Starting from scratch

After almost four years of looking for the perfect home, we've decided to build it! We're excited to share this experience with our family and friends, and look forward to becoming official citizens of Owatonna!

This Old House: A tribute to the homes that didn't make the cut.

When you've lived in an apartment for almost five years, it seems like any house is better than no house. That is, until you actually step foot inside of them. On our way to finding the right house, we had to visit a lot of wrong ones! Here are just a few of the homes that made important Buffington history.


The house on Kriesel Place. This 1980s rambler was the first house we ever decided to make an offer on. It had everything: a beautiful back yard, a quiet street, cul-de-sac location... the only thing it lacked was new shingles, siding, windows, a two-stall garage, updated carpet, air conditioning and hot water heater---like I said this was the first house we made an offer on, there had to be a learning curve somewhere! Of course we found out all of that information thanks to our trusty home inspector Brian, and we were able to freely walk away from this money pit.


And then there was the circa 1885 Victorian on Vine street. We spotted this cute home last winter and put in an offer less than a week before leaving for Arizona. The price was right, the neighborhood was great, only problem was the fact that some of the electrical was original! Again, it was our home inspector Brian who helped us see the light and walk away from this potentially dangerous offer.

Which brings us to the house that changed everything--the completely restored 1895 Victorian on Cedar. This house was beautiful, and we fully intended to purchase it. We looked at it numerous times, each time becoming more excited than the last. The original wood interior was in impeccable condition, and the kitchen had been completely updated, along with the plumbing and electrical. The yard was well-maintained and the curb appeal outstanding. In fact, we still think it is a wonderful piece of Owatonna history. The problem with this house was that the price (at the time of our viewing) was highly comparable to the price of a newly constructed home! Although the house had been restored, it was still over 110 years old and could never offer us the full capability of modern conveniences. It was then that we realized that this house, along with the hundreds of others we had visited over the past four years would never be the home we were looking for.