk are frequent visitors including some massive bulls.
The house had been a rental for 10 years and while not a fixer upper it was definitely a diamond in the rough and we immediately began to polish. The .57 ac property had not been trimmed much less fire wised for 10 years according to the neighbors so we went to work. It took 6 weeks and a couple dozen trips to the brush pile at the land fill but we got er done {the neighbors were delighted}.
The 37 year old house needed some serious upgrading.. We started with the kitchen, new granite counter tops and walnut cabinets came out nice. I eventually remodeled both bathrooms and we added carpet for all three bedrooms. We had 2 gravel driveways one 30 yards and the other 50. Got a deal on having them both asphalt paved and it has made a huge difference as at 68 I was pushing around an 875# Indian Springfield and that probably was not going to end well.
I added parking pads for our 24' Class C motorhome and my 10' Cargo trailer and transformed the freestanding garage out back into a nice mancave {dropping about $1,500 at Harbor Freight along the way} Our neighbors are awesome and we have adopted the widow next door.
The weather is awesome ranging from 2.5' of heavy wet snow to Monsoon thunderstorms that can drop a couple of inches in minutes. Even put in a nice garden { 20 X 20' surrounded by 7.5' elk fence} and it is spitting out Jonathan apples, Bartlett pears, lots of blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes and even a few jalapeños.
We have been married for going on 53 years and we have never been happier anywhere. Shopping is just a mile and half away for pretty much anything you can think of and the city is nearing completion of an amazing park complete with a small lake, waterfall, streams and trails, athletic fields and maybe even an indoor pool. Being just 3 blocks up the street our house is getting a nice kick and has gone up over 30%. Sometimes things just come together but this has been an ubelievably pleasant experience.
