A New Beginning

First you start with the dirt:

(looking in from Michigan}

On January 28th of 2003 we closed on the purchase of a piece of land in Sun Ridge Estates, which is located in Bullhead City Arizona. After looking at existing homes in the city, we felt a new beginning should also include a new home. It wasn't easy transacting business when you and your future home are 2098 miles apart, but Lake Ridge Realty and The First National Bank of Arizona made this task pretty easy.

(Looking in from Mexico)

Sun Ridge Estates is located in the northern section of Bullhead City. Our home will be about three miles from Laughlin Nevada and the casinos there. If that's not enough excitement for you, Las Vegas is about 94 miles to the north and Needles California is about 20 miles south-west. Bullhead City relies mostly on tourism and their hot summers, plenty of surrounding water and very mild winters. The mild winters influenced our decision the most.

Unlike Michigan, the southwest has mountains and desert. Our property is really a reflection of our surroundings as the lot is raised about 19 feet from the street level. The streets and homes are landscaped to fit in with the mountain terrain. Once the house is built we'll have the sides of the lot retained with two to three tiers of stones and rocks. With the property being raised we have a nice view and as of now, can even see the casino's in Laughlin. Our next big steps now are to have the house built and to finally move in....

We'll keep updating this page as things develop.

September 2003 - We listed our house with Century 21 real Estate.

March 1, 2004 - After six months and about thirty some showings later, WE FINALLY SOLD!!!!

March 30, 2004 - We closed on the house with the new owners. Most of our stuff is packed but we haven't found anywhere to rent in Bullhead City yet...

April 8, 2004 - Many, many phone calls later, we found a really nice Condo to live in just a few miles from our new home.

April 9, 2004 - Finding a storage facility for our things wasn't any easier than finding a place to rent, but now we have that too.

The phone company will really miss us when we leave.

April 26, 2004 - The moving company arrived at 8:30am to load up all our stuff.

April 27, 2004 - With sleet and snow coming down, we left our home at 9:35am. Laurie, myself, Casper and Missy. Two suitcases, Casper's carrier, Missy's bed, a covered litter box, a cooler, a bag of snacks, a coffee pot, a battery charging unit, maps and directions all in the back of our Jeep.

April 30, 2004 - After 31 hours of passing thru Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and the whole state of Arizona, we arrived at about 8:00pm. If we have to go back to Michigan again we are definitely gonna Fly.

July 20, 2004 - Just about two and a half months after arriving here they finally started on the construction of our home. We made the HUGE mistake of going through Country Wide Home Loans for the financing. We ended up refusing to sign the papers at closing and went through our local bank instead. Live and learn the hard way..I guess.

Ar - Cal Development creates a web page for each client while their home is under construction so that family and friends can watch , via their computer, the home being built.

Construction Period: July 26 to December 6, 2004

Spending a few months waiting for answers and fighting bureaucracy can be stressful but one bright spot during that time was having friends close by. We had the pleasure of having Harmon, Toni and Reb (their kitten), from Lubbock Texas as our next door neighbors. Harmon is retired and Toni is a traveling nurse. Hopefully Toni will take another position in this part of the country again in the future, so we can visit.

WE took a few pictures of our new home and you can see them if you click here