We finally have a closing date set.  A couple days after our pre-settlement walk-thru we'll finally be closing on the house.  We're very excited as the finally touches are being made to make this house our home.
We've been locked out of the house due to the appliances being delivered now.  They still need to be installed, the granite counter tops need delivered/installed as well as the carpet.  And yesterday they installed the sod so we now have a yard.

We have a drive way!  Progress continues.  All of the tile flooring is in now and grouted.  The bathroom's are done and it looks like a second coat of paint was added.  The rails going upstairs have been stained (at least a first coat).  We're thinking the carpet will be installed next and then the final things to install (appliances, kitchen island and granite top, door knobs, sod and landscaping).

Here's the latest picture of the new drive way.  Hopefully they can take care of the slope so it's more level.  We'll bring that up in our pre-settlement meeting with the PM which is 30 days from tomorrow.

Good progress continues.  All of the drywall is up, room doors installed, half of the kitchen cabinets installed, bathroom cabinets installed, and all of the flooring has been delivered.  Even the outside stone work is installed, window shutters up, and the garage door installed.
There are a few last minute changes being made that we didn't plan on due to the appraisal.  We've been told that it won't impact the scheduled pre-settlement walk-through.  We hope to get the final changes made this weekend so the rest of the construction can continue on schedule.
We've seen 2 families already moved in.  It won't be long until a few more call the neighborhood home and then it'll be our turn.  Lots to do between now and mid-June.  Here are some recent pictures.

Hand rail and banisters going upstairs.

Kitchen cabinets.

Double oven and fridge location.

Stone work and garage door.

Front stone work.

New side walk installed.

Having walked thru the house after the insulation was put into place and seeing all of the drywall boards stacked up in each room - we were expecting 2 or 3 days to get it all installed.  NOPE!  It took the builders 1 full day to install ceiling and wall drywall.  Very impressed.  We saw some things that we hope will be fixed before they plaster and paint the walls.  It's amazing how quick they can build homes these days.  Here are some drywall pics from today.

Cool sunset with some weird reflection from the upstairs front windows.

Met with the project manager on Monday for the pre-drywall meeting.  Found a couple things that needed to be fixed - but other than that - everything is looking good.  We went over all of the power outlet locations, light switches, cable connections, interior and exterior lighting, and checked out the heating/air conditioner in the basement.

We were told the insulation would go in and dry wall would begin by weeks end.  Being a little anxious to see how that went - we swung by on Tuesday and all of the insulation was installed.  Here are some pictures of the progress prior to this week and following the insulation being installed.

Family Room / Gas Fire Place

Living Room / Front Door

Master Bedroom

Sunroom

The interior framing is done and the roof shingles are installed.  Looks like the electrical and plumbing work will be next.  Here are the latest pictures that we took today.  We were able to walk around the property and get inside to see how the framing looks.  So far so good!

The construction is moving along very quickly.  This is what has happened since Monday when the first board was nailed down.  I was told that the framing will be done tomorrow - 5 days after beginning.

After a week vacation visiting Disney World - progress is finally being made at the home site.  The slab was poured last week and the lumber delivered as well.  This is what we returned to from our vacation.  Things are taking shape - literally.

All our Dreams can come true 

if we have the courage to pursue them - Walt Disney

And a day later - we have a foundation. Basement walls are in place.

Concrete is being poured.  Things are moving right along.

 

 

One day of digging left a big hole on the lot and a large pile of dirt in the lot next door.  Soon we'll have a concrete foundation and something that kinda looks like a basement.  Based on what the dirt looks like (more like clay) - it'll be a chore to plant any trees in the yard.

Oh Deere (literally)... is that someone digging...?  On our lot...?  It sure is.  Finally!!! 

Looks like we'll start to see some good progress being made based on the other homes already being built.  They say 90 days from start to finish.  I guess we'll see how that turns out.  The clock has started.

Let the blogging begin. 

It's been three months since we stumbled across our dream home.  And a lot has happened in those 3 months. 

The current community doesn't have a model to walk through so we've traveled some miles looking at the model homes that are offered at Sycamore Run.  We also did a lot of research (good and bad) on buying a new home.

We sat down with the sales rep (SR) and went through all of the options, upgrades, etc. and got a base price of what we were looking at in total cost.  When the builders advertise on those small road side signs that new homes are available (as an example - "From the mid $200k") - expect to be in the upper $200k range when done with everything.

From the research and blog reviews that we did - the final price wasn't that much of a sticker shock.  And knowing we are getting exactly what we want - we won't be second guessing on some of the things we picked out (okay, maybe on a few).  

Two weeks is all we had after signing the purchase agreement to make any structural changes to the plan.  We went over everything several times and removed some things and added some as well.

We went and picked out the cabinets, flooring, carpet, etc. a month after signing the purchase agreement.  Again, researching blogs on this part of the process had us going to the cabinet store a week before our scheduled meeting to get an idea of what they offered and the available colors.  This can be very overwhelming trying to figure out what you want in your new home - and spending several hours before hand and searching on line for feedback on our choices took a lot of the stress away and allowed us to make some smart changes to our initial choices. 

The meeting with the mortgage company took a few hours which consisted of going over all the required documentation and explaining what is what.  The mortgage company sent us the loan approval letter about 45 days after meeting with them.  

We met with the project manager (PM) last week to go over all the details of the house, colors, flooring, upgrades, etc.  We also had a list of 25 questions to ask the PM (thanks to all the blogging we did before hand).  So at this point - we feel pretty good about everything and should start seeing some progress.

Updates to this blog will be made when time allows and as things progress with the construction. 

Here's the first picture - a pile of dirt (dumped from the home site next to ours) and some of the snow from the recent snow storm.  The dirt should be gone by the end of the week.