9 days....

We've dipped into the single digits...can you BELIEVE IT? Got more paperwork on the John Laing/Wells Fargo Loan...we're not impressed, and believe we'll stick with Jen at Crestline... She's provided the best customer service. It appears, not only is she beating JLH's closing costs, even when considering the 3,000 dollar incentive JLH was providing, but she's been on the ball, very open with all the details of the process, willing to answer questions immediately and thoroughly (EVEN WHILE ON VACATION!) and we just plain had a better experience with her overall! If anyone is looking to (re)finance a home in Colorado, let me know and I'll share her info with you, she Rocks!

So, that basically means, sticking with her, the financing will come through on time (Yeah, John Laing's Financer is threatening the closing date could be pushed back due to time constraints...which I blame squarely on them) and we'll be moving in NEXT Thursday...YAY!!!

So, about the house...no pics to share tonight, not much to show, unless I wanted to show the nitty-gritty details...because that's what they're mostly working on. Touching up paint problems, dents/nicks here and there, etc... The house is actually coming along nicely. I even got a call from the new home counselors asking if there is anything we noticed...I listed 3 or 4 things...forgot a couple others, but they got at least one of those so far. So we're getting there. They also got a layer of varnish or another layer of stain (whatever) on the flooring...There was another note on the door saying to stay off until today...so, we figure tomorrow is last touch-ups and getting the appliances back in place and then Thursday they have cleaners, maybe? Or maybe that's AFTER the walk-through? But, our walk-through is scheduled for 2PM....so, I'll probably get up a post Thursday night discussing how that went.

Talk to you then!

Walk Through Imminent

And a week following that, we'll be moving in!

12 Days To Go!!!!

So, what's happened in the last 11 days? Well, let me show you! You've already seen the counter-tops have gone in. Well, following that, the plumbing fixtures have made it! Here's the kitchen Sink.




And the master bathroom.




Then, the hardwood floor got stained.




And then finally, the carpet has been installed. (I got in there Friday after work for a bit, with just my cell camera.) They weren't done when I was there, but by 2PM today, when we drove by, the place was locked up and the carpet was finished, from what we could see through the windows. When I went through, the stairs were "trimmed" in carpet.


And this is a view of the living room carpet. You can see the texture we chose and also take note of the dark padding...that is 1-level of upgrade, but not the fancy nice water-resistant stuff.


And this image is ugly, but you can notice the white padding, this is a protective, water resistant padding, which we put in high-traffic areas and the kids' rooms, since we figured those were the most likely areas to get spills. The carpet itself is basically a tannish cut berber with darker colored flecks in it.


Last two pics don't show progress, one shows some work I did to check fit of office furniture, the pool table location and how the furniture may fit in the living room and family room. I didn't make all the furniture...the image is missing the kitchen/nook table and chairs and the dining table and chairs, but I already know they'll fit and be decent. It's always good to pre-fill the house and see how it may work. Especially for the office, since we hadn't bought the furniture, yet, so we found out how many bookshelves we could get, size of the desk, etc.


Lastly, since we went there today, and brought the camera, we took this shot of Summer in the "back-yard"...the back DIRT PIT! :-) We gotta get our design together and get some materials, we need some grass ASAP for Summer to run around on, she scratched her knees and elbows falling on the sandy/rocky soil...But, what you can also see, is the fence one neighbor put in, so you can kind of see how large the back yard is. The kids will definitely have room to play!


And, that's about it. We'll bring the camera for the walkthrough, I think, but maybe not, we'll be looking for things that need fixing...they have a list of MANY things right now, but, we will be sticklers and make sure this house is pristine when we move in on August 3rd!!!

23 Days To Go

And I actually believe it...I really do. Sure, we got in this weekend, which is cool, since we were able to measure a few things AND take some pictures...but, of course, we found something wrong...We PMR'd (personal modification requested) a built-in trash-bin in the kitchen cabinets. Well, it is not there. So, we filled out our 8th or so concern form. This was Saturday, and we've still not received a call regarding their plans to fix it or give us our money. I don't see how they can fix it, since it's a custom cabinet...But, maybe they can...we'll see. We'd rather have the money than delay the time we move in.

Anyway, here are two pics of the counters in the kitchen. The first one is of the nook desk. (You think there are enough electrical outlets near there? I wanted everything below the desk, but missed the timing to make that happen, but we'll be OK.) You can see the "tech" outlet. All cable/phone/ethernet outlets are like that. 4 outlets available, can have any combination of phone/ethernet and cable that we want and everything is centrally located in the basement for customization. Also note the green counter-tops we chose. Yep, the counter-tops are in, which is why I think we'll actually get in on time! :-)


This next pic is of the butler area (the opening between the kitchen and dining room. You can see the plastic protecting the counter-tops. You can see the double opening door for the slide-out "tray". All lower cabinets have that slider. We have 4 double-wides and the rest are normal. That is standard. Another PMR we did was for the full-opening drawers. They pull out ALL the way so we won't have problems with utensils getting stuck under the drawer opening.


Heading out to the garage for a second...since pointed out the outlets by the nook desk, I figure I'll show the circuit-breaker box. I don't remember ever seeing a house with this many fuses/breakers. New building codes, and just trying to divide up the house I suppose, but there are 30 breakers, and there may be more when the ACs are put in, I forget how I counted them. Yikes!


On the way back in from the garage you find the mud-room and the bench. The bench I was told would be built like the model, due to our complaints. Well, they did it...they actually did something FOR US...something nice, even. Check it out. This makes me very happy, and I think it looks good.


OK, so let's head upstairs. First thing to see is the loft and the railings again. All of that is all installed. Lookin' good. Carpet is last, so nothing to see on the floor. One comment I already know I'll have on the walkthrough will be to raise that light, it is only about 4'6" high...you can look down on the bulbs. That's UGLY...


Going into the master bedroom I'll show off the counter-tops in there. The picture isn't actually all that good, you can only tell it's light brownish. Shouldn't that outlet be GFCI? That blue plastic covers most of it and it's a bit blurry. They still need plumbing fixtures everywhere and will now be able to do some final tile-work around all the counter-tops.


Last image is from the Master Closet. It's huge, and from the measurements it appears our BIG dresser (5'10" long) will fit along the short wall, under the window you can just make out in the picture. That leaves a lot more hanging space available. We're sad we couldn't get the nice built-ins, but we'll probably get closet-factory in there in a year or so, or install something ourselves from Home-Depot...we don't like the wire shelving. It may not be so bad since we have two rows about 15 feet long, though.


Well, that's it...we do our final walk-through in just over two weeks, sign the papers and move-in in just over three. WOW!!! It's really going to happen.

Things remaining to do. Maybe fix the cabinet/trash-bin. Install plumbing fixures. Final tile work. Repair paint damage, little things here and there. Install cabinet knob hardware. Install light in the office. Trim out the media-niche. Install window blinds. Install appliances (all are delivered and sitting in the great-room). Stain floors. Install carpet. Clean. Maybe a few more things I'm not seeing/forgetting right now. Lots to do, but definitely doable in the next two weeks.

July 4th

Well, in the last week our house has just sat there. I don't think we've even seen a car/truck out front. Just waiting on the counter-tops. There are other things that need to be done but nothing is happening until those counter-tops go in, I guess. We're hoping that tomorrow, after this long holiday weekend that they will be delivered and they'll get busy with our house again.

The only thing house related I did was look up the furnace/air conditioner manufacturer, to check how they're rated. Well, they used Goodman, and I didn't find ANYTHING good to say about that manufacturer. In fact, an article as recent as 2005 stated they were just about the worst rated by many repairmen/installers... So, I'll have to make sure I perform proper maintenance and keep a sharp eye on everything to use the warranty as needed. "John Laing makes a good house," is what we keep hearing, but with these reviews I've read, I'm a bit worried about a major mechanical system in our home, now...We'll see how it all works when we're in there.