Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Garage and other stuff

So work has begun on our garage. Thankfully, it's work being done by someone other than me this time. We are having some contractors do the garage foundation. Below is what it looks like right now.



Also, my garden did pretty well below are the plants that are already bearing some fruit.



Peas



Yellow squash



Chop'n Broccoli

Finally some current and past Roland cuteness. In that order:



Catching some zzz's on the fouton (only piece of furniture he is allowed on)



Sometimes we just can't help ourselves...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Final steps done, just a few days till closing

We now have everything required for closing done! The last of which was the as-built survey which was just completed. That's the last of the stress for me! Now we know the house is officially recognized as occupancy-ready, recognized as built to the highest standards and energy efficiency, and no parts of it encroach on any property lines. We only have to wait one more week for the notice of completion, then we can close!

Then, on to a much more fun project: the garage...

update: Closing time set: Monday July 21st at 3:30pm!
update: Closing went great! Funds dispersed on the 24th, which is Marcy's birthday.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Fun!

Last Friday Andrew and I actually had some good old quality time together. We went on a short hike and took some candid pictures of our puppy.




Roland looks more heroic then Rin Tin Tin



Nothing like a 40 after a 3 mile hike.



Sad Andrew hugging sleeping Roland. Too much cute for one picture!



Where did our puppy go?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Inspection done

Inspection done, passed with flying colors! Blower door tester guy said it was the most air-tight house he's tested. Hurray!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

All coming together

Tonight we finish (we MUST finish) the final details to "complete" the house. This is gates on the deck, a tiny section of custom railing inside,and two outlet covers. I hope.

Tomorrow is final inspection day! We also get our energy rating done. If we're 5 star plus, we should get a $7500 rebate from Alaska Housing Finance Corp. This was unexpected, and as you can imagine, a very pleasant surprise!

We have been dealing with getting our mortgage so we can pay everyone back and have one simple monthly payment. First we got the house appraised. I had been very nervous about that for a few months. It would tell us if we made money building this house.

We got appraised for $224,000, which is quite good! It's the upper end of what I thought were my optimistic hopes! It also lets us get the best loan available with only 70% loan-to-value ratio, and we'll still have enough to build a garage this summer.

There are a lot of other little details required. We needed to file a notice of completion with the borough so anyone can see it and put a lien on our house if we owe them money. We got a water test done, even though we don't even have a well. They need to be sure our holding tank isn't tainted. We ordered an as-built survey to be sure we don't encroach on any property lines. We got our septic system DEC stamped paperwork. We also had to compile all our receipts for the loan.

It's lots of work getting a loan on a house! At the end of this week we should be done and we just need to wait 15 days for the notice of completion to set in. Then, we should get our check! Hurray!