March was ... interesting

Long time, no post.  Last month was a little wild on the house-building front:  snow on Easter Sunday and some surprises with our financing.  Let’s start with the snow.  When we woke on Easter morning and prepared to head to the 8:30 service at church, we were surprised when we opened the blinds to see 3 inches of wet snow on the ground.  At that time of day, it was still cloudy, and we were concerned that the house didn’t have a roof.  “What would all that wet snow do to our wood?” we wondered.  “Better to be safe than sorry and protect our investment.”  We made the decision to skip church and shovel snow out of our new house for over two hours.  When we texted our builder later, he wrote back “LOL, it would probably have melted and dried out, but thanks!”

On the house financing side of things, we closed on our construction loan in October 2015 with the understanding from our mortgage broker that it did not include a finished basement.  We even had conversations with him regarding how to add the cost of the finished basement to the appraisal and thereby raise the loan amount to accommodate that expense during the build.  When we followed through on that plan in Dec. 2015/Jan. 2016, our mortgage broker helped us complete a change order on the appraisal.  Then, last month we learned that the original loan did, in fact, include the finished basement—even though our builder’s cost-to-build estimate did not.  Basically, this means that our mortgage broker is sorry for the miscommunication but that it’s not his responsibility to read the general home specifications or the appraisal.  He is ordering a new appraisal to see if we can add value to the house with more detailed plans, but regardless, we will be paying for some to all of the basement finish up front, rather than over the course of the mortgage.  This is a surprise, but we have resolved to make this work.  We’re seeking ways to cut costs on some of the finishes that won’t affect the appraisal (e.g., custom vanities in the guest bathrooms), and our builder has cost in mind as well. 

Even though the work of overseeing this house build feels like a part-time (or maybe full-time) job, we are still excited about what the future holds.  Today, we got to see more progress, including shingles on the roof:

Down by the river:

Back at the house:

Here's the master bedroom ... with a glorious view and a vaulted ceiling:

The main living space, with vaulted ceilings and beautiful views of the back yard:

The basement ... from the TV side, looking south:

From the living area looking north toward the TV side of things:

From the back:

Our neighbor has been building a retaining wall on his property and ours.  Looks pretty darn good!  Thanks, Scott!

River view from our cleaned-up back yard, thanks to Scott and Matt:

Can you see the house behind the trees?

Here's a bunch of wood Matt has chopped.  We'll let it season and then sell it, since we aren't building a fire place.  You read that right.  No fire place.  Deal with it.  :-)

This home build has certainly been educational.  We've got advice for anyone who decides to build.  Lots of pro tips here.  Let us know if you want to hear them.

Last weekend, we were able to give Matt's sisters Linda, Sue, and Pam a tour, and it was so much fun to see their excitement.  Katie's dad came down on Palm Sunday weekend, and he's pretty stoked too.  We can't wait to have family get-togethers at our home on the river.  When we get discouraged or overwhelmed with this process, all we have to do is envision our lives out there, and we know it will be worth it.  Thanks for sharing this journey with us!