What does that even mean, "accepted to review"? Who really knows... We didn't until today. This morning we got our drawings back from the structural engineer and the architect and Kevin went back to the permit office. They accepted the drawings and application for permit and they will review them and get back to us in 5-10 days. I suppose that is a step in the right direction. In Kevin's experience, once you get to this point, it's only a matter of time before the permit is issued. That said, he feels comfortable going ahead and getting a dumpster. That is good news!! I can't remember the last time I got excited about a dumpster, but I am. A dumpster in the driveway means that they're going to start tearing up the house! Originally, we were thinking it might be Monday or Tuesday, but the guys that would demo are pretty busy early next week. Time will tell when we start, but I think it's coming!
Meanwhile, we will continue our garage project this weekend! Also, Lowe's is having 20% off on all of their special order doors and windows, so we're trying to get all of that stuff ordered by Monday when the sale ends!
Things might finally be starting to happen. This project is a good lesson in patience for me. We're learning to fly by the seat of our pants. We are so fortunate that we're in the position to be renovating a home, so these "problems" come with the territory. When all is said and done, we will look back on these times as an adventure!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Meeting the Neighbors
So I think I'm going to have to do 2 separate posts because I haven't done anything in so long....
The permitting process is longer and significantly more detailed than we thought. In our heads, Kevin was going to run down to the office and pick up a permit like he'd pick up a pack of cigarettes. This is not the case. He was denied last time. We're in the process of trying to get everything together so we can try again. In the meantime, Matt and I have decided that we would tackle putting a garage door on the garage. We're not quite sure why there isn't a garage door, but there isn't. Again, nothing is as easy as we think... We head to Lowe's pick a garage door off the shelf, have Lowe's go measure and assume they'll put it up and done deal. Where is the fun in that?? Not enough work or fun in the previously mentioned plan. After the folks at Lowe's come to measure they realize that we need a custom door. We have come to learn that custom = $$$$$. Needless to say $$$$ is not in the budget, so we decided we'll build our own door. We've decided on barn style door that will swing out. We headed to Lowe's to buy supplies on Sunday morning with high hopes of getting a lot finished by the end of the day.
We got to the house and realized we had all of the tools we would need, but forgot an extension cord. We are resourceful and decided we would move the work bench to the front porch. It was a good plan, but also an invitation to the neighbors to stop by. Naturally, since the house was on the market for almost a year and a half and uninhabited, they're ready to know what's up. First, we met Jim. He's great, has lived next door since the 70s. He knows all and tells most. Then we met Nelson - great guy. His yard is fabulous and he was excited to learn we were "going up." These 2 encounters took up about 2+ hours, which didn't help with our project. We were really excited to meet the neighbors, so it worked out for the best. The most interesting things we learned meeting the neighbors (mainly Jim) were....
1. We bought our house from the original owners. This wouldn't be that cool if our house was built last year, but it was built in 1939!! That's really cool!!
2. Trash and recycling are taken Tuesday morning - that's an important fact!
3. There's some land clause that says we can't add a second floor... let's hope the permitting people are in the dark on this!!!!
The permitting process is longer and significantly more detailed than we thought. In our heads, Kevin was going to run down to the office and pick up a permit like he'd pick up a pack of cigarettes. This is not the case. He was denied last time. We're in the process of trying to get everything together so we can try again. In the meantime, Matt and I have decided that we would tackle putting a garage door on the garage. We're not quite sure why there isn't a garage door, but there isn't. Again, nothing is as easy as we think... We head to Lowe's pick a garage door off the shelf, have Lowe's go measure and assume they'll put it up and done deal. Where is the fun in that?? Not enough work or fun in the previously mentioned plan. After the folks at Lowe's come to measure they realize that we need a custom door. We have come to learn that custom = $$$$$. Needless to say $$$$ is not in the budget, so we decided we'll build our own door. We've decided on barn style door that will swing out. We headed to Lowe's to buy supplies on Sunday morning with high hopes of getting a lot finished by the end of the day.
We got to the house and realized we had all of the tools we would need, but forgot an extension cord. We are resourceful and decided we would move the work bench to the front porch. It was a good plan, but also an invitation to the neighbors to stop by. Naturally, since the house was on the market for almost a year and a half and uninhabited, they're ready to know what's up. First, we met Jim. He's great, has lived next door since the 70s. He knows all and tells most. Then we met Nelson - great guy. His yard is fabulous and he was excited to learn we were "going up." These 2 encounters took up about 2+ hours, which didn't help with our project. We were really excited to meet the neighbors, so it worked out for the best. The most interesting things we learned meeting the neighbors (mainly Jim) were....
1. We bought our house from the original owners. This wouldn't be that cool if our house was built last year, but it was built in 1939!! That's really cool!!
2. Trash and recycling are taken Tuesday morning - that's an important fact!
3. There's some land clause that says we can't add a second floor... let's hope the permitting people are in the dark on this!!!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Slow and Steady Wins the Race?
So, the closing went smoothly. We had to assume there was a set back coming, and there has been. Kevin went to the permit office Monday morning to get a permit and they told him to come back when an engineer had done structural drawings of the house. We haven't hired and engineer and don't have those drawings. This said, construction is delayed.
The initial plan was to get the permit and start demo Monday, finish demo Tuesday, and then start framing on Friday.
Right now, we're trying to find an engineer and in a hurry. The new goal, still probably unrealistic is to hire an engineer and have drawings by Thursday afternoon, so we can start on Friday. Naturally, I'm freaking out about this and Matt's comment was "slow and steady wins the race." At least one of us is calm!
A word of good news... we took some more before pics and we scored a really cool antique bed that the seller left.
Stay tuned.
1) This is the 3rd bedroom. Currently it is about 8.5' x 12'. When construction begins, this will be a staircase, closet and part of the dining room.
2) This is the view into the kitchen looking from the back of the house toward the front. Best guess is that this room is about 7.5' w x 20' long. Awkward to say the least. What you can't make out from the photo is the the range is beside the clothes washer which is beside the water heater. Who wouldn't love this kitchen? It will become a mud room and and kitchen. The wall on the right is being torn down. The living area is on the other side of that wall.
3) This is the dining room. It will become a larger dining room. The door on the right will be patched.
The initial plan was to get the permit and start demo Monday, finish demo Tuesday, and then start framing on Friday.
Right now, we're trying to find an engineer and in a hurry. The new goal, still probably unrealistic is to hire an engineer and have drawings by Thursday afternoon, so we can start on Friday. Naturally, I'm freaking out about this and Matt's comment was "slow and steady wins the race." At least one of us is calm!
A word of good news... we took some more before pics and we scored a really cool antique bed that the seller left.
Stay tuned.
1) This is the 3rd bedroom. Currently it is about 8.5' x 12'. When construction begins, this will be a staircase, closet and part of the dining room.
2) This is the view into the kitchen looking from the back of the house toward the front. Best guess is that this room is about 7.5' w x 20' long. Awkward to say the least. What you can't make out from the photo is the the range is beside the clothes washer which is beside the water heater. Who wouldn't love this kitchen? It will become a mud room and and kitchen. The wall on the right is being torn down. The living area is on the other side of that wall.
3) This is the dining room. It will become a larger dining room. The door on the right will be patched.
4) This is the fireplace. Right now it's probably going away and built-ins will be going in its place.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Done Deal!
We finally did it. Third time was the charm! We signed our lives away this afternoon. The actual closing went very smoothly. We went by the place tonight and it was dark and rainy so didn't take any pics, but I'll be sure to do that this weekend! We're meeting with Kevin to figure out the schedule and timeline tomorrow evening and we'll hopefully start construction on Monday morning!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Lost in Translation & Emily freaks...
So yesterday we thought there was a lack of people to put the roof on the house (according to the bank), so we needed to get our contractor on the phone with the underwriting folks. That finally happened this morning! Poor Kevin (our contractor) feels like he's been put through the ringer, and he has been. He spoke with the bank this morning to find that there wasn't an issue with the roofing at all. The problem is that the electrician's insurance wasn't in the hands of the bank. Now where we don't have enough roofers sounds like we need the electrician's insurance... I'll never know. After this most recent headache, we think we're back on track so now we can close tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon flew by at work until another call from Kevin that sent me into a tail spin...
Kevin called around 6 and asked if we had closed. I explained that we didn't yet, but would tomorrow at 4. His response was maybe you shouldn't. So, I politely asked why, masking the freak-out in my head. He explained that he was watching the local evening news and saw that the housing authority wanted to build a low income housing project in Dilworth and it sounded like it might be in our new yard. I practically hung up on Kevin and left a frantic message for our realtor, Steven. Still in a state of "oh-no," I did what anyone would do and googled it. Good news is that Kevin is looking out for us. Better news is that there aren't going to be projects in our front yard. For all of you wondering, they will be right near the Dowd YMCA in Southend. Another bullet dodged.
Maybe our 3rd attempt to close will be the charm! Fingers are crossed!
Kevin called around 6 and asked if we had closed. I explained that we didn't yet, but would tomorrow at 4. His response was maybe you shouldn't. So, I politely asked why, masking the freak-out in my head. He explained that he was watching the local evening news and saw that the housing authority wanted to build a low income housing project in Dilworth and it sounded like it might be in our new yard. I practically hung up on Kevin and left a frantic message for our realtor, Steven. Still in a state of "oh-no," I did what anyone would do and googled it. Good news is that Kevin is looking out for us. Better news is that there aren't going to be projects in our front yard. For all of you wondering, they will be right near the Dowd YMCA in Southend. Another bullet dodged.
Maybe our 3rd attempt to close will be the charm! Fingers are crossed!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Along for the Ride
Closing may or may not happen tomorrow. Wish I could say that I'm surprised. I'm not.
So the bank was able to confirm that Matt had a job today, which was a major accomplishment for them. What they can't seem to wrap their heads around is how many people it takes to put a roof on a house. Sound like a joke, it's not. Now, while I appreciate their input on the issue, maybe they could do everyone a favor and push the paper on through so we can close tomorrow instead of worrying about how many people it takes to put a roof on a house and who provides their insurance.
Of course the bank needs to talk to our contractor about the issue, but he's been out of pocket all day. Now, we can't get a hold of anyone, so it's completely out of our control. We're just along for the ride.
So the bank was able to confirm that Matt had a job today, which was a major accomplishment for them. What they can't seem to wrap their heads around is how many people it takes to put a roof on a house. Sound like a joke, it's not. Now, while I appreciate their input on the issue, maybe they could do everyone a favor and push the paper on through so we can close tomorrow instead of worrying about how many people it takes to put a roof on a house and who provides their insurance.
Of course the bank needs to talk to our contractor about the issue, but he's been out of pocket all day. Now, we can't get a hold of anyone, so it's completely out of our control. We're just along for the ride.
Monday, April 5, 2010
The End of the Beginning
First of all, I can't believe I'm "blogging," but after multiple requests for pictures of the house updates, I thought this would be the easiest way to keep family and friends in the loop. After all of this time and effort we've put into becoming homeowners again, we've really only just begun. This journey started for us on February 5th, when we placed the offer on our new home. Out of the blocks it didn't look good, as there were 2 other offers on the house. In our heads we were already on to the next when our realtor Steven called and said they've countered your offer. We were shocked and after a little negotiation we were under contract. From there we...
- hired an architect
- decided on plans
- filled our mountains of paper work
- met Fred - the HUD consultant
- priced the job
- filled out more paper work
- decided on allowances
- had an inspection
- met with Kevin - the contractor
- ordered an appraisal
- visited the house with all parents
- and filled out more paper work
That to say, we were supposed to close on March 31st, but now we're pretty sure we'll close this Wednesday April 7th. As you can imagine we're really excited, but we've been working on this project for 2 months with nothing to show yet. The next couple of months will be an exciting and challenging journey. Matt and I have been warned more than a couple of times that this is a strain on a relationship and there isn't any way it will be done on time or in budget. Time will tell!
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