final walkthrough

Well, today was the very exciting final walk through!  My PM is awesome and he spent almost 4 1/2 hours with me!

We marked a few areas that needed attention: a crooked faucet, a dented door, dented garage door, and some paint touch ups.  One other area was a piece of tile at the entry of my son's bathroom that was sticking up higher than the others around it and was sharp.

Other than that, he went through every thing he could possibly go through with me.  He even showed me how to use my new appliances and let me tell you, those things are AWESOME!

After our meeting, I got a call that we received final loan approval and will close on Friday as planned...

BUT

the appraisal has to be updated before the loan can be funded...

and no money = no keys

So, while I am very very very happy that our loan is approved and there is nothing that WE have to do, I am sad that now someone else holds the keys to my house in their hands!

My lender and our settlement coordinator left the appraiser a message both on her business line and cell phone line so I am really really really really hoping this gets taken care of and that this person is not out of town or away on vacation.

Turns out the appraisal had wrongly listed us on a public road with a non-vented fireplace, when we are actually on a private road with a vented fireplace...

WHO CARES!!!!!!

Apparently the loan people because they will not send over the money until the appraisal properly lists these things!

So please, send your prayers, thoughts, good vibes our way because we are SO CLOSE to be held up by someone else's mistake!!

THANKS!!!

patience is not my strong suit

On the phone all morning trying to get an update on the loan and come to find out they are waiting on the Certificate of Occupancy and can't proceed without it.  My lender said if they don't receive it today, we won't close on time.

Freaking out, I call the settlement coordinator, the model and send frantic emails to my PM.

They find out it was mailed yesterday and they should have it today, or tomorrow at the latest.

I call my loan guy back who says they will just make it a "funding condition" and it's ok as long as they get it by friday.

OK so what was the big deal?  Why would he even imply we wouldn't close on time if he didn't RECEIVE it today??

Our file is back in underwriting now and he asked me to keep my phone close in case they need any last minute items from me.  But he said he isn't anticipating anything.

So basically I'm freaking out and praying that this house closes ON TIME as we are already scheduled to vacate our apartment and TWO storage units by Sunday and I cannot even fathom another night in the worst place we have ever lived...

My husband says if we don't close on time he will break in and throw mattresses down in the living room ;)

Send good vibes, prayers, thoughts...anything our way please!!!  Should have that final loan approval by Thursday morning and hopefully that will help me finally organize our uhaul and start packing!  But I am at a total road block and can't do any of that until I officially know we are definitely closing on time.

I'm sure we will and when we do I am going to come back and laugh at this crazy sounding post!

Leak update

Turns out it was the roof.  They were out to fix it up today.

Energy star 3.0 test was today.   Trying to be patient and not worry about a thing.  I'm not the first person to buy a house but I have trouble being out of control and I'm worrying more than I need to be!  I need to sit back and let people do their jobs :)

HVAC leak

Went in the house today to see a big puddle of water on my kitchen counter and the ceiling above it wet and squishy...

The SR sent a text and pic to the PM and she says someone will likely be out tonight to fix it....

Makes me nervous!  I don't want my brand new house having water damage!

The house is done

It just waits for us to move in!!

Numbers

Looks like they are finishing up all this tiny little details.   My numbers are on the house!

getting so anxious!

We are 8 days, 14 hours away from being in this house, provided everything goes smoothly.

Everything with our loan is good, except they had been waiting on the title work and hadn't gotten it so I emailed all my contacts (settlement coordinator, PM, realtor) and put the fire out there to get this done.  The settlement coordinator called her contact over at the attorney's office to get it done.  So hopefully this will be taken care of in no time.

Also got an email from the lender stating that they received a letter that we are on a private road.  At first I said that we weren't, but a call in to our HOA told me that in fact we are because we are in a gated community, and whatever problems the road may have are all the responsibility of the HOA to maintain.  Hopefully that's a good thing...never have had that before.

At this point it's all about tying up the loan which seems to be on track, and my settlement coordinator told me to "get my writing hand ready because it's going to be tired!".  Haha...I'm not on the loan only my husband is so maybe I'll use my arm to drink some coffee cause I'm gonna need the caffeine with all the moving coming up!  ha!

Our pre-settlement walk through is one week from today and I can't wait.  My hubs can't join me, he actually had something come up at work which is a bummer.

Didn't make it over to the house today, figured there wasn't much to see but my neighbor texted me that they were re-shingling some of the roof which alarmed me so a quick email to the PM and it turns out they do a final roof inspection at the end to replace any shingles that were damaged during construction.

Oh and the Rome that has been sitting vacant since before our home was started is finally in escrow.  I guess whoever built it pulled out, or lost their job and they have been trying like mad to sell it.  It's a Rome with the 5th bedroom instead of a loft, it is HUGE but it is pretty much completely standard (no upgrades).  They are selling this 3000+ sq ft house for less than I am paying for my 2112 sq ft house...........  that can't be good for me even though my house has a ton of upgrades but I feel even worse for my neighbor across the street with a nicely upgraded Rome.  This one is priced $50k under hers.  None the less, I'm really hoping it sold to a nice family seeing as how they will be our neighbors. And, this really lit the fire under us to get our fence done ASAP because I don't want to have to consult with any neighbors on it...it's our right to put one up and we are following the CC&R's but I can see how if my neighbors didn't want one, they might be irritated with mine.  But, such is owning a house I suppose...we can do whatever we want with ours, just like they can with theirs!

Which brings me to another point, our HOA is pretty darn strict.  Which is good in the way that your neighbors can't have anything ugly in their yard, or parked cars on their grass, or boats parked in their side yard, but that also means we can't have any of those things.  Not that I would, but you know what I mean.  A lot of people in our neighborhood have golf carts and ride around on them, and drive them to the pool.  I think it would be so fun to have one eventually, but I'm not sure where we would park it unless one of us parked in the driveway (which neither of us want to do).  We thought about a shed out back but the covenants are pretty strict on that, it has to be the same siding and shingles as your house.  So, who knows.  I guess we can figure all that out later.

That was a lot of rambling, sorry!  You can tell I'm trying to pass the time!!!

Even closer

 the house is just beautiful.  It's hard to believe I will be living in it very soon!

Porch post was painted.  Saw our house numbers in our kitchen pantry.   That is likely the last thing on the exterior.  

Banister got a second coat of lacquer and looks great.   I took a few pics, do you guys think it matches Ok?

Loving our appliances.   We went with top of the line and I hope they don't disappoint.   I can already tell fingerprints are going to be an issue.

The gas line still doesn't appear to be hooked up.   VA final inspection is on Monday.   My lender is waiting on title work so I emailed the settlement coordinator and she's on it.

Hoping and praying no issues arise.   I really don't want to go one more day after all we have been through to get to this point.

I noticed a dent in the door coming in from the garage. It's not big but still. Would you mention it/want it fixed?

Also loving how cool the house felt Thanks to A/C.  Loving that we have a control panel downstairs and in our bedroom!

almost finished {pics}!!

Front door was painted.  Love it but I think I may change it to a cottage blue at some point.  Wish the garage door was down for the "full effect" lol.  Column on porch still needs paint.

Grass is looking great.  Less patchy and fresh looking, more like a solid lawn.  Tree in front was staked and the crepe myrtle tree by the house is looking better.

Gas still needs to be hooked up

Then I opened my front door and I heard the angels say "ahhhhhh!" LOL!!!  I LOVE THESE FLOORS!

Chair rail in formal living room (which is really "my room", my eventual office/sitting area)

Looking at my room from a different angle.  Love the chair rail.

And then I saw my fireplace...what a beauty!  

And my countertops were without that protective coat...LOVE them so much.  They are very "gray" which is exactly what I was wanting.  I am planning to paint the kitchen a light gray blue to help offset the creaminess in the cabinets because that paint in there now is just so blah!  

Morning room looking into family room (where TV will be on that wall)

And my kitchen again..."ahhhh!" LOL!  Love those appliances so much.  Love this kitchen so much.  Nicest kitchen I have ever had!

Laundry room tile

Laundry room where washer/dryer is.  Other side of laundry room is big enough for a small mud room space.

Another thing I was worried about was my railing stain.  I think it looks good, opinions?  I wish I would have taken a close up pic but I did look and it seemed to match very well and the upstairs maintained the same darkness (where as my neighbor's was much lighter on the upstairs).

Beautiful railings

My bathroom where I can see the floors now.  This bathroom is really nothing to write home about, it is very small but I'm glad we upgraded the tile and such, it does make it feel bigger with the glass shower and the tile makes it feel fancy.  Maybe many years down the road I'd like to expand this though.  

One more view of my beauty.  Forget the whole upstairs...I am living for this fireplace and my kitchen.  

PM called for my update and I missed his call so all I got was a voicemail.  The gas line is being hooked up today or tomorrow and then the painters will be back through for the final touches, it will need to be cleaned because it's all dusty, but other than that, I really didn't see much else (and we are 10 days away!).  Can't we please close sooner???  Ugh.  

I think this last week is for our PM to do his Quality inspection and I did see some blue tape in a lot of different places so I'm sure the flooring people need to come back out and fix those areas, as well as I saw lots of little areas that needed grout.  So, I think this is the final week of making the house perfect...and hopefully there won't be much for us to do at our pre-settlement meeting.  Not sure if I'm just missing things or if my PM is that awesome, because my husband and I both have actively been looking for things wrong and haven't seen much of anything.  I'm sure once we get in we will notice things but for now, it looks great.

10 days and a wake up!!!!!

Chair rail

There was a misunderstanding over chair rail and whether or not we got it but since it was all unclear... they gave it to us in our formal living room.   That was installed last week.

Tree in the front was crooked and now has been staked.

At this point its all just little finishing touches!

Been out of town for a few days, excited to go back and see the progress.   10 days until completion.   12 days until close!

Finishing touches

Got a few more fence estimates.   The first guy beats all the others on price so I think we may just go with him.   I want privacy and after 4 months in a second story apartment with a Bulldog that had to go our like 8 times a day...I need to be able to put her out and not have to use a leash!

Peeked in the house, didn't see much change.  Looks likethe outsidewas powerwashed.  Cleaning crew arrived and went in. Still need my porch column painted as well as like 1,000 touch ups on the inside.   Fireplace trim needs paint. Front Door needs paint and hardware. Need access panel installed in master closet.   Mirror in powder room. Screens on Windows and slider.

Not overly thrilled with the carpet to be honest.   It was the first upgrade which was stain resistant and we only have carpet upstairs with a no shoes policy... but it isn't really cushy and the pad is just Ok.   Its the 8lb. 

If I could go back I may have upgraded to a thicker pile carpet.  And a prettier tile on the guest bathroom floor.  But then again we had to sacrifice those areas to get beautiful hardwoods on the entire bottom floor.  Can't have it all!

Overall thrilled with the house and how nice everything looks.

Really struggling with our apartment living situation right now.  I want to be out of this area and this complex now.  15 more days... feels so close yet so far away.

Carpet and more!

Met another fence contractor today, twice the price as the first guy.   Gonna keep shopping for quotes.  To answer a question, the pic of the fence I posted is the community standard, as in that is the only kind we can have.  It can't be anything but that.   And it has to be stained gray. So it's either that, or nothing which kind of sucks since it's an expensive fence.   But I'm not about to put my dog on a chain so we are making it a priority while we will have the cash that we are getting back at closing.

All my faucets are in, dishwasher, lighting, carpet!  Mainly only little things now like trim, railing stain, stove and microwave and touch up paint!

Gotta love my little guy modeling the fireplace lol!!

Mailbox

My mailbox is installed :)

They were installing our Faucets today.  Couldn't get a pic without disturbing them :(

Got a quote for a fence...a little steep but it is done in 3 days and we wouldn't have to lift a finger so we are thinking about it.  Or yard is small and I'm sure we could do it in half the price but it has to be an arched fence per the covenants which may make it a little trickier for us to get just right. I'd rather pay to have it done and focus our DIY efforts in the inside.   We'll see.

Happy camper :)

Stopped in to see the house today.  Didn't see anything new...until I looked again at the fireplace.
The first pic is the before.  Bumpy, lumpy and pieced together.  
The second is the after :) smooth and clean.  
We told him if anyone asked we would say it was a $10k upgrade haha.   He was hesitant to do it because he said then everyone would want it. I think it looks very nice.