All Grown Up

It has begun! We started building our house on Friday, May 4th, 2012 and we're looking at moving into our home in the next three to six months (hoping for three!)

Here's how it happened:
     It was a long process to get to our closing on Thursday. It all started last fall as we started to get our finances in order. We were blessed to receive bonuses from our job that allowed us to pay off some debt we had accrued and we were working hard at staying within our budget and saving money.  By the beginning of the year we were showing my dad house plans and seeing what he thought. We finally picked out a garage apartment plan that would allow us to build a place that we could live in for a few years and eventually rent out when we build the "main house." I feel like we've been talking about this garage we're going to build for forever and it seems surreal that we are actually getting this done! Anyways, beginning in February or March we started talking to banks to see what all had to be done before we could apply for loans. We found that our land needed to be perked (to see if the land was even suitable for a house) and we needed to get plans drawn and contracts written.  A couple things on this list seemed to take FOREVER. We waited and waited only to hear back that our land may not be able to have a traditional septic system which would've cost a lot more money.  After more waiting and a couple more "tests" they told us we were good to go and we could get a traditional system! #thankful
     We finally set off to meet with our first bank.  Everything seemed to be looking great as we filled out information and got all the paperwork together but after weeks of being postponed and asked to get "one more thing" they finally told us they couldn't help us. It was frustrating and disheartening.  We were told to try High Country Bank. I strongly recommend them as they were personable and honest from the get-go. They told us they would love to give us a loan but that it really depended on how it appraised. So once again we paid some money (this time for an appraisal) and waited.  This waiting came at an ok time for me because I was off to Florida with some friends for Spring Break and we heard back in about a week that our house appraised very well and we were good to go on the loan! I was a little fearful that we'd get down to the day of signing and they would say "actually we can't help you" but thankfully all went smoothly from there. We were told we needed to pick a lawyer for closing and get Builder's Risk Insurance and we would be good to go.  We set our closing date for May 3rd and waited another week and a half for that day to get here! Finally on May 3rd we met for a short meeting of signing some papers and voila - we now have the money we need to build our home!! Pretty awesome.

at our closing on May 3rd

      The best part is that we've already started work. I feel as though the waiting periods are over and we can finally get a move on.  I know there will be some waiting - but we're already seeing progress and I feel that from now on there will always be something we can be doing! Here are a few pics of the land before and after Day 1! So far the footers have been dug and we have started putting in the steel. We're hoping to get our building permit tomorrow so that the footers can be inspected and we can pour the concrete on Wednesday. Then hopefully the rock mason can come at the beginning of next week! Pretty exciting stuff!! I'll keep you posted.