# House prices are crazy here.



## NorthernRedneck

Ok.  So we are quickly outgrowing the 3 bedroom duplex I moved into last fall and are looking for a bigger place with more rooms.  We found a nice house sitting on 1.8 acres of land backing onto a river.  1600square ft.  5 bedrooms.  3 baths.  The asking price was $274,900.  We prepared two seperate bids.  One was lower if we were the only buyers.  One was all in at $300,000.  That's right...I said $300,000 bid on an asking price of 274,900.  

First, lets back this up and set the stage on what the market is like here.  It is crazy.  People are putting their houses for sale, not doing any showings until a certain date, then not taking offers until a later date.  Very competative.  My fiancee's house was a 2 bedroom turn of the century home with a finished basement.  We listed it for 132,000.  Started showing it last friday.  Did two open houses to reel in perspective buyers, then set a closing date for offers.  We won't be seeing any offers until friday.  There is a very good possibility that it will be going for much more than our asking.

Back to the house we're looking at/bidding on.  We placed the bid and were outbid at $300,000.  That is crazy.  I come from a small hick town 3 hrs from here where a house has to sit on the market for a year and you end up losing half the value of the house because the market was soo bad there. We are technically still in the running for the house if the first buyers are unable to meet their conditions.  I'm not holding my breath.  Apparently, if the first buyer backs out and we get the bid, they want a condition in the offer to purchase that they can continue to list the house for sale even though they accepted our offer.  That way, if they get another offer, we have 48 hrs to increase our bid.  This would be in effect until the house is sold officially and all the papers signed etc.  That doesn't quite make sense to me.  It makes our offer not worth the paper it is written on. 

We went to 5 open houses yesterday in a two hr period.  3 of those houses sold during the open house.  We had our eye on 5 houses that we were interested in seeing.  They only came on the market friday.  3 of those are sold already.


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## bczoom

Wherever you are apparently has an incredibly high demand.



groomerguyNWO said:


> Apparently, if the first buyer backs out and we get the bid, they want a condition in the offer to purchase that they can continue to list the house for sale even though they accepted our offer.  That way, if they get another offer, we have 48 hrs to increase our bid.  This would be in effect until the house is sold officially and all the papers signed etc.  That doesn't quite make sense to me.  It makes our offer not worth the paper it is written on.


I'd tell them to stick it (the house, not the offer) up their asses.  If they don't take your bid, walk away.


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## REDDOGTWO

The market here is also out of whack.  A house built in 1926 listed for 189900 and not that big.  Any thing with a basement or upstairs goes for a minimum of $100 a square foot no matter what the age.  A new one in a small town about four miles form the city is over 200K and only 1200 sq feet.  The problem is it is not going to get any better here for at least five years, sold almost as soon as on the market unless really over priced.


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## Doc

Damn, I'd like to be selling in a market like that but surely not buying.   That's crazy.  Supply and demand at work.   
I would allow them to keep showing but none of the one-upmanship with the bidding.  If they accept your bid, fine, that price is good through your closing.  If for some reason you don't buy they might have another prospective buyer already lined up.  They still win one way or the other.  To expect you to outbid anyone else who puts an offer on the house when you already have it in contract seems fishy to me.  I wonder if that is even allowed here in the states?


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## Kane

> they want a condition in the offer to purchase that they can continue to  list the house for sale even though they accepted our offer.  That way,  if they get another offer, we have 48 hrs to increase our bid.


That sux.  To put a buyer thru the nail-biting scavenger-hunt financing process, and then accept another offer at the last minute, is really bad form.  Been There.  Done that.

That sux.  Man's Greed knows no limits.  Now the guv wants to loosen credit standards AGAIN (so the high-risk folks can buy houses AGAIN) which will put us right back where we were in 2007.
.


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## NorthernRedneck

That's pretty much what it feels like.  A nail biting experience for sure.  I had never heard of that before where they accept the offer but continue to list it for sale and take other offers.  To me, if they accept the offer, it's a done deal and the house is yours providing you meet all the conditions.  I told my fiancee to forget all about that house even though it was perfect for us.  Perfect size in a great location.  We are slated to go tomorrow to see another 2 houses.  Here's hoping.......

There are a lot of new houses going up here that are average 400+.  Whole new subdivisions are being built.  What doesn't make sense to me is that the population here has actually declined.


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## Kane

groomerguyNWO said:


> That's pretty much what it feels like.  A nail biting experience for sure.  I had never heard of that before where they accept the offer but continue to list it for sale and take other offers.  To me, if they accept the offer, it's a done deal and the house is yours providing you meet all the conditions.  I told my fiancee to forget all about that house even though it was perfect for us.  Perfect size in a great location.  We are slated to go tomorrow to see another 2 houses.  Here's hoping.......
> 
> There are a lot of new houses going up here that are average 400+.  Whole new subdivisions are being built.  What doesn't make sense to me is that the population here has actually declined.


It's best to go ahead and get prequalified up to your max credit limit with a bank of your choice.  Then you'll be able to swoop into a sales agreement and schedule closing within 30 days, instead of the usual 90 days.  The only missing pieces of the puzzle will be an acceptable appraisal, survey and inspection (if necessary) of the house.


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## Snowtrac Nome

that's kind of how it is here rent for studios is up to over a grand a month.


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## NorthernRedneck

Kane said:


> It's best to go ahead and get prequalified up to your max credit limit with a bank of your choice.  Then you'll be able to swoop into a sales agreement and schedule closing within 30 days, instead of the usual 90 days.  The only missing pieces of the puzzle will be an acceptable appraisal, survey and inspection (if necessary) of the house.




That's what we are currently working on now.  We had two conditions on the purchase of the house.  First was the sale of the other place(which will not be an issue after friday).  Second being prequalified.  (which should be no problem after friday as well). 

Yesterday, we were having lunch and contacted our realtor about another house we wanted to go see.  She set it up for us.  Minutes later, she sends a text to get the deposit ready for the first house(which we love).  Looks like the buyers first in line aren't going to meet their conditions so now its our turn.  And by the look of it, we won't have any condiions.

We still went to see the other house though as a backup.  We liked that one too but decided that we will pursue the first one while we have a chance.  The first one is 600 square feet bigger and is sitting on a nice property.  The second is nice and totally remodelled wth 5 bedrooms but is in town on a 50x115ft lot.


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## muleman RIP

Groomer, get some land when you buy. You have too many interests to be cooped up on a tiny lot.


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## NorthernRedneck

muleman said:


> Groomer, get some land when you buy. You have too many interests to be cooped up on a tiny lot.



I agree.  That's why we are pursuing the first one with the large property.  With a camper, boat, 2 atv's, and whatever else finds its way home in the future, I need the yard space.


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## muleman RIP

Building on to a place is a lot easier than trying to add land.


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## NorthernRedneck

Just a quick update.  We didn't get the first house we wanted.  So, we kept searching and found another one we really liked.  Went back a few times to see it.  The more we went back, the less we liked it.  There was simply not enough cupboard space for a family of 6.  The rest of the house was alright.  We passed on that house after much debate.  

So we went to a few open houses and a few more showings and found another house that met all of our needs.  It is in move in condition.  Nice newer garage with a nice sized yard and big deck.  We told our real estate rep that we'd like to make an offer right away.  She contacted the other realtor.  Too late.  They had an offer already.  So After another let down, we talked ourselves into the second house we liked.  We called our realtor and were advised that it had a current offer in the works as well.  So we were rather dissapointed to say the least.  This afternoon, our realtor contacts us and says the deal fell through on the third house we really like and that we now have a chance at that one.  Our bid on the house is in the works right now.  

Oh, and somewhere in there, we managed to sell my fiancee's place last night.  Her's was only on the market since april 5th.


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## NorthernRedneck

The search is over!!!  We have purchased a new home.  It's nice!  1050 square ft with a 51.5x125 lot and 1.5 car insulated and heated garage!!!  Large covered deck in the back.  3 bedrooms up and 1 down(will be 2 when I'm done).  Fenced yard for kids to play in and still have room for my toys.  We move in July since the owners asked for a later closing date as they are in the process of building their own home.


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## bczoom

Congratulations!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Here it is.  We met all the conditions today with a deadline of 6pm this evening.  The house will officially be ours July 2nd.


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## NorthernRedneck

Time is fast approaching for when we get the house!  We've been busy packing for the past couple weeks.  We get the house on the 2nd but will be away on vacation that week out at camp.  We just have to come in to town to sign papers.  When we get back on the 8th, I plan on spending the evenings during the following week over there painting and doing some very minor renos and moving the garage stuff over first.(hey....gotta have the important stuff there first, right?)  It's only about 5 blocks from where we are living now.  Even at that, I splurged and rented the largest moving truck I could find available for local moves and booked it for the 13th.  We've got 3 small trailers but I'd rather just load up the truck with everything in the house, make one trip over, unload and be done with it.  I learnt my lesson last year when I moved to the city.  I worked my a$$ off for a month packing during the week and making trips to the city every weekend with a 10ft enclosed trailer.  That was a 3 hr drive each way.  5 trips to the city moved all my things.


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## Doc

Congrats Brian!!!!!!


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## EastTexFrank

Congratulations bro'.  Wish you all the best in the new place.


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## NorthernRedneck

What a long day.  Between walking the picket line this week, I've been bringing over loads of smaller items/boxes in dads enclosed 12ft cargo trailer all week.  This was in preparation for today.  I rented the biggest uhaul truck available and gathered a couple of other people to help.  We started at 8:30am today loading the truck.  By 1pm, I was ready to drive it over to the new place and start unloading.  We had a friend helping me move the big stuff while the misus and one of her female friends from the church cleaned and packed the remaining smalls.  Everything went smoothly until I stupidly locked the freakin keys for the moving truck inside the truck.  Ah well.  These things happen from time to time.

Of course not everything is unpacked but I'd say 95% of the stuff is moved now.  Still a few things left to grab at the old place.  I'm beat.


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## NorthernRedneck

So we outgrew this place as well. We had been looking for months for the perfect house and location and found one last weekend. We went to see it and put an offer. It was accepted. Pending the home inspection, the house will be ours. It's 2300 square feet. 6 acres. Has both an attached garage and a bigger detached garage. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	

























Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

More pictures 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




























Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

More
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	
















Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Master bedroom with ensuite 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	

























Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Second upstairs bedroom 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Third and fourth basement bedrooms 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	













Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Basement bathroom and rec room.  We plan on putting up a wall with door to make a 5th bedroom. 















Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Third main floor bathroom with laundry. This is a nice feature for me as I can't do stairs some days. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Second garage with upstairs loft ready for walls and apartment. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	










Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Overhead shot showing the land. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Canadian eh!!!


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## bczoom

VERY NICE!!! Congratulations!

In the master bedroom, it looks like a pass-through fireplace.  What's on the other side?


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## NorthernRedneck

Thanks. It is a passthrough natural gas fireplace. The main living room is on the other side. Easy fix. One of those fireplace screens would solve that problem. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/iVxy4AcSoE7tono3A

Canadian eh!!!


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## pirate_girl

Wow is all I can say!
My first thought as an OCD/clean freak would be: don't touch anything!
Clean that!

Congratulations Brian.
Wonderful home you have there.


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## FrancSevin

That is an amazing find Brian. Congratulations on your good fortune.


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## Jim_S RIP

Looks like a wonderful place!


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## NorthernRedneck

Thanks. We're excited for more room. Our current place is so packed. Our kitchen is cramped. It's an eat in kitchen that really should only have one of those round tables  built for 4. But we have a 96" long dining table crammed in where I almost have to walk by turned sideways between it and the refrigerator. It drives us crazy. Not a bad house for a family of 4.  We're going to be so lost in this place with so much room. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## norscaner

Cheers Brian nice garage ….Good on ya ...what road is that?


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## NorthernRedneck

norscaner said:


> Cheers Brian nice garage ….Good on ya ...what road is that?


Hey. Thanks. That's on point de meuron. Take Oliver to murillo cross the tracks and turn left. The property backs onto the fairgrounds. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## Jim_S RIP

NorthernRedneck said:


> Second garage with upstairs loft ready for walls and apartment.
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> Canadian eh!!!



You going to turn the upstairs into a rental apartment?


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## Doc

Very very nice Brian!!!!!     That will make an awesome place for your large family.  Perfect!!!!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

jim slagle said:


> You going to turn the upstairs into a rental apartment?


Actually we are considering an apartment up there but for the older boys if they choose to go to post secondary school here. They can share it and pay rent. Get them started in the world out on their own but still under our wing. Eventually it could be a rental if they choose to move out completely. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Doc said:


> Very very nice Brian!!!!!     That will make an awesome place for your large family.  Perfect!!!!!!


Yes. Plenty of room for everyone. Right now we're tripping over each other. With two separate living rooms upstairs, we plan on having a gym area in one for my continued rehab. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

The home inspection passed. Only a few minor maintenance problems found that are already dealt with by the previous owners. The well was the biggest thing. It WAS 220 ft deep. Because of not being used for the past year, it was putting out less than a gallon a minute recovery. The owner took care of that though. He was on the phone immediately scheduling a well company to come in. They drilled another 50 feet and fracked it.  Now it refills closer to 5 Gallons a minute. 









Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Yesterday was a $hit show from the get go. I had planned to haul out a full load of boxes and misc to the new house with the cargo trailer. I got there at 11 while the furniture was being delivered. They missed delivering one of the sectionals. One of the end tables was damaged. And one of the mattresses for the split king wasn't in yet.  So  instead of going for another load from the house, we quickly unloaded the cargo trailer and went to Leon's (furniture store) and picked up the missing sectional and returned the end table. 

Back to the house with that load and quickly unloaded it. Back to the old house for a meal of fresh walleye then got the kids packing up their rooms. By 8pm the cargo trailer was loaded again. Back out to the new house with that load. It'll be unloaded in the morning. Grabbed the fat deck trailer to bring to the old house for a load of yard stuff and bikes. That's this morning's task. 

Meanwhile, her parents are down helping her unpack and sort things at the new house. I got some basic tools together for the father in law to go around and fix a few small things at the new house to keep him busy. Since I'm restricted to what I can do to help with the actual lifting and moving, I've been the one shutting trailers back and forth and overseeing basic repairs. Moving sucks. But hopefully this is it until we decide to downsize after the kids are older. 

Canadian eh!!!


Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

More packing loading and unloading today. It rained. And rained. Then rained some more. I got the kids bikes snowblower and a few other outdoor items loaded up and moved over. I also went to home depot to pick up some shelving material for a closet beside the kitchen we are going to use as a pantry for food. We also picked out some light fixtures we want to change out.  

Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Tomorrow is officially the moving day. I'm going to pick up a 26ft moving truck first thing while the wife and kids head out to the house. I have a crew of 6 guys coming to move. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## pirate_girl

NorthernRedneck said:


> Tomorrow is officially the moving day. I'm going to pick up a 26ft moving truck first thing while the wife and kids head out to the house. I have a crew of 6 guys coming to move.
> 
> Canadian eh!!!


Just think Brian.
Tomorrow night you can sit down and relax and say it's done!
We're home.


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## NorthernRedneck

Yes. It's been a hell of a three months for us. It's been crazy since the beginning of March. First we were starting adoption probation for our foster daughter. That involved a few legal proceedings in court as a standard procedure. Then my legal things in April for the accident. Followed only days after by the house and boat deal. Along with my wife totaling the SUV in an accident. It's been one thing after another. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

pirate_girl said:


> Just think Brian.
> 
> Tomorrow night you can sit down and relax and say it's done!
> 
> We're home.
> 
> [emoji2]


Lmao. Hardly done. We are home but soo much to do. All the unpacking and getting the other place for sale. There's a couple trees that have to come down soon  near the house that'll come down on their own if I don't take care of them. There's a bunch of brushing that needs to be done on the entrance road. We are going to build a bus shelter for the kids out by the road. The garage needs work in the heating department. Always something to do. Oh well. I enjoy being busy. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## pirate_girl

NorthernRedneck said:


> Lmao. Hardly done. We are home but soo much to do. All the unpacking and getting the other place for sale. There's a couple trees that have to come down soon  near the house that'll come down on their own if I don't take care of them. There's a bunch of brushing that needs to be done on the entrance road. We are going to build a bus shelter for the kids out by the road. The garage needs work in the heating department. Always something to do. Oh well. I enjoy being busy.
> 
> Canadian eh!!!


Moving the stuff is work enough.
Wrapping up all the loose ends is the not so fun part.


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## NorthernRedneck

Yep. Oh well. Time to crack the whip and get the kids unpacking their things. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

So I picked up a golf cart to scoot around the property easier. I already got the road trimmed. I did some tree trimming on the roundabout. Mowed the whole yard twice. I'm really enjoying it so far. Right now it's still quite busy as it's the beginning of June soon, we don't want to switch the kids schools with only a month to go and we can't get busing set up till September, we're stuck driving into the city twice a day. It'll be better in the fall. Lots to consider when you move to a different town. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

It's been crazy busy since we moved. Between regular life moving unpacking putting together furniture etc, we haven't stopped. I've lost 15 lbs in a month. This week we've been working on the deck. It's coming together nicely. My wife built a 10x12 screened gazebo. I built a workbench in the garage. My dad built a wall downstairs so we now have 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Today we assembled a 6 foot tall large dog run for the puppies. 

Canadian eh!!!


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## Doc

That all looks very nice.   Good work.


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## NorthernRedneck

Thanks. We picked up the gazebo, a nice wicker sectional with matching table, an accent matching lounge chair, and a fire table for the deck off the kitchen. We had everything except the umbrella on the deck off our room. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	













Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

The puppies are happy. I was looking around the yard with the golf cart and found a bunch of 6ft tall chain link fence pieces piled in the woods along one of the trails. Score!  Dog pen. I spent the afternoon hauling them over to the house with dad and assembling them. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Canadian eh!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

I took this the other night when I was down at the garage looks kinda neat all lit up. Too bad I didn't put on the deck lights as they light up the whole yard. 

We also got tired of those tile counters quickly so back in the summer we ordered quartz countertops. It takes a while to come in as they come in and take laser measurements then order from a supplier. We just had them installed last week. This week, we have some custom cabinets being installed under the ledge of the counter facing the dining room. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







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## NorthernRedneck

For comparison, here's the before shot of the kitchen. We also changed the stove and dishwasher when we did the countertops.  As well, we changed the hanging light fixture as every time we opened the cupboard door it would hit the light bar.  The door would only open 90 degrees before making it difficult to access the dishes stored in there so we replaced the hinges with ones that open 180 degrees. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## NorthernRedneck

It's going to be nice this winter sitting by a nice warm fireplace every evening. The fireplace is a through wall 2 sided design. Our bedroom is on the other side. We have a nice mantle in there as well. We just purchased a couple of matching armchairs for our bedroom to sit in there by the fireplace. No pictures of that as our bedroom has become the storage room for wrapped Christmas gifts until we get the tree up on Saturday hopefully. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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