Home Sweet Home?

Benson has been touted as a great place to retire. At about 3500 feet, it's considered high desert rather than low desert, and, while not too cold in winter, it doesn't get the summer heat the way the Phoenix area does. One of Steve's goals was to check out this area as a retirement place for us. He has developed an extreme aversion to cold and snow, and really wants to move to a warmer climate. For me, it's going to take some convincing, at least to do it as soon as he'd like. I love my life in Salt Lake, and would have a hard time leaving. My grandson, Jack, is at my favorite age, and his little brother isn't far behind. I don't want to miss that. My friends, my job at the quilt shop--these are important to me. I'm not ready to give them up and start all over somewhere else.

Nevertheless, as we often do when we travel, we looked at houses for sale, a little more seriously this time. Steve had seen one on the internet that he really liked, and, when we got to Benson, he contacted the agent and arranged for us to go see it. It didn't quite come up to his expectations, but Sydney, our agent, took us by a couple of others, and gave us a list of still others for sale. We drove around, nothing really catching our eye, until we found this one. It was one that Sydney had almost dismissed as being too small, but we were intrigued because it is a total solar home. We drove by, peeked in the windows, liked what we saw, and arranged to see the inside the next day. Both of us got pretty excited.

The house sits on four acres with gorgeous views of mountains all around. It's 1300 square feet, with 3 bedrooms and two baths, and nicely laid out. The little courtyard in front is off the master bedroom. Radiant hot water heat in the floor, heat and AC all solar-powered. Downside: no garage or storage for all our stuff. The price is rockbottom, though. they started out at $219,00, and it has dropped a couple of times, now at $179,000. It's never been occupied, and the builder apparently has several others he hasn't sold and is eager to sell before it goes into foreclosure.

It's a longshot. Steve is working the numbers now. But IF we can get the price down still lower, and IF his inheritance is enough to pay off some of our debt, we MAY be able to swing it. It would be a second home for now, that we could use a base for winter traveling while we build a garage, workshop, and storage area, and wait for the grandkids to grow up a little so I could bear leaving them. Stay tuned.