Vacation / Property Scouting Trip

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These first 5 paragraphs of this long story are kind of like looking at too many pictures from someone else’s Vacation, pretty boring. But the last 5 are pretty exciting stuff (at least for me) so skip ahead to the second half if you like.

Lori, my mom and I just got back from a 7 day vacation, 2 nights each in 3 different hotels in 3 different cities. Got back home Sat. afternoon and as much fun as we had it’s always so comforting returning to your own home, bed, shower and fridge full of your normal food and drink.

We spent Sunday and Monday nights in Las Vegas and got off to a great start by visiting my best friend and his wife. He invited his daughters and their husbands, his sister and her daughter and her two children and then grilled a couple of chickens and tri-tips. Great big family style party enjoyed by all. Mom hasn’t been able to scratch her gambling itch in a while so those first two days were about what ever she wanted to do. We did have one stand out dinner, a BBQ sampler plater, at the House of Blues followed by a Cirque do Soleil show called “One” based on the music of Michael Jackson. Awesome.

Gambling totals weren’t bad, Lori won 300.00, mom ended up about 25.00 ahead and I brought up the rear winning a total of 1.00, at least none of us lost at the tables. Vegas has become so expensive though that I was just glad to get out of there without blowing our entire budget.

We drove out past the Hoover Dam on the way to Prescott AZ taking a little time to walk out on the new bridge and take some pics of the dam itself. Prescott was one of the towns we’ve been considering making our new home but after looking at 5 or 6 properties we got the feeling that the affordable land has been picked over and the town doesn’t have that small town feel anymore. We did stay in a historic old building converted into a small hotel and wandered through the old town shopping, eating and sight seeing for a couple of days.

Cottonwood AZ was our final destination and while it’s only about 40 miles from Prescott. It’s well over an hour drive through the Prescott national forest and over the Mingus mountains at over 7,000 feet and then through the old copper mining town of Jerome at about 5,000 feet on the other side. We ate breakfast at the Flatiron Cafe which has exactly 3 tables. The owners are a very friendly young couple and there was another couple eating. We started chatting after they heard we were from Los Angeles area since they were originally from Orange county (also so cal area) and ended up talking wine. We found out they run the Pillsbury Wine company tasting room in Cottonwood which was walking distance from our hotel. We hadn’t even reached Cottonwood yet but were already starting to feel really good about the city. We arrived at our hotel about 4 hours early for check-in but they went ahead and gave us our room right then. Now the exciting part, driving around and looking at more lots.

Out of 5 lots we had picked in advance three would have been difficult to build on or didn’t have enough room. One would have worked but was in a very suburban tract style development. The final lot was pretty cool, we looked it over, walked around and then headed back to downtown for lunch and to make a decision. It really was an easy choice though, 3/4 acre lot, no close neighbors, nice homes, utilities at curb and beautiful views of the red rocks of Sedona and Mingus Mountains. We headed back to take a second look and while there my wife introduced herself to the neighbor woman across the street. It turns out her husband and I are going to be best friends, he just doesn’t know it yet. Besides their house they also own the 3/4 acre lot next the one I was looking at and won’t build on it or sell it to make sure their view doesn’t get blocked, that protects my view as well. In addition to that he has about 40 cabernet and syrah vines growing on his hillside and makes wine. Our lot easily has room to plant a 50 to 75 vine mini vineyard on the lower part of the property.

To celebrate we headed back to town to visit the Pillsbury wine co. and find a nice restaurant. The couple we met earlier in the day were working, showed us around and introduced us to one of the head guys. We didn’t do a formal tasting but he’d open a bottle of what we were talking about buying and pour 1 small glass that all three of us shared and then he took it up a notch to a bigger wine and we ended up trying 4 or 5 different wines. He finished it off from a bottle of their 2013 Shiraz private reserve that was just fantastic. We bought 3 different wines but before we left he pulled one last unmarked bottle explaining the wine he just poured was going to bottling next (this) week. It had won double gold, one of only 3 out of 1700 to do so at a large San Francisco Competition. It was their 2015 “Guns and Kisses” Shiraz. I may have already found a connection into the local winery group….

We wrapped up Friday with a trip to Sedona, just 19 miles away, a nice dinner, artsy pizzas and salads at Bocce pizzaria with a cheap Malbec that tasted just fine with the pizza. Finally, one last trip up to the lot to see what sunset looked like from spot where the patio will be.

So Friday before leaving Cottonwood we got together with a local agent, made an offer to buy and countered back and forth over a few dollars and who pays for a survey of property lines until just this morning. We signed an agreement a couple of hours ago! Time to start drawings on the house including a new bigger and improved winery!

The last two pictures are actually of the lot we bought.

Mike
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Fantastic news Mike! Congrats on the new purchase and soon to be built new house as well. Its a beautiful area for sure.

Looking forward to tagging along vicariously on your new journey!
 
We’re off to a pretty quick start, have been talking with a couple of contractors and getting a sense of actual costs to build, already feeling a little sticker shock but we can deal with that. I bought a 3D/CAD design program from Chief Architect called Home Designer to get our thoughts on paper, it’s not exactly easy to use but it has a ton of capabilities and is working out pretty well. I’d like to build a walk out basement and put the winery under the patio but it may be cost prohibitive. The other option is to grade a level pad and put the house on one level slab. Our timeline continues to speed up, we’ll probably put our place on the market 10 months from now hoping to already have a contract with a builder signed and start building as soon as our house sells. That should put us moving in early 2020.
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A few pictures generated from the software after our design. I took the liberty of planting a vineyard in the back yard and adding some furniture for the fun of it. I do intend on the vineyard but will try to stay out of the interior design stuff. House is about 2350 sq. feet. with the main great room / kitchen area about 30’x30’. I’m sure there will be some serious evolving to come but all in all we’re pretty happy with the layout.
 
Looks awesome. Such a great outdoor entertaining space on that deck/patio.

You need to add a crush pad between the vineyard and winery though - preferably one with some cover. ;)
 
So are we setting a tentative opening date for all us wine lobbyists? [emoji4]
 
Call me old-fashioned, but I notice you have no dining room or breakfast nook, just the seating at the island. Do you think you will stick with that? I'm curious because your island will be your main prep area and is also where your sink is, so there will be dirty dishes there every time you cook. Unless you plan on doing the dishes *before* you eat, it would be frustrating to my wife and I to not have a table to sit at, separate from the kitchen prep area.

Otherwise, I like it! I am perplexed by the dimensions shown for your master bedroom though - 29' x 15'. It looks like it is 15' x 15' instead. Also the survey indicates the backyard drops off a little faster than your vineyard projection appears to show, but I could be wrong.
 
In the Master bathroom, is that area to the left of the tub a walk in shower? Having to deal with elderly parents as they age has made me thankful for walk in showers and not tub/shower combo's!
 
We're in Havasu this weekend and our time frame continues to move up. Lori has suggested that once we sell our house next year there's really no reason not to just move to cottonwood at that time. We can rent a small place for the time it takes to build the house. We've also decided to become builder/owners and contract the project ourselves. Living in town would allow me to dedicate myself to the house full time while she continues to run the business. She hasn't paid me in years anyway!

Thanks for the suggestions, agree with all so far, walk in showers, check. Dining area probably, check. Winery moved under bedrooms 2 and 3 and crush pad will be under patio. Updates soon.
Mike
 
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We're in Havasu this weekend and our time frame continues to move up........
 
As someone who has lived around that architecture for the last 33 years let me just say this. While it is unique, different, and seen quite frequently here in the Southwest especially NM it is one of the worst roofs to maintain. You will be doing good to get 10 years out of a flat roof before it needs repair/replacement. You have no attic either so if you decide you want to add something to the ceiling like a fan or another light fixture your hosed. You want to run another cable drop for TV or internet, your not going in the attic for that either. I have seen people actually put a pitched roof on a flat roof many times but I have never seen anyone get rid of a pitched roof and go with a flat roof on a home remodel. Water/snow will stand on them even if they put a small pitch on it. The new membrane material they are using is better than the old tar and gravel method but still they are a royal PITA to maintain.

Caveat Emptor!

Stucco exterior is definitely the way to go in this part of the country for sure!

Still fine-tuning the layout but have made the decision to go with a Santa Fe/Adobe inspired exterior. The Neighborhood has a mix of both Adobe and Ranch styling. Will be interviewing local architects over the next month and hoping to have building plans developed.
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if you decide you want to add something to the ceiling like a fan or another light fixture your hosed.

I have seen architects make exposed conduit part of the interior design. So if one wants to add something, it is not a problem. Hollow false exposed "beams" can also house electrical wire for those that want a more hidden look.

In other words, there are many solutions to a problem. It just depends on what wants and the skill of their architect.
 

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