House Status 1.0

Latest news: All city planning/council meetings have passed and the plot is rezoned and approved for building. However, the city still has some "engineering" to do on the land, which can take up to 8 weeks. Although we haven't bothered the builder more to find out the details of what this term "engineering" refers to, we feel fairly relaxed at this point. We know that the builder will want to finish as quickly as possible in order to get maximum profit. Plus, there is a little extra relief as it looks like interest rates haven't really changed as we feared. So we're working with our lender to get a new rate lock started today for another year. The only reason we were really worried before is that we didn't want our lock to expire and end up having to pay a much higher interest rate. So the only drawback at this point is that my parents may have to put up with us for a little longer!

Shopping!

It's time to start planning the annual trip to the outlet stores. Prepare in advance and go the website and sign up for VIP membership -- We'll have free access to extra coupons! We're tentatively looking at going the weekend following Labor Day -- September 8 - 11. It would be great to include more family members this year. (FYI - This is normally a girl trip only. However, the boys are allowed to ride to the Ozarks only if they plan to be golfing or whatever while we are at the stores.) Please call/email me if you are interested. I'll be updating the site as we nail down dates.

Ahhh.... California. Well, after looking through the few photos I took while on our vacation, I discovered that there weren't any that were very good. Mostly, this is because we were in a hurry everywhere we went. But it's also because I have no training in using a camera. So below is the only snapshot that is really worth looking at. Obviously, this was taken while we were touring Sonoma.  

Spins a web...

Saw Spider-Man 2 again last night. Definitely a great movie. One of the best superhero movies ever made.

Update on California

Another thing people ask me about -- my recent vacation. Yes, Justin and I went to San Francisco recently. We stayed with Justin's best friend from childhood, Roger, and his wife Marion. We basically did a whole lot of nothing -- which is what I really needed. We did play some disc golf, including one of the top rated courses in the world, Delaveaga. And we did some geocaching. We ate some sushi and some afghani food. We tasted some wine in Sonoma. I hope to have some pictures up soon.

House Status 0.1

Okay, one of the things that I know people will want to be updated on is the status of our "build a new house" project. Here is what has happened so far:

1. We often go house shopping to get remodeling ideas and just for the fun of it. Recently, we ran across a floor plan we fell in love with and realized that the house was actually within our budget.
2. We got some initial information from the builder of the model that we liked. They seemed like good people, but we weren't really happy with the location.
3. Justin was more interested in working with one of his computer consulting customers, the Hoeltings, because not only did he have a great relationship with them through his business connection, but also because we have always liked their floor plans and building quality ever since we got married. So he asked around, (there are several Hoeltings that build houses within the family) and it turned out one of them had the same floor plan we fell in love with.
4. So we started talking to Mark Hoelting in more detail. Not only did we like the idea of working with him because of the trust benefits, but he also happened to own some lots that he was planning on setting up for development in the near future. These lots were in an excellent location, and by going through the builder directly, we'd save money in agent's fees!
5. So we started planning and got an agent to put our old house up on the market. Because of all the awesome remodeling we had done, the agent told us that we'd priced ourselves near the top of the neighborhood and that it might take 3 to 4 months to sell. Even if we could start building the new house right away, we figured there would be a gap without a house. Luckily, my parents offered to let us stay with them.
6. Packing; moving stuff to parents basement; showing house to potential buyers; negotiating with various lenders to get a 1-year builder rate-lock for the new house
7. After 19 days on the market, our house sells!
8. Our builder tells us that the lot hadn't been through all the city/county planning meetings needed yet; and that he couldn't break ground until August.
9. My parents agree to let us move in with them despite the newly discovered delay.

That's where things stand as of now. We are living with my parents. Saving money for the new house, which is still on track to begin next month. See our project floor plan here.

Goal List

Alright, so I've added a list of goals to this page. This is a reminder to me of things that are important that I want to do in life. Plus, if anyone reading these pages can help me accomplish any of those tasks, then all the better!

Playing around...

Just want to make sure everything is still working okay. Of course I had to fiddle around with the layout stuff to get it just the right pink. ;) Anyway, more serious stuff should soon follow... /crossing fingers/

In the beginning....

Okay, so I joined the bandwagon. That doesn't make me a bad person, does it? The truth is, these "blog" things are just so darned handy. So the idea is that I can use this service to store ideas, events, etc, and more easily share them with friends and family. Let's hope it works!