Two Homes, Two Mortgages

On Monday we will own two homes and two mortgages.  Wow, who knew!  Feeling both proud and terrified at the same time.  Proud that, evidently, a lender thinks that I can afford to carry two notes and terrified that I am going to be carrying two notes!  Dad would not approve, Mom is looking down, swelling with pride :)

This is only the second time we've been in Prescott (pronounced Preskitt for those of you who don't know).  It's such an interesting place and I'm very hopeful that in a few years I can rattle off all of the amazing attributes that come out of my brother's mouth whenever I ask a question.  What is that formation, Bill?  "Oh, that?  That's Thumb Butte."  And then Bill launches into one of his amazingly charming stories about the butte and anyone remotely associated with it.

When we were here last -- two months ago house hunting -- I texted Bill and asked where his property was located.  He told me about Williamson Valley and why they purchased there and how to get there, etc.  We had no time to explore.  I'll tell you about house hunting later, so we saved that for this trip.  He asked why I was inquiring and I told him we were house hunting--which prompted a very long email exchange about why and where and why, etc.  We made an offer on a house which was accepted and we went home to wait for escrow to do its thing.  Did I tell you I have an amazing agent?  If you're ever in the market to look around Prescott you MUST check with me for the best agent around.  She is amazing (oh yes, I already said that).

I was so pleased when Bill offered to drive out here to see our new house and show us around the area.  He has been coming to Prescott since 2013 when he was here for the memorial service for the Granite Mountain 19 -- those amazing "Hot Shots" who died fighting the horrific Yarnell fire.  He was taken with the place and the people and came back sometime later to look around.  Eventually he brought his wife, Mindy, out and they found a piece of property in Williamson Valley -- a small town about 20 minutes from here -- horse property.

Anyway, we met up Thursday night and had dinner at a great little Mexican place -- minimal atmosphere, great food and even better service -- just the kind of place that appeals to me.  Then the next morning we had breakfast before heading out to do our walk through at the new house.  He was impressed and spent a great deal of time with Gary chatting up the owner during our walk through.  Good info and great pride of ownership.  They had kept all of the paperwork from the original build and presented it all to us along with plans for an addition which they never completed.  Connie (seller) shared her folder of things she had been saving for us -- business cards of wonderful service people, newsletter articles of her house during construction -- really great stuff -- what a treasure!  Also she said that her agent was unable to get a hold of our agent --  she had wanted to offer us first right of refusal for many things they didn't want to take.  Bummer!  Turned out she did offer her master bedroom furniture -- which is beautiful -- that we could keep for our lower level (LL) master.  I accepted immediately because I really like her set (like mine better, but would like to keeps hers as well).  She called her friend (who was going to come and take it) to renege -- it will be mine!  Yea!  I'm very pleased.  I told her that whatever she wanted to leave, just feel free.  We'd deal with it or keep it.  She looked relieved.

We had a great walk through, really nice of the sellers since they had given us some grief during the escrow process and I was close to walking away from the deal, and now we will close on Monday at noon with a few conditions they are required to complete.  See?  Excited and terrified!

Anyways, after that exhilarating experience, we jumped back into Bill's truck and headed out to Williamson Valley to see his property.   Well, WOW!  He and Mindy have an amazing almost 3 acres of one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen.  A clear view of Granite Mountain and (I forget the name of the rim) -- but it is certainly a view I'd love to have (not that mine is anything to grieve over -- we have a straight shot at the Bradshaw Mountains and Thumb Butte -- pretty nifty.  After walking around his land, I was amazed that he wanted to sell, but I understand that is a long story.  I'm hopeful that he is able to sell the land and find something he likes as much in a different location.  

Then he started showing us around his neck of the woods, eventually pulling into Statue-Esque which is a wonderful road side spot selling "lawn art" made from aluminum and painted with some sort of "I'll never rust or look bad the rest of your natural life" stuff.  I am very interested in a life-sized deer for our front yard and they had the very thing I wanted.  So, another "Thanks Bill, for turning us onto this place."  Owner was interesting, friendly and very helpful.  we'll be back for the doe (and probably the fawn as well.  Nicely done.  It was such a great day and I enjoyed it immensely.

We split and met up again to find dinner.  After one false start (an hour wait wasn't happening) we were directed to Papa's which is a hole in the wall Italian place on Cortez.  /turns out that its one of the top rated restaurants in Prescott and we lucked out with the best waitress!  She "sang out" her greeting which was her doom -- we insisted that she sing whatever she wanted to share from then on.  It was such a fun evening, great service and terrific food.  Two bottles of great red wine (we were celebrating, don't judge us), an appetizer and three entrees.  Just barely over $100.  I'm going to like it here!

Can't wait to move here.  I'm so excited!  Stay tuned for our ongoing adventures as we learn how to live in Arizona!

Hearts and hugs!

shon