sorry tree..

We came back to visit the lot, not quite sure what to expect.  It had been pretty cold and I wasn't expecting much work to have been done.  Still -  we had a new addition to the party!

Our conversation went like this:

Me - "Oohh! Look.. a digger! Wait.. what's that called?"
The Man -  "An excavator?"
Me - "I like digger better. Let me get some pictures."

Amber waves of.. weeds?

The Man -  "More pictures?  Of the equipment?"
Me - "Yeah!  This is new.  New stuff."

Dig away, my friend!

The Man - "You aren't going to climb on that one are you?"
Me - "No.. I learned my lesson.  Besides, I'm not wearing the right shoes."
The Man -  "Uh-huh.."

At this point, I scampered away to take more pictures.  Yes, scampered.  I get very giddy when we visit the lot.  Sometimes giddy leads to scampering.  Deal with it.

With more of the debris cleared

It's like they're posing for a picture.  CAT-selfie!

This huge tree was down and I was sad to see it go.  But, the giant root ball was right under where my kitchen would be.. so yeah.

Sorry tree.  Wrong place, wrong time.

It was just March 4th, 2015 and not much time had passed since the trees were first cut.  We were far from a house, but at least our lot was cleared.  Now if the weather would just cooperate so all our soil .. er.. red clay.. doesn't wash away.

The trees on the back of the lot are starting to come back to life.  Here's to spring.. minus the showers.

I knew we wouldn't have much luck with the weather.  March is always very rainy in Alabama.  And the ominous clouds rolling in didn't seem to reassuring either.

Cloudy with a chance of...construction delays?

if a tree falls in a subdivision...

It was pretty shocking to drive by the lot one day (February 28, 2015) and see all the trees down.

Our lot -  and piles and piles of trees.  Sorry Mother Nature.. don't hate.

I mean, all the trees were just -  gone! It just looked so.. disastrous?  It was exciting, and I never thought I'd be so happy to see dead trees.

For scale - see the Man, and his sister and bro-in law.  Checking everything out.

Our lot seemed so huge!  It's an average size for this area, to still be in city limits with access to fast internet (a must for the Man) and without a long commute into town (preferred for me).

I think one thing I was surprised by was how excited I was by seeing a bulldozer.  It's like I became a 5 year old boy and was looking for Bob the Builder.  It was so cool to see them up close.

This bucket was huge, I just kept thinking about how I could fit the whole family in there.  Angry cats included.

RAWR!

 I took far too many pictures of the equipment. On another trip by, I insisted on crawling in the damn thing. I nearly ripped my jeans.  I guess they aren't really made to be driven by unathletic 4'11" gals like me.

I mean business!

Everyone has warned us about how long the first few steps take. However, going from trees to no trees seemed like a pretty big step.   Our builder was encouraging us to make some decisions about finishes early on.. so that helped the time pass.  It wasn't long before we saw more progress.

our lot - the beginning

After talking to the bank, and realizing that we could afford the house we wanted to build.. we quickly got under contract.  In the neighborhood we chose, there hasn't been much development in the past few years -  partially because of the economy and housing market, and partially because apparently the developer is quite particular about selling lots at or below what they think it's worth.

Luckily, our builder had purchased a few lots (and has since purchased a few more) but at the time only had two other lots available.  We wanted to make some adjustments to our floor plan, and wanted to make sure it (as well as a suitable lot) was still available.

We moved quickly, and I'm glad we did.  We signed our contract to build towards the end of January with a contingency that we wouldn't close until after our first house sold.  This kept us from the terrifying situation of needing to support two mortgages.

Shortly after, about a month later, our house sold.  This put even more pressure on the build and has made us increasingly more impatient.  I think the land was cleared a week before we closed on the sale of our house.. and with the weather, it's been a snail's pace since.

Before -  our lovely wooded lot

Part of why I want to continue posting through this process is because I want to have a log of each step.  It's not every day that you build your dream house.. and I certainly don't plan on doing it again any time soon!

Thanks for joining us on the journey.. from our first nest, through the sale, and now building our new nerdynest.  I'll try not to bore you.. or myself with all the details, And I promise there will be plenty of kitten pictures along the way.

Even Loki loves Restoration Hardware

skinny jeans banking

If you remember.. back in my last post, I mentioned that the house we liked.. was found by searching ever so slightly out of our comfort zone.

Yeah.. more than slightly.

If our comfort zone were yoga pants... this house is skinny jeans.  Like,  maybe with 5% lycra.

We talked to our Realtor.  We talked to the potential builder.  I cried a little bit.

Then, in the midst of trying to sell our house -  with all the house tours and packing and constant cleaning and pissy cat wrangling.. I had to find our W-2's.  I needed to find 3 years worth of taxes, 6 months of pay stubs, social security cards.  I had to find our 401K paperwork, and my checkbook.

We were going to meet with the bank.  THE BANK.  We had to find out if we could financially make this house work.  The builder was willing to work with us, but he had a bottom dollar.

As someone who is not good with money... I always get nervous when a bank is involved.  It's like the dentist.  I know the banker isn't going to do anything horrible.  I know they're not evil..(well.. some may argue with me there). But there is no reason why me, a grown-ass woman with a good job, a responsible hard-working husband, and mutually strong credit scores, should be so nervous about meeting with a banker.

But I was.  I was frantic, and worried, and terrified.  So... I over-prepared.  I made lists.  I ran numbers and crunched figures.  I had everything we might possibly need. And then some.

Right before going to the bank, we met with our Realtor and the builder again.  We toured a house again. We weren't under formal contract, but we were dang close.  The bank was the deciding factor.  We had been pre-approved previously, but had kept to our comfort zone during that process.  That was yoga pants banking.

It was time for skinny jeans.  So we went.  And I was a hot mess. Like, literally sweating.. I was so nervous.

And our banker was chill.  He made some suggestions.  He was nice, and kind, and supportive.  He juggled numbers and shuffled papers.  He made jokes and offered water.  And he made it work.

We signed the contract the next day.  That night online, actually.  We were legally bound to potentially have a house on a plot of land in our favorite neighborhood, pending the sale of our house -  of course.

Oh, and all this.. when two weeks prior -  we didn't even know the neighborhood existed.  

I still get anxious when I run the numbers, or think about the finances, or contemplate going to meet with our banker.  It's a huge financial commitment... and I freak out over buying a pair of shoes that cost over $50.

And this is a house... that we're building... OMG. I'm starting to get a little antsy and freaking out again... 

 Let's go to a kitten picture for good measure. 

Much better. More on the house soon...

three big mistakes

I haven't talked much about our new place.. yet.  Trust me, it's coming.  You'll be tired of hearing about it by the time this is all over with.

We had been looking and thinking about moving for over a year now.  I think I first started looking at listings as a distraction during wedding planning when I felt myself getting too obsessed with the Big Day.  I had always loved the idea of building a custom home, but I thought it was too far out of reach.

I started by casually looking on realtor.com and local MLS listing sites -  we didn't have a real budget in mind (Mistake #1) and weren't really sure what we wanted or were looking for (Mistake #2) and we really didn't have a set timeline in mind (Mistake #3).  However, I think all of our mistakes ended up leading us to a house that I think will be perfect for us for a long time.

Let's talk about these big bad "Mistakes" and what they meant to us.

Mistake #1:  No real budget in mind -  This meant that we were looking at houses anywhere from $100,000 below our (later determined) budget to many many MANY hundreds of thousands of dollars over our budget.  I think this helped us because we were able to see features in the pricey homes that might not be standard in homes in a more modest budget, while at the same time seeing how homes can vary so much for the cost.

Showcase Home -  beautiful but with a dose of quirk.  

For example, we toured a show home that had been featured in local and national magazines.  It was in the "insane" price category, but we thought it would be fun to check out.  Surprisingly, we didn't love it.  We actually preferred the floor plan and structure of some other less expensive houses.  Sure, the finishes and features were lovely -  and there were a few ideas and concepts we've incorporated into our new home.  But a lot of it just seemed to not be a good use of space and just seemed there were odd choices made for the sake of cool design.

It was okay, but as the man said - "Not worth moving for." 

Another example was a house that was about fifty to sixty thousand more than our first home.  It was in a different neighborhood which wasn't as convenient as ours, but had the prestige of a different zip code.  It was also a new build and had about 500 more square feet than our first.  However, walking through we realized that the cost difference was for the zip code.  The house felt cramped and the finishes just didn't feel any nicer that our (at the time) current place.  If anything, it felt cheaper and almost disposable.  That house started us looking into the actual builders of the homes - thinking about the differences between builders and finishes at different price points.

I didn't love the front elevation, but the inside was just lovely.  

Finally, the one that got away - this is the house that we knew was over budget.. not insanely so, but enough that we knew we couldn't afford it within the next few years <cough> ten years <cough>.  Still, we loved it.  We toured it 3 or 4 times.  We brought family to tour it.  They loved it too.   It had a grand, and I mean GRAND entryway.  It had wrought iron stair railings, closets for days, and a massive kitchen.  It became the one to beat.


Mistake #2: No idea what we really wanted - This became much more refined over time.. but when the process first began, our main goal was something bigger.  No specific square footage. No room requirements, really.  Just bigger.

Having no set requirements meant we were all over the place.  We toured lake houses, looked at acerage online, researched neighborhoods in 3 different towns, and quickly learned what types of houses were No's and what equaled a Hell-No.  I also quickly figured out key terms that got the Man interested, and that made him veto immediately.

"Waterfront" =  "When can we tour? How much is it?"
"Acerage" =  "Can it get fast speed internet?"
"Older", "Remodeled", or "Victorian" =  "Nope.  Nope, nope, nope."
"New Build" = "Interesting? How much? Where is it?"
"Big garage" = "Where is it? What does the house look like?"

This helped a lot.  The same went for me.  I was drawn to similar features and I learned that if there wasn't a picture of the kitchen, or I didn't like the kitchen -  it was a no-go.  A TON of houses were screened out due to my kitchen preferences.

It just took a lot of time, and then we got to the point that we were super picky.  Our house wish list became enormous. I started to get worried that we wouldn't find a match.  Or at least, a match within our budget.  But, it also helped because we knew exactly what we wanted.  We could rule out houses quickly without worrying that we'd missed out.  It even helped our realtor when we finally got her involved in the process.


Mistake #3 : No set timeline -  When we first started looking, it was just a daydream.  A distraction.  We started to get more serious around August 2014 but knew we had a way to go in order to get the house ready to sell.  Even then, we didn't want to find something and fall in love.. and still have to sell our place.

Still, we kept looking.  Our focus shifted to prepping the house to sell -  with moments of house hunting.  We found a location we liked, but they had plenty of lots available and the builder (or the realtor rep.) was willing to meet with us frequently as we hemmed and hawed over the floorplans, neighborhoods, and options.

We got our house on the market (finally!) in January and that's when we really focused on the house hunt.  But, there was still time.  We expected to be on the market for a while and didn't want to commit fully until our house was sold.

Over time, we became disenchanted with the builder we had initially been drawn to.  After touring probably 10-15 of their houses, it started to feel very.. similar.  Very same. Very... well.. think of it this way:  It was like the cute jock you had a crush on in high school compared to the handsome intellectual bookish mysterious hunk you decide to marry. Kind of a one-note.

But at that moment, the jock was our best bet.  We didn't sign any papers, our house was still on the market, and I was .. as always, trolling and scrolling on every realty site I could find.

One fateful night, we were piled up on the couch watching youtube clips.  I decided to take a little risk.  I bumped up our budget (we had one at this point) on the app and searched for houses just ever so slightly over our comfort zone. I saw a house listed at a new address, in a new neighborhood I hadn't researched yet.  It didn't seem too impressive at first, but it also wasn't finished being built yet. There were only a few pictures on the listing.. but those were enough for me to do a google search on the neighborhood.

Look at the lovely red dirt landscaping and
unfinished exterior.. 

And then a drive by the next day. 

I decided to show the Man the listing.  We drove by that night.  I think we drove by again the following day. On our second lap around the neighborhood, we toured a house next door that wasn't finished yet -  no locks, so just an unofficial tour.  (We did a lot of unofficial touring in new construction.  A LOT.) It was time to see inside the house we liked.. time to call the realtor.

If I have my dates right in my head.. I think we set up an appointment for two days later.  Something like that.. it was all very quick.

We toured it. We marvelled.  We oohed and ahhed. We felt pretty sure we had found our house.

Well.. almost. 

closing time

In case you want a little 90's throwback.. here's a soundtrack for this post. 

We closed on the house on February 26th, 2015.  We both worked that day, and met up at Mom's to head to the lawyer's office. 

I didn't really know what to expect.  At our last closing, when we bought our house, it was just us and the lawyers because it was a foreclosure.  This time.. us, the sellers, would be meeting the buyers.

I was really concerned about making a good first impression.  I think I changed cardigans two or three times, maybe more.  I don't know why I was so worried.. it's not like they were going to back out of buying the house because I wore purple instead of peach.  (For the record, I wore polka dots and pearls... always pearls.)

Can I just say.. it's really awkward to meet the person buying your house?  Like.. how do you make small talk?  For us.. we just talked about how awesome the refrigerator was.

There was paperwork, but not as much as I expected.  We handed over the keys.. the buyer's realtor took pictures, and we were done.  Time to take our check to the bank and go.. home?

We sold our house. We survived. 

The question is now.. how long do we have before we can be home again? 

studio living

Moving day, February 23, 2015,  was surprisingly uneventful. We hired movers and they made quick work of the furniture and boxes that were left.  Other than some pissed off kitties, I think we all survived somewhat unscathed.

Loki enjoying the "Studio"

Then it came time to get settled into our new place.. for now.  My mother has ever so generously opened up her home to us.  We'll be staying in the top floor bedroom of her townhouse, and trying to stay out of her way.  We'll have a bedroom and bathroom to share, and then an open loft for shared storage between our things and the furniture we had to move out of her guest bedroom.  It'll be tight, but I figure I have friends in NYC living in about the same square footage.. so we'll call it the "Studio".

Through the whole process.. the phrase that kept being repeated was "we can make this work" and "OMG we're homeless" or "babe, guess what.. we're homeless."

Not to make light of the serious issue of homelessness.. but there is something about owning a home, and then not.. and owning-a-currently-just-land-but-soon-to-be-built-house-but-not-yet that leaves one will a feeling of loss.. and slight disorientation.

Inari on neighborhood watch at the new place.

A few things stood out to us that first night in the Studio.. it was hot, and our cats were WILD.   Also.. I'm glad we really love each other, and already have quite a few years of cohabitation under our belts.  Small spaces can do some serious damage to a marriage if you don't really love your partner and their empty Mountain Dew bottles.

A rare peaceful moment.

We still had to finish cleaning up the house, so we went back over for a final "quick tidy."  I left my vacuum and a few cleaning tools there.. and this is where the day started to fall apart...I vacuumed the master bedroom.  Emptying the vacuum canister as I went.  Then moved to the guest bedroom.. and then.. heard a horrible noise.  Guys... our NEW (bought on Black Friday) vacuum died when I had 3 rooms left.  To clean.  After we moved. Ugh.

Seriously.

So.. time to break for lunch, and a run to Target to get another vacuum.  I swear, I only cried like 6 times that day.  Once we got everything cleaned, with our new "it'll do" vacuum, we took a few minutes to enjoy the house together one last time.

We sprawled on the floor of the Master bedroom.. and daydreamed.  About what our new house would be like.  About what we'd miss.. and what living in the studio will be like for the next few months.   We dreamed about our porch, and garage, and basement. About new floor tiles, and laundry rooms, and how to decorate for Christmas.  We talked and laughed about what we hoped would work out and the future freak-outs to come. We sat there silent for a bit.. just watching the wobbley ceiling fan spin.  Then we were back.. laughing at how funny it will be to see the kittens in the new house.. Loki running down the stairs with his belly swinging, and Inari finding her perfect perch on top of the kitchen cabinets.

It was the perfect way to end the chapter of our first home.  In love, and hopeful.  Just like when we bought it.