Narrow Miss!

So I just disengaged from one of the greatest feelings of panic I've had through this entire process.  I go to read CNN Money, as I always do to find out the latest and greatest in the housing markets, including the latest interest rate trends etc.  I read an article that states that the FHA premiums are about to go up AGAIN!  Not only that, but under the new rules, an FHA mortgagee will be paying the PMI for the LIFE of the loan, no longer able to get out after 5 years.

The Article: http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/31/real_estate/fha-mortgage-premiums/index.html?iid=HP_LN

My heart began to pitter patter and I started thinking about the horrible ramifications that might take place if we failed to lock our loan before the changes were made.  I sent an email immediately to our incredible nice loan officer at NVR asking what can be done.

Sure enough, just minutes later, she got back to me to let me know that she already secured an FHA ID number for us, so we do not have to worry about the new rates or rules.  Phew!!!  Thank goodness she is on top of things.

Just beware to you folks who are just starting the process and going the FHA route.  You may want to check with your lender about the implications for you.

I think I need a drink....

Pre-Drywall Meeting...

...is scheduled for next Wednesday the 6th!! SO excited! I can't believe we are at this point! It cameup so quickly.

We decided to get an inspector to take a look at everything. Worth the peace of mind. Plus, we will have no idea what the PM is pointing out and whether it is good or bad or something important!

We were able to get one at an AWESOME price! Did anyone else use an inspector at the pre-drywall meeting? We are also planning to get one before closing. Maybe we are doing too much, but we want this dream to be as perfect as possible with no surprises!

We are also getting ready to put our current house on the market...wish us luck! We are comfortable with renting it out if the numbers don't work, but would be way happier selling it!

A Three Hour Tour, A Three Hour Tour...

Ok, it wasn't really three hours, but I needed a catchy phrase for the title of this post.  The bottom line is that we are able to tour our house now.  All the framing is in, stair cases, windows and doors!  It is really neat to walk through.  Our oldest son has already picked out his room.  Of course, it's the one with the attic access, which we are thinking is not the best idea with a 3 year old whose middle name is mischief.

We visited the house on Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday, the guys were installing the furnace and working on the HVAC system.  It's neat to see all of the duct work in the walls before it all gets sealed up.  How often do you get to see the inner workings of your house?

We also had the chance to measure the windows so that we can start shopping for window coverings.  We're a bit worried about the cost, since we have so many windows, but as I toured the aisles of Wal-Mart last night in search of staging goodies for our current house, I came upon a whole section of blinds!  They are really reasonably priced and I think will get us through at least the first few years of the house.  I'm sure our boys are going to destroy them anyway, so at least it won't be the good ones that are getting destroyed.  Surprisingly, the boss of the house was ok with the idea too!

Cheers for now!  We'll be back with more pics later this week as things continue to progress.  For now, the winter weather has our outside progress stalled a bit.

It's Gettin' Real!

The house looks like a real house already.  We even have a front door and windows.  Unfortunately, they couldn't get the roof all papered before the snow hit last night, so our bedroom floor is a bit wet and frozen right now.  Hopefully, there won't be any long term effects.  Our PM told us that the brick should be on in a week and a half and that we'll be scheduling the pre-drywall meeting soon!  Holy smokes!  We're rollin!

The view out of the back of our family room

From the rear

Morning room

The kids' rooms have the really nice views...grrrr

She's a beaut, Ain't she Clark?

Ceiling fans done and done

Finished off our ceiling fan purchases today with two Hampton Bay Springview 52" fans.  One will go in the morning room and one in our bedroom.  These really caught my eye, enjoy great reviews and were reasonably priced at $99 at Home Depot.  Can't beat that!

Hampton Bay Springview 52" fan

A Garage Full of Goodies!

Not much was going on today since it was FREEZING! But, we had lots of stuff waiting in the garage! Plus I was able to walk through the 1st floor :)

Cascading staircase!

Windows1

Looks like our front door!

Cut out for the fireplace!

Attic ladder

I love the morning room already!

The roof, the roof, the roof is on...our house!

We have a roof! The house looks like... a house! So exciting. Our house is all bundled up getting ready for cold with a few little breathing holes over a couple windows :-)  I think she is going to be a beautiful house in a beautiful setting and we are getting more excited each day. And yes, I went up to the house 2 times in one day ;-)

The only complaint: still no email, call, text, anything from our PM. You'd think he'd drop a line saying, "Guess what? You're under roof!" But no, nothing. Luckily we are able to go to the house so much or we wouldn't know anything! Not sure if this is normal but I hope it changes as we continue to progress.

Here are the pics!

This is our favorite view, back of the house, morning room :-)

Front of the house, little breathing holes cut out 

Update pictures

We thought the roofing crew may take advantage of the nice weather we had today, but no such look.  Even so, we were able to walk through the house and take some good pics of the framed out rooms.

Elise in the powder room

Our kitchen pantry

The family room with fireplace cut out

The morning room with window frames

The laundry room

The rear of our family room

Speed Building!

All I can say is WOW! You guys weren't kidding when you said the framing goes up fast! Lumber yesterday, 2 floors today! If they take advantage of the weather and build during the weekend we should be under roof by Sunday! It also looks like there is some inside framing of rooms on the first floor, which is AWESOME! We even (cautiously) stepped on our garage floor. The "nook" in the garage area is really going to provide some great storage.

What a truly amazing experience we are fortunate enough to have to see our house being built and share it with our little boys!

Here are some pictures, hopefully the next set will have a roof!

2 floors in 2 days...WOW! 

 View from the garage side

Another garage side view

We're Moving Now!

Out of curiosity, I stopped by the lot this afternoon to see what progress was made.  Our garage side walls are up, the first floor floor is down and just as I was leaving, the guys were bringing down what appeared to be the first floor walls.  That was at 4pm, so I'm not sure whether those will go up today or not, but they are definitely moving along!

Our Lumber Has Arrived!

I have never been so excited to see a pile of wood!! I can't believe that building is right around the corner! The PM told us that if the lumber came early enough today (I was there at 10 am and it was like this!) that they would start framing... so let's hope they are framing as we speak! Looks like a lot of visits are in our weekend plans! Glad the weather shows sunshine for the next few days. Let the fun begin!

Lumber Pile #1 across the street from our house

Lumber pile #2 in our driveway

The lumber came complete with blueprint instructions!

We are also the proud owners of a steel beam :-)

We have a Garage Floor!

What a beautiful garage floor it is!  We didn't know if it would actually be poured because it was raining in the morning yesterday, but they got it done.  I'm not sure if the basement floor is poured as well, as I didn't have the time or clothes to start walking the lot, but I suspect it is.

The weather is awful today, so I'm guessing that nothing is going on.  But our lumber will be in tomorrow and we were told by the PM that framing will either begin tomorrow or Friday at the latest, weather depending.  He already has the framer on high alert so that it can be started ASAP!

It's supposed to be 52 and sunny on Saturday, so I'm hoping that the framers will work through the weekend so we can get under roof before we get back into the cold and wet weather again.

Enjoy the pic!

What a beautiful garage floor!

Good Luck!

I know that M and RickandNadase close tomorrow and I wanted to wish them and everyone else closing this week GOOD LUCK! Thank you for sharing your journey! We can't wait to see how everything turns out in your homes! Please post pictures and let us know how closing goes!

Just makes me that much more excited as our house gets ready to be framed out either Thursday or Friday!

Frustrations

So after hearing about everyone's great experiences with their PM's we were excited to meet ours and get the process underway.  We were looking forward to a great relationship full of progress updates and notifications for upcoming events.  What we've gotten so far...nothing!

We started the building process on January 2, 12 days ago.  So far our hole was dug, foundation was put up, it was waterproofed and back filled.  Also prep work on our garage floor was done and we were told at the time of our pre-con meeting that lumber should arrive tomorrow.  But we haven't gotten a single update as to our progress or what is coming down the pike, yet.

We e-mailed him this weekend to see when we might expect the lumber and framing to begin.  What we've gotten so far...the sound of crickets (chirp, chirp, chirp).  There are a few things that I would like to make sure are looked over on our foundation, but I have no idea if he is checking on its status or on the beach somewhere soaking up the rays.

Are we being overly demanding, overbearing?  From what I read on other blogs, I've seen that PMs will do foundation walk-throughs, constant updates and strive for 100% customer satisfaction.  Something seems amiss.

Hmmm....frustrating!

Loving Our Yard!

Went to look at our lot again today so that we could take a closer look at our foundation now that there aren't workers everywhere.  We didn't realize how big our yard was really going to be.  Holy cow!  Very happy not only with the size, but also the fact that we overlook green space and the "pond" and are next to protected forest area.  This should be the perfect place for our boys to grow up!

Our back yard.  Starts from that grate you see in the back left and goes to our foundation all the way to the tree line.

Our back yard from the rear facing our house.

Open green space down the hill behind our house.  That's the "pond" water retention  area.  Should be nice once cleaned up.

Side yard.  The grassy area is not technically our yard, but adds another 25 yards of space to the tree line.  Our boys are going to love this.  I see this as the neighborhood football field.

Our neighbor's window finishings.  We have to get them because we are both high visibility lots as you come into the neighborhood.

Back Filled and Rebar!

More progress.  We got back filled today and the rebar is in for the garage floor!

Water doesn't stand a chance!

Our foundation is now water tight!

Foundation and plumbing!

I drove up to the lot and to my surprise the forms had been removed and there our foundation stood. AND the plumbing people were there working on piping! This is getting more and more real and we are getting more and more excited each day. Our lumber is supposed to be delivered next week and with temperatures going into the upper 50s, we should be good to go (knock on wood)! I am amazed with how quickly this is going now and extremely happy :-D

We updated our house progression and neighborhood progression pics as well. Our neighbor across from us  has almost all the framing up. It is so cool to see the neighborhood forming in front of our eyes! We are so close to seeing our dream!

 Egress window

It's a house! Well, a foundation with plumbing getting started :-)

Foundation and our new neighbors

I couldn't get out to the build site until after work, so the picture had to be taken in the dark, but you can definitely see that the walls are up!

Driving out of the neighborhood, we saw some of our new neighbors.  There are tons of deer in this neighborhood, which was originally built as a resort community in the woods.  With streams, lakes, and a lot of wilderness, these deer must love the neighborhood as much as we do!

It's hard to see, but that's our foundation

Hello, deer!

Progress!

Looks like our hole is dug and they are going to start the foundation today!  What a beautiful hole!