Christmas, Ground-Breaking, and Busy Busy Busy

Wow it has been quite an eventful week!  Last week, my sister got engaged! So now we are planning not one but two weddings in the family! Luckily they are waiting until May 2012 so it gives us a little breathing room.  Between holiday parties, get-togethers, house things, and wedding things this week has been a little crazy.  Yesterday we drove out to our homesite to check things out and we saw a backhoe just sitting there waiting to dig in to the ground! Also we had our black fencing up along the property. 

A few hours later, we got a call from our project manager, Ben, informing us that they would indeed break ground the next day! He also told us that our lot has been recorded and we now have an address :) 

Today I went to the bridal shop with my mom, my two sisters, and my brother's girlfriend to have them measured for my bridesmaids dresses.  Now I just need to get the other three girls to go do it! As soon as we left the shop, I raced to Gary's so we could check on the progress.....and I have never been so happy about a pile of dirt in my life!

We are going to stop by again tomorrow to check out the progress....supposedly our footer is being poured tomorrow and the remainder of the foundation will be completed at the beginning of next week.  Things are getting exciting! <3

It's Official :)

Yes! So I ended up calling NVR on Friday because I couldn't bear to think of going through the whole weekend again without knowing.  Our NVR rep said "Oh, she didn't call you yet?" WTF??? Apparently someone was supposed to have called us some time ago to tell us we were approved! Anyway, so I had no time to be angry because I was super excited! We went on Saturday and took our pictures with our 'SOLD' sign, that made it even more official! Today, we stopped over at my grandparents' house to tell them (they had given me a large gift of money several years ago and this was put towards the down payment, so they needed to be one of the first to know).  Then we went to my other grandparents' house for our Christmas celebration there. We were trying to think of a fun way to tell everyone but Gary just ended up putting the picture of us with our sold sign on my grandma's picture display in the dining room.  My sister saw it first--after about 25 minutes--she turned and gave me a "What??" kind of look.  And then we were able to tell everyone. So finally, no more secrets! :) Ground-breaking is scheduled to begin on December 29th!

Meetings and more...

The past two days have been busy! Last night we met with Guardian to figure out our "home technology" options.  We felt like almost everything was completely overpriced and a lot of the things we could do ourselves down the road.  The only thing we decided to do for sure is to install cable outlets in the bedrooms. Since we haven't officially been approved by NVR yet, we were not required to make our final selections and put our deposit down, which made me really happy because we were able to come home and talk about everything instead of hashing things out in front of the rep.  We are also considering the alarm system, but we have also been looking at other companies to compare prices.  We are torn about having our great room cable installed over the fireplace or on a different wall.  The way the room is set up, I feel like it would be an awkward and confining room arrangement if it's over the fireplace. We may just have cable installed in both areas and make those decisions when the time comes to move in.

Today we had our pre-construction meeting.  It was very.....long.  It was informative and thorough though, and I really enjoyed meeting our project manager.  The best part was we were able to walk through a Sienna that is about to be finished in our neighborhood.  There are no Sienna models anywhere near us, so it has been really hard to visualize everything.  Before we signed our purchase agreement, we made arrangements with the sales rep to visit a Sienna that was already being lived in, but it's been so long now that we forgot what it was like! When we walked into the Sienna today I was VERY excited to see that they chose the same fireplace (absolute black) and cupboards (wyoming cherry bordeaux) with a very similar countertop and the same stainless steel appliances that we chose.  So it was almost like seeing what ours is going to look like! I had a smile on my face for at least an hour after leaving :)

We also went to our homesite with the project manager and everything has already been staked out! The house looks so small looking at it that way, but it was really exciting.  Now all we need is NVR to approve us...any day now! I would hate to think that everyone is putting so much time and energy into this if we are not going to get approved! Fingers crossed.....

still no answer

I'm driving myself nuts waiting for the phone call from NVR telling us if we are approved or not.  I have figured that it should happen any day now...We completed the loan application on 11/24, and it's now 12/12....meaning 18 days.  Of course, the long Thanksgiving weekend was lumped into that 18 days so maybe that has caused a delay.  I just feel like I'd be a little bit more excited about our pre-construction meeting on Thursday if I knew we were approved! Here's to crossing my fingers...

Playing the waiting game

Well, everything is good to go...Just waiting on that phone call from NVR mortgage that tells us it's official.  We had our flooring meeting last Wednesday and then our final options/colors meeting on Saturday.  Gary and I had a little bit of trouble coming to agreements on the laminate flooring that will be in the kitchen, bathrooms, morning room, and laundry room.  He eventually gave in to me....that is one of the reasons why I love him! I did let him pick the fireplace though, so I'm not completely a decision hog! We also compromised on our outdoor paint colors, unfortunately with our compromise, the color schemes that they have dictated that we have to do white trim and garage door, and I really wanted cream.  Oh well...I'm sure it will be great! Our siding will be a tan color, with dark brown shutters/front door.  We have our meeting with the Guardian rep scheduled for next Wednesday, and our pre-construction meeting with the project manager next Thursday! Crossing my fingers that we hear from NVR by then so we can actually start TELLING people about this!

New Sales Rep?

So we got a call from our sales rep today.  Apparently she got let go yesterday....we will be finishing our process with another sales rep who we have met just briefly in the office.  Our sales rep has been our go-to-person this entire time and I'm a bit nervous about switching now.  She's been the trusting person from the day we walked into the model, and she's been the one giving us all the information and doing everything with us.  What if something goes wrong now? What if something that she had approved can now be "unapproved"? For example, in the time between first viewing the homes to signing the contract, they changed the front porch design that was offered in our neighborhood.  We liked the old porch better, and she approved us to get the old porch instead of the new one.  This is in our contract, so I suppose that affords us a little bit of security...but it still makes me nervous.

She did call from her personal cell, and told me to call her at any time if we have any questions or any problems that we need her help for.  Apparently she got let go for not meeting her quotas...hopefully that's the only reason! Regardless, the whole situation just makes me a little bit more nervous today!

Beginning our Build..

Our house-hunting process seriously began in September, with 8 months until our wedding.  In mid-October, we took a drive to the Ryan Homes model to "stop by and look around".  That quick walk-in turned out to be a 2-hour meeting where we began to look at prices, options, and lots.  After several weeks of talking, late-night discussions, arguing, and debating, we decided we were finally ready on November 17.  Since then:

November 20-signed purchase agreement
November 24-met with NVR mortgage rep
December 1-had flooring consultation meeting

We are building a Sienna and we have been OVERWHELMED with the options, choices, etc.  We've both lived in multiple apartments and both of us moved back to our parent's houses within the last two years to save money and prepare for this wedding/home-buying thing.  So, neither of us know a damn thing about houses, cabinets, carpets, lighting, countertops, or any of those other wonderful things that come along with building a house.  Hopefully we're making good decisions!