Building our New Home

Jenny and Steve Reynolds

@ 26 Vista Terrace, Amherst MA 01002

Milestones (start to finish)

• Purchase and Sale - October 8, 2019
• Breaking Ground
• Foundation
• Framing
• Weather Tight
• Walls and Paint
• Floors
• Kitchen Cabinets and Counter Tops
• Final Finishes
• Final Grade
• Final Inspection
• Closing
• Move In - August 6, 2020

Purchasing Decision 

Our new home purchase was predicated on the fact we had a contract on our existing home at 575 Station Road.  The October 31st sale was imminent and time was short on knowing where, what and when we would live in next.  In our pursuit of what was was next, we look extensively at properties all over the Pioneer Valley.  Northampton was the place we fell in love with when we migrated from Washington, DC in 2002.  It has a great music scene and vibe but is also very desirable.  Homes are pricey and inventory is almost non-existent.  

The place that has been described as the 'next Northampton' (for a long time) is Easthampton.  We looked at houses two houses in Easthampton and a couple in Hadley.  Again inventory is very low and the competition for what is on the market is fierce.  Those places appealed to us for lots of reasons.  Finding a community seemed doable and the taxes were much lower in Northampton, Easthampton and Hadley.  We were willing to make the leap.

We also were looking in Amherst.  Wanted something that was in town ideally.  It had to have a roof that could be solarized (if not already equipped with solar).  In fact, we found a house in town with solar that had been well kept.  The master was on the 3rd floor and you had to duck to get up the stairs was the only hitch.  Because it was the first house we looked at, we were not going to settle. So we kept looking.  We looked at a very expensive condo north of town.  The lack of owning anything on the outside of the structure was not something we were ready for - and the price was too high.  Not much else was on the market.  There were some open lots on SouthEast street with amazing view, but building was not something Jenny wanted to tolerate.  We also found there were some new houses under construction that looked good.  Their address was not in Google Maps and directed us to 5 College Relators first and then to the South Amherst Common.  We looked in Applewood but still could not find the street Vista Terrace there either.  We finally found it as we made our way back from our 'goose chase' around Applewood.  A new road across from Atkins. It was the end of June.

The houses (one single story and one two story) were under construction.  The single story was mostly done, but we were not into the layout.  The two story was not as far along and seemed like would not be a great place to be, given there were still 5 or 6 more houses to be build in this new neighborhood.  However, the entire neighborhood was billed as a 'Net Zero' community. Though, it was new construction and Jenny was not into that process.  So we moved on.

We continued to look in all of those places and were finding nothing.  At the end of July, we decided to consider the very first house we looked at.  Called the realtor and asked to look again.  It had gone under contract earlier that day.  We looked anyway, in hopes that would fall through.