Plenty of updates

Currently we are less then 2 weeks out from the house being completed. After our walk-thru, the builder will send over the ready to close form and approximately 10 days or less we will close. They tentatively have us closing on October 11th.

To get up to speed we will mention what was completed last week {9*20-9*24}

-The kitchen counter tops and sink went in on Monday.

-Plumbers were there most of the week. We have toilets, sinks and running water.

-electrician came in and finished all the hook-ups. It's neat to even see light bulbs installed!

-The lot was cleaned, leveled, yellow sand was laid (for nutrients),

irrigation was installed and landscaping started (sod and 2nd tree to follow)

-Propane tank and tank-less water heater went in and the propane take was filled.

-End of this week the flooring had begun to be installed.

The coming week will include:

-wood floors to be completed on Monday {takes 3 days to install}
-Sod and tree to also be placed on Monday

-hanging of doors and door knobs

-construction clean up

-Dry wall punch. This means the painters come back in and go over all the walls with a fine-toothed comb to ensure touch-ups are complete and there are no blemishes.

By weeks end we are to have our insurance carrier picked because carpet should be installed the following week!!!! Once Howard {builder} has a walk-thru with his boss it will then be our turn to walk-thru with him.

We're down to the wire and our inpatients is soaring high. More to follow soon!

Weeks {5} and part of {6}!!!

It's really amazing how far this house has come. Technically it is only {6} weeks old and is ALMOST ready to be lived in! {{AMAZING}}!!

A lot more has been done since the last entry. There is a roof, insulation, dry wall that has been mudded and patched, doors and windows! We try to get to the house every evening, but lately we find that waiting a day longer allows us to see a bigger difference in what has been done. It is also tough to get good light inside now that there are walls so taking pictures becomes difficult.

This coming week {9.7} they have planned to paint, pour the driveway/walkway/front porch and tile the foyer and bathrooms. We'll have a fully tiled master shower and the surrounds will be tiled in both bathtubs.

I've been having a very strong feeling of the date {9.27}. We'll see if that date has any meaning---pray it does because we'd REALLY like the tax credit which expires {9.30}

End of week {4}!!

Howard called Friday and gave us a wonderful update. His weekly calls usually go a little something like this, "XYZ was completed this week. This is the Mon-Fri schedule for the following week". I love that he gives me the following weeks schedule so then I don't have to feel redundant when I asked every. Friday, 'what's going to happen NEXT??!!'.

This week {8.23} the a/c, plumbing, electrical, windows & shingles will be worked on/installed. By weeks end there will be another inspection on the framing. The FOLLOWING week (yes, he is good, isn't he?!?) they will be hanging dry wall, stuccoing and painting. WOOHOO! Looks like a home more and more every day.

We stopped over on Sunday and were surprised to find a lot had been done on Friday--framing for the garden tub and master shower, the wall for the pocket doors, framing of the kitchen nook and sliding glass door area. Our elevation in the front is completed and they have the 'black paper' installed on the roof!!

I did grill Howard for a guesstimate on when the house would be done. He gave me a ballpark of the end of September/beginning of October. Not far away! I can see the end of the tunnel!!!

The past Two weeks

Every week something new is done to the house. Last week we watched the cinder blocks get built on Wednesday and Thursday (8.11 & 8.12) It finally LOOKED like a real house with window openings and a garage!!! Friday (8.13) there was an inspection in which we failed. We assume everything passed because this week they moved on to the roof.

Monday (8.16) nothing that we could visually see was done and the same thing for Tuesday. When we went up to the house on Tuesday evening, there was a worker there unloading wood 4x4's and he told us this week the roof, walls and windows would be going up! YAY for more visual progress!

It has been an amazing process, but it is never quick enough for me!!

Building has begun

Ground was broken for the house on Monday July 26th. They lot was cleared and flagged on Saturday July 23rd. Since the start, we have footers dug, 3 courses of block, the beginning of the 2 pillars at the entrance and by this weeks end there will be plumbing and cement poured. You can get an idea of the house layout and distinguish the garage and bedrooms. It's the "boring" part of the building process, but it is still exciting to see how it happens. Our builder, Howard, calls us every Friday to give us an update. He said by this coming Monday (8/9) the cement will be done and the 2nd inspection on the plumbing will also be completed.

Building at Last!

YAY for the builders meeting! Once you receive THAT phone call, you are guaranteed that ground breaking is imminent. We meet with the builder on Friday July 2nd. During that meeting we will go over the blue prints, place our outlets, t.v outlets and alarm pads. Once we sign off on the blue prints they will go over to the next set of hands who will then place a stamp of approval on them and order the permits. It is a lot of behind-the-scenes work and it will consume the following two weeks or so after the builders meeting. Our guess is that ground breaking will begin approximately around July 19th. Unfortunately neither one of us will be in town, but we trust that much won't happen until we return on Aug 1st. I know my plan is to race right over to the house site as soon as we hit Rt 540!!

It is going to be an exciting time for us. We won't have to visit a bare lot anymore and we will be able to physically see something happening! It is probably safe to say that we will be in the home by November 1st, which was what we were planning. Not only do we want to be settled before the holiday rush, but it also means a lot to us to be in before Alex's 8th birthday!!!

More updates (and pictures) to come.....

June Update

A lot has happened since my last entry. I'll try to remember every detail as best I can:

* The appraisal was performed in May. We received the results on June 1st and we hit value! YAY! It went a lot smoother then what we thought it would. Being that there hasn't been a house sale in our neighborhood in the past 90 days the appraiser had to go outside the neighborhood to get comparable homes. We didn't know what to expect so we held our breath and said a prayer. We were also afraid they would mention something about our upgrades, but they didn't! So onward we go.

*After the appraisal our paperwork went into underwriting. This would be approximately 2-2.5 weeks until completion.

*Heard back from the lender on June 15th. Based on the strength of our file, a commitment letter was issued to the builder! This means that everything is near completion on the lenders end and that the builder can safely add us to the list of many who are awaiting the start of their build. Southern Home is aware of the time constraint with our current living situation and they are going to do what they have to to ensure our home is started and completed on time. We can safely travel to Ohio for a month in July and not worry about getting the phone call from the builder in the middle of the trip. By the time we return on August 1st we should have received that phone call and be on our way to a sit down meetings!!!!!!

More updates coming soon!!!

3 houses in 1 week!

Last week was a bit crazy, to say the least. We began the week with one house and ended it on our 3rd! Once again we sat down with Virginia and put together our upgrades to the (3rd) new house! This one does not differ much from the 2nd house, in fact it is BETTER!

This one is the Rockingham I and it comes with 4 bedrooms! The base price was a little more then the Rockingham II, but the standard features allowed us to add in all the upgrades we wanted, and we came within $30.00 under our budget! We didn't get the 3rd car garage {tear}, but we walked away knowing we'd have 6 extra feet added to it. We also have a walk-up attic and backyard space for a future shed. VOILA!

The rest of the upgrades included all the kitchen toys we wanted, hardwood, tankless water heater etc., etc.!

We're waiting on the lender to get the paperwork together and set up an appointment with the appraiser. With the regular loan that we originally were going with, they do the appraisial in the beginning AND we only have to pay 2% closing cost instead of 3!! YAY! Then we get put on 'the list' for our build to begin. Southern Home only allows so many homes to be built at one time, since they have to take out a personal loan for each homes upgrades, we understand. Once we get in line then we can get a clear answer as to when it'll begin and when it'll be complete. Sounds like a HUGE, LONG process, but we were assured that it'll happen quicker then we assume!

, I knew that this process couldn't continue to go as smooth as it was going. With these few wrinkles now ironed out, I can look forward to when the house begins to be built--which seems like eons away!!

Change of plans

We were notified on Tuesday April, 27th that there were new 'rules' put in place by the builder and lender. I've retold this story so many times that I feel I could tell it in my sleep. It really made Gary and I feel like we were crossing a HUGE hurdle, but as our friends put it, it is just a wrinkle.

The builder explained that they are finding that the appraisals are not coming in for the full purchase price of the home. Whenever this happens the buyers are then required to come up with the balance on what wasn't in with the appraised value. So for example, if the house was bought at $200,000 and it only appraises out to $180,000 then the buyer has to fork over the remaining $20,000. Fun, huh? In the past the buyer then has walked away from the house because they most likely couldn't afford a penny more out of pocket. So the builder is now putting a cap on the amount of upgrades you can have rolled into your mortgage, just in case the appraiser doesn't want to play nice. If they are stuck with the house, then at least the upgrades are on the low end vs the high end. It royally stung, especially we were at $44,000 in upgrades and we SOMEHOW needed to get down to $15,000. Great....

After mulling over the paperwork once again and crunching numbers, I had to make a decision for both Gary and I. Did we want the original house with 3 upgrades that would be needed to make the home, those 3 upgrades costing more then 1/2 of the $15,000. Or did we want to entertain the idea of going with the original house that we LOVED on paper, but weren't thrilled with in person because of the lack of upgrades and 'wow' factor?? The original pick had all 3 of the upgrades we desired, but they were included in the price of the home, thus leaving every penny of the $15,000 to us and our upgrades.

In the end I know we made the right decision and we will be very happy in our new home. We dropped a lot of the upgrades that we can do on our own, but we also might have to do away with our beloved 3rd car garage. The house will be wonderful no matter what and we have to keep focusing on the positive. Some people would kill to have a brand new home and here we were being so picky about not having a 3rd car garage. Snotty much?!?! ;)

So I mourn the home we once had thought was ours and we say 'Welcome' to the newest. The ride isn't over yet and it proving to be thrilling and surprising!

Re-approved...

We are officially re approved on our home loan. Again we held our breath until we got the magical, "YES"! There is no real difference with this loan compared to the last, other then that there are a series of money pulls during each step of the building process. Before the next pull can occur, the bank will send someone out to the home site to do an inspection. This will happen at each pull.

We didn't know if we would have to start paying on the interest after each pull, but the builder essentially pays for it and our responsibility comes in after the home is turned over to us. It is nice to know that we don't have to come up with additional money each month for the interest. Now we can focus on other things that will need bought before we even rest our heads on our pillows for our first night in the home; appliances, garage door opener, blinds. Don't want anyone peeking in on us through the bare windows, now do we???

Not that is was any less real of a feeling before getting re-approved with this new lender, but it was a set back that we held our breath on. Everything up until that point was going very smoothly.

Our next step is to begin the REAL paperwork process at the end of July/beginning of August. This way there will only be 24/72 hours before the start of the build to finish up the rest of the paperwork for signing in September! I don't know how I am going to be able to contain myself until then. At least we have spring and summer to look forward to. I don't know what I'd do if I had to make it through another entire holiday season before all this would begin. At least we know we'll be in the house before the end of this year! YAY!

Visitation

Today (1/24) we loaded up the family and went to visit our lot. It wasn't exciting to someone looking in on the situation, but it was a BLAST to us! Yep, we're weird like that.

Trust me when I say it wasn't all that thrilling, even for me, but it gave us a sense of where we'll live. We walked on the soil and went as far back as our lot went. It was so neat.

The girls were everything but thrilled after about 2 minutes on the lot. We heard a lot of, "Do we HAVE to come here EVERY day?" and "When are we going to leave?" UGH. Yes & soon.

I'm posting a new photos of our LOT! Don't mind the mess!....
(top left--entry way into the subdivision
top right--end of the road on the right, by the white fence, is our lot)

Color schemes, upgrades GALORE!

Since this would be our last and final (HOPEFULLY) home, we wanted to bulk it up with upgrades. Of course we kept in mind that A) we don't want to pay 30 years (hopefully less!) on some upgrade that we could do ourselves, and B) some upgrades can break (appliances) in the 30 years that you are paying for them. Do you really want to continue paying for the broken upgrade while paying for a replacement???

Saturday January 23rd, we sat down to finish our paperwork and to pick out everything for our new home. It was so exciting, but I was sooo tired from being up late the night before (picked Garrett up at the airport from a business trip) that I wasn't living in the moment. I just wanted to be done and out of there. I feel bad about it, but I can't excuse the fact that I was red-eyed-slap-happy tired. We picked colors, and tile, and wood, and cabinets...it seemed to go on forever.
Garrett was pulling for espresso colored cabinets in the kitchen (think black), all I cared for was something other then builder brown, in a maple wood, with 42 inch upper cabinets and crown molding. I figured I'd allow him a few choices in our home! LOL

Considering the state of mind I was in while picking everything, I PRAY that it all comes together and looks good. I have a fear that we'll be doing our initial walk-thru of the finished home and seeing what I picked will bring me to tears. I hope and pray that this isn't the case. What would I do? Can't turn back, what is done is done!

We also found out what our address will be! This was a exciting moment for me--I'd be finding out what our house numbers would be and it would seem and feel a lot more real (as if signing paperwork wasn't enough!)

Virginia also explained the process of the build and what we can expect in the months to come. Since we won't officially be starting until September, we still had to go over everything as if it would be happening tomorrow.

We'll be assigned a contractor/builder and he'll take over from there. We'll meet with him and he'll show us the blue prints and go over all the details in the home. We'll show him where we want outlets and tv hook-ups, anything that we couldn't go over with Virginia. Once the build begins he will give us a phone call every Friday to update us on the house. Of course I'll be at the home site as much as I can. Although I'll stay out of their way, I will want to pester the heck of the builders and ask as many questions as I can!! I am soo excited!!!

We did have a bit of bad news during our time with Virginia. Who woulda thunk that this should go smoothly! We found out that we'll have to reapply for a CP loan--where they draw on it during the construction process. Not a MAJOR set back, it doesn't make a difference AT ALL, but it brings Garrett and I back to the nail-biting moments of getting approved through a whole different lender. OIY! So the reason why we had to switch to a CP loan is because we have over $15,000 worth of upgrades! We both agreed that we will NOT part with any of our new toys! So CP loan it is!

Approval and paperwork--OH MY!

Picking the home and dreaming about colors and upgrades is EASY! Getting approved and all the paperwork that goes with it is not! We were very nervous about getting approved for a loan. Not only would it be the BIGGEST loan to date, but it would be during a time when lending restrictions are very...strict! This was our fear with our first home, you would think it would go away by now! It doesn't. So we just dive in feet first and pray and hope...and pray.

Of course we got approved, who wouldn't want to approve US! We were ecstatic, this dreaming was moving forth. Next step was to reserve our lot (*) and put money down on it. we had to pinch ourselves to know this was really happening!

Virginia informed us that the lot we wanted was not only available, but that another couple was looking to get preapproved for it! WHAT!! I just couldn't let someone else move in on my lot, our lot. I already pictured us sipping cocktails out on the lanai while the girls ran circles around the yard. I pictured how beautiful the inside would be with our touch and decor. Not only was I not allowing anyone to get our lot, but I wasn't about to do the sit and wait approach on the paperwork. We scored the lot and 10 days later we were due in Virginia's office to complete the rest of the paperwork.

(*) The lot was reserved TWICE by the same gentleman. He didn't come in TWICE to finish up his paperwork. The will only hold the lot for 30 days (30 DAYS! OMG) before the release it. He did this TWICE. We really knew it was meant to be.

The birth of our Dream

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to build a home. I was drawn to picking out everything that I wanted in a home, having it brand new and never touched. We've already been down the fixer-upper path, and while it was fun it had its moments where we wanted to escape and never look back.
Garrett always had the same dreams as me, and together we knew we would make it a reality. It took time, patience and A LOT of understanding.
We picked our builder, Southern Home, in Jan 2009. We liked the look of the floor plans and felt that Southern Homes had everything we wanted in a home (plus it was affordable to US). None of the floor plans were 2-story, and most all of the floor plans had 4 bedrooms. With the girls still young enough for toys and chaos, we wanted a room just for them and their "stuff".
We also wanted a good sized laundry room, 2 full bathrooms, a 3-car garage, lanai (that's known as a screened porch to the Northern Folk), a nice sized kitchen and, most importantly, his & her sinks!

The picking of the subdivision was very simple. We wanted a gated community, one close to a lake, and one that was very close to where our friends lived. BINGO! Shores at Lake Sears. It's everything we wanted and more. BEST part is we picked the biggest lot, on a corner and facing the water!!! That was the easy part, sitting down and crunching numbers wasn't!!

One Saturday in January (2010), we went to look at a few model homes. We noticed that Southern Home had added more floor plan choices to the subdivision we wanted to build in, but seeing them on paper vs. in person was two different things. The day we went in to look at the floor plan that we LOVED, we left in disappointment. Again it looked better on paper. Our representative, Virginia, sat with us while we talked about what WE wanted in the home. She ruffled through the stack of floor plans and showed us 4 or 5. It was easy to cross off the ones we didn't like and all but 2 were left. I wasn't crazy about the 2nd of the two floor plans, and was reluctant when Virginia urged us to go take a look at both models the following weekend.

The girls were becoming pros at home looking! They don't enjoy it as much as we do; in fact they are kind of oblivious to what is happening! Most weekend trips to the homes are met with moans and groans from them and we get asked if we have to that to 'that lady' again!

We arrived the next Saturday assuming we had THE floor plan. We were shown the one we weren't too crazy about (on paper) Walking into the home felt like walking into a home that was made for just for us. We couldn't believe how much we LOVED the home. It's 3 bedrooms with nice sized rooms. The girls bathroom is HUGE and would be a lot bigger then what they have now. The laundry room was a dream and my mind was swirling with ideas. Garrett LOVED the kitchen, it's a eat in over-looking the living room. The ONLY thing I do not like about it--it doesn't have a window over-looking the backyard! It does in fact have a lot of windows and light from the living room. In the front entry of the house there is a dining room to the left, a sitting area the the right and a enclosed den next to the sitting area! We also get the lanai, master bedroom with a beautiful bathroom. The house was it. I didn't care to see the other one, the one we thought was THE one. We went anyways and boy were we disappointed. It did nothing for us when we walked in. One thing I learned is that when you walk into a home you get a feeling. It is either a good feeling or bad one. You will know, and no one can tell you where or when that feeling will overcome. It just happens and it happened to the both of us.