Last Friday, October 26th, we officially closed on our house. It was smooth, seamless, and very painless! Since we were being bought by an investor in California, he signed the papers the day before which made our closing literally 5 minutes. We walked away with the biggest check we have ever seen, and a nice 'thank you' gift from our real estate agent.
We spent the night before the closing finishing up a few things at the house and giving the kids a chance to say goodbye. It was very emotionally for our whole family to leave our beloved home of three years. I was pretty strong up until the very end when my daughter said, "Mommy, I am going to miss this house." Then I just lost it. The tears started flowing and I just couldn't stop. Here are a few pictures that we took during our 'goodbye'.
Bubby and Sissy Love
Drew with our Saint Joseph statue! Hey, he only took a week to work for us!
Our last family picture at the old house
Giving the house a hug and a kiss goodbye
Like the title of this post says, when one door closes another opens. And these past few weeks of our life couldn't reflect that saying any more. We said goodbye to our first home on Friday, October 26th and we had our pre-constuction meeting on the new house on Wednesday, October 31st. Our lot has been staked, and we spent the meeting going over every little detail about the house before we begin actually building. The meeting went very well and took about an hour and a half. Our PM seems very nice and took notes on a few special requests that we had (like back yard grading, and locations of outlets).
Staked! This is where our front porch will be!
Stakes where kitchen/morning room will be
View from back yard/ walkout basement
The pre-constuction meeting was our last chance to make any changes and I seized that opportunity! When making selections for the house, I knew I wanted a soaking tub. Yet, when it came time to start cutting upgrades (because you can't have it all!), the tub I had longed for was one of the first things to go. I just couldn't justify spending $4,000 on a separate tub/shower just so that I could take a bath maybe twice a month. Not to mention the shower is tiny, and that is where you will be spending more time! Anyways, I inquired about the depth of the traditional shower/tub combo and while looking at the selection sheet, I noticed a soaking tub/shower combo! It is the size of a traditional soaking tub (42 x 60) but also turns into a shower stall! I saw this on one of the Ryan Homes blogs a while back and just thought it was not an option for our house. But after seeing it on the selection sheet and asking about it, our sales rep looked into it and it is available in our home! Yessss! I can take a soaking bath without the $4,000 price tag and having to sacrifice my shower space. I am very happy with this decision and last minute change! I can't find much on the internet about this type of shower/tub but here is a picture of one looks like that I found on another Ryan Homes blog.
Soaking tub/shower combo (taken from another Ryan Homes blogger!)
Before we left our pre-construction meeting, our PM gave us a timeline for when it looks like things will be happening. They will start digging on Tuesday of this week (November 6th) and will be planning on placing the footers on Wednesday. As long as the weather holds up, our house will probably be framed by Thanksgiving! As of now we are looking at the end of January for our house to be completed. Cross your fingers for a gentle winter!
A few days after our pre-construction meeting, we took the kids by the lot so that they could explore and see the lot before things get going. Below is a picture of them 'breaking ground' on the new home. I love this picture so much and this is definitely going to have to find a spot to display in our home!
Breaking ground on the new home!
