Weekend Updates and Pictures

Our weekend has been jam-packed with meetings for the new home, as I mentioned, as well as our home inspection here yesterday afternoon.  It's been a fabulous past three days and Kevin and I are getting more and more excited about everything that is transpiring!

I've already shared everything about the Guardian meeting.  Since Thursday afternoon we've visited the Florence model two times.  Glad we did.  We hadn't thought about the furniture arrangement in the living room on the main level and quickly realized that where we planned to have our television mounted wouldn't work - we'd need to switch walls.  Not a big deal, but something I needed to let our sales rep know asap. 

Upgrades
We finalized all of our upgrades.  It feels SO good to have everything decided upon and signed off on.  We decided to take full advantage of the building experience and go ahead and upgrade to a granite countertop in the master bathroom as well - something we hadn't planned on doing originally.  We decided on a few other things here and there and signed off on the final papers.

Also, since our house has officially sold, we signed papers to remove the contingency agreement with Ryan.  We're now in the full-sold mode!  Should something happen - God forbid - that we not close on our current home, then Ryan Homes would just stick the contingency agreement back on our purchase - but we don't foresee that happening.

Home Inspection
We had no intention of being at our house during the home inspection, but ended up returning to the house to the inspector and buyers still here.  Kevin came in to ask if it were okay if we came back early - no one had any issues with it.  I am glad we did.  I got to meet the buyer and let her know that I'd be leaving her all the names of the paint colors in the house, the company that services our furnace, as well as the installer/servicer of our A/C.  She was very nice.  It was funny to walk in to the house and see she and her fiance sitting downstairs on the couches, watching the Cavs game.  I had the strange feeling that I was intruding on their home - while it is still actually ours.

The inspector was super nice.  He noted on his report that especially given the age of the house, it is in excellent shape and has been very well upkept.  That made us proud.  We haven't heard the official report from our realtor in regards to what the buyers want fixed, but if they want everything that was noted, it will simply be installing four GFI outlets and fixing a gas leak in the basement (something we're fixing regardless, for our own safety, of course).  I am SO relieved to have that all over!  On to the next steps to take us to our May 10 closing!

Colors Meeting
We had our 'colors meeting' this evening.  This is where we finalize our cabinets, countertops, siding, brick, shutters, and fireplace.  We do all of our flooring and stain options tomorrow at noon.  This was a really fun meeting and made the whole thing seem super real.  Here are some pictures to illustrate:

This will be our siding color - "Hudson Bay" - with black shutters.  Our front door will be black and we'll have almond color trim and garage door.  Our exterior will also have brick, and it'll be the brick color shown on top of the picture - it's a brownish tone brick.  It's going to look SUPER sharp.

This is our exact combination in the kitchen - this granite, "Cherry Spice" cabinets, and stainless steel appliances.  It just so happened that the newest model in the neighborhood (not even open yet!) has the same exact combination, so we were able to step over and snap a pic of it!

Here is an upclose shot of the stone color that we'll be using for the fireplace.  Again, super handy that the new model had that exact same color stone for their fireplace, so I was able to get a picture of that entire thing, too!

Oh - and the most exciting news of all?  We're actually on Ryan Homes' schedule - slated for ground breaking to be June 2nd ... and we are scheduled to close and take possession of the house on August 11th!  That sounds so close to me!

Meeting Fun!

Tonight we had our meeting with Guardian Technologies.  I was a little apprehensive because I have heard several times that these sales people are extremely high pressure.  I was delightfully surprised.  Our sales rep was AWESOME.  I had done a decent amount of research on the products they offer and we knew what things we had absolutely no interest in.  All we had to do was tell him that and he moved right along; perfect.

While a lot of their stuff is super enticing to a somewhat gadget geek like myself, we didn't go overboard.  I am really excited about what we decided on.  We first decided on the location of our phone jacks and cable outlets that come standard with the house.  We then decided where we wanted additional cable jacks ... and which TVs would be hung on the wall, etc.  They run all the wiring during construction so everything is hidden in the walls.  I hate having any wires showing, etc, so this was exciting to me.  We also decided to have them pre-wire the living room and basement for surround sound.  We decided on two all-weather outdoor Bose speakers for the back deck, as well as a security system.  Very, very excited!  We had to put one-third down tonight, and pay the remainder once we move in. 

We'll have two more meetings with Guardian - placement and activation.  At the placement meeting we'll actually walk through the house once it is framed and mark on the exact studs where different wires and components will be.  Then at the activation meeting - once the house is done - we'll learn how to use the security system, etc.

We were originally going to have our 'colors meeting' tonight, too, but the Guardian one ran over and we decided to reschedule for Sunday.  This way we'll also use that time to confirm all of our upgrades and sign-off on those, too.  We have our flooring meeting scheduled for noon on Monday.  Then that's it!  We just have to wait to close on our house and provide them with our downpayment. 

Oh - it was also very exciting to walk in today and see the SALE sticker on our lot!!  407, baby!

The best part is that Kevin and I are just so excited. It is so awesome getting to do this together. I am building my dream house with my dream man for our dream framily. Life is good.

Seven Days of Agony

The next few days are going to be busy.  The home inspection is scheduled for this Saturday afternoon.  The buyer herself will be in town and will accompany the inspector here at the house.  I can't shake my nervous feeling.  I honestly have no reason to believe anything would fail, but I guess it is the unknown - is there something not quite right that only an inspector would know to look for?  I guess I hate not having control over certain things - and I feel like I have no control over this.  We should have all results/decisions by next Thursday ... so I just have another week of agony.  Geeeeeesh.

Today I stood at a fax machine for nearly one hour while I faxed a total of 83 pages over to our mortgage loan officer.  Kevin checked out mortgage rates this morning and saw that 15-year rates were down to 4.25%, so he took action to get us locked in to that rate immediately.  We're locked in!  I can't believe we're going to do a 15-year mortgage - that feels AMAZING!  Without doing the exact math, we will save about $170,000 total in interest that we won't pay for those extra 15 years.  That's incredible.

Tomorrow night we have two meetings at Ryan Homes.  First is our meeting with Guardian Home Technologies.  They'll help us pick all of our options for home theater wiring, security system, etc.  I have heard that they can be pretty pushy on their sales (we aren't interested in the intercom systems, central vaccum, etc), so we'll see how that goes.  At least we have an easy out because our next meeting is at 5:30.  It's our "Colors Meeting", where we'll select all exterior colors (door, trim, siding, brick, shutters), as well as cabinets, hardware, etc.  I am really excited for that.  We won't do any flooring selections there, though - that all comes at a separate meeting that still needs to be scheduled.

I've been pricing storage units over the past few days.  Looks like the U-Store-It between here and the new house will be the winner.  The first month is free, and based on the size that we need, we'll get a voucher for 2 free hours from Two Men and a Truck on our move-in date ... so that rocks.  It'll cost about $400 for three months of 10x30 storage.  Not too shabby.

Lastly, I am happy that my Craigslist postings have been getting a fair amount of action.  In fact, one couple just left after loading up two dressers that they purchased from us.  I just really don't want to move, store and move anything that we have no intention of keeping. 

I'm beat - physically and mentally.  Time for bed.  I'll update on the two meetings tomorrow night.

This Part is Nerve-Wracking!

We were at our realtor's office this morning, bright and early, to sign all of the purchase agreement papers for the sale of our house.  While it's all exciting, it's also unsettling.  Over the next two weeks several different inspections will be done.  While I have absolutely no reason to believe that any would fail, it still leaves you feeling a little unnerved.

We also need an appraiser to come through.  Typically this wouldn't be necessary, but the buyer is doing a FHA home loan, meaning that she is only required to put down 3.5%, so the bank wants to be absolutely sure that the home is worth what the buyer is taking the loan out for, should she default. 

I just want all of these formalities to be done and over with so that we can move forward with 100% confidence.

And So It Begins

I just laid Riley down for her nap and I am all ready to start packing.  Kevin is out golfing and watching The Masters with the guys today, so it's a great chance for me to just make a mess of things in order to get them organized.  I saw a great idea on a Martha Stewart site about assigning a color to each room ... then use construction paper on the boxes to organize what should be delivered to which room at the new house.  Being the anal person I am, I'll be doing just that!  (You know ... apparently writing the name of the room on the box isn't good enough for me.  HA!)

It's Official!

7436 Jeremy Avenue has officially SOLD.  I can't believe it.  Our realtor called this evening to say that the buyer has accepted our counter offer.  We are to sign paperwork Monday morning at 9am.  We are thrilled.

But now this awesome news brings with it a long list of things to stress about.  Details about what we do in the interim (our house won't be completed until early to mid-August).  Details about where to store our furniture until then.  Do we get movers to the storage unit?  Do we get movers from the storage unit?  I feel as though there are a million things going through my head right now and I just can't sleep.

One thing is for sure.  We have 45 days left in our house.  That is exciting and sad to me.  I am sure I'll cry when we walk out the door for the very last time, but I'll be excited for our new life that is going to begin.

Granted, this all could change should something fall through with the buyer's loan ... or if inspections fail.  But we don't foresee any of that happening, as she is pre-approved and I have faith in our house.

Wish me a good night of sleep - I don't think I am going to get it.  And I am sure this is just the beginning.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have An Offer.

When the phone rang a little after 9pm - and the caller ID showed Private - my heart skipped a beat.  I knew our realtor's phone number appeared this way.  And why in the world would he call that late for any reason other than an offer?

Thank the Lord I was right.

We've received an offer - and it isn't all that bad.  Kevin and I sat together, as our realtor gave us the details over the speakerphone.  The potential buyer wants us to include the fireplace and bar in the sale of the home.  She wants us to pay her closing fees.  She also came in at $10,000 less than our asking price.  Being that I am new to this whole process, when I first heard that, my heart sunk.  But then Kevin gave me a thumbs up and I had hope again.  This set us up nicely for a counter offer.  Our realtor asked that we think it over and call him by 11pm tonight or early tomorrow morning.

So Kevin poured two glasses of wine in celebration and we sat down to work through some numbers.  We took our time.  We talked through scenarios.  We put ourselves in the buyer's shoes.  We came back with a counter that we felt was reasonable, and at about 10:45pm Kevin picked up the phone and called our realtor.  He liked what we came up with and said that we should be hearing back from him tomorrow night.

Now we pray.

We'll be at Cirque Du Soleil's Alegria tomorrow night with my parents and my grandma.  I am so excited they'll be up here when we possibly receive the phonecall that could change our life.  I know that is a big statement, but seriously - this is life changing.  I can't believe it is happening ... and we've only been listed online with pictures for twenty days!  We have an open house scheduled for Sunday, and at the advice of our realtor, we're keeping it scheduled.  If nothing else, that could light a fire under this buyer to accept our counter sooner.  So ... should this buyer accept our counter-offer, here is the timeline:

* Inspections in the next 10 days (buyer is bringing in her own inspectors, at her own cost)
* May 10th - Closing date
* May 15th - Be out of the house for good by 1pm

When signing the Purchase Agreement with Ryan Homes the other night, they estimate that we should be able to close on our new home by early to mid-August.  It normally wouldn't take this long (their average is about 80 days, start to finish), but since we're building in a brand new phase, they are still finishing up all paperwork with the city for utility lines, etc, so ground can't be broken as soon as we close on our current home.  Sooo ... it looks as though we will be roomies with Kevin's parents for a while!

We'll see what tomorrow night's phonecall brings.  Until then, we'll pray.  God is so amazing, I cannot wait to see what He has in store for us!