Stepping Into Liquid

My wife and I have always hated dropping our boys off at the day care.

Ironically, that is why we now own a home on a lake.

Sometime in May of 2006, our thinking changed as to the direction of our families future...we decided Steph would stay home with the boys, and since we are "lake people" we contimplated a move to Lake Byron, S.D.

Home prices in Sioux Falls compared to the rest of S.D. is like watching an episode of HGTV's "What You Get For The Money". I have yet to watch the show, but from what I understand is they show you what you get for $200K in Las Vegas, Sacramento, Billings and Yale, SD. Our market-median home in NW Sioux Falls would cost $50,000 less in Huron. So we looked for real estate on the lake that I grew up skiing on...totally expecting the usual insane sticker shock related to lake living.

Now don't get me wrong Lake Byron (24 Kilometers north of Huron, SD) is a beautiful lake and an nice liquid break from all of the prairie surrounding, but is also a typical lake for S.D. Think along the lines of Wall Lake, Lake Mitchell or Lake Madison. Recent years of better land management have taken care of some of the "pea soup" issues that surround mud-bottomed lakes in the area. In fact, I believe Byron is cleaner than Madison and Mitchell on their best days.

In dreams, I have won the lottery, paid my friends to take care of my money, security details and spiritual well-being, and then built a huge home for all of us on Okoboji or better yet Powell, and then we all wakeboarded the summer away, only to move to a rustic cabin in Big Sky, MT for the winter...but this is reality, and moving back "home" to the company G.O. is my version of winning the lottery.

Long story even longer...we found a place that needed ample work, and my wife's incredible tasteful and frugal ability to decorate. We made an offer, a counter offer and another and we agreed to a price that would get you 50 feet of shorline and a worthless lot on most other lakes...and on some lakes it would buy you 6 weeks of a timeshare. Let's just say the market in the Huron, S.D. area is a bit soft...great for us.

We sold our house in S.F. in 24 days for full asking price, and moved in to my parent's basemant, and the remodel project began on Saturday, September 6, 2006 around 6:47 A.M.

This blog will take you on our journey of Living On Liquid...as if anyone beside our parents really care.