From Green to White

 The big news from the past few weeks is that the siding is up!


We decided on white siding on all four sides, with white gutters. The house actually came with black gutters, but we felt there wasn't enough additional black in the exterior to make if look good, so we asked to go with white. 

One of the things that attracted us regarding the elevation w selected is the front porch. It's not that big but it's perfect for an extension either across the next third of the front or around the side. That is one of our highest priority projects - at least at this point. 

 Here are a few more siding pics:

Power-washer Heaven!
 

Socks Approves!

On the inside, the house if moving along. While were were viewing the outside they were putting in the backsplash. There's also tile work and other odds and ends going on. 

Master

It's been an interesting few weeks during which is has been difficult to get excited about the new house while we are still trying to sell the old house. It just doesn't feel right. Our current home has been on the market over a month now - something unheard of in our community. We haven't had even one credible offer. So the pressure is on. I'm looking into alternative financing options and that is also stressful since interest rates are very high at the moment. 

My approach to the stress has been to keep hoping we'll get lucky. But it's not happening. Time to get realistic. We'll probably lower our price over the weekend and see what that brings. The current house is just so nice - for the right couple or family. But it's clearly not great for others. Just have to wait until the universe sends us the right people. While we wait it's at least comforting to know we have the resources to deal with the situation if we have to.

I expect a lot of 'buttoning-up' on the inside this week. Can't wait to see how it all looks!






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Long ... Wait

Image
Sorry it has taken me so long to write another entry. There were a number of things that go in the way, like a graduation in California, work, and training for some physical events coming up. However, the biggest reason for going silent was that we were waiting to sell our current home.  This is the first time I've purchased a new house and planned to use proceeds from my current house to pay for it. Given the past few years of crazy real estate stories - houses selling for above asking price before they even go on the market officially, no contingencies, no home inspections, multiple cash offers, etc, we were conditioned to expect a quick sale. After all, our current home is beautiful. Surely it would sell within minutes.  Well, we were a little off in our thinking. Several factors conspired to make our home selling experience much more 'normal' than the stories we had heard. The current higher interest rate environment, the subsiding of the COVID home-buying frenzy that t
Read more

Pre-Construction (sort-of) Meeting

Image
Most builders will either require or offer to hold a pre-construction (PRE-CON) meeting before they begin construction. DR Horton apparently does not require these meetings, but they will conduct them if requested by a buyer. So we asked for a meeting. After waiting so long for a permit, the folks at DRH were chomping at the bit to start construction. They started digging the day the permit was issued. The foundation was poured within a few days and the well was dug at the same time. We happened to be out of town, so the pre-construction meeting needed to wait until we were back. That was OK with us since it gave us more to talk about when the meeting did happen. It's About Communications The reason to have a pre-construction meeting is to ensure buyer and builder are completely in sync. This is important since virtually every project has unique aspects that must be accommodated (location of drains or pipes, etc) and every buyer has certain things they want to request. Another reas
Read more

Ahhhh Radon

One thing happened during the home inspection for our existing house that will impact new home buyers, so I want to mention it.  Part of the contract was a Home Inspection Contingency that included a radon test. Radon is a radioactive gas that naturally occurs in many parts of the country, including where we live. There is no legal requirement for builders to address radon. So our current house, built in 2017 did not have a radon test prior to occupancy and had no remediation system installed. However, once we went to resell the house, virtually all home inspections include radon testing. Virtually all them, including ours, failed. This means that we, as the buyer of a new home where the builder is not required to address radon, have to address it when we go on to sell our house. Honestly, this seems like a scheme for builders to lower their costs. The cost of radon always falls on the initial owner.  Of course, if I'd have known, I'd have installed a radon mitigatio
Read more