Quick Interior Update

Did my daily drive by on my way to work and wouldn't ya know that there was a flurry of activity on the lot and in the house. Our PM's have really stepped up their game and have these contractors busy as we come down the homestretch (as I knew they would). Of course I took 2 minutes to quickly take a snoop in the house since the contractors were leaving for lunch anyway. From what I can tell, the cabinets are installed in the kitchen and bathrooms. Tile work has been started in the bathrooms and all the rooms now have doors. The AC unit was being installed as well while I was there. I assume plumbing fixtures can't be too far behind, along with final HVAC and electricians doing their thing and then the laminate wood and carpet. Things are starting to happen fast.  I didn't have time to take a bunch of pictures but I will eventually and post them for all to see. From what I can see, things look OK so far. Here's just a couple pics I took. The others didn't turn out so well.

Kitchen Cabinets

Just another angle

Siding complete

Pic from our PM


 

Hall bathroom tile work

Appraisal

NVR finally sent me a copy my appraisal today needed for my VA loan.. They needed me to sign the Acknowledgement of Receipt and send it back to them, which I did within 5 minutes. This the second to last item needed to close. The only other thing they need is a paystub from my next payday in 2 weeks and then my NVR harrassment will officially come to a close. Hallelujah.  

The good news is at least is that the house appraised for for slightly higher than the selling price. My only question is it seems to only take into account above grade rooms and not the finished basement. Is this normal? I really don't have the time nor do I feel like reading through all 24 pages of it at the moment, but seems to me, it could have been perhaps a itsy bitsy teenie weenie higher. In any case, I'm happy to be one step closer to closing.

Shit's About To Get Real!

Just a quick update and a couple pics. There has been a little activity going on the past week. Siding has gone up for the most part, they sprayed on the first base coat of paint and they have done some grading. Miraculously, most of the water in the basement dried up. Hmmmm. Imagine that. Closing is set for 29 July, a little over 3 weeks away. It's starting to get down to crunch time. We've already let our land lord know we are moving, so we can't afford any delays. I'm big on doing things right the first time. In other words, RH better pick up their game and crack the whip on these contractors. I'm going to be watching and checking their work daily. Jen has already started packing boxes for the move. It's all happening so fast. In other words, "Shit's about to get real!"

Front of House. Hard to tell color of shutters in the evening sun,  but they are brown. Why they haven't finished the siding yet I don't know. Perhaps they ran out of siding and need to order more?

Side view from our neighbors lot

First coat of paint

First coat of paint

Siding

Had a crew out yesterday putting up our siding. They were about half way done when I left last night. I can't wait to stop by later today or tomorrow and see it with all of the siding on. I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them later.  I did have to go back and measure some windows again last night because I had totally forgotten about the kitchen window, which is 35" x 42" and also the sliding glass door. I guess it happens when your mind is racing with all the things you still need to do like trying to set up cable, trash furniture shopping, packing etc. for a smooth transition. Let's not forget the brutal heat and humidity in the house which has you sweating like a 2 cent whore.  It must be 100 degrees or more in there, even with windows open. No wonder it is easy to overlook things. All you want to do is get in and get out without having swamp ass. The basement however feels nice in comparison to the rest of the house.

Speaking of the basement, the storage room has had a puddle of water in it the last couple weeks. Not sure if it is because they left the egress window open when it rained before. In any case, I wish they would dry it up with a shop vac or squeegee. I'm kinda tired of looking at it. I never mentioned it before, but I worry sometimes perhaps windows may get left open during thunderstorms that can occur with little or no warning. Call me paranoid, but I don't want my drywall wet. 

Puddle of water. Could this be a plumbing leak of some sort or is it rain?

Siding going up

Pre-Settlement Demonstration And Settlement Dates

Things are moving along nicely. They have put up most of the drywall, poured the front stoop and sidewalk and it wont be long before the siding goes up and perhaps they will start putting in some appliances and cabinets. The drywall went up in a matter of 2 days with the exception of the garage, where all our cabinets are stored.

Earlier this week I got my official address along with  Pre-Settlement Demonstration and Settlement dates from Ryan Homes. As it stands now, they have scheduled July 28th for our Demonstration and July 29th to close. That is almost a week later than what NVR told me initially. I'm not exactly thrilled about the week delay, since we are excited to move and it only gives me 2 days of wiggle room on my rate lock. Furthermore, it forces me to take a day off work, so I'm trying to get the PM to move the demonstration day to Friday the 25th, a regular day off for me and Jen. Our PM is great and has always been willing to work with us, and he said he could possibly do it in the afternoon that day, saving me a day of vacation. I also took the time to go measure windows yesterday. Most windows are 35" (or close enough) , but some of them were like 34 3/4" or maybe even 34 1/2" on one. Has anyone else encountered some variance in window frame sizes?

Here are a few pics of the progress so far. I know the quality isn't the best since it is from my phone, but for now, it's the best I can do.

Family Room 

4th BR

Kitchen/Dinette from Family Room

Looking toward Foyer

Family Room

front BR

MBR Panorama

Top of stairs facing MBR

Basement Panorama

Foyer Panorama

Rommel the Guardian practicing his attack skills

Rate Lock

After a very long week of 7 night shifts, I was awoken by a call from NVR yesterday afternoon. To be honest I was just so tired, I wanted to get off the phone as soon as I could after hearing what the rate for the day was. Funny how they want you to make decisions right then on the spot. Initially, when I signed my Purchase agreement and got my good faith deposit, it was based on a rate of 4.25% fixed rate VA loan. Yesterday, they told me the rate was 4%, which only required the origination fee. Since that is included in closing, and I'm getting back most of my Good Faith Deposit, I decided I would go ahead and lock in at 4% for 45 days. 45 days takes us to 31 July, so gives us a week of flexibility on closing. The rate has been competitive to what USAA was offering me, so I went with NVR. USAA will be my back up plan if anything horribly goes wrong. I suppose I could have asked about buying down the rate further, but I need to buy another Living Room set for the man cave, blinds, paint etc.  Now we will wait on whatever papers NVR sends us to complete the lock process. I can live with 4%.  I just hope the rate does not go down too much between now and closing and make me regret locking so early.

Pre-Drywall Meeting And Tentative Closing Date

Not sure if it was a good thing, but I scheduled Friday the 13th, for our Pre-Drywall meeting at noon since it was the only day my girlfriend was off and honestly, I just wanted it over with. Initially the PM wanted to do it next week. Since I have been working night shift this week, I knew I was punishing myself by scheduling it so early. I didn't get home from work til about 7:30, got in bed around 8 or so, and had to wake up at 11:30 to make our 12:00 meeting. (I know, it's not much time, but I been known to shower in less than 2 minutes, and out the door in 10 minutes). The military will do that to you. No sweat. All I need is 3 hours of sleep. We only live about 7 miles or so away from our lot. Everything went well. The meeting only lasted about 30 minutes. We are on track for a mid-to-late July completion date. I really didn't have a lot of questions, but instead just focused on listening to what he was saying about being an Energy Star home and how they seal every crack and crevice.  Our fireplace arrived and will be installed and framed in the next week. Guardian was there pre-wiring the phone, cable and data while we were having our meeting. 
We did ask our PM about the landscaping because friends of ours got 3 trees, and one of the trees was practically planted right next to the house and actually had to be moved. He said they got a Sycamore and Cherry Trees. We do not want a Sycamore or Maple. We told him that we want a Redbud or some flowering tree. Who is their right mind wants a Sycamore in the front yard?

Received an email from NVR Loan Processor that they are showing a tentative closing date of 23 July and that they will let me know what if anything they will need from me. I swear, what else could they need? They are going to complete the appraisal and forward em a copy of  an "appraisal acknowledgement form" for me to sign and date. I am hoping it comes back higher than what I paid for it. Most blogs I have read seem to have had higher appraisals.  I also requested they start letting me know about the rates, because it is time to start looking at locking in a rate.

On a side note, Friday the 13th, Full Moon  and all has ended up biting me in the ass with bad luck. Today, my A/C stopped blowing cold air in my car after the pre-drywall meeting and I immediately knew the A/C compressor was bad. This happened to me exactly 3 years ago during the summer. Honda has already identified this to be an issue a few years ago. Unfortunately for me, even though they had extended the warranty on the A/C part to 7 years or 100K miles, I was over the mileage then and of course am now. For the second time in 2 years, I have been forced to shell out $1200 to fix it. Talk about a bad luck Friday the 13th!! I didn't like spending that kind of money before closing, but what can you do? At least I don't need any money at settlement based on the last GFE.