MOVING

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Pacing Ourselves

We've hit our first patch of stressy-grossness in the home building process and we haven't even broken ground, yet! We made a list of all the things that need to get done in the next 30 days, and then argued about how and when we were going to do them all. Early on in the process, we both agreed that we didn't want this new adventure to be one that caused any silly fights, but that agreement was apparently drafted up right after we ate some Sparkle Glitter Cotton Candy & danced and pranced in our Rainbow Garden Fountain... lil unrealistic, is all I'm sayin'...

So, some of the more important things on the list to get started on:

-Meet w/ foundation expert: This is to make sure our small backyard is not going to be a snow slope.

-Sign & return inspection report: Since our builder has contracted to purchase our house at closing if we haven't sold it yet, they had a home inspection performed and found a handful of small things for us to agree to repair.

-Clean out garage/PURGE: This kind of began tonight. The house is in SHAMBLES, y'all. I'm talking rubbermaids strung all over the living room... it's driving me nuts and my chocolate intake has gone up this month. We rented a storage building so we can clear out our tiny garage for potential buyers.

-Sell random furniture, etc. to have $$$ for new stuff

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The best part of this story is that B was upstairs cleaning (and pretending to purge AKA just putting stuff in new boxes and sitting them in the hallway) and found a letter from my bridal shower that said to open when we were "Moving Homes". It was one of those meant-to-be moments and we sat together on the couch, took a deep breath, and read the sweet letter. It was just the reminder we needed.

Picking Out the Specifics Part 1

Oh, lawdy! Our lot is officially SOLD! We went and visited one night when we were child-free for a little while and walked into the thick mud and felt so excited! Nevermind that afterward we had to clean our shoes off with baby wipes and threw them in the floorboard and the next day Billy's dad was helping me clean out the car and it looked like... well...

Meeting with the foundation expert as soon as we can to discuss the "lay of the land" once the house is built. It's a small lot, as most middle-of-the-city areas require, but we love that in front is a protected wet land and it's not an east to west facing house like we have now (BIG heating/cooling bills).

I thought building a home would be relatively easy as far as selections, since we're building it off the model home we fell in love with. Woo boy, I was wrong (and so was Billy)!

Just a tiny portion of the things we've been deciding the past few days:

-Do we want brushed nickel or oil rubbed bronze fixtures?
-Granite or quartz counter tops?
-50, 66, or 80 gallon water heater?
-Wrought iron railing or wood?
-Glazed or unglazed cabinets?
-Soldiering above our exterior windows?
-Red, cream, or brown brick?
-Carpet, laminate, engineered hardwood, tile, vinyl...

It's a lot. And there's a little bit of pressure because once we've created and signed the contract, each change we make will cost us about $200, and rightfully so because the builder would have to re-order, re-plan, and it would cost them time and money, as well. But it's tough having that on us, because we want this house to be as perfect as it is in our heads.

But after trying several times to add everything we wanted and subtract what we didn't, it consistently added up to about $5k over budget, but I think we can live with that.

We should go into official selections soon, and then building will begin! Is this real???

"Are We Really Signing These Papers Today???"

It happened, it really happened! Fan girl excitement!!!

Today we signed the initial contract to begin the process of building our home. That included an agreement we made with Ball Homes that if we can't sell our current house by the closing date of the new house, they will buy our house for us at a certain price. We feel very lucky that they offer this agreement, because it removes the contingency that we have to sell this house first, which would mean renting somewhere for a long period of time, losing some money, and generally a lot of stress and frustration we hoped to avoid.

My favorite thing about signing the papers was when one of our real estate agents (Mike) told us our new home address. It's catchy and sweet, and there was something very significant about it that I didn't experience with this home or the one before. I guess since we're building it, it feels so very personal, and it truly is ours in every way.

May have been an awkward moment when I said, "We can't report my income yet," and Mike jokingly quipped, "Why? Are you a drug dealer, haha!" and I said in a lowered voice, "Yes. I deal in the drug of romance."

That's me. Always winning, everywhere I go.

The happiest part was seeing Billy smile so big & doing the "happy clapping" with our main real estate agent, Holly. She has been with us for a couple of years now and I'm pretty sure she's as excited about going into the Design Center as we are!

Ball Homes will be doing a home inspection on our current residence on Friday, to double-check that nothing is hugely wrong with it, and then Monday we'll make our first stop in the Design Center to become familiar with it. When we go into selections, it's kind of a quick-decision process, so we're already discussing what we want vs. don't want.

Kitchen style in the model house of our floor plan

Any other crazies out there opt for vinyl flooring in their kitchen and bathrooms instead of tile just because they hate cleaning tile and think the grout gets disgusting? Just throwing that out into the void.