Closing day

We closed on the lot and construction loan today.  We signed all the papers this afternoon and it should fund tomorrow.  It's officially ours!!

I also went over to our rental house today and took some measurements.  It's going to be a tight squeeze!  We're going to use the second bay of the garage as storage because it's not all going to fit.  Maybe I should sell some more furniture...

September 21st - Septic holes

We met our septic installer and designer at the lot and dug test holes.  They have to look at the soil to decide what kind of system to design.  Our soil looked good (not too rocky), so that's good for cost.  We have plenty of room, so that won't be a problem either.

September 20th

We got approved for our loan.  Yay.  We'll get to close on our lot and construction loan in about 7 days.

Here are some photos of our lot.

Kitchen cabinets & more

I'm trying to decide what to do in my kitchen.  It's very important to me what this room looks like and how it functions because I spend a lot of time in there.  And it's important for resale.  And I like a pretty kitchens.  We are really trying to build this house on a budget (for real!), so I went from IKEA cabinets to semi-custom Kraftmaid cabinets to stock cabinets from Lowe's.  It's a huge jump but I think Chip and I can make the stock cabinets look nice.  Since we're saving on the cabinets, we'll probably end up doing granite counter tops.  I'm hoping for a snow white granite with black painted cabinets.  I think I'll also add a couple of white IKEA specialty cabinets.  I'm doing butcher block on the island so I can cut my veggies, etc.

Speaking of, I saw a compost bin in a magazine that's built into the counter top.  We've never composted before but it sounds like a good idea.  Maybe I'll look into that a little...

We're also working on getting some decent plans printed so we can send them out to trades to get estimates - HVAC, plumbing, electrical, slab, framers, roofers and painters.

I like the modern look of this.

Our new address

I called today and got our new address.  It is 16507 Forest Way.  I think that's easier than Median.  Maybe I won't have to spell it every time!

The beginning...

We got a contract on our house.  I've been wanting to build again for over two years so I'm very excited.  We starting looking at lots once we received the contract and made an offer once the option period was over.  We had a final contract on the lot on September 3, 2010.  We will close as soon as humanly possible.  It's basically up to the lender.  It is in Hudson Bend in a fairly unrestricted area.  It's about 100' wide at the front and about 450' long...long and narrow.

I gave our lender the contract and all of the necessary documentation on Tuesday, September 7.

We are currently looking for a lease house for about 6 months while we build.  And I've been working on the plans and details, like kitchen cabinets.  We are also getting some rough bids on the bigger things, like electrical labor.  Chip has been calling trades, trying to get per square foot prices on the slab, framing, etc.  I am collecting photos and working on ideas for the interior design.  We will continue all of this until we get a close date for the lot and construction loan.