Thursday, August 29, 2013
Busy Day
Two things happened today...yes TWO! The basement "forms" people came and set them up and then the concrete was poured! Wow! Now we will probably be waiting a while for something else to happen.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Now I Look Forward to Weekdays
All weekend, I looked forward to Monday, hoping to see more progress on our home. I had to wait until Tuesday for anything to happen. On Tuesday, they poured some sort of pea gravel. I don't know what it is called by I assume it is to help water flow beneath the basement.
Today, they delivered the forms for the basement walls.
Today, they delivered the forms for the basement walls.
Next up: Hopefully the forms will be assembled tomorrow (8/29) and concrete poured into them on Friday (8/30). Next week we expect to have pipes laid, inspected and the slab poured. Then we will feel like we are making progress. We did meet one of our neighbors tonight, and he seemed pretty cool so everything may just turn out all right!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Between Signing and Digging
We selected the Rome model by Ryan Homes, solely because we could have a finished attic. We gave up nearly every other option. Finished basement, fireplace, granite countertops, upgraded flooring, jetted tub in the master bath...all gone...but we will have a finished attic, complete with a full bathroom, bedroom, large closet, and living area. It even has a heating and cooling system of it's very own. So we signed our agreement on June 9, met with financing on June 12 and selected our flooring on June 15. We had all of our paperwork in order before we met with financing and it still took until August 1 to receive our approval letter. Ridiculous! At first, we walked to our lot every day(it's 0.3 miles from my mom's house, where we are living until it is ready). After a few weeks, we became disenchanted and lost interest...nothing was happening and the neighbor's dogs were too yippy. Sometime in mid-July, we were told we would meet with our project manager no later than July 31, possibly earlier. Well, that meeting happened on August 7. We thought the building would begin immediately after that meeting. Ha! On August 20, the digging began! It was a Tuesday! Wednesday, nothing...Thursday, nothing...Friday, the footers were poured. Saturday, nothing...and that catches me up. Here are some pictures:
A view from the back of our lot, looking toward our street. Our girls are pretty excited! They have basically never known anything other than being in flux.
Digging! Yay! This is a view from the back of our lot.
This is a view from the side of the house. The front is to the right. The "un-dug" part is the garage.
The footers are poured. Now every day feels like an eternity...even longer when nothing new happens.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Back Story
I can't tell the story of our new home without telling the story of how we got to this point.
It was June 2008 and after living in Oregon for 9 years, my husband and I decided to return to the midwest. Our first daughter was just over one year old and we wanted to raise her and any future children within a day's drive of family. We had also grown disenchanted with Oregon and all that we hoped it would be. We loved our home but just couldn't fathom raising our children 2000 miles from our family in a place that felt foreign to us despite the near decade we lived there. We put our house on the market. We bought the house in April 2002 for $420,000 and listed it for $799,500 per our agent's recommendation. It was nearly 4,400 square feet on two beautiful acres with a clear view of Mt Jefferson in the Cascade Range.
By October 2008, we had 3 showings. We lowered the price to $749,900. That prompted 2 more showings. April 2009....lowered the price...August 2009....lowered the price (and gave birth to our second child)...January 2010...lowered the price. No showings...NONE! In October 2010, we decided to change realtors. We knew that wasn't the problem. Our realtor was supposed to be one of the best in the state, if not the country. It was just the only thing we hadn't tried. At the change, we lowered the price. We were now down to $574,900. We had one showing. In March 2011 we lowered the price again..to $549,000. We had three showings and finally, an offer. Their offer was our absolute bottom line at $480,000. We took it. It was Monday of Thanksgiving week. During our Thanksgiving meal, our realtor texted to let us know that they were rescinding their offer. They changed their mind. They were concerned that our LP siding may have issues. No inspection...just their paranoia. We had it inspected the year before and it was fine. Happy Thanksgiving. Three more showings and an offer so ridiculous, we didn't even counter. On May 2, 2012, we changed realtors again. And of course we dropped the price to $499,000. This agent, Charline Zipperer, worked her butt off for us! We had open houses every month and eight showings within the first four months. Finally at the end of September 2012, we had an agreement...$475,000. After paying off the mortgage and realtor fees, we would have enough to pay to move our stuff. And nothing more. We closed on December 24, 2012...more than 4 1/2 years from start to finish. Our dream of a 20% down payment was gone...college for the kids paid for? gone....condo in Orlando and Vegas gone...but we were out of our nightmare...right?
So by now, our oldest daughter was in Kindergarten, so we decided to rent a home in Oregon until the end of the school year. What's another 6 months after all of that, right? This would give us time to find the perfect home and location in Indiana. It would also allow my husband to find a great job. We were never worried about that, lucky for us he is a pharmacist and jobs were once abundant. Times have changed there too, little did we know. Before the "crash", pharmacist jobs paid to move you and had sign on bonuses galore. Not anymore. Now you are lucky to find a job...it seems pharmacists never retire and pharmacy schools have sprung up all over the place, oversaturating the market. At some point we learned that in order to get pre-approved for a mortgage, you now must show "local" income...so until he was working in Indiana for at least 2 weeks, we couldn't even start the process. Our only option was to move from Oregon directly to my mother's home until Mike had enough work time (his 20 years of continous employment in the field means nothing) to allow us to get a mortgage and find a home. OK...we can do that...it's a pain but what's another bump in the road. Mike found a great job and we moved to Greenwood, Indiana on June 1, 2013.
We were so excited to start looking for a home of our own. But something has happened...nothing is for sale. Everyone is afraid or upside down. Are you kidding me? Are we really going to have to build a house? Something I said I would never do when we had so much trouble selling? Isn't there anyone who wants to sell us their home? We want to help you! For the last month or so, I did some research on builders, just in case. I found a plan that showed a finished attic option. I was so excited...something quirky! I contacted the builder, they said it wasn't an option. Excitement turned to frustration. Were we really supposed to move? By the time we arrived in Indiana, the builder got in touch with me and told me that yes, they were offering the option. After a week, we walked into the Ryan Homes office and asked what we do next. We signed the papers to build our Rome on June 9, 2013. Exactly 5 years since we listed our Oregon home for sale. And so it begins...
It was June 2008 and after living in Oregon for 9 years, my husband and I decided to return to the midwest. Our first daughter was just over one year old and we wanted to raise her and any future children within a day's drive of family. We had also grown disenchanted with Oregon and all that we hoped it would be. We loved our home but just couldn't fathom raising our children 2000 miles from our family in a place that felt foreign to us despite the near decade we lived there. We put our house on the market. We bought the house in April 2002 for $420,000 and listed it for $799,500 per our agent's recommendation. It was nearly 4,400 square feet on two beautiful acres with a clear view of Mt Jefferson in the Cascade Range.
By October 2008, we had 3 showings. We lowered the price to $749,900. That prompted 2 more showings. April 2009....lowered the price...August 2009....lowered the price (and gave birth to our second child)...January 2010...lowered the price. No showings...NONE! In October 2010, we decided to change realtors. We knew that wasn't the problem. Our realtor was supposed to be one of the best in the state, if not the country. It was just the only thing we hadn't tried. At the change, we lowered the price. We were now down to $574,900. We had one showing. In March 2011 we lowered the price again..to $549,000. We had three showings and finally, an offer. Their offer was our absolute bottom line at $480,000. We took it. It was Monday of Thanksgiving week. During our Thanksgiving meal, our realtor texted to let us know that they were rescinding their offer. They changed their mind. They were concerned that our LP siding may have issues. No inspection...just their paranoia. We had it inspected the year before and it was fine. Happy Thanksgiving. Three more showings and an offer so ridiculous, we didn't even counter. On May 2, 2012, we changed realtors again. And of course we dropped the price to $499,000. This agent, Charline Zipperer, worked her butt off for us! We had open houses every month and eight showings within the first four months. Finally at the end of September 2012, we had an agreement...$475,000. After paying off the mortgage and realtor fees, we would have enough to pay to move our stuff. And nothing more. We closed on December 24, 2012...more than 4 1/2 years from start to finish. Our dream of a 20% down payment was gone...college for the kids paid for? gone....condo in Orlando and Vegas gone...but we were out of our nightmare...right?
So by now, our oldest daughter was in Kindergarten, so we decided to rent a home in Oregon until the end of the school year. What's another 6 months after all of that, right? This would give us time to find the perfect home and location in Indiana. It would also allow my husband to find a great job. We were never worried about that, lucky for us he is a pharmacist and jobs were once abundant. Times have changed there too, little did we know. Before the "crash", pharmacist jobs paid to move you and had sign on bonuses galore. Not anymore. Now you are lucky to find a job...it seems pharmacists never retire and pharmacy schools have sprung up all over the place, oversaturating the market. At some point we learned that in order to get pre-approved for a mortgage, you now must show "local" income...so until he was working in Indiana for at least 2 weeks, we couldn't even start the process. Our only option was to move from Oregon directly to my mother's home until Mike had enough work time (his 20 years of continous employment in the field means nothing) to allow us to get a mortgage and find a home. OK...we can do that...it's a pain but what's another bump in the road. Mike found a great job and we moved to Greenwood, Indiana on June 1, 2013.
We were so excited to start looking for a home of our own. But something has happened...nothing is for sale. Everyone is afraid or upside down. Are you kidding me? Are we really going to have to build a house? Something I said I would never do when we had so much trouble selling? Isn't there anyone who wants to sell us their home? We want to help you! For the last month or so, I did some research on builders, just in case. I found a plan that showed a finished attic option. I was so excited...something quirky! I contacted the builder, they said it wasn't an option. Excitement turned to frustration. Were we really supposed to move? By the time we arrived in Indiana, the builder got in touch with me and told me that yes, they were offering the option. After a week, we walked into the Ryan Homes office and asked what we do next. We signed the papers to build our Rome on June 9, 2013. Exactly 5 years since we listed our Oregon home for sale. And so it begins...
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