The Lot on the Lane and floor plan update

It's official--the lot is ours so we can move ahead with the building. Yay! The lots were in foreclosure, which is lucky for us (otherwise this house might not be possible for us).  The bank accepted our offer, which was lower than what we had expected them to accept. Double yay! So we'll be calling this place home in just a few short months.

Hello, pretty lot on the Lane!

We also continue to work on tweaking the floor plan to get it just right for us.  Actually, here's our list that we need to send to the builder of things to change on the floor plan, so we're not quite ready to post it yet.  We're getting there, though!

1. The upper cabinets seem to be missing from the kitchen in the floor plan. Major oops-glad I caught that one!
2. We need to reconfigure the closet in the mudroom.
3. And speaking of the mudroom, there should probably be a door to that room.
4. Change the placement of the powder room door on the main level.
5. Add a display niche in an area that currently has dead space.
6. The basement configuration needs to be flipped around (switch where the family room and the guest bedroom are).
7. Finish the staircase leading to the basement.
8. The owner's bathroom needs some work--the shape of the shower isn't ideal.  Same goes for the placement of the linen area.  Gosh--I still can't believe we get a bathroom with a linen area and a big shower! Right now, our bathroom is so small, both Eric and I can't be in there getting ready at the same time. 

And then we had some questions, too:

1. Is there a way to make a pass through from the owner's closet to the laundry area? I'd love to not have to haul our laundry from our closet, through our bedroom, down the hall into the laundry room when our closet and the laundry room share a wall.
2. Are the wood floors finished on site or pre-finished? Just curious on this one.
3. Then we had some cost related questions about things like mirrors, sinks, etc.

This should keep our builder busy for a bit! I do feel kind of bad overwhelming him with questions, but he said he wanted us to ask and not be afraid, so we're taking him up on that.  Also, here is an excellent place for us to thank all of those that have looked at the plan and offered up suggestions about things to change/add/remove/etc. So, thanks to all of you!

Also good news--our lender can lock in our rate for longer than we'd thought, so this is excellent as we had a little worry about this piece since interest rates are sneaking up and another reason we can make our dream home happen is because rates are so low. 

We're on a little family vacation, so I won't be posting a ton, but we'll be back in a week or so with more regular postings. See you soon!

Big News!

This afternoon, we signed with our builder!!!  Finally, after months of back-and-forthing, we have made our decision. Typically, Eric and I are very decisive so it felt kind of weird to be taking so long to make this decision.  But we wanted to get it right, and we didn't want to feel rushed.  And I think we accomplished that mission. So, at the end of the day I was pretty (okay, incredibly) giddy over this:

Our preliminary plan (photo credit to 10 year old Evan)!  Here's what happened.  Eric and I have discussed every little detail of this process, so when we went into the meeting with the builder today, we knew we were ready to sign if the price worked out, but we were a bit nervous that might not happen.  The meeting was looooong--2 hours to be exact.  This is what the kids did to keep themselves busy for part of that time:

Make crazy faces

Pout

Nah, actually they were extraordinarily well-behaved thanks to the marvel of IPhones and IPads. Once we saw that the figure was doable (we had to reduce the square footage some to make that happen), we said we were ready to sign right then and there. So, the owner, Matt, had all the papers prepared and we agreed to build with Johnson-Reiland (the more local of the 2 builders we were considering, aka Builder B).  After we wore out the ink on a few pens signing everything, we ended up with this beauty.

I'm calling the new house a girl because, well, isn't she gorgeous? Plus, she's pretty much my creation.  Eric had some input, but he left the major design work open to me, so she sprung from a girl's heart and dreams.  Now she needs a real name.  Any thoughts?  (Hey, Niche--this is totally up your alley, girl! Help me out!)

We've already made a couple of changes--the front door will have a sidelight added to the left of it to let in some daylight as well as a view of the golf course.  And there are some other changes on the inside we've already done (those will come with the next post that has the complete floor plans).

I've already had some fun playing with exterior colors.  Covenants in this neighborhood dictate the siding has to be Hardie, not vinyl or aluminum.  So, I visited this website:hardie siding
and played around a bit.  My fave--TimberBark (a charcoal gray) with white trim.  Sigh--I could look at that color scheme all day.  Eric has other ideas, though, so we'll have to see how that ends up.  Tell me what you like!

After the excitement of deciding on a builder, we drove past our lot again, picturing our beauty here:

Ah, I can just picture her with the rolling fields behind us, the big blue sky over us and the golf course in front of us.  I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I might have even done a happy dance when we got home from the meeting.  No judging--a girl needs to celebrate exciting moments like these!

For now, I'm basking in the glory of our new house, thrilled that our home on the Lane is one step closer to really happening.

Finally! An update

Finally, finally, finally we heard back from Builder B! Last week when we met with Builder B's draftsman to go over the plan we wanted, the draftsman told us he'd get the plans to us within a week.  So, a week went by and we hadn't heard anything.  First I emailed to check in.  No response.  Then Eric emailed to check in.  Nothing for a while. Then, finally, a response! And soon after followed their plans.  We can't post them just yet as we're still waiting to hear back the price on this plan, but they incorporate so many of the things we said we wanted in the previous post. 

Now we are trying to schedule a meeting with Builder B to hear about pricing. Our goal is to sign with a builder before we leave to see our family in Colorado in a few days.  Getting excited!

Making Memories and Prepping to Pack

While we wait to hear back from Builder B to see if they can build the floor plan we want for a price we can afford, here's a little update of what we've been doing in the meantime.  First of all, I want to create as many memories as possible while we spend this last summer in our current house. Summer is one of my favorite times in this house. Here are a few reasons why:

We get to make muddy messes like this.  Yes, I let my kids get muddy.  This is one of their favorite things to do in the sandbox.  And I want them to soak in every minute of sandbox time they can since we won't have a sandbox at the new house. Just for fun, here's a flashback photo of Evan in the same sandbox at 2 1/2 years old--that would be 8 years ago! How did my baby get so big so quickly?!

And just the other day, I couldn't find Marea.  I was in the office working on the computer and called for her several times, but she didn't respond.  I went looking for her and found her doing this:

At age 6, she has newly discovered the joys of reading to herself.   What a great memory this is for me! I laughed and laughed when I found her!  Guess we'll need to make some sort of reading nook for her at the new house!


We've also been working on gathering packing supplies.  I sent an email out to all the staff at my school asking for boxes, but didn't get much response (only 2 boxes-not enough!).  Then I hit up the grocery store, but they said they can only save apple boxes, so they gave me 2 more (still not enough!).  Finally, I had the brilliant idea for Eric to post a wanted ad at his workplace--it's sort of like Craig's List, but is only open to the employees who work there.  Jackpot! Check out all the boxes he scored there. 

 

And a shout out to our friends John and Steph, who gave us that humongous roll of packing material for all our fragile belongings.  Thanks guys!

So, those are a few things that have been keeping us busy while we impatiently wait to hear back from Builder B and their draftsman. 

Waiting and more waiting

Waiting, waiting.  There's a whole lot more waiting in this whole building a house thing than I remembered from last time.  Today we met with the draftsman for Builder B to review the ideas for a plan I'd sketched for him. 

Basically, we told him the following.  In an ideal world, we'd like these things in a floor plan:

• a large porch on the front of the house looking out to the golf course (preferably made of cedar)
• a large foyer
• an office that faces the front of the house, possibly with a boxed out or bay window (depending on the budget)
• a layout with a kitchen more in the center of the house, and the dining area behind kitchen
• an angled island in the kitchen
•  having the dining area "bumped out" in some way
• a future deck that is a bit protected from some part of the exterior of the house/garage
• 3 garage stalls, preferably with one stall being double deep as to avoid the whole "this house is all garage" look
• a great room with an open railing to the staircase that's adjacent to it
• on the upper level 3 bedrooms with the master separated in some way from the kids bedrooms
• a larger master bathroom, with 2 sinks and a separate toilet area
• I'm sure there are a few other details related to the floor plan I'm forgetting, but those are the most important features we'd like.

He took many notes over the course of our 40 minute meeting, asked some good questions, and told us he'll have a plan drawn up for us by the end of next week.  See? More waiting.  At that point, we should know if the plan with Builder B is in our budget.  It darn well better be after all this work!

Although, throughout this process, Eric and I have said we don't want to feel rushed or pushed/pressured into something.  So that part is going just as we'd wanted.  We're just getting to the end of our taking-our-time mode and are ready for the building-the-house mode!  I guess that leaves us with a bit of another lull until we have the plans back next week.  Sorry if you're waiting on pins and needles!

A Curve Ball

We're throwing you a curve ball. In the last post we told you how we'd met with Builder A and had decided they were the ones to build our home on the Lane.  We just felt obligated to uphold a previously scheduled meeting with Builder B before we signed anything with Builder A.

Yesterday we met with Builder B, but before we did, we reviewed all the material they had given us up to this point.  Builder B has been very forthcoming and transparent in their building practices and materials, whereas Builder A hasn't.  This created part of our hesitation to go with Builder A in the first place, but we thought we had worked through this with them.

As it turns out, reviewing material is a very good thing.  Somehow or another, Eric and I both missed the information that Builder B would construct a category 1 house for us.  This means the insulation would be superior, which is a very good thing in our MN climate! We also noticed a few other details that earlier we hadn't thought mattered, but we've since changed our mind.  For instance, Builder B has a 50 gallon water heater as their standard, whereas Builder A has a 40 gallon and we'd thought we'd upgrade to a 50 gallon.

See it in bold right there? Not sure how both of us missed that until now!

I don't want to bore you with other details like that (no snooze fests here!), but it helps you to know what our thinking was as we entered our meeting with Builder B.  We had realized their building practices would get us a higher quality home, but we still didn't love the floor plan they'd drawn up for us.

At the meeting, we asked if Builder B could change the floor plan.  We're talking a whole new design here--not just tweaking--and they said yes! Which means, we're probably building with Builder B! We already know they can give us the better quality home, and if they can produce the floor plan we like, then we are set! 

Eric and I are usually very decisive people, so it's weird that we are flip-flopping so much on this decision. But at the beginning of this process, we said we didn't want to be rushed (we felt like the last time we built a house, it was very rushed, but it was during the building boom and we had a newborn).  Hopefully this will be our final decision as we are more than ready to start building our home on the Lane! We want to get this show on the road!

Builder Decisions

And we're back! As I mentioned in the last post, we've been in a bit of a lull with our home on the Lane. Eric and I are nearly settled on a builder after recently meeting with the owner of one builder we're considering. Let's call them Builder A. The owner, along with one of his representatives we've been working with, sat down with us to answer some of our questions.  Although we love Builder A's floor plan, we've been a little hesitant to commit to Builder A because there isn't a lot of information out there on the internet about the company or many customer reviews.

The good news is that we left the meeting feeling much more comfortable and reassured that this company will indeed give us a positive home building experience. In fact, as we left, I asked Eric "What do you think?" His reply was a solid "They're the ones."  I feel the same way.  After all, before the meeting, we'd checked the builder's references and done some serious researching to see what we could dig up, so the meeting was really just a confirmation of what we'd already felt. 

However, the other builder that we've considered, Builder B, has requested that we set up a meeting with them after we'd met with Builder A.  So, we feel obligated to attend this meeting with Builder B tomorrow before we formally sign with Builder A.  Builder B is known for their excellent quality, but we're not able to get a floor plan that we love from them.

Once we've had this last meeting with Builder B, we should be able to sign and then we can reveal the builder we've chosen!

A Lull

Not much to report today.  I'm realizing that this process has some lulls, and we are most definitely in one.  We're past the excitement of accepting an offer, and not yet to the excitement of deciding our builder/floor plan/housing selections. 

However, while not much is happening in the housing department, this happened today and it is exciting!

 

My baby girl graduated from kindergarten!!!! That's Eric and I with our sweet little M.  This milestone is bittersweet, although I was much more emotional last year when she finished preschool than I was today.  I think I can attribute that to the fact that immediately following her graduation ceremony, I had about 40 parents coming to my own classroom for a Poetry Cafe and Picnic at the Park.  I didn't have the opportunity to feel too nostalgic!

                                                               M with her beloved K teacher


I'm in the final crunch at school, working tonight on putting together these little packets for my school darlings:

All kinds of goodies to keep them busy this summer and hopefully to keep their brains engaged so they don't forget everything I've taught them:)  Once I get through tomorrow, which is the last day of school this year, then we can really go to town on our home on the Lane.  This week we should have info about the temporary housing we'll be living in, a meeting with one of the builders, and hopefully soon, a builder decision with a floor plan! So stay tuned!

A Break and Our New Location

We kind of took the day off from house related items.  This whole process has involved a lot of ups and downs, which can wear out a person emotionally.

Just sayin'.  It has the potential to wear one out:)  And not just little people, either.  Big people (mostly me) are worn out and needed a break, too. So instead of doing anything that had to do with either house (current or new), the boys went golfing to recuperate their weary souls (and yes, they looked at our lot.  Apparently, the hole you can see from our lot is now being called the "Home Hole") and the girls planted the garden. It was a gorgeous day--not warm, but sunny and bright.  How could my soul not be replenished after hanging with this sweet thing?

M and I planted peas, beans, peppers, garlic, cilantro, cucumbers, marigolds, delphimium, and zinnias.  Tomorrow she's bringing home a few more goodies from kindergarten so we'll add those, too.

However, just so we don't get too far removed from the purpose of this blog, here's a link to a diagram of our new development:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/145339673/New-Development-Document-for-Blog#fullscreen

Did you find our lot? It's yellow (reserved) across the road from the golf course. It's narrow, but one of the deepest lots in the development, which is one reason we liked it.

We'll be back soon with more updates as they happen!

A Tale of Two Builders

I still can't believe this happened:

Yep, we're still in shock about everything.  And pretty much in awe that we'll get to actually build our dream house.  Now we have to make some decisions.  Which builder? Floor plan? We've already determined our budget, so that part is settled.

We actually went through the building process once before with our current home.  However, this time will be very different than the last time for a few reasons.  Ten years ago, we built in a development owned by a builder.  That meant we didn't have to find a builder--we used the builder who owned the development.  And we used their floor plans (modified a bit).

Now, we can use any builder we want. Do you know how daunting that is? There are literally hundreds of options. Eric and I have spent hours and hours looking into various builders. It helps that we are being really picky discriminating about what we want this time around.  Through the process of interviewing/researching/looking at homes, we've narrowed it down to 2 finalists.  On Friday, we meet with the owner of one company and we've already met the owners of the other company.  I'm definitely leaning more towards one than the other, but I'm keeping an open mind until after Friday's meeting.

At that point, we'll make our final decision and we'll get this show on the road! We can't wait to get our home on the Lane started and give you some more details on this adventure!