Foundations and Frames

No, not make-up foundation. :)

I got a call last Wednesday (The 8th) that our foundation had been poured a few days before and was curing, and that the lumber package was to arrive that Thursday or Friday. Art said if the lumber arrived that week, they would start framing. Shane and I wanted to go get pics of the foundation to go with our pics of the empty weed-riddled lot, the staked out frame, the footings, etc.

Shane had such a busy week that Thursday was his only day off. We thought it far-fetched that the framing would actually begin that week and decided to use our one day off to get a few errands done and take some time for R&R. Sunday, i was on my way out to a birthday party and passed thru the town where our house is going up. I thought i'd go by and get a peek at the foundation. Imagine my surprise when i come around the corner and see this:


BUSY BEE'S EH??? I was so excited!! I jumped out in my WHITE SHORTS and FLIP FLOPS and ran around looking at my new "house"! I didn't come prepared and had no markers to go write our names inside the walls, but we'll go back this week to do that. We also planned to put together a time-capsule to put inside of a wall before the sheetrock goes up. At this rate, we'd better get that peanut butter jar full of 2009 coins and the boys' drawings together QUICK!

In the meantime, the bank is calling about the house we've been renting. It was foreclosed on last month and they want us out ASAP, of course. So i'm trying to hold them off and while i'm totally shocked our house is coming along so quickly, i consider it a HUGE blessing cause we're going to be cutting it VERY close.

The Studio is calling...

I got an email from the Design Studio today. They want to set up a time to have us come in and "browse" as well as talk about upgrades we want. I am so excited about this part. can. not. wait. but i must. the first appointments available are in JUNE and even the ones they gave aren't going to work for us. So in order to work around our crazy schedule, i bet it'll be be pushed out even farther. crumb. still, i'm excited to go!

I see interior design in your future...

Well, had a message from Art today about choosing our upgrades. Seems as though Esteban sent him an approval for our loan and so the next step is spending the money we're being approved for! SQUEE! So, i should be getting a call to set up our decor and final appointments.

New House

And no i don't mean "new-to-me". i am talking brand-new-not-even-built-yet-never-occupied-they'll-start-framing-in-a-few-weeks new.

Art, the sales rep (part 2)

So, this really nice guy answered the phone. His name is Art Delage and he was very kind to listen to all of my rambling, and answer all of my questions about the development. He also told me things before i thought to ask, such as, a brand new K-8 school is being built smack in the middle of the community and will be opening for school this year. He said they are developing a biking/jogging/walking trail in the community, which is nice. He also told me that they are offering some great incentives to purchase such as no closing costs, and a grant to pay for your down payment. (The grant is related somehow to the elementary school going up.) This is all in addition to the federal tax credit of $8000, and a California tax credit of $10,000 when you purchase new construction before the end of the year, neither of which have to be repaid. Wow. And the weirdest thing of all is that we could actually afford these homes. I mean okay, not the 2700 square foot model, but we had our choice of a few within our price range.

One thing he told me was that as of the past 4 weeks, sales had really been picking up. I was concerned to hear that. He said the builder is releasing a few lots each weekend and that as of my call they had no lots available. But this weekend, they'll be getting 9 more lots. woot. so i asked him what our chances were of actually getting one. I have been so disappointed in the last year of house hunting, i'd rather avoid this altogether than to get my hopes up and be let down. He said our odds were pretty good, and that i didn't need to camp out overnight to get a chance at it. Before we got off the phone, he told me that he wouldn't be in the office tomorrow or friday, but that if we came in, his associate Susanna would be more than happy to help. Well, i wanted to meet Art and work with him, becuase seriosly, he's soooooo nice. I mean sure, he's a salesman, but not sleezy or fast talking or rude. Just a really nice guy. So i called shane and told him he HAD to get off work in time cause we were headed out of town to look at some houses. heh. I also filled him in on all the details and he thought it sounded as good as i did.

For once, i'm glad i procrastinated... (Part 1)

Well, i had this bright idea today to start going thru the house and packing stuff that we don't use, as well as throwing out things that we no longer need. I figured this would be a good exercise as we are still looking for a house after more than a year. This way, when the big moment comes, i'm not scrambling to get everything done within our 30 day escrow time frame.

So i went out to the garage to assess our box situation and so many of those boxes have been in there for so long, i just KNOW they are now homes to spiders. And dirt. and webs and stuff. so i immediately turned off the light, closed the door and sat down to glance at Metrolist. I thought if i could find a house to feel excited about, it would motivate me to do as i'd planned.

Nothing new on mls. so i went to craigslist. lot's of fake ads that want you to call some 800# for listings of foreclosed homes. Then i found a listing for a new construction community. I checked it out. The prices were amazing and the models looked nice. But it wasn't exactly the town we were trying to get to, more like one town south, and i figured shane would never go for it. Still, i looked and looked, i started to call the sales office and then hung up, lol. i got up to do some more stuff around the house, but the idea of these homes kept nagging at me. So i finally caved, and called.