DAY 631... House Hunters, Rexburg Edition

MY FAMILY IS MOVING BACK TO REXBURG!!!!! And obviously I'm super excited about that. Well my parents are in town house hunting. Spencer and I watched sooooooo many episodes of house hunters in preparation for the hunt, so basically we are pros. House hunting was a blast! I'm sure it'll even be more fun when it's our own home that we are hunting for. My poor parents had to endure my sarcastic comments and random thoughts all throughout all 7 houses. In true house hunter form, I will show you the top three houses that we looked at. These are my parents top 3 and I actually agreed with them on  these ones!

The wishlist:

• Open layout
• 4 Bedrooms
• 2 Bathrooms
• Nice Large Kitchen for Mom
• A Shop for Dad
• Minimal Work To Be Done
• 2 car garage
• Close to the University
• In Madison School District
• A Place to Garden

House 1 - The Awesome Blossom $249,000

First impression... BEAU-TI-FUL!!! The landscaping leading up this this home was insane. There was a gorgeous little pond with a fountain, lots of green green grass, a basketball hoop, and obviously all of the yard was very well taken care of. There was a large driveway with plenty of parking. This is important because this place is just begging for me to have cheer parties there and I need a lot of parking. Or you know for when we all get together as a family for holidays. The home had a 2 car garage and an enormous shop, but we will get to that. The house was the oldest of the houses that we looked at and obviously needed a little updating, but the massive back yard with a huge deck and a hot tub kind of made up for that. The kitchen was a little on the small side and definitely needed to be updated. But a HUGE laundry room and insane amounts of storage made up for that. This house had 5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths. There is a HUGE cold storage room and and good size family room in the basement. There is also a window seat in one of the bedrooms which has always been a dream of mine! You know since I'm the one buying the house... I seriously want to party in this backyard though! Also it has an insanely large and awesome shop, which won the heart of my father. This house has been on the market for over two years (I know right) so it shouldn't be a problem getting the beautiful home for less than the asking price. Also this house is literally around the corner from the elementary school that I work at so that's a bonus in my eyes. It is about 15 minutes from grocery shopping and "town", so that location isn't prime. There is a small country store for sale just down the road and personally I think it would be great for the DIP'N SHACK. Do you know about the DIP'N SHACK? I don't think you do. It's a restaurant my family is going to open that only sells Donuts, Ice Cream, Pizza and Nachoes. Take the first letter from each of those yummy foods (minus donuts... Barf) and you get DIP'N. It is gonna be HUGE!!!!!

 How cute and romantical is that little street lamp???

 Cutest antique fireplace! Not wood burning, which is a negative, but that's easy enough to convert.

 The exposed beams are pretty cool looking I thought.

 Window seat!!!!

 Huge storage with my cute Mom "keeping score" of the houses.

 HOT TUB!!!! Need I say more?

 Did I mention it has a tiny fire pit??? Can you spot it?

 Cute house.

HUGE shop!!!

Overall Impression - Great yard and nice house, but it does need some work eventually.

House 2 - The Pub $225,000

This house resembled a modular home from the front... I was not impressed. The front door was nice and for some reason front doors are a big part of my life. i just have a passion for them. But then we got inside. The living room wasn't huge but clean and bright. I am a sucker for natural light. The kitchen was large and had a built in desk and had a HUGE pantry. The bedrooms were tiny though and the master bath and closet were even more t-I-n-y. The home was clean though and very well taken care of. Next we made our way downstairs to the finished basement. The stairs were wide which is always a bonus and the carpet was super great! We quickly learned that the owner of tthis home loves him some beer. Huge living room area with great carpet and 2 additional larger bedrooms. This house had 5 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. The yard was nice, minus the dog pee stained grass. and the back patio was A decent size. This house also had an even bigger shop than the house before! This thing was massive! The down part about this home was definitely the location. The house is in Rigby and I'm not sure if I could ever find it again.

 Lots of natural light

 Large kitchen

 Cute pantry door. I just love doors!

 Tray ceilings in the master.

 HUGE family room.

 Beer....

 Lover.

 Large yard with puppy pee stains

 Safety first

 Biggest shop of all

 I was a little concerned about this house being haunted by whatever was buried here....

Love this door!!!!

Overall Impression - Nice house with a great kitchen and massive shop. Location is a HUGE negative.

House 3 - The Unexpected $227,000

This house was unexpected. My parents looked at it first then brought me to it. I was definitely unimpressed by the curb appeal minus the massive front porch. The front porch was probably one of the largest I have ever seen. This 5 bedroom 3 1/2 bathroom home took me by surprise. When you first walk in you notice the prom stairs (always a Kinville favorite) and a blue office which is not one of the 5 bedrooms. The kitchen and dining and family room are all one large great room which my mom absolutely loved! All three have gorgeous hardwood floors and have tons of natural light. The bathrooms are amazing and the tubs are soooooo deep. Mom and Dad, if you pick this house I just may bathe in your home from now on. The bedrooms are all a decent size with enormous closets. The master has his and hers closets and a great garden tub. The basement is completely finished and the paint colors were classy. This house was definitely taken care of and in beautiful condition. The one did not have a shop, but room to build one. It was the smallest lot size of the three homes, but it made up for that with the location. Literally 4 minutes from campus which is great for dad, directly behind Walmart... Basically the only store in Rexburg, and it is in Madison school district. Location is everything with this home. I was really surprised by how much I liked this house. 

 Largest of the 3 kitchens! Lots of natural light!

 Sometimes I got nervous that I was going to get into trouble taking pictures so the pictures were blurry...

 Double closets in the normal bedrooms.... SWEETNESS!

 HUGE tub!

 Prom stairs!

 Family room in the basement... Still lots of light!

 Gorgeous bathrooms!

Overall Impression - Ready to move in. Great location and beautiful home. No shop is a downside, but the fact that there is a place for it to be built is a nice option.

Ani was a champ during the hunt!!!!

But eventually our day began to look like this....

It might be because we introduced her to some friends at one of the houses. Friends she did not appreciate....

Then ended like this...

Which house do you think they should choose???? I'm torn between the Awesome Blossom and The Unexpected. I can't wait to find out which one they go with!