Friday night we took our parents to go see the house in Berkeley Heights. They both really liked it. We spent over an hour inspecting, walking around, and sketching out the master bedroom extension.
The house is very cute! Small but there is potential to add on. The backyard is a decent sized, and the neighborhood is first class. Plus, it’s only about 15 minutes away from my job. More like 40 minutes away for Dave and even further from my house, and an hour and 20 minutes from Dave’s parents! Our plan was to go see a couple of more houses the next day and then maybe place an offer on this one.
However, today changed everything. Last week we decided to add more western towns to our list since the further away you move from the city, the less expensive and the larger the properties. And yes, that proved to be true! We first went to a cute house in Warren. Pretty, but very awkwardly laid out and still very small. Plus, it was near a busy street and it was very loud in the yard even though you were half a block away.
Next we went to a house in Martinsville which looked so nice in the pictures but a little strange in person. Again, a very badly laid out house – it called itself contemporary. We called it weird. However, it was very wooded – it reminded me of being in the Poconos. But who wants to live in the Poconos?
THEN, we drove about another 10 minutes west into Bridgewater and found this house.
It’s a cape code style house, but oversized and with a huge extension added on. Within 2 minutes of walking in, both Dave and I loved it. And as we toured more, there were so many more things about it that we loved. The living room was very pretty. Needs new floor and paint, but everything else was new.
There was a dining room right off the living room that also needed new floor, but it was a nice space.
The kitchen was recently remodeled and included granite countertops and brand new appliances. Also, white cabinets, which I love! The backsplash was also so pretty. The kitchen was eat-in which has been rare among the houses in our price range.
Moving on… off the kitchen was the extension – a master bedroom SUITE. Complete with a large hallway with beautiful shelving, a 2 room master bathroom (with a huge jacuzzi with skylights above it), an oversize granite shower, and best of all… a walk-in closet the size of a bedroom. It was bigger than almost all of the bedrooms in the other house.
The bed part was in a huge room with these oversized windows all around. It was also circular shape which was very unique. It had patio doors out to the deck as well.
There was another half bathroom on the first floor next to the kitchen and another bedroom.
Then we went upstairs! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of it. It was the area that needed the most work. There were two bedrooms, a fully remodeled bathroom, and a great big foyer area (maybe a future playroom!?). The two bedrooms definitely needed new carpeting and some painting. But all things we could handle. And slowly, since we would never even need to go up there (for now). Well… I think my Mom and Dave’s Mom may have plans on owning the upstairs when they come visit. 🙂
Then we walked outside. Almost 1 acre of park-like backyard. A huge deck and then all grass and trees. The grass was extremely dry which is a good sign after one week of rain. And it was a very flat yard – so there’s potential to do a lot of things with it.
Dave and I walked around for a few minutes out there – I skipped out of happiness!
Finally, we went down to the finished basement. Which almost came as a surprise since we were already happy. Beautiful finished basement – Pergo floors which may need to be replaced in the next year or so. But would be a great gym. Laundry is also down there.
We love it – it’s the first house and fits what Dave wants and fits what I want – and still big, beautiful, in a great location (30 min to work for both)…. anndddd, the cheapest yet!!! $60k below our max price! We need to act quick – tomorrow we’re taking our parents back to it and hopefully putting in an offer tomorrow or Monday. I really hope it works out! We never stopped talking about that house until about 9pm tonight. We explored Bridgewater before going to dinner, and we found some nice things within 10-15 minutes of our (hopefully) future home.
Wow!!!!
OMG, I love it……….