Want A Great View...? Timing Helps

Where we live, hillside properties are, in a word, rare. To the east is a mountain range that I read somewhere is one of the steepest mountains in America. I was unaware of that fact, but they did look steep. Steep mountains make it tough for development, residential or otherwise. To the east, there's not a lot of homes on the mountainside.

To the west of us, that's a different story. We have foothills and people have taken advantage of it. We actually considered buying a building lot when we were thinking of moving to almost Idaho. Sure, it would mean renting someplace for months until the home was built--something we did not want to do. The view almost made the sacrifice worth it...

Almost.

We ended up on the north side of the valley on a gentle rise which affords wonderful views. Turns out, others like the views as well and new homes are popping up all over. The latest is a one-story home in the 55+ community. It's on the top of the lane. My son, who is studying Construction Technology, and I decided to take an unofficial tour as dusk descended on the valley. Walking into the main room, we saw the home's showpiece...the view looking south.

Beautiful.

My mother-in-law's house sits atop the same hill, just a little lower on the street from the home currently under construction. You might think the views in her home would be equally spectacular.

You'd be wrong.

It has to do with timing.

You see, when her home was built, they were using only certain types of windows...the ones in every house built before we arrived. We were told those windows were the only ones available. They're adequate, but they don't allow for the stunning views available to the hillside homes. They also sided the homes with certain materials differently back in the day. As building prices came down a year or so later, the newer homes had different siding options. 

Had we bought or built years later, I think the homes would look different. Maybe they'd all have those amazing window views. Of course, we'll never know. And, had we waited, the homes might not have been available and would certainly have cost us much much more.

It's all because of timing.