Rod & DJ's House Selling/Building Adventure

214 days Later

2008-01-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

WELL - it's been a little while and I suppose I should update a little.

We are closing on the OLD house Feb 4th for 31K below assessed value and are very happy. Mowing two lawns, shoveling two driveways was a pain in the . . . ass (yea - I said it!!).

But it's all good.

So what have we learned in the last 214 days about our house?

The fireplace is GREAT - we are saving money on cold winter days by only using it to heat the main room. I did a lot of research and you do save money this way. Not a lot but not heating the entire house saves money.

I have also learned that my amazing sub woofer is not AS amazing as it was because of 17 foot ceilings!

We both have learned just how much our dog sheds when you have royal blue carpeting in the master bed room. We wanted ONE room not like the other rooms. The house has a earthy look through out and we wanted a room that was different.

Also it is odd that one room has been named the "quite" room. Not on purpose but it just happened. Even guests notice how one room, without us trying for this feeling is . . .peaceful. Our pets go there when there is loudness and it is just a very passive, peaceful room.

The lawn came in very well but has a lot of Quack Grass which hopeful with over seeding and fertilizer at the right times will make it . . . . . go away. BUT, I'm not anal about it.

We planted two clumps of Heritage River Birch with one more planned to create a triangle. It will be a little forest in that area with three Basswoods, two Purple Ash and three clumps (nine total trees) of Birch.

We planted a Autumn Blaze Maple on the other side of the back yard and while it is leaning (bending) it is growing (more on that later in the spring).

One thing we learned is the deck is wonderful! We would sit out at night and watch shooting stars in the darkness every weekend. It is better then what we expected.

I have a 140 sq ft butterfly garden in the works with planting in the spring and the final backyard project is putting in a patio for the basement walkout.

In the front yard we planted a Don Wyman Flowering Crap. This summer we plan on planting another Autumn Blaze Maple and some other less leafy tree on the other side of the house. Perhaps a Black Tapulo the 2008 Urban tree of the Year but we're still looking at trees. We want a large one but not as leafy as Maple - maybe birch?? hmmmm!!

It's odd how both of us had the same feeling. Here is had a very nice house but as long as we had one house still for sale, we never REALLY were 100% "in" this house. Now with the impending sale all of a sudden the new house is seeming more and more like our own.

We love living in a small town of 4,500 people. WAY more friendly then living in Madison which was friendly for the most part. But the attitude here is more relaxed and happy. People greet you with a smile and it feels like they mean it. On the left is a photo I took of the main street!

ANYWAY - we are having an open house at the 1 year anniversary - your all invited.

Rod and DJ

Settling In

2007-06-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's been 25 days now and we're getting settled in comfortably.

The new house's front yard has really taken off and is lush and green. NOT like the back yard that faces south where there is either corn or quack grass. They sort of look the same. I pray it's corn but I fear it's quack grass.

O'Well, pick your battles. The plan was to see WHAT came in and then go from there. We have seeded twice and both times 90% of the seed has washed away from huge thunderstorms that very night.

The downspouts are evil when it comes to newly sewn grass seed.

Before I get to the INSIDE of the house let me talk about the landscaping that we are planning and have ordered.

The back left of the house on the golf course are three Basswood trees and our neighbors have a couple ash trees. The Basswoods are flowering and have a wonderful aroma and millions of red admiral butterflies.

What we plan to do is put in a clump of River Birch. This will give us a little shade but not totally block the view like a Maple would do.

On the right side of the backyard where the sun will really heat up the house in summer we're putting in an Autumn Blaze maple.

This will give us a ton of shade in a few years (grow 3 feet a year) and spectacular color in the fall.

In the winter it will have no leaves and let the warming light through.

In the front yard we are planning on having an Donald Wyman Crabapple tree. It will not be smak dab in the middle but off to the left side a little so we can still see out of the "quite rooms" window.

The next project is planting Palace Purple Coralbells and So Sweet Hosta's between the sidewalk and garage. It's in shade most of the time and will add a little "something.

OK - we're skipping in front of the front porch until fall (also called regrouping our financial solvency).

However beside the garage where the air conditioner, air outtakes and outdoor faucet is all bunched together we have a plan.

First of all there will be a Burning Bush (Euonymus Tures) in the front. Then three Carefree Wonder Rose Shrubs. Then on the end to give a darker background a Summer Ninebark (no photo available).

Thats the outside - pray for us!

But - what of the inside. Well, we're a little more eclectic and have to work with what we already had. No going out and buying new stuff and starting new like the landscaping.

The living room (also called the Great Room because it is attached to the kitchen I guess) turned out great. It's a little smaller then the previous house but with 17 foot ceilings it seems bigger. I know my sub woofer is not quite so awesome in THIS room.

The kitchen is right off the living room and while we were a littel worried about the two being so close (fear of the unknown) it has worked out great!

Standing in the kitchen if you turn south you will see the sun room/breakfast nook that walked out to the porch. This had a surprise moment the third night in the house when a previously unknown sprinkler from the golf course went off and started blasting the house at 2:00 in the morning. We had water on the floor up to the close chairs you see in the photo.

We have not informed the golf course just yet because we can a free watering every few nights and all we have to to is close the window. When the grass comes in totally we will speak to the golf course.

The Master bedroom is nothing to get real excited about. It's the only room with blue carpeting. The rest of the house all blends together but we wanted something different in one room - BINGO! The room has a vaulted ceiling. Most of the house as 9 foot ceilings as the default with the kitchen, sunroom and living room having reaching to 17 feet at times.

The Master bedroom is 9 foot but goes up another foot for the ceiling fan.

There are two other rooms. The Quite room in the front of the house. It's just a peaceful little room where the animals go when things get to hectic and for some reason it's just a nice calming room. They my study which I will not show. It's also called the clutter room or the computer room.

It's very secret with secret things in it that the government will not allow me to show the public because of National Security considerations.

SO!

That is where we stand at the moment.

All is well. I'll have more when plants and trees arrive.

Rod and DJ - cheers!

27 Signatures and 25 Initials Later

2007-06-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in my "study" (also called the second bedroom in the plans), looking out a rain dotted window at the land between fairway and tee box on the 16th hole of Kestrel Ridge. I have Sirius Satellite radio playing Aaron Copland's Rodeo: Four Dances Episode and thinking . . .WOW. We did it.

Going back in time seven days ago DJ and I loaded the car with a few plants and other comfort things and drove the twenty minutes to Columbus WI to meet with the lawyers and other parties to seal the deal on our little 1700 sq foot house.

One hour and 27 Signatures plus 25 Initials later we were the proud owners of ### Vista Circle.

We unloaded the two cars with a few things and once the guests and left we sort of ran around from room to room with little squeaking noises of glee.

After we got tired we headed back to Madison for more packing and that sort of thing, plus I had golf league to take care of.

Friday we woke up and saw that not only was our internet connection disconnected(making it an internet DISconnection) but our DISH Network had also lost many stations. All we could watch were religious channels and porno plus one Japanese News station that was broadcasting in French. hmmmm, I'd like to see the meeting where they decide what channels to give canceled subscribers.

SO, with no other option we packed both cars and started moving boxes in earnest. When we got to the house there was a new four inch layer of top soil with grass seed and hay on top of that. Things were a little . . . .dusty. No problem as we set to work cleaning and unpacking.

Side note - we tried McDonald's coffee for the first time - pretty freaking good I'd say!!

I hooked up a hose and sprinkler system and started watering our new lawn like a proud father until the clouds darkened and it started to rain. Perfect - we would not have to use OUR water and we both loved hearing thunder. Blake, our Corgi was not too keen on the thunder thing and found the bathtub, jumped in and proceeded to hyperventilate. AHHH - just like home.

The storm passed and the sun came out and standing on our deck we smiled as we looked out over the fields at a full double rainbow. DANG - no camera, grrrrrrr!!!

After a few hours we once again had done all we had to do and we needed to get back for more packing. The movers were coming at 8:00 in the morning.

After a sort of restless night which was sad because a thunderstorm with rain moved in in the early mourning, perfect sleeping weather but . . . . . . we got up and the movers moved in as the storm subsided. Three hip hop dudes worked their tail off and we could not be happier with Mayflower Moving. It took six and a half hours and we were all moved in . . .. well, 98% of our stuff was now moved 20 miles north but so you could CALL it moved in but not really livable.

So there we were, a whole house of stuff and everything to put away.

DJ, me, Milo, Sierra and Blake all went our separate directions looking or each comfort zone. Well, Blake sort of followed one human or the other . . . . actually he did that for the next two days. Sierra headed to the under the bottom of the basement stairs and hid, Milo roamed around aimlessly, DJ went into the bathrooms and started unpacking bathroom stuff and I started to put together the Home Theater.

We all had our priorities. And it rained.

By this time our lawn was soaked and it was not normal mud! It was normal DEEP mud. Step on it and you sink and the mud flows over the top of your shoes, literally. And there was one small problem. The down spouts were making little Grand Canyons in the yard and our top soil was washing away.

By Sunday much of the clutter was put away and Sierra was now upstairs and both cats were LOVING the house. Low windows on all four sides. In fact with the move both cats are much more like friends. Or maybe it is the fact that Milo is on Prozac and not irritating Sierra with his howling.

Yes yes yes - Milo is part of the Prozac nation - long story, don't ask, it was the last resort.

Still no internet or TV Sunday and we had a cook out with DJ's daughter (Little J - 25 yr old) and husband (Big J) and just basked in the new house glory.

Later in the day DJ went over to Little Js house and I was still putting electronic things together when I hear a low rumble. I go to the deck and see this charming image.

SWEET - you can see one canyon on the bottom of the screen. We only get a little rain but other areas got 3-6 inches. WHEW.

Monday - The DIRECT TV guy comes to hook up the system and he bypasses the mud by going over the house and installing the dish on top. Then the Charter Cable guy comes for the internet (has anybody heard of something called WildFire or something like that??). Well the cable guy sees the DIRECT guy and before you know it they are in the mud fighting and punching and so forth . . . . . . . what? ok ok, they never did that, but it would have been cool!

SO - now we have TV, I have internet and I spent a little MORE time hooking up the wireless router (maybe our neighbor should try to see if they can get it).

Tuesday we had a landscaper stop by and we talked about stage one of landscaping and he will be coming again Saturday when he can measure without sinking up to his knees.

We plan on one Autumn Blaze Maple and a clump of River Birch in the back yard (oddly, there was a river there Sunday morning) and a White Crab tree in front.

I planted a lot of Day Lillies (one word??) next to the house which were planted by DJ's mom in the old house many many years ago. Once then grow I'll dig them up in the fall and separate them from the clumps of 15-20 . . pod thingys.

SO - I leave the cell phone in the car for a few hours and when I retrieve it I see there is a message. HEY - we have a showing in an hour a voice mail says - but it was actually two hours ago and the house IS A TOTAL DISASTER!!

We just moved out and there has been no time to clean and pick up!! AAAAAAGHHHH! Toss that one away I guess. Another showing Thursday.

We seem to be in a crack with the price. The house is assessed at 204K. First time buyers are in the 180K range in Madison and the larger money are buying in the 250K range. Our agent is saying our price is in the retirement range.

Well - I hope a lot of people are retiring soon LOL

ANYWAY - it's now night and I'm dry on words.

I leave you with a nighttime photo of the outside and one of the living room - don't get excited about the content on TV - I was watching Las Vegas!

This is an early Saturday shot = probably looks better larger so click on it. Just a quite beginning of the day!

Until next time

Rod and DJ - g'nite

Excited I suppose is one word!

2007-05-22T09:56:00.001-07:00

Quick update.

Saturday I was golfing and DJ had some extra time. So she cruised north to visit the Jenny in Columbus. They decided to go to the house an look around to see how he deck was coming.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 70 degrees and a little breezy.

I arrived home and the first thing out of DJ's mouth was "YOU MUST go to the house and look at the deck, YOU MUST!!!" It is the perfect day to see the deck for the first time.

I picked up my buddy and we drove north. I opened the door, walked through the house and onto the deck and . . . .WOW!!! I stood there, looking out over the 16th fairway on a perfect day on a perfect sized deck.

We were planning only to spend a little time there but we both stood on the deck for an hour basking in the glory. Watching golfers go by, watching where the balls were landing and just enjoying the moment.

It was at that moment when the house felt complete. For the first time it hit me that THIS was a dream come true. The house had always been wonderful but it was just a house, a very nice house but just a house. Standing on the deck it hit me that this is more wonderful then I had imagined.

Our Corgi had always liked being up high. Having very short legs I suppose being high was either going to be terrifying or something to look forward to. Blake seemed to love being above things.

So when we introduced him to the deck he walked out and circumnavigated the basically two decks (360 sq feet). Once all corners were sniffed he looked up and all of a sudden had a HUGE grin which never stopped while we were there.

We close in 10 days and move in June 2. Final cleanup is next week and appliances are being installed and minor landscaping is being finished (filling in and removing the dirt mountain) . The rest of the deck should be complete at this writing.

Our "old" house has not been sold but it's sort of on hold at the moment and it is not a problem.

Excited I suppose is one word!

Rod and DJ

The Perfect Build

2007-05-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Two weeks to go before closing and eighteen days before we move in and all is well.

The perfect build? Well 99% at least and nothing to get worried about.

We did have one glitch with the garage floor getting a crack but it was fixed at no extra charge (of course) with a new floor.

Our builder Kevin Kleckner of Ambiance Homes has been a dream and has passed inspection with the most important people. My brother the architect and his son the engineer. Both are builders. My brother Ralls runs his own firm and has been featured in House Beautiful and his son builds buildings in Chicago for some mammoth company.

When I invited them up to see the house my secret goal was to hear what they thought of the build and I followed them around like a puppy dog listening and trying to read between the lines.

It passed with flying colors and they even said many things were done that many builders either skip, are too lazy to fix or just do not know about. The ONLY thing mentioned was to get the water heater off the floor. With the high water table in the area there was bound to be a lot of humidity and you do not want the water heater to be right on the floor.

I mention it to Kevin and it was fixed the next day.

The TyVek was put in the windows correctly (a common problem), the I-Joists were good to go and other "excellent ideas" were discovered. Even their ideas on how they would do this and that were done automatically

Are we happy? YOU BET!!

We are going to have somebody come by and talk to us about landscaping. We have ideas but having a pro give suggestions can not hurt.

The countertops are in place and we're happy. Certainly not Corian which would have been perfect but you have to draw the line somewhere in price and from our view is a not needed luxury. This is a house to live in and not a show place.

The fire place is basically finished except for the final touches and we actually paid for home insurance last night (only a little over $300 a year).

As I said - carpeting is 70% in and the color is working out very nice and is really making the place less echoie (if that is a word LOL).

The 360 sq foot deck is going up as I type and it's all good!

My friends at NASA would be proud.

Until next time!
Rod and DJ!

Getting close!!

2007-05-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Time is growing short for this blog. You see, we close on May 31st and move in on June 2nd. GULP!!

The house is looking wonderful and we're pretty excited. The OLD house is still on the market but that is not a worry. No bridge loan is needed and maybe it will sell faster empty. I'll just have to keep mowing the yard and we will just have to keep the conditions inside the house up for a little longer then anticipated.

Anyway - the New house will have 360 sq feet of deck put in sometime the week of the 14th. We were thinking of composite (also called plastic) but after a lot of research we're going with wood.

Why? A couple of schools of thought. Composite is great because it never needs to be stained. However, it DOES need to be cleaned every couple years. Also a five year old composite deck will look like a five year old composite deck. A wood deck will look brand new every couple years.

Composite decks get much hotter in the summer and are more prone to warping as they get soft in the heat. Composites will sit in a landfill for a thousand years so wood is better for the environment. Wood is cheaper and we feel, bang for the buck, wood is the winner.

Inside the house, carpeting still needs to be going in and counter tops are due up! The counters are in and look great! The fireplace is taking shape and even though we were told to get six inch tile three inch tile is being install with we feel is better.

Our builder has done a 100% perfect job so far and we could not be happier with the build.

The garage doors must be one of the last and that will be nice as they are not the standard doors (almost but they have windows which adds something).

What we like is that while it is a modest ONE QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLAR home it has some pop to it. Actually that does sound like a lot but our current home is not that much less.

We're dumping DISH and going with DIRECT TV. No Charter because their digital is not really digital but compressed analog and there is a big difference between the two. DISH is just a messed up company and since Mr. Evil Rupert Murdock no longer owns DIRECT, we can now buy into the service.

We're also dumping ATT because they do not offer DSL and we're going to use Charter for their broadband.

Hmmmm - what else - can’t think of anything at the moment.

Cheers

Starting to Look Like a Real Home

2007-05-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Nothing more exciting then watching plumbing and electric going in - thus - the lack of house blog.

However all of a sudden stuff is happening again and every time we make the trip we hold our breath hoping we had a clue on what we decided on four months ago.

Was the color of the siding ok?? Does it match the brick? Do they match the shingles? Does anybody care about the shingles? We were given a choice of ten different shades, all the samples were about one by two inchs. Yea - sort of hard to make a real decision on something nobody looks at anyway!

Then there was the paint problem AND A PROBLEM IT WAS! We were given 1000 different shades of white and what we picked we THOUGHT was an off white, sort of a light tan.

So we step into the house a few hours after it was painted and IT'S YELLOW!!! DJ was visibly shaken and HATED it! Our first mess-up? Two days later we go back and it has dried to a MUCH calmer color that we can live with. The interesting thing is that the house as so many textures of light streaming in that every room is a different shade of the same color AND the time of day changes it also.

The hard wood floors are great and the trim is really helping the color of the paint.

NOTE - do not make judgments on anything until it is all put together. The tile around the fireplace is not 6 inch tiles like we expected but 3inch - however - we like it better actually AND they match the laminate floor in the entrance way.

All in All we very very happy.

Cabinets are going in a day or two and we looking to move in in 4 or 5 weeks!! Maybe!

Here are the newest photos.

I hope they keep the landscaping, it has sort of an . . . .Afghanistan foreign look don't you think?

DJ is so happy she is doing a little jig!

What you do not see is that Blake's leash is caught and he is stuck! This is from the living room looking south towards the breakfast nook.

Middle of the breakfast nook looking into the future kitchen and living room where I took the last photo. No photos of the bedrooms as they are square box's. The Master beroom has some nice features (vaulted ceiling, sliding door to the huge deck) I'll have something next time.

Drywall up and the house takes shape

2007-04-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Has it really been twelve days since the last post? Time flies when it looks like nothing is happening. But actually, all of the stuff we need to LIVE in the house has been happening.

Electricity and plumbing were installed.

All of the insulation is in and the drywall is up and WOW - what a change. Let me walk you around the house.

The first photo is of our siding. The one thing we were worried about are all the decisions we made so so long ago. I told DJ we just have to trust that we had a clue back then.

Just like computer programming. When you write a program and then look at it a year later you just have to have faith that back THEN you knew what you were doing. Same with this.

This is the sun room/breakfast nook. Blake (dog) loved this and it was the first time he realized he could look outside from inside of the house. He has never had this option before.

We tried to explain to him about the deck going on the other side of the window but we're not sure he understood. He LOVES decks. It's not often he can be ABOVE anything.

This looks from the fire place (which is absent in all my photos . .hmmm) back to the kitchen.

Blake is uncertain about the wooden stairs. They will be carpeted at some point. He'll have to wait.

Looking from the back left side of the "great" room. Fireplace is back left, kitchen behind the small wall and breakfast nook in the middle background. That is more drywall against the windows. Notice the high ceilings.

I'm now standing on the very spot I wreaked my knee looking back at the house from the golf course.
And there is DJ further down the fairway looking back.

In other news we window shopped for $1000 in lighting and found we were under budget IF we did not go to Madison Lighting where we could buy two lights for the entire budget.

What we have to do is measure the actual placement of the Great Room ceiling fan to see how big of a drop down bar we need. Then withen the next 12 days we'll have to actually purchase the lights. This will come off the mortgage and is easier.

As for our current home. We're having another open house this Sunday. so far 100% of the comments have been positive with a few people very interested but no real takers YET!

We're still upbeat.

That's it for now!

talk to you later

Rod and DJ

44 Days and We're Getting Electricty

2007-03-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

We had our meeting with Joe Electricity Wednesday and I have to wonder if all of the contractors that Kevin Builder Guy hired came from Best Buy. They are all so young. The GOOD news is that they all know what they are doing. Is it me? Am I the one getting old and all of a sudden people under 30 seem young. NO NO!! that can not be it.

One small thing that changed is that with adubya's comment about the two tiles looking like fallopian tube we will not be putting them in. It's not that HIS comment means that much but now every time we look at them all we see are fallopian tubes.

Speaking of fireplaces we had our first peek at the installed box.

Pretty exciting!

The house is coming along with plumbing installed and now electric. Our meeting was to go over where the sockets and switches would be. WOW - so many!!! In 40 year old homes you have one switch for the over head light and that is about it.

This house it seems there are switch's EVERYWHERE!! Not that it is a bad thing but it seems like a lot. Plus fire place switch's, sconce switch's pendent light switch's and so forth. Here is a list of the lights that are NOT ceiling pocket lights (of which there are 10??). We need to pick out each of these.

Master bath - Wall mount above sink - 42" wide mirror below
Master bedroom ceiling light or fan or fan/light combo
Master bedroom closet - ceiling mount fluorescent
Laundry room ceiling mount
Kitchen pendants - 2 sloped ceiling mount - minimum total chain and fixture length of 54"
Dining room - minimum total chain and fixture length of 60"
Foyer light - sloped ceiling - maximum total chain and fixture length of 27"
Main bathroom - Wall mount above sink - 36" wide mirror below
Bedroom #2 ceiling mount light
Bedroom #3 ceiling mount light
Stairwell wall mount sconce
Front of garage - 3 exterior wall mount fixtures
Garage service door - exterior wall mount fixture
Deck - 2 exterior wall mount fixtures
Basement door - exterior wall mount fixture
Optional family room ceiling fan
Optional basement bathroom above sink

YIKES! can we do it for $1000 or less????

It's now been 44 days since they dug the hole and things are really moving along. This is a shot of the front of the house.

3200 feet of usable space (includes the non-finished basement).

In inside upstairs is looking great. This is from the front doorway looking towards the kitchen and breakfast nook.

On thing we are so thankful for is having a competent builder. Kevin from Ambiance Homes 608.225.4594 is one of the good guys. I don't complement unless they really deserve it and I would not complain unless it is really justified (Drexel Interiors of Madison - NEVER go there, worst customer service I have ever seen and I'm NOT talking about ONE instance . . . .DO NOT get me started, freaking losers . . . grrrrr).

SO! So far so good!! DJ and I read forums and hear so many horror stories that can be so avoidable. For instance. Having the applianceses arrive three months early and being stored in a doorless garage.

Or having the framers tell you that if they break a tool during the framing process they will buy another tool and charge YOU. Windows being put in the wrong places. Sites that are just a mass of clutter and litter. Not mud but bottles, junk and crap everywhere.

I think this is a sign of workers that just do not take any pride in their work. I know our framers would sweep the house every night before leaving and pick up the area around the house. Now I'm, not a stickler for this sort of thing but it shows me they care.

Yea- building is messy but having litter all over is just sloppy workmanship.

Another thing I read about is General Contractors (GC's) that are not really "into" communicating with the customer. Try to get a hold of them and and MAYBE they will get back to you a week later.

We feel lucky! The nice thing is that although there are three of four builders in our area, most homes that are being occupied are the ones Kevin is building. The other spec homes all have design flaws with odd layouts and needless extras. Our neighbors home is one that is "non-standard" that was built by somebody else and it is a beauty!! AND as luck would have it, they are great people!!

The schedule is now to have insulation put in next week and I think they said brink also starting next week. The siding will be put in sometime in the next two weeks also. GULP!! All of these choices are now about to show up for real.

We're worried about the brick choice. It is hard to get a handle on what it will look like.

Then of course there is our CURRENT house.

We had a successful Open House and one second showing but the woman who LOVED the house had a husband that was NOT in love. O'Well. No stress YET. MANY MANY great comments about the house with two more couples interested but not biting yet!

We're still the best priced home in the area. Every other house is more expensive and not as nice while the houses in our price range are not as nice with poor locations.

Still it sure would be nice to get THIS side of the deal done.

Interest rates.

I have been charting mortgage interest rates sine we were approved. The 30,45 and 60 day lock rates and noticed something.

While the 30 and 45 day rates are ALWAYS the same. The 60 day seems to be like a teaser. It seems to bounce UP for a day or two and then comes back in line. Almost like they are trying to coerce you into a panic so you will lock in. Then they lower it.

Here is my graph.
So even though we can lock in in six days I'm waiting. The move still looks like it might fall but I think we're in a pretty steady range from 6.125 to 6.25.

That's it for now, see you next time.

Rod and DJ

Timeline So Far

2007-03-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

So - where are we in this adventure.

The current house is getting regular drive buys with people stopping in front and taking numbers but only one showing so far and we have heard no results. No worries and not much more to tell.

The New house is finished framing and had the basement cement poured a day ago. For the first time we could see the size of the rooms and it was all good. The fire place was all framed out and it is actually starting to look like a home. Windows and sliding doors are now in and the insides are now protected from the elements.

In the meantime I fractured my left patella (broke my knee cap) when I slipped on a bunker taking a photo and I have a huge brace for a while on my leg. You can see my impact spot and hopeful I can get a photo of it this weekend. Here is the x-ray of my knee. The fracture is on the left side of the knee cap.

The GOOD news is my knee cap worked perfectly as a bumper as it is designed to do.

We received two tiles yesterday that will decorate our fireplace and soon we will have to look into the actual tile.

I guess plumbing starts soon and am not sure WHAT happens next. No real good photos of late as the weather has been off and I could not see anything mammoth to show.

So - here is a time line (sort of) of the progress so far.

Click on the photo to enlarge. I think I will put these on a separate page with dates (once I find the date).

talk to you later Rpd and DJ

YOU ARE FREAKING KIDDING ME BLOG

2007-03-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

So many great things are happening that it was only a matter of time when something was going wrong. I mean so far we had been batting 1000% so it was due!

But this is not an entire YOU ARE FREAKING KIDDING ME BLOG, as there is lots of good stuff happening with the building site. I'll have more on that later . . . but first you must endure THIS.
--------------
Everything was going swell. We were having our first showing Monday and we were spending Sunday tidying up (already pretty clean) and all was well.

Except DJ noticed that there was a ton of water flowing OUT of a drain in the floor. This happened less then a year ago and we called Rotor Rooter and he came and fixed the problem. You see the drain pipe goes very close to a maple tree and he was worried that the pipe was broken, but it was only roots.

All was cleared out and we should have no problems for at least another four or five years.

Last weekend DJ was doing some laundry and noticed the drain was wet, hmmmmm! But thought nothing about it.

Today she notices a LOT of water coming out of the drain and I hobble down (hurt my knee earlier) and we stare at the water. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!

We ponder this for a while when she notice's the FOR SALE sign in the front yard and off hand says "isn't that about where that pipe is?"

I stare in disbelief at the sign. I play back how I watched the guy struggle with the frozen earth as he pounds his post smashing thing into the ground. NO WAY I say to myself.

I take a tape measure and measure the drain in the basement from the wall twelve feet six inches. I go outside and measure the sing from the corner of the house, 12 feet six inches! NO FREAKING WAY!!

This has not been confirmed by outside sources YET but I bet he damaged the drain pipe WHICH MEANS they will need to dig up our yard. ARG!!!!

NOTE - this is from the NEXT day - We called Rotor Rooter (RR) and they came and it was just roots and a bad coincidence. The OTHER people only punched a hole through the roots while RR completely scraped the pipes. PLUS - on the good side RR is a MUCH MUCH cleaner process. They have older equipment which is more dangerous, bigger and heavier BUT, cleaner!!

So now we're set to go, Every room has a different smell we have cookies ion the oven and a fresh pot of coffee!

NO NO not really - we did tour a house that did that once, they had EVERYTHING. Every room had a candle, they really did have fresh cookies AND a fresh pot of coffee!

So that is the news on the OLD house. The NEW house is a different story - WE HAVE A ROOF!!

I would go into details as I'm already bored with myself but it's looking more and more like a house.

I even had a friend of mine looking at it and we walked up the 16th fairway and both agree that it would be a very bad toe shot to hit our house from the tee.

I won't get into hurting my knee on the golf course, but landing with every pound of my body weight on my kneecap sort of does a number on that knee!

SO - here are the new photo's.

This was taken from our neighbors balcony. They have a BEAUTIFUL house. We sort of feel like Cousin Eddy (from the movie Vacation) moving next door.

taken from the study - if you look REAL close you can see a big smile on DJ and a worried look on Blake as he is always confused now!

This is DJ's dad who I MUST say - is a living Survivor of the USS Indianapolis "The Worst Naval Disaster in US History" and his friend Charlotte.

Looking from 16th tee. You can see the cart path.

And looking back from the dogleg on the 16th.

Rod and DJ - later gator.

Skeleton's in the Closet!!

2007-03-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

For the first time in this experience I think the house is WAY too small. I know it is only an illusion but now I see what others are talking about.

I was prepared for the excavation to look small, no problem. I was prepared for the foundation to look small, no problem.

But last night as I walked around the skeleton of our house I was filled with dread - it was WAY WAY too small. Had I made a horrific mistake?? My gosh, the computer room is the size of a walk in closet!!

I had to remember that I knew what the house was going to look like, we had toured a model of THIS house and we actually made one room BIGGER. So what was happening HAS to be only an illusion. Our house is having fun with me. House's do not get to play a lot and during this process I think they are enjoying themselves.

Can you blame them? I mean they have perhaps 100 years of protecting coming up, why not let them have their fun.

As we were walking up I turned around and there was Jenny (left) and DJ (right) and Blake (down) behind me so I had to snap a shot of my three loved ones!

Blake was pretty unsure of the ramp to the house as he had never been on a ramp, there is always a first time. HE did not understand the concept of ramps I guess.

I walked around to the golf course side of the house which was SLIGHTLY muddy and took this shot looking back.

Another calming thing was looking at the tee area I don't THINK we are in harms way . . . much. I go back and forth on this subject.

Wednesday and Thursday the roof goes on and that will chance the entire look of the house.

Things are moving right along.

Now if we could get some action on our CURRENT house. I have heard that if you bury Saint Joesph upside down facing east your house will sell faster. I think this is rather cruel. The thing is that he WANTS to get out of the ground.

I looked up to see what was up with Saint Joesph hand I find out he is the patron saint of Universal Church, unofficial patron against doubt and hesitation, patron saint of fighting communism and patron saint of happy death.

Roman Catholics also believe he prays especially for families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers and working people in general.

WOW - dude, you got your finger in everything.

I still think it is cruel to bury him in the ground MAKING him work to get out. SO! Instead I have my cat buried facing North in the backyard as my good luck charm.

On a side point we think we will sprinkle Dixie's and Snickers ash's over Gabby so she will have company when we move.

Come back soon for exciting photos of our house getting a cap!

Rod and DJ.

First Floor Walls and a Fire Place Decision

2007-03-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

YUP - we now have a few walls and the place grows like a mushroom. HOWEVER - I see some potential problems. For one thing now that I can see where the windows are all of a sudden I can also see golf balls flinging our way.

As you can see we have a sun room/dining room that juts out towards the fairway. When I was looking at the house before it was a house I thought it would take a real bad shot to hit us!

Looking out the window DJ is looking out of in the above photo - there is no problem.

However - looking out the other window

I'm a little more nervous as the tee box is that little brown area 40 yards behind those two left trees. I intend on putting in 4 or 5 Birch trees and lilac bushes in that direction but just like those four other trees . . . it might be a while before they are stopping balls.

Still - looking from the other side of the fairway it WILL take a bad shot and since this is the 16th hole and MAYBE the real bad golfers only play nine holes AND since the Community course is cheaper and in the same area . . . . . maybe we'll only get the good golfers LOL . . maybe.

OK - I'm dreaming.

Looks small doesn't it. Our house is the same size as the house on the left. MUST be an optical illusion. Plus the no roof thing and so forth. Still, the tee box is that brown area inline wit hte green house. MAYBE we have a chance!

Then there is the fireplace decision. I have been reading a very good forum on fire boxes and they were steering me away from Lennox. They are builder boxes. Very low efficiency and just look sort of bad.

Mendota direct vent fireplaces are the way to go and not THAT much more expensive. They look awesome and have won all sorts of awards. Plus with Lennox you have to add a blower kit and ceramic bricks which is an extra $500. With Mendota they are added in already AND better. Lennox has Off, Low and High, Mendota is variable.

Look at the differences and remember that Mendota's are 25% more efficient then Lennox.

Mendota

Lennox

Another thing I learned was that it takes 15 to 20 minutes for the fire to really start to work. I would turn on fire places and be totally underwhelmed with their weak blue flame. HA - It takes time to get the logs roaring and the system working correctly.

it also takes 5 hours the very first time you turn in on to get all the garbage burned (oils and so forth).

I also did not know that ventless fireplaces were illegal in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

SO we're going with a Mendota DXV35.

More photos in a few days!

Rod and DJ

Basement! We have a Basement

2007-03-09T08:54:00.000-08:00

Yea - pretty exciting. We drove to Columbus and as we crested the hill there was Kevin talking to a framer (now known as Adam Work Man and Kevin Builder . . . . if you do not watch LOST you missed the humor).

Our first sunset . . .except I think the sun will be further to the right in sumer.

Adam Work Man and Kevin Builder - by the way - Speaking of Kevin and Ambiance Homes, I honestly do not think we could have been luckier in picking Ambiance. I have read so many bad stories about builders that are there to make money and have zero bed side manner but Kevin is the perfect blend professionalism and normal guy.

He's a good guy that I can tell he just likes building and doing it right! He actually listens and SO FAR has put up with my thousands of questions!

The basement

basement - otherside - I guess they will fill in more dirt on the left side to keep the water from next door over there!!

NEXT - The 1st Floor WALLS!

Walls - We Have Walls

2007-03-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

As you can see the framing has started. Pretty freaking exciting. However looking at the photo does raise one worry. Our new neighbors sent some photos yesterday of our site and one photo had a disturbing site. Here is the photo, seems innocent right?

Look closer - our builder is not even providing these guys wit ha ladder. They are forced to stand on the back of the "new guy" to get to the top for nailing. Just trying to save some money I guess.

JUST KIDDING - Our builder is doing an awesome job and we could not be happier - although he is probably getting tired of ME asking him questions!!

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON FIREPLACES!

This whole home thing has me in Mr. curious mode.

Looking at the plans it says we have a Great Room. I've never had a Great Room. I've had some pretty good rooms but never Great. So I had to find out why what I would call a living room is now called a Great Room.

A Great Room combines traditional roomspaces (family room, living room, study, etc.) into a singular unified space. Different great rooms combine different functions,. some incorporate a reading area, thus bringing the traditional study function into the scheme, while others may forego this function. Some great room designs incorporate the functions of the traditional dining room as well. So I figure a Great Room is a default name for, large area in the house with a TV.

But looking deeper, why not call it a Living Room then.

A living room is also called a sitting room in the UK and a lounge in Australia and is a place for entertaining guests, reading, watching TV or other activities. It also used to be called a parlor. But then there is the Family room.

Oddly there is a heated debate over the differences between Family and Living room. In homes with both the Living room is the more formal room. In homes with ONE room the family room is normally adjacent to the kitchen. Often the family room has doors leading to outdoor living areas such as a deck, garden, or terrace.

So - with that mystery solved another one came up. Out new neighbors sent some photos yesterday of our site and one photo had a disturbing site. Here is the photo, seems innocent right?

----------------------
OK - fireplaces.

We're suppose to get a Lennox so - being an obsessive kind of guy I started to look into Lennox's fire box's and found that Lennox, a few years ago purchased a number of smaller companies and by doing so their fireplaces have been going down hill. The gas Direct vent box we were suppose to get is basically a builders box. Nothing special.

I learned to stay away from Lennox and majestic fire places as they tend to be inefficient and just do not look very real. What you want is a Quadra-Fire or a Heatilator (same company actually) or Mendota's are the Cadillac of fireplaces with Cadillac.

With that said we're looking deeper into fireplaces and need to talk to Kevin (builder) on what will fit and how much we can afford.

As for our present home is listed on MLS. Here is the link!

We now come home after work, take off our shoes and stand in the middle of the living room not touching anything and not getting anything messy.

Here is a photo of Sierra (the kitten) conforting Blake (the Corgi) when he gets worried about moving.

And one more of Sierra playing her favorite game of hide and seak.

Until next time.

WE'RE FOR SALE & Our foundation is TOO SMALL!

2007-03-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

We went to the site Sunday to look at the backfill and took some poor photos - a little washed out I would have to say. THUS - we HAVE to go back tonight and take proper pictures.

I have read about and am now experiencing something of an optical illusion.

If any of you are out there also building for the first time you will go through this also. Your house will change sizes!!

When they excavated our lot we both said - It is so SMALL! Our house can not possibly fit in that tiny little hole. From what I have heard your house will changes sizes a number of times. Some say that when the framing starts it actually looks smaller but as soon as the drywall go up all of a sudden the house doubles in size!

One explanation is that when you are looking at the hole or foundation you are comparing it to things you see outside, the perspective is all different. Once walls go up you are comparing it to inside spaces and the house looks huge!

In fact your new house will keep changing size until the furniture goes in and only then does it settle down into its comfort zone!

All I know is that when we saw the foundation go up, it is so so small!! Our three car garage won't even fit ONE car! MAYBE I can fit the lawn mower in there but certainly not a car!!

WE'RE FOR SALE!

The long long long L O N G wait is over. Who knew there would be so many things to do. Yet the stress of cleaning and always having ONE MORE THING to clean or fix is over . . . .well . . .almost. There is ALWAYS something to clean. We both feel we now have a severe case of OCD as we keep finding things to clean and dust! OOPS - missed the TOP of the door! OOPS, that light bulb is dusty. Better polish that faucet to get the calcium deposit, ALERT ALERT - COMBWEBS in the basement!!!

We even got a little MORE anal and put all of our DVD's into a box and took the DVD rack to the basement - WOW, that helped. Declutter Declutter!!

Our plan is to have a list of things DJ and I will do when we get a showing. Each of us will have certain tasks such as wiping down the faucets, new towels in the bathrooms, vacuum and so forth. That way nothing will be missed. Our plan is to go and workout every showing so even if no one buys WE WILL BE BUFF!!

We were Dexeled yet again with a no show. When Dexel Home Interiors said we should "pick a time" and they would fix their botched job in the bathroom we picked 3:00 Friday and for the third time they missed an appointment and did not even call to say they were missing it. Grrrrrrrrrr

Does it REALLY always take over two months to remodel a 26 sq foot bathroom?

Now the wait begins. Reading house selling/buying forums we are ALWAYS seeing houses for sale with people saying "We have not even had an offer for ten months" and "we have not had anybody even look at our house for five months". Where do these people live and what is their agent DOING!!

I'm not saying that we will sell fast but, ten months? Five months without a showing?

One thing I have found interesting is the wording the agent uses when selling a house and what each word can do.

For instance "Well maintained" - seems innocent enough right? Well maintained for a savvy buyer tells him that it is an old house but it's not falling apart YET! But to the person selling the house it sounds more like a compliment.

An analysis of words show that some words are worth a lot of money while others will make the house sell faster but at a lower price.

For instance the word "Beautiful" will make your house sell 15% faster and the average list price and the effect on the selling price will be 5% larger.

"Good value" will speed things up by 5% but it will drop the average price by 5%

"Starter Home" YUCK 9% faster sale but 10% less in selling price.

"Handyman special" you will sell your home in 1/2 the time of a normal home but also 30% less.

When looking at what makes houses sell one thing is to use nouns in your ad's. Granite, Maple type words and not vague adjectives like Fantastic, Charming and Wonderful. Adjectives will typically bring down the price of a home! Nouns give people hard evidence of what they are getting.,

The sign goes up in a couple days and we will be on MLS today from what I hear.

What we need now is some major snow melt!

BUT the real fun is always the NEW house!

My latest fixation is on direct vent gas fire places. Ours will be a Lennox MPB3530. A mid range level fireplace. I have been TOLD that it under heat and physically will look too small. Well, for ONE thing it's a GAS fireplace, not a showpiece fireplace. We have seen this size in other houses and it looked OK. It's not suppose to be the center of attention.

As far as heat, I'm thinking of getting a blower kit as it would be nice to have the room heated in winter. DJ is cold nine months a year and having an extra push of warm air in the winter in the living room while keep the rest of the house cool would be sweet!

I'll have more fixations coming!

Rod and DJ

Cement!! We have Cement!!! Chpt #10

2007-02-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

We last left you will a giant hole in the ground and since then things have progressed AND got more expensive (our fault - more tweaks).

We had heard rumors for Big and Little J (that live in Columbus and are keeping track of things) that the foundation had been poured and there was a big crane.

Well - things were really going now that there was a big crane. We drove out to the site on the weekend and there was no big crane but a normal sized backhoe! Too bad - I would have liked to see a crane.

Anyway we ooo'd and aaaa'd over how wonderful cement was and tried to figure out what everything was. The confusing thing was that where I assumed the floor would be on top of the foundation, where I was standing, at waist level.

Later I learned that the entire site was going to be raised about 3 feet or so. Then there was this little room with no door!! AHHH! That was what the porch would sit on. They would fill that in with sand (dirt tends to compact). Who knew!!!

Here is a shot of DJ playing Vanna White. I'd like an "F" please? I'd like to guess? "Foundation"!! applause applause!

And here is our builder (aka General Contractor) Kevin explaining . . . . . something. HEY! I don’t want to get all gushy but this guy is awesome at easing stress and explaining everything. From what I hear there are many builders out there that build houses but are not so great with their bed side manner. I feel he actually cares about what he is building and his customer's. Five stars (out of five) dude!!

If you are building in the Southern Wisconsin area look him up! Ambiance Homes 608.225.4594.

Then - there were MORE decisions. This time brick decisions.

One thing I have learned from this process is that while a person can be prepared with answers (such as the style of brick) there is always something else that will turn your head. Just when you think you have a clue you see something else and start rethinking.

We decided to go with this style of brick for the front of the house. We would LIKE THAT house but . . . .we'll settle for the brick!

After THAT decision we drove out to the site and Kevin answered questions and I snapped the above photos and then I brought up. THE DECK!!

My feeling was that a 12x12 foot deck is nice but if you put one of those round tables with the big Umbrellas it leaves little room for anything else. THUS - we asked about bigger decks. Kevin said that instead of a window in the master Bedroom he could put in a sliding door for a little more and THEN we could wrap the deck around so we would have a walk out deck from our bedroom.

Since we can not afford a finished basement we can at least have a big deck. We did not want the deck to go in front of the main living room window to block the view so . . . . . . we are getting a BIG deck!

WHEW!!! Now all we have to do is sell OUR house. We're close - perhaps a week away from putting it on the market. Pray for us!! LOL

Rod and DJ!

We have DIRT!! Chpt #9

2007-02-13T18:13:00.000-08:00

I’m not sure where to begin. I’d like to begin at the ending but that would be cheating. But it IS the fun part. O’well, writers must suffer . . .or at least pretend writers.

As I left you a few weeks ago I was talking about a February 7th excavation of our site. As luck would have it, Mother Nature, at that very moment, decided that it would pop the El Nino’ bubble and by doing this all of that cold air that had been storing up in Canada (where it should be) no longer had support and gushed into America and in particular onto OUR site.

Wonderful. I watched as my personal weather station, day after day would give me bad news.

And we waited. Milo, our cat made do with register hugging when ever the heat came on.

Meanwhile we were STILL waiting for Drexel and after 38 days we were told they would arrive to install the floor sometime between 8:00 and 11:00 on Monday. As luck would have it, this was also the day Ambiance would start their excavation of The Hole AND we decided that we would make the final decisions on flooring from the truly wonderful people at Home Expressions in Columbus.

We were sleeping soundly, Sierra the kitten was curled up between us and Milo was laying exactly as we were, on his back, covered with a blanket, head on a pillow with paws on top of the blanket.

In the far distance I heard ding dong, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ding dong. What made this second ding dong slightly different was the SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT that followed coming from the other side of the bed.

I instantly knew the problem, the floor guy was early (well, 10 minutes). I leaped out of bed like an anti-superman putting pants and shirt on AT THE SAME TIME. Milo, was on the floor, claws out, puffed up four times his normal size, wild eyed like ready to flee in terror, if he could only figure out what the flee from.

Long story shorter, they put in the floor and all is well (except for the HORRABLE caulking job).

We then drove to Columbus to see . . . . nothing. No hole, just a snow. So on to Home Expressions to pick out the $5,500 worth of flooring.

I tell ya – these guys are great. We could not have done this without guidance and are very happy with our choices of Red Oak hard wood floors, carpeting with a little vinyl and some wood laminate tossed in.

SO – THAT is over. All we need to decide on now is the front brick and fireplace brick and then everything is up to Kevin and Ambiance.

Back home in Madison the bathroom has been transformed from this on the left to that on the right. It might not look like a big deal but on a personal level it was ALWAYS something that we knew we had to fix.

The house is painted, we have new Corian countertops, a solertube for extra light in the kitchen and we're getting a dumpster this week to toss out years of junk that has accumulated.

Then, Tuesday, it happened. I’m at work and get a phone call from Marcia our agent. She ask's if we knew they were digging today and said WHAT???

We did not know that and I contacted DJ and we decided that we NEEDED to go see.

Taking the afternoon off we headed once again to Columbus. Halfway there the wind is really kicking up and I’m thinking that there is no way they are digging. It’s 17 degrees with a 30mpg wind.

We come over the rise and see the most wonderful site in this adventure yet. A great big backhoe and an elephant!!

OK OK - there was no elephant. But it would have been an interesting site you have to admit!?

I jump out of the car and the wind blasts my face – WOW – it is FREAKING cold, it was not like this 15 minutes ago. I run around snapping pictures. In this one you can see the copper tubing in what must be out home still for brewing our moonshine. Nice of them to think of that first. That is DJ running for cover.

It was just about at this point when a woman comes running out of the house next to our hole. I fear the worst as she has her attack dog with her. As they get close I raise my camera and see that it is not an attack at all but a welcoming committee! She comes bearing gifts. Photos of when they started to dig, some wine and a card. How truely perfect!

We are both floored and the three of us stand in the 17 degree, 30mph weather and talk until it’s time to go before we all freeze.

Now we not only know the neighbor but we sort of know the people that will build next to them in the spring. This is all working out just fine.

So there you have it. So far so good.

We have gone from this

To this

And now to this

It's all good!

and I'm worn out!

More photos to come later this week as they put in the foundation. That Has to have you on the edge of your seat!

So far everything has worked out fantastic. I feel like we are on Survivor. Everything is just going to good.

Rod and DJ
cheers

Decision Day - Chpt #8

2007-02-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

Just to catch you up on a few things.

We were approved for the final home loan and signed over 1000 pieces of paper that told us that once again our lives were owned my financial institutions and that they could sell our lives to any other financial institutions at any time on their whim.

Upon that little agreement Kevin of Ambiance Homes was informed that we were good to go and he went about doing all of HIS paper work in preparation for the January 31st excavation (also called The Hole) of which our little house would go into.

As luck would have it, freakishly cold temperatures hit our land and everything is pushed back a week until the temps get closer to the "non-death to construction workers" area. Which is now Feb 7th or 8th!

SO - with our "problems" with Drexel getting our bathroom remodeled (should it REALLY take over a month?) and with their additional overcharge rates which seem ludicrous (more on this in the next paragraph) we were waiting for "Decision day".

OK - a quick word on Drexel and flooring. We decided to take the current tile out of our bathroom ourselves to save money. It is the last of the MAJOR things we need to get done before we can put the house on the market.

We went to Drexel in Madison to see how much it would cost for simple vinyl installation and to fix some problems with the bottom tile around the floor.

The quote was $300 PLUS another $160 because the total price was under $500. Shocked I was a little pissy for a few nights but upon looking at other forums this small project additional overcharge is pretty standard.

FINE - So I called them and said THEY could take out the floor since we were being charged ANYWAY. I said it more kindly then I typed it just now!

NO - taking OUT would be an extra $150 that could not be included in the installation. it was two seperate things. Yea, well it seems EVERYTHING is seperate at that place. I will not deal with Drexel again!

SO - Kevin from Ambiance (the good witch as opposed to Drexil, the bad witch) gets a hold of us to see if we can hammer down a few decisions on color and style, inside and outside the house. Of course we say, it will be good to get THAT off our plate and we could relax and perhaps DJs head will stop spinning as she gets dizzy with so many things to choose from.

Little did we know that we would have in the upper 50s decisions to make!!

OH, we were prepared for house color and cabinet decisions and knew there would be more but - YIKES!

Here is the list! And we still have lighting,fireplace and flooring decisions to make.

Vinyl siding color
Vinyl Siding Style
Vinyl Corner trim color
Soffit/Fascia color
Gutter/Downspout color
Shutter color
Vinyl Wrap color
Shingle Color
Exterior of Front Door
Front Door hardware/color
Overhead Door(s) color
Garage Service Door color
Brick color
Porch Railing color
Decorative Louver color
Window color
Kitchen Cabinet Style
Kitchen Cabinet color
Crown molding style/color
Kitchen Countertop color
Kitchen Sink Style/color
Kitchen sink faucet Style/color
Master Bath
Cabinet Style
Cabinet color
Cabinet Height
Countertop Color
Fixture color
Faucet Style/color
Main Bath
Cabinet Style
Cabinet color
Cabinet Height
Countertop Color
Fixture color
Faucet Style/color
Interior Door Style
Interior Door color
Door Hardware Style
Door Hardware color
Base trim Size/style
Base trim color
Casing trim Size/Style
Casing Trim color
Window Returns (Wood or Drywall)
Interior wall paint color
Interior of Exterior door color
Newel Post style
Baluster Style

WHEW! I will tell you right now Kevin was outstanding.

Most places in our area are going with the earth tones, brown, green, gray and many shades of those. They feel like they will "blend" into the country side. LOL - RIGHT - like camouflage. Can't even see them. HEY, where did all those house go! They were there a second ago!

Many look nice but there are some that just look dull and brown/gray/dark green and glum, gloomy and low spirited. Nothing wrong with the colors if done correctly but there needs to be an intervention on earth tones!

We wanted something happy. Something that when people drove past there would be a little ray of sunlight BUT, without that ray being blinding.

THUS - we decided on Heritage Cream siding with Colonial White trim, Bordeaux Shutters and front door. It will not STAND OUT but it will give a little zip to the area! Like the house on the right - that is basically OUR color.

When we were driving around looking at houses we always noticed that we really liked the lighter color. THUS!! We got our wish!

My suggestion is to drive around and look at houses, take photos to remind yourself. Just be observant.

In fact, observe everything in your life. Can you see in your minds eye what your doorknobs look like? What about the front exterior doorknob. How about your base trim, can you picture the details? What color are your gutters? What about the crown molding style in your kitchen cabinets.

Details, details, details, who knew!!

Next week - pictures of The Hole and we STILL have flooring decisions to make next week. In fact $5,500 worth of flooring to be decided on!

Cheers
Rod and DJ.

The Waiting Begins.

2007-01-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

The waiting begins.

Since we last met there has been more paper work then anything else.

We were got the house loan pre-approval with no problems. Then we started signing the first wave of papers. The WB-11 Residential Offer to Purchase, the Construction Agreement and the Description of Materials and Specs. After that we started writing checks to who ever wanted them, all were put in escrow.

Then we waited a couple days for those same papers to be signed by Kevin of Ambiance Homes. Monday we got the word that all was good. WHOO HOO!

Now HE has all sorts of paper work for the city, surveyors and other people will tramp around the lot and in a 10ish days they start to dig The Hole, which is called the excavation, by the builder (they are so exact)!

We were told that we will know a couple days ahead of time in case we want to come watch. OF COURSE - WITH A CAMERA!! It's looking like around Feb 5th will be National Excavation Day.

Everything else has to be decided on within thirty days so Kevin can order materials and so forth. So Sunday we went appliance, "window" shopping.

After scouring Consumer Reports and looking at many opinion websites we went to Sears to look at Kenmore's and picked out what we wanted. One of the things we (OK, "I") wanted was a side by side refrigerator. Columbus softens their water so upon tasting said water and going YUCK, I wanted something that had filtered water. A side-by-side was the ticket.

HOWEVER - there are always tradeoffs. You get less space in a side-by-side but DJ said that was a good thing. After all, 80% of our space is used up with Barbeque sauce , Ketchup, and 50 assorted other condiments (Did you know that Worcestershire Sauce is basically anchovy ketchup). No real food is actually in our refrigerator. Perhaps smaller is better.

One thing I was warned about was a person where I work had a house built and had a Side-by-side installed. All was good for a month. Until, her husband spilled something and it dripped all over. No problem right?

WELL - she opened up the door and went to pull out the trays. OH OH!, the door was against a wall and could not open any farther, yet, the trays could not come out because they would hit the door. OH MY!!.

We both laughed at the story and as the story teller exited my cube (I'm not a free range human, I'm cubed) I QUICKLY got out my floor plans.

As you can see I don’t THINK I we have a problem.

So now we wait for Excavation.e

In the meantime we decided to upgrade to a Rheem furnace. The default furnace sees to be Goodman's and as we were looking into "stuff" we found that Goodman's basically suck! For $500 more we can get a much much better heater.

Some other things we wish we would have done. Take note. Take photos our your current house when it is having a good day. Down the road you will want those photos. This is the best one so far.

I'm sure Marcia from Century 21 Tri-County Real Estate would be rolling over in her grave . . . . . . if she was dead, but she is alive and well so we don’t know what she is doing.

At least any buyers will know that the house as not been on the market for 8 months! That is the nature preserve back there in the back yard. Anyone? Anyone? Only $214,900! In the City of Madison, on a Nature Preserve with major shopping five blocks away and schools near by!

So we're a little in limbo. We have to decide on the inside stuff like flooring, cabinets and trying to coordinate colors with everything. DJ turned to the HG forum and got the answers.

Here was her question.

Our builder needs us to pick out our cabinets, carpeting, flooring ideas soon. We will have an open floor plan with cathedral ceilings in the living/dining/kitchen area. My question is do you go light or darker with colors?

I've noticed that a lot of newer houses have white trim. But we were thinking we would have wood color trim. Our kitchen cabinets will be maple--a light color, but not TOO light.

Is there any sort of rule of thumb as far as color schemes in an open floor plan with high ceilings. I am totally lost on how to coordinate everything. I appreciate any advice....HELP where do I start??

And the main answer was.

"I think your wood trim should match any hardwood flooring you'll be putting in. Flooring choices is where I'd start. First. Coordinate your tile and carpeting with the hardwood. Next I'd choose the kitchen cabinets/bath cabinets and countertops. Then I'd concentrate on the finishes of the door handles, faucets, cabinet hardware. Paint would be last on the list... After furniture/fabric choices. This is hard to do sometimes because builders want your paint colors NOW. This is the reason you see 'builder beige's lot in new construction .It's easier to paint it all neutral until you have your home set up.

Don't you just love the internet??

So that is where we stand.

Until next time
Rod and DJ - cheers

Bonehead Blunder and The List! Chpt #7

2007-01-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

Among this blog you will see photos that I took from our backyard looking into the Nature Preserve Sunday! Just thought I would put MORE pretty pictures to brighten things up. Like this one of our squirrel family. Click on the photo to enlarge.

PART 1 - Before the Final Meeting with the Builder!

PART 2 - After the Final Meeting with the Builder! is lower on this page

A funny thing happened while thinking of all the things we had to do to sell our current house and build another house.

We made a financial Bonehead Blunder. WHAT? We forgot to add in the commission to the real estate agent? OOPS!

Now for many of you this might sound like we do not know what we are doing. And it sounds like that to us also. Remember, even though we own a home it does not mean we have actually purchased a home . . .at least in the normal manner of speaking.

We purchased our house from DJ's parents and basically signed a paper on a land contract. No need to agents and so forth. We have never purchased OR sold before. It's pretty much learn as we go.

No worries though, we have the commission covered. However that does put the willy on a few "tweaks" we were looking into having and will now have to put off to another time (for The List).

Remember The List? The List is what you will need to create when you move into a house of all the things you want to do . . . later? If you don't have The List you will do all of those things a month before you move out and THAT sucks. We wish we had made The List when we moved in. But, alas. Move on.

So this week our virtual list has us having 5 rooms and ceilings painted, a hallway and a basement floor. Then we're having a pocket door looked at for repair. It seems that in 1965 when this house was build some stoned out contractor thought making a pocket door PERMANENT was a bright idea. We would have Josh, our fix-it guy son-in-law do it but since he has two jobs, is working on HIS house and since we have OTHER projects for him we are getting somebody that has worked on them before.

Saving time.

Then Thursday we're having the Measuring Guy measure (thus his name) our bathroom for a little remodeling. Josh and I are going to demo the bathroom and they will reinstall everything during the day.

We also decided that we would indulge in the ultimate decluttering tool. A dumpster! How cool is THAT! That just takes a load of trouble off of my "sneaking crap into the garbage" every week. They are not that expensive actually, $140 for a week and $38 a ton of junk!

In other news and jumping ahead five months we have been working on landscaping and have decided (at the moment) on trees and shrubs.

Having the main viewing area facing due south creates a small problem in summer. Like the sun room reaching over 2000 degrees. So the first order of business was planting a shade tree . . . but which one and where.

We decided on an Autumn Blaze Maple. This is a cross between a Red Maple and a Silver Maple. It grows as fast as a Silver at 3 feet per year but has the branch strength of a Red. The color is outstanding in the fall AND is basically seedless.

This will go in the back west area to catch the late afternoon and hottest sun.

In the back east we have a different problem being off a golf course.

Knowing from experience how badly hit golf balls fly I THINK that most FAST moving poorly hit balls will be low to the ground (they will need to mbe hit off the toe of the club) if they are flying towards our house. Thus, we are making a corner with three Common Lilac shrubs with a spring Snow Crabtree in the center. This will give us beautiful purple and white flowers in the spring. It will also act as a small fence for golfers that want to wander into our yard (which I really do not mind . . .being a golfer myself).

I wanted a Birch but the area is poor for Birch who likes shade.

In the front yard we want a Prairie Fire Crabtree which are outstanding color-wise ( we have one in our current back yard). Yea - Columbus is known as the Redbud city but I'd like something a little less delicate but with the same look.

The daylilies which were planted at the old house by DJ's mom will come along with us. At least SOME of them. We have hundreds LOL.

Personally I think people plant daylilies wrong. I say clump them into one area giving a large BLAST of color as opposed to have them in little groups or along fence lines.

PART 2 - After the Final Meeting with the Builder!

OK - not final at all actually. Just the final meeting to cement (so to speak) the final tweaks for the house. And even now we are having a NEW final tweak. The furnace.

But backing up a tad .

We met with the Dream Team for the semi-final solidification of what the new house plans will be. We took away a couple more things to save a dime here and there and got an estimate on how much the brick would cost (about $19 per square foot - those feet add up!!!).

Now the smaller details are emerging which we really don't have a lot of say in, such as where the house will sit on the property and so forth. We will pay a $15,000 as a deposit and it'll be put in escrow.

Other things we agreed upon is that all decisions will be made within 30 days to give the builder time to order . . .stuff.

THIS is the fun part - siding colors, types of washer and dryers, lights, hardwood floors, carpeting cabinets and so forth. We have allowances for all and should be able to be within budget on all. Keven said the allowances were what the house we toured and loved had in them. Take that exact "stuff" and put it in our house and it would be within our allowance.

HOWEVER - We took a final tour of our "model" house last weekend and DJs dad (living survivor of the USS Indianapolis) spotted the furnace and said "look into that furnace".

We did and found some interesting things.

BUT FIRST - another photo from our backyard. We had a flock of perhaps 20 Cardinals (not the religious kind) in the back yard but I could not get a shot at them (with a camera).

Back to reality.

When you buy a car it comes with tires that, while they will keep you safe, they are not the first choice when it comes to buying NEW tires. They are the cheaper tires that all car manufactures put on their cars.

The Goodman furnace which was goign to be installed is like those tires. It seems they are the first choice for most home builders but they are not the best choice. Especially if you live in Wisconsin.

In fact among HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) installers they have a rather bad reputation.

One review stated " Goodman gets the worst marks among the furnace installers and repairmen we interviewed and those who post to HVAC-Talk, an online consumer forum. Professionals blame this on craftsmanship and an unfriendly design, making Goodman more difficult to service."

They are ranked lowest on Consumer Reports .org and searching the internet I found the number of grips about Goodman to be . . robust!

One of the problems mentioned more then a few times is the fact that Goodman (who owns Amana) will sell to anybody, whether then have a clue on installing or not.

I also found that most furnaces use the same parts from the same manufactures, it's just how those parts are put together that counts.

We're looking into a Rheem.

So - now we are going back the bank to talk about the loan and so forth. Then back to Marcia, give SOMEBODY $15,000 and sit back and see what happens.

Kevin says after he gets the cash it takes a week or so for permits, surveying and other paperwork. Then the hole is dug, we drink Champaign and then pour cement (well, WE'RE not pouring the cement, not in our drunken state).

The cement sits for a week to harden (did you know the cement in the Hoover Damn is STILL drying, thank god we don't have to wait 70 years, that would really add to the cost!).

After a week they backfill (pour dirt around the cement) and then the action starts!

We're looking for Late May to move in.

Of course there is the current house to consider.

ANYWAY - that is where we stand in this long winded blog.

One more photo. That looks like a Yellow Finch right? Why is he still here. We have had 20 of them on our feeder in the summer. FLEE little bird - go where it is warm!!

Rod and DJ - until next time!

Cheers

Leaning on the Finiancial Sides of the Box. Chpt #6

2007-01-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

What started out as purchasing a $230,000 house has turned into building a $253,000 house. Yea - we're leaning on that financial box. I hope the sides are sturdy because we're both leaning hard. But so far we're keeping both feet INSIDE that box . . . . . . . so far!

Reality is setting in financially as we met for a semi-final meeting Friday AND made finalization on spending MORE money to get the current house ready for market.

Friday we met with the Dream Team (Marcia Merrill our agent- Century 21 Tri-County Real Estate (left), Kevin Kleckner - Ambiance Homes, the builder (right) and Jon Meister, Starritt Meister Realty (middle), his agent) to go over exactly what we wanted. As we were going into the office Marcia (our truely wonderful agent) stops and say's "you know your taxes will be about $6000". We both go "OK" and make a "yea, we know" reply and as she turns around we give each other wide eyed horror look. YIKES

As you remember we are building a semi-custom built home from basically a model. Except we wanted a few tweaks.

The main customizations were:

1. sunroom/breakfast nook needed to be 4 feet larger,

2. Three windows needed to me installed on the sides of the house. I can not fathom a house with no windows on the sides, might as well live in an apartment if you can not get cross ventilation. $1350ish

3. More brick. We did not like just having a few slabs of brick on the front of the house, it looks fake (which it is). Why not have that brick turn the corner of the garage wall and extend towards the front door. YEA - it'll cost an extra $5000 but will look great.

Those were the MAIN concerns along with the actual "elevation". Not sure WHY it is called elevation when you are talking about what "look" you want the house to have. As you will see in the previous blog, there are three "elevations" and the one we wanted is an extra $4,500.

So we went over everything including many little things, like where to put the outdoor faucets (back left, front right) and the need for an outdoor electrical outlet on the roof (Christmas decorations - bet many people do not think of THAT one). And we would like a 2 foot overhang in the back instead of the standard 1 foot or 18 inch's.

So with that it was back to the drawing board for more final numbers.

For all you guys thinking about building a house there are MANY things I am leaving out. Placement of electrical outlets, placement of windows and so forth, it is amazing how many details there are. I'm a computer programmer and know all about details in MY line of work but I took everything for granted in a house.

Remember - EVERYTHING needs to be placed. There are a lot of default things but you will still be asked if you want something different. Light switch here? here? higher? lower? on this wall? on that wall?

It's like we're in Dr. Suess land.

SO now we wait again.

MEANWHILE - back at the ranch we got our estimate for having five rooms and ceilings with a basement floor cleaned and painted and many holes patched from old curtain rods. YIKES.

We also got the estimate for having a new vanity, flooring, counter top and faucet installed in our bathroom, YIKES.

I spent the weekend in the garage filling boxes with toxic chemicals as it seems the past owners (DJ's parents) loved to collect insect killer and others scary stuff. Six box's worth. Problem is Clean Sweep is closed until May so we will have to have them in the garage during showings. Hmmmmmm

We also fixed lots of little things that we could live with but were to lazy to fix. . UNTIL NOW! DJ spent time decluttering hampers and closets and getting extra cooking things we never use out of the way. She also spent time in the basement getting 40 tons of unused camping equipment put away.

It's all coming together slowly.

Suggestion - make a list of all the little things you have to do. If you keep everything in your head it becomes just a HUGE mess but a list keeps it all on paper and you can see progress . . . . not that we did that but it would be a good idea! DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO!

So that is where we're at. Doing STUFF in the house and waiting for final building stuff.

OH - one thing we're waiting on is how much of a down payment we will need to make. It was suggested that it would be in the <$15,000 range YIKES but doable. All I know is that the first day they start to dig that hole we are opening some Champaign to celebrate! AND I'LL HAVE PHOTOS! They expect to have the house build late May depending on weather. And I have not even TOUCHED all my thoughts on landscaping. Did I mention I want to plant an Autumn Blaze Maple (2003 Urban Tree of the Year).

OH - I have ideas baby!!!

If you want a REAL good book on gardens and landscaping I picked this up at Half Price Books for $6 (great deal, $14 on Amazon). It’s called Home Landscaping, Midwest Region, Including Southern Canada - by Creative Homeowner. You can find this for all regions. The reason I like this is shown on this page.

It tells you exactly what flowers/plants they use, how many plants and lots of great ideas. Each idea will be for full sun and then the same idea but with shade plants and so forth.

For me it is exactly what I was looking for, no more random flowers in random places.

More later this week.

Building is MUCH more fun then selling!

Rod and DJ.

How Much is that Puppy in the Window? Chpt#5

2007-01-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

WELL!

We got our Construction Proposal, Specifications and Optional Changes for our new house. CHING CHING!! Yea - nothing is cheap is it.

Our first decision was to finalize WHAT the house would look like. The builder gave us three choices that would go with the plans, each about $2000 more then the next. Here were our choices and our thoughts.

This was the most expensive of the three plans. What we did not like from the get go was the faux window things on the roof. Why have them if they are not useful.

This was the least expensive. What none of this drawings have is the front porch railing which actually is a key in our final decision.

This was in the middle and was our first choice. However, once we let things settle in and visualized the front porch railing we both felt that perhaps the front was too "busy". Just too many things going on with the duel window and railings and the roof peak. Then if you add landscaping in front it would just get too active.

We picked #2 which as luck would have it, was the least expensive.

Then it was time to play with a new software toy. I had downloaded the Imagine Pro Suite, a Full-Featured Home Design Software.

After downloading (takes a while . . it's HUGE). I spent about 40 minutes playing with it. Remember, this is 40 minutes from the time I clicked start for the first time. There are MANY MANY things I can do with landscaping, Interior and exterior design but all in good time.

Just playing around and I have already changed the roof and other things as I was just taking the program for a test drive. It does give you a clue though.

Anyway there were more important things to consider, the Optional Stuff.

For instance, The two car garage with a 1 car storage area. The original plan had no outside service door, $600!

Concrete patio at rear of home $6 per sq foot.

Transom windows in the three bedrooms. Here is the thing with that. The three bedrooms all have windows but ONLY front and back. None on the side of the house, meaning no cross ventilation. $1350.

Three glass cabinet doors in kitchen $450

Install laminate bar countertop with small overhang on half wall above kitchen sink $275

Frame, drywall and install rough plumbing basement $1000

Brick per square foot, add $22 per foot, we’re thinking $2000

Install stone cap on brick posts $300

And so forth.

We have a $1000 lighting allowance, a $2000 Appliance allowance for Refrig, Stove Dishwasher and a $5500 flooring allowance.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch we're trying to get the CURRENT house ready for sale with a Feb 1st-ish date.

We are getting five rooms panted, redoing the main bathroom with new floor, vanity and lighting along with decluttering and tossing "crap" into the garbage and getting rugs cleaned.

So far we're liking the BUYING part of this process more then the SELLING part.

OH, and the BUYING part is about $10,000 more then we expected because the lot is $10,000 more then we thought.

Still, we're not totally outside the financial box yet. Yea - we're leaning on the side's of that box but have not stepped outside yet. Of course, when buying, who does not take a step our two outside of it.

In other news we see that a home 5 lots away is selling for $450,000 - YIKES!! It's nice to have the least expensive home in an area, it'll bring up the price of our house.

We have a meeting with the builder Friday to iron out the details!

I'll get back to you with the finals.

Rod and DJ.

The Big Meeting Chpt#4

2006-12-28T06:04:00.000-08:00

Talk about going to a meeting unprepared.

When we were invited to a meeting with the builder and agents about the possibility of having the builder build a home and THEN having us buy it, we thought it was a meet and greet to talk about the POSSIBILITY of this happening.

What we failed to understand was that in THEIR eyes, it was a done deal. it was the perfetc storm for both of us. They build a house that we want and we buy it.

For us we were still in the “let’s not think too far ahead and get excited” stage.

We arrived, shook hands with Kevin the dealer (hands were the size of a newspaper, HUGE) and then things really got rolling.

We knew the builder had five lots he wanted to build on and we had picked one out already. As luck would have it, IT WAS AVAILABLE!!

The original house (I will call it 522) was snatched away from us was a north facing house, this lot would give us a south facing back (which is the main face of the house). I seems most new homes are now orientated so that the main “looking out” side of the house is the back with garage in front.

We already had a floor plan picked out from 522 but this lot was sloping so the plans would call for a walk-out basement with the deck, now on the “second” story.

Instead of the house on the left we would now have the house on the right. We were told it will not cost that much more and the builder (who knows what price range we are in, said it was not a concern).

So with what we thought were the important decisions over, we relaxed a little. Little knowing the onslaught of questions about to come.

The builder said that if weather cooperated it would take a little over four months to build and all we needed was a small down payment. Just something so we could not just back out willy nilly.

THEN, he starts to ask us questions on “tweaks” to the house. It was decided we all go over the original house and discuss any changes.

Let me tell you right now. THIS is the danger point as you guys on the HGTV forum pointed out. So many little things that seem small but if you add an extra little 30 upgrades. CHING CHING!! $$$$$

We started with small upgrades knowing that some would have to be cut later. The builder Kevin was awesome. He told us things he would have done differently and offered suggestions and how much “about” this and that would be. We both loved his style.

In the beginning we wanted THAT house. But we felt having the EXACT house of someone else might be creepy! SO . . . . .

The "dining room" was six feet wide. He said on paper it looked good but in real life it could be cramped. This mirrored exactly what DJ had been saying also. Expand it four feet. CHING!

He could also add an extra window on each side making it into a sun room. CHING!

The living room was perfect as was the fireplace.

There is a small wall which separates the living room from the kitchen. We felt that since you NEVER want to have furniture up against the wall if you have the space (all or our funiture is agains the wall at the moment) this wall could be useful if we made the top wider by an inch or so. It would be more of a shelf.

Doors were talked about and we decided to keep the cheaper doors for now as this was an expense that we could pass over.

Of course now that we had a walk-out basement we needed a finished room down there, 10-15K CHING! Look at it this way. We would “sooner or later” want to finish off the basement right? Why not spend the money now and spread the cost out over 30 years.

We decided that the three car garage (two car and storage) should be flipped with the main two car slot in the middle and the storage on the outside. Also add a door to the outside from the storage garage.

As you can see , 522 has the two-car on the outside.

We also thought the front of the original house was sort of bland and when we mentioned this Kevin (builder) pointed to the house across the street which was the same house but the front was tweaked with a small front porch and columns. Notice they have the two car on the inside. We thought the middle column could be taken out as it sort of cluttered things up a little.

Speaking of columns. it would be nice to have partial brick as this house has. CHING!

Back inside the house we were discussing the windows and we liked the “grids” (for lack of another word) on the front side windows but we thought we would rather have no grid on the main windows. (Hey, saving $20 a window there!!)

Also the entire house would be flipped backwards. Garages should always be on the uphill side of the house so that we were flipping.

There were all sorts of other things to think about. To many to discuss here from kitchen cabinets, to lowering the ceiling one foot, to bath tubs, to two sinks and light fixtures, carpeting, counter tops, type of wood on the deck and dozens of other things?

And remember, we THOUGHT we were their just to see if this was possible.!!! Not to actually make decisions!! LOL

Luckily he was just mentioning EVERYTHING because he said many people are surprised at just how many things there are to decide on. The details did not need to be decided on now, he was just getting our brains going.

SO! He took our basic foundation ideas and we are going to have another meeting the first week of January to start to iron things out.

My God – this IS happening!

Now we have to sell OUR house!!

Talk to ya next time!

A Christmas Miracle Chpt #3

2006-12-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

In my last blog “Back to The Drawing Board” I talked about the house we really wanted getting sold before we were ready to act.

At that point we were thinking of “Why not build?”

So we started to think more seriously about finding a lot and building. (remember when our TV died and I was looking at new TV's she kept saying WHY STOP THERE!! We now have a big TV LOL)

Then, One day later, as if our agent was in our minds. A Christmas Miracle happened.

She calls and asked if we wanted the same home design in the same area except on a different lot.

WHAT?? OF COURSE.

It seems the builder of the house we wanted has five more lots and wants to start one or two more houses in January with a finish date April or May.

Then the kicker is perhaps we would like some input. When Marcia (agent) mention that she had somebody that wanted that design the building was all excited. This would help BOTH sides We can have a house build with input but not have to put money out right away.

This works good for everybody.

The builder knows there is somebody that will buy the house and we can have input into tweaks. Also we would have a few more months to prepare OUR house.

So – Wednesday we’ll have a meeting so see what is up.

DJ and I would like the same house design except the lot we THINK we can get is slopping. The good news is it is a southern facing lot (as opposed the a northern face lot on the original.

The one problem is that the lot is sloping which would mean the basement would be a walk out basement.

So – on our wish list is a finished basement ($15,000??? more?) Also if you look at the photo of the living room we would like to have the windows tweaked a little, Perhaps some sort of rounded window above what is already there. ??

And as our last tweak the original house had a “ok” deck. This deck out be much larger since it would be basically the second story deck with a stairs leading down to the ground. Why not have a BIG deck! HOW MUCH CAN THAT COST (insert evil laugh).

So many questions and we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We will know more the 27th.

Stay tuned.

Rod and DJ

Back To The Drawing Board. Chpt #2

2006-12-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

The house we were excited about has been taken off the market and we're back to the drawing board. It’s not the end, it's the beginning. It goes to show you that when you find a house you have to act on it. Just because it was on the market for four months does not mean it will be there for another four months.

This last weekend we put in three new light fixtures and a new three season door. Getting things done one step at a time. The big picture is over whelming but one step at a time.

Here is a hint. When you buy a new house. Write down all the things you want to fix or replace. You probably will not do them and six months later you will be used to the old things.

Then 10 years later you will be selling your house and THEN you will make the fix's and go "wow, I wish I would have down this ten years ago when I could have enjoyed the new look".

It's easy to get lazy and just "live with it". Sooner or later you will need to fix the stuff that is not "right". Do it before you "can live with it".

A few things we learned about when getting pre-approved for the loan.

PMI is Private Mortgage Insurance. If your down payment is less than 20% of the sales price or appraised value (in other words, the LTV or loan to value ratio should be 80% or less). Then you must play the PMI. For us it was going to be ABOUT $70 a month.

Once the principle reach's 80% then (I presume) the PMI is no longer needed.

Also The Bridge Loan. This is a EXPENSIVE loan if you are going to need to cover two mortgages. It's a very expensive loan and if you can do ANYTHING not to take it, DO IT!

On a side note - since the house we WERE looking at had no tree's we were looking at landscaping and tree's in particular. This website will be very useful for tree's and plants.

Landscape Plants for the Upper MidWest.

Why! Why! Why! Chpt #1

2006-12-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

The above question is what many people are asking us. WHY WHY WHY do you want to move. You have the perfect set-up. You have a house inside the city limits, four blocks away from a major shopping center, one half mile away from the country and you are right next to a nature preserve with deer, raccoons, hawks, ground hogs, and more birds then you can count on BOTH hands (you can tell most of our friends are city people).

The house is in pretty good condition for a 40 year old house, it gets plenty of shade in the summer and plenty of southern sunlight in the winter. WHAT could be possibly wrong.

What is wrong is that we did not pick the house. It is not OUR house, it will always be DJ’s parents house. The key word is “house”. It’s a house, it’s not a “home”. That my friend, is a big difference indeed.

When Mel and Betty (DJ’s parents) decided they no longer wanted to take care of the upkeep of their home they asked us if we could help them out and move into their home on a Land Contract.

Hard to turn down.

So we bit the bullet and moved from a 1700 sq ft apartment to a 1350 sq ft house as described above. It seemed like the smart thing to do.

This was six years ago and after the excitement wore off DJ started thinking this was not HER home, it was her parents home, and I was thinking that while I really liked WHERE the house was, I was not “in-love” with the house.

We were both fighting these feelings. We decided to make upgrades.

But the feelings were not going away.

We would go on random drives and always slow down when a “For Sale” sign was spotted . . . . . .NOT that we were looking.

Until one day, a bright sunny day in a small town, a new development, sitting quietly by itself (at the moment) was a spec* house. One of the smaller house’s in this new area. And it was sitting just far enough from the 18th fairway of a nice golf course to not be in REAL harms way (more on this in later blogs) for golf balls.

We stopped and circled the house looking in the windows. I went into the surrounding area looking for golf balls, how close were they coming. Hmmmmmmm!

We looked at each other with glints in our eyes and smiled. It did not look exciting from the outside, but inside had some real signs of character.

Two weeks later.

We had now been shown 6 houses for sale and we always comes back to the original. Nothing was even remotely close. It had to be a pretty special house to draw our attention (Nature Preserve and all that)

Our agent (which we had known before) looked at our house to assess what we could get for it and told us a few things we could fix up here and there, nothing much (to HER). I mean, yea – painting four rooms is only one sentence right? Until you actually have to do it. Or replacing a door to the three season porch is just one more sentence, until you have to take it off when the temperature IS ZERO!

When time comes to put our house up we should ask $214,000. There are NO houses for sale in our area. Nobody ever moves, nada. Very very stable. Our agent drove around and said “There are no house’s for sale ANYWHERE around here.

Our neighbors house sold for 2,000 under asked and it took 10 days, three years ago. She also said that even though the media talks about a slow down in housing, it’s not slow at all here in Madison.

The house we are looking at is $229,000, down from $249,000.

ANYWAY!

It is Saturday, December 16th and we were just approved this morning for a loan and we’re a little pumped up at the moment (besides having colds).

THAT is the background.

My goal for this blog is to show the ups and downs of what a common “never done this before” person goes through when buying AND selling his first house. Do we know what we are doing? Heck no. We are trying to stay one step ahead and are constantly reading other forums such is the HGTV message boards and books and sucking as much info as we can. We are trying to be human sponges (which is actually the way my head feels like at this moment, I hate colds).

But I’m sure as you all know – experience is the true way to learn. It’s always something!

I welcome ANY comments and hints from anybody that reads this.

Our next step now that we have been approved is we‘re going to have two more views of the hopefully new house. One with just DJ and I. Looking deep into the house, I mean REALLY look at it. We will make a decision at that point. Then a week later we’re having my brother, an architect who was featured in House Beautiful a few years ago (sorry, for some reason I felt this had to be said, I mean, where else can I say it casually, not at bowling or anything) take a look at it so we can see his point of view.

If it’s a go we will put in a bid.

And then all hell will break loose, the true adventure begins!

So – I have more to say but that is enough for the moment.

Hang on, stay tuned and pray for us!

Rod and DJ.

*1.speculative house are what builders build to get things going in a new area.
or
*2. a new house built to sell and make money