Thursday, May 28, 2009

LOAN!!!!

As of 5pm today we officially have a loan. It's been a long process. It's a huge stress off us to have that taken care of.

We've been keeping very busy working on the house site. We'll be writing a more detailed post very soon. Hopefully on Sunday-we might actually have a day off! Pictures coming soon, it's so exciting, there are changes everyday.

If you're in the mood to do some construction work let us know-we have six months worth of it to do.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Good news

As most know we've been in a state of frustration with the bank/appraiser. Today we got good news, things have actually happened. We'll be signing the loan papers next week. It feels like we are coming out of limbo and the house will really be starting.

When we got married we agreed to purposely attempt only one big decision a year... our house is feeling like much more than one decision and we only have a driveway.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Baby steps

The waiting game continues. Still, some small yet important steps have been taken so far.

This past Thursday and Friday, we put in 80 ft of driveway. First filter fabric, then crushed limestone. The fabric is there to keep the rock from sinking into the mud below, and crushed limestone just looks so nice. It's still a little loose, and we'll have to see how it will all settle together.

We also met with the contractor who will be putting in the concrete walls. They will be ICF's (insulated concrete forms) for the basement and the upper exterior walls. He made some suggestions for changes in the landscaping to make some things work out better.

We also put in our mailbox post. We decided to put our name and address on the mailbox before we put that on, but the hard part is done. I tried to tip it to match the neighbor's mailbox as best as I could.

Major things we are still waiting on before moving forward much more: the bank's appraiser, and the county sanitarian. The bank has approved our credit for the loan amount we are requesting, but is waiting on their appraiser to verify that our house should be worth more than we want to borrow to build it. I guess that they are very busy due to many people refinancing their houses recently. The county sanitarian is waiting for the frost to be out to verify where we can have our septic field. This must be done before we can apply for the building permit from the county. It may also determine how deep the basement can be and still maintain a gravity flow septic system. (Otherwise we have to have electricity to flush the toilet.)

So, the beautiful weather that we've been having lately has been more than a little frustrating to me, as we are still waiting on a few things to start on our house project.

Here are a couple of photos of part of the new beautiful driveway.


Thursday, March 12, 2009

Happy Birthday to me


Yesterday I celebrated being 25. When Jon asked what I wanted, I responded with two things-the loan and a finished coffee table. I got the table. I think it's beautiful (I can't wait for it to be in our house...) We're waiting to put handles on the drawers until we're in the house so they can match our other stuff. My first graders think it's "awesome" making them another group of kids who think Jon can build anything.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

waiting

As most know, I can get really impatient about things I want. Which has made this past month difficult. We had to just wait for people to get back to us. We finally have enough of our quotes back that we can go to the bank to start the loan process. Jon is planning to go this Wednesday. It's exciting to again be making progress. Now we just need everything at the bank to go smoothly and wait for the frost to be out of the ground. Warm weather.....

Jon is finishing the coffee table he "gave" me for Christmas last year. I'm excited to see it come together. He should be finished sometime this week. I know a coffee table isn't a chair but I think he's ready to build a house... (long story-Jana tells it best)

Monday, January 26, 2009

plans, planning, and preparation...

The big project right now with the house is getting all of the pricing together so we're ready to start on the loan process. It's amazing all of the choices and people/companies we have been dealing with. I've watched This Old House, helped my dad with stuff around the farm, but I didn't truly realize all of the little details we'd need to think about to build our house. Jon has been great about all the little details-knowing what we need and also making sure to get prices from several places to compare. For the most part this is Jon's turn to pick stuff out...I really don't know enough to make alot of these choices... to me wood is wood, but to Jon it's trusses and Sips panels, ect. Here's a fact I just learned there's different types of joists ( I thought there was one type).

Back when we were first starting the house planning...Jon and I made a deal he got to pick most of the structural stuff and I get to decide on the pretty stuff. I think I got the better end of this deal. I even got him to agree to painting the laundry area pink!

Something that I've been an thinking about for quite awhile is my tree. Jon thinks I'm worried about things too far in advance. I see it as something to look forward to. I had this idea...with some input from Lisa , to paint (insert Lisa paint and I play with her kids) a tree on the wall in the stairwell. I then want to hang family pictures on it.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

32775 657th Ave

Our land now has a 911 address. It is:

32775 657th Ave.
Maxwell, IA 50161

No, we don't have a mailbox there yet, but it will be ready for the next round of Christmas cards...

We are getting our pricing together. Some things are fairly easy and quick. Others, not so much. It's getting there though.

Just the other day, we asked some friends of ours to join us for supper. They happen to be architects, and we wanted their opinion on the current floor plan. We felt complimented that their major comments were on the size and swing of some of the doors. We asked their opinion on the stairwell, and it seemed like all four of us contributed to the answer.

OK, time for bed, it's been a productive night on the house planning after 8pm.