This House Hunters featured spouses Wesley and Liz, a couple searching for a move-in ready home for them and their dog, Bear, in Salt Lake, UT. It was a battle of craftsman style vs loft style. In the end, the couple compromised to buy the home of their dreams–with an open kitchen and all.
Social media brought Liz and Wesley together. Wesley alluded to the fact that he may have used social media for some mischievous deeds, but credited Liz with kind of reforming him from his social media dating ways. Four years later, they’ve been happily married for over a year, and ready to find a new home. Liz and Wesley have set a $300,000 budget.
Wish Lists
Liz and Wesley’s joint list consists of a fenced backyard for Bear, an open kitchen so Liz starts to cook more, and an en suite in the master bedroom.
Him: Wesley doesn’t want any projects, so he wants a home move-in ready. He also needs a ceiling fan to be included in his fantasy lodge style house.
Hers: Liz wants a single family craftsman style home. She would like the option to customize it to feel more like her own space, so she’s okay with a partial fixer-upper.
House #1, $260,000-$270,000
The base price of this home is between $260,000 to $270,000. The unit is a new build, so Wesley and Liz have the option to customized it to their desires. It’s more of a craftsman style on the inside but a townhouse look on the outside.
This home is a three bedroom, two bathroom unit with high ceilings and a spacious, open kitchen. It also has a walk-in closet and decent size rooms. The biggest issue with this home is the unfinished basement and the lack of backyard space.
House #2, $320,000
It’s a single-family home that was built in the early 1990s. It needs some renovations. This home is very large with three bedrooms, and lots of extra space for an office and game room. Liz wants to remove some of the walls to create more open space.
She also wants to expand the kitchen to make it bigger. All the design changes start to send red flags to Wesley. He’s already calculating the additional costs and work, and he’s not for it.
This home has a large enough backyard for Bear to enjoy loads of outside time, but some other spaces need lots of work. The downstairs area must be completely remodeled.
House #3, $300,000
This home has more of a loft feel–Wesley’s preferred style. Liz isn’t a fan of all the rock details, especially in the front of the house. The backyard is very large, so it’s ideal for Bear. The backyard also provides them a lovely view of the mountains.
The kitchen has just been updated but Liz wishes it was a little bigger. Another issue for Wesley and her is that none of the five rooms have an en suite.
Decision Time: House #3 just came off underwhelming to us, and Liz and Wesley. It was just a little too small for their lifestyle. House #2 needed too much work for their budget. House #1 seemed like the best fit because it could be altered to match their needs.
So they end up picking…House #1.
Their base price was $266,000 but all the customizable finishes brought the bill up to $296,000. They decided to keep the basement unfinished but they will make completing it a priority in the future. The lack of backyard means that Liz and Wesley plan to take Bear to the park more. The whole designing and construction of the home delayed their move for six months.
Liz and Wesley feel like it was worth the wait because they love their new home.
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