Garage living....

So, while I was home for lunch last Monday, Ryan's mom called and told us about her final plans. She is going to build this house (only probably not so much of the wood on the inside walls) and build on the attached three car garage with an apartment above it, for us to live in. The garage will be attached to the back of the house where the mechanial room and cedar shower and tub are, and our apartment will be above that, next to where the loft is. We can either go in and out through the garage (our own private access...she's building stairs through the garage, which will be nice in the winter) or through the door in the loft. She's also going to have the gazebo out front more swung around on the side of the house, and she is putting a hot tub on the gazebo! YAY! She thinks the grandkinds will like the little "Bonco" area below the loft, where they can read books in their own little nook.

We thought this was a great idea for her, first off, because it is a TON LESS than building an UNFINISHED basement for us to live in. And she will have an extra apartment that she can rent out to relatives (nieces or nephews, but the grandkids stay for free!) in the future if they want to go to BYU-Idaho...or a place for us to come stay at when we come to visit in the future, so we don't have to stay at a hotel. The only outstanding debt she'll have is her house, which she will pay off within 15 years (when she turns 65...perfect for retirement age). I thought she made a great decision to set herself up for retirement :) I think it will be a great investment for her. The builder likes the design so much that he thinks he can get away with building it in a REALLY nice subdivision, even though it will be far smaller than the other houses. He thinks the architectural integrity of the house will let them get away with building there. Which will also be a good investment for her to have the smallest house in a very prominent neighborhood. Should be easy to sell if she ever needed to.

Anyways, should be fun! She says if we start having a family while we are there, she would even switch us for the house/her in the apartment, since she has two bedrooms, and we'll just have the one bedroom in the apartment. I told her she wouldn't have to do that (it makes me feel bad!) but she said it would be plenty of space for her to live in while we finish out school there...I told her we would figure it out when the time came :) I'm alright putting any little ones in the living room for a while, while we finish up school there. We'll see what the future holds. But it's getting more exciting the more firm our plans get, like mom getting a house built! YAY!

http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL55632.hwx
http://www.eplans.com/traditional_house-plans/HWEPL64436.hwx