A not so detailed update

Hello there!  So here's a quick update on the status of Operation Dream Home.  We've been knee deep in loan paper signing and initially, clearing portions of the property for soil testing/septic design/well placement, permits, and finalizing blue prints.  Just yesterday we went and chose all the finishes for cabinetry, plumbing, hardware, light fixtures, siding color and style, and the roof color.  I'll post specifics once we're done with the changes we decided on last night... HA!  We went with a few upgrades like the garage door (carriage style), granite counter tops, the siding style, and we'll need to do an upgrade for paint colors.  Standard is 50 shades of beige, and I'm not down with that. :)

We're scheduled to close on the loan next Friday... yeehaw!  I can't recall if we have a pre-construction meeting before or after closing, but that will be coming up, and I'll have pictures then... HOPEFULLY.  Then it's a matter of permits falling into place.  In our minds we're hoping to break ground before the end of the month, but we're just not sure how this "timeline" all plays out.  So much out of our hands!

So long... Farewell...

We're out... done... finished... no longer residents of 311 Cedar Hill Drive.  We closed yesterday, and it was bittersweet.  I didn't cry.  I have A LOT to look forward to in the coming months, and I can't help but be excited... I think that's why I didn't cry.  I was sad though.  Someone else will be living in my home... and I hope they enjoy it as much as we did.  Here are a couple of fun pictures for your viewing pleasure.

May 2005... 7 years ago... a family of 2.5.  Two newly weds buy their very first grown up home.

                                    

 June 2012... 7 years later... a family of 5 (yes, the dog is still alive but has found a new home with the grand-parentals as he's not very child friendly.)  Two not so newly weds sell their very first grown up home in hopes of building their very first grown up dream home whose goal is to contain their growing brood of overly emotional little ladies.

311, we will miss you!

Less than a month...

 Less than a month until we close.  Thank god we sold before this baby got here because this is how we are currently living...

 FILTHY I tell you.  All because of this little thing...

 We have yet to sign our lease for our rental but are set to begin moving in on the 15th.  I've been packing my little heart out, but Baby Berkley tends to only give me a couple of hours in the morning.  Still a ways to go for sure.

As far as the build... we've made our changes to the blueprints, had the land inspected for the placement of the house, and the septic people did some testing as well.  Bryan has been working on cutting some small trees down.  The plan is to break ground some time in June. 

But before that happens... Operation Move No. 1.

Moving Right Along

It was difficult, but we found a rental property!  HUZZAH!  The people we'll be working with, from what we can tell thus far, are AMAZING.  We're working with them on a month to month lease... AMAZING.  The owner said he and his wife just built a house and they understood how crazy and unpredictable building can be.  Apparently he's the type of person who believes if he's nice to people and does what he can to help them out... it'll come back to him.  Unfortunately there aren't enough people like him left in the world I'm afraid.  For working with us, Bryan will be doing some odds and ends around their property... resealing the driveway, stripping and re-staining their deck... power washing siding.  Easy peasy stuff that will help them sell.  I think it's going to work out well, as long as we don't end up on People's Court. :)  We can start moving our things May 15th.

This past Tuesday we had our home inspection.  All in all it went really well... THANK GOODNESS.  The unfortunate thing is all of the repairs are fairly minor... things Bryan could do himself... like I dunno... POUR A DAMN BOTTLE OF DRAINO IN THE BATHTUB AND CALL IT A DAY.  Intriguingly enough we have to have a licensed contractor fix these silly things.  We're working with our agent, and with the common sense that the buyers hopefully have in helping to save money.  We'll see how it goes.  Our agent suggested finding a contractor that would subcontract the work out to Bryan, inspect it, and then sign off.  We'll see. 

I went ahead this evening and dismantled the baby's nursery, and pulled everything off the walls in the remainder of the house.  I thought I would be sad... after all... I did start bawling cleaning the kitchen right before the photographer came to take pictures.  I'm sure I'll be beyond sad when we're pulling out of the driveway for the last time, but for now I feel REALLY GOOD.  Bigger and better things are waiting for us... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

FOR SALE

So, it's been a while! I left you with us finishing a few projects and interviewing realtors. The young pup vs. the older more experienced duo. Now normally we would have chosen the young pup. He wanted to list our house $5,000 less than the duo, but he was energetic, vivacious... hand wrote thank you notes to us and sent them in the mail! GREAT RAPPORT. BUT he wanted to work for 6%... in the eyes of Senor Accountant... the 5% the duo was working for won the prize. Each realtor promised the same things... professional photos, virtual tours, blah blah blah blah, so we knew when it came down to it, no matter who we chose, WE needed to make sure we were doing our part and showing the house well. The duo wanted to get the house on the market ASAP. If I remember correctly we made our decision the Wednesday before Easter, chose to list at exactly the midpoint of both realtor's prices, made a plan to have photos taken the following Monday, and listing it that Wednesday.

My sweet little house with the big bad sign in the front.And here's the actual Tour (<-- click) with all the remaining photos... I want to post them all here, but seriously... I don't have the time... or the energy for all of that.

You guys... there was a sign in my yard at 1130 am last Wednesday morning, we had a showing at 200 pm, and had an offer by bedtime that night! WTF?! We haggled back and forth and finally had signed sealed delivered contract late Friday night. The house was shown twice to the buyer and once to one other family. HOLY SHENANIGANS. We ended up settling at a great price... EXACTLY what we said we'd be thrilled with. If the inspection goes well, we'll be closing June 8th.

Friday, while the buyers were looking at the house, we met with our builders. We have a land inspection this Friday... and will get plans... finances... permits... blah blah blah rolling asap with a plan to break ground in June. You guys... the plan is to be in our BRAND NEW DREAM HOME BY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Next step... finding a rental, which is remarkably difficult in a college town. Everywhere requires a year long lease... oy. Let the hunting begin!

Hurdle crossed!

We are landowners! It's so super exciting and relieving! There were issues with the land being divided but apparently not according to the town... that was putting a damper on the appraisal. They ordered the appraisal anyways, appraised it according to the plat on file... everything seemed to work out because our loan went through! We're now the proud owners of 2.4 acres. I'm already so proud of us. A big goal of mine was to own my own home that wasn't attached to someone else's. It's amazing to me that we've done that and are now moving on to build our very own home.

There are SO MANY things to get done around here. As soon as I think I have some sort of plan, I get overwhelmed and change my mind. First it was "let's declutter the kitchen, fix the floor, paint..." blah di blah di blah. After I box things up, the box goes into the garage for storage until Bryan can get into the attic to organize. As boxes seem to be piling up, I'm realizing that I need to box up the things that are already in there to be able to better organize bins while I'm decluttering the rest of the house. Because we used our garage as another room of our house and not an actual garage... there is tons of stuff in there. So basically what I'm saying is... I'm working in the garage FIRST. :) We're packing everything into the 18 gallon plastic bins as opposed to boxes... of course that's a lot of bins, but we are forever using bins for something, and it's much easier to store things. Today I managed to pack up 2.5 bins worth of Hokie gear from the garage while Emma Grace was napping and Bryan was entertaining Reese... and that's not even all of it.

Hopefully as the process continues, we'll have more pictures to post dealing with both projects throughout this house and a couple things we'd like to get accomplished on the land this summer. Did I mention WE OWN LAND?! :)