OK, so the last post was depressing. And while that was the worst news of that week, it was not even the half of it. It was about one-third of the bad news of that week.
The first of the "other" bad news was that Laura's agency is restructuring. She would have to explain the details, but basically her team is being eliminated and assimilated into other parts of the agency. She is not too crazy about it, and really the whole agency is pretty upset by all the changes going on. She is not losing her job, but the population she works with will be changing, and she's less than pleased.
The second of the "other" bad news was that the builder (who was supposed to be building our new home) decided not to build a home for us. Basically, we signed a contract for a new house back in November, with an estimated closing date in April. After meeting with the project manager in January, all looked well. Construction was due to start the following week. But it was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. Three more times we were told construction would begin any day now. As it turned out, the delay was caused by the builder trying to renegotiate its contract with the developer that owned the land to pay less for the lot. This particular builder does not buy all the land for the neighborhood. Instead, they contract with a developer who owns the land, and the builder buys each lot as needed when they sell a house. As it turns out, the builder had to slash prices in the current market, and apparently went so low they would lose money at the price they contracted with us (and three other families who were in the same boat as us). So after signing a contract with us (and others), they tried to renegotiate a lower price for the lots with the developer. They never came to an agreement, so the builder backed out of their deal with us (and the three other families). In fact, there are about 14 lots in this neighborhood that will not be built on for awhile because the builder completely abandoned this neighborhood where they had been building for the past few years. We also found out the same builder did the same thing in another neighborhood where our friends just built. Luckily, they got into their house before the big disappearance by the builder.
We were pretty upset for a long time for a number of reasons. We got all our money back, so no worries about that. But we found ourselves back at square one. We looked at some existing homes, and another builder in the same area.
In the end, we decided to go with the new builder. So we had to go through the whole thing with meeting with sales guys, options guys, mortgage people, and project managers all over again. This time, it looks like all will go as planned.
We decided to visit the site on Easter weekend because we heard from the mortgage folks that all is approved. When we got there, the lot was staked out and underground utilities were marked. So we knew they were getting ready. But we got this far before, so we were still holding back our excitement a bit.
So here are some pictures of our lot that weekend. Those are two happy chicks. And obviously, the new builder is Centex.
And below are some "pan" pictures of the area around our lot.
So where does the really good news come in:
We met with the project manager on Monday. Again, we've been here before. After the meeting, we decided to roll past the lot even though it had been just a week. With the firs
t builder, they wouldn't start until you met with the project manager. We figured it was the same thing, but hey, we were there, so why not look at our little plot of dirt...and surprise!!!
They are under way. Hole in the ground and the foundation is just about complete. The plumber had to run his stuff through what was there and then they would pour the concrete (at least, that is what I understand is going on).
This last picture was done with my phone, so it is not all that great.
Any way, this post has gone on way too long. We will be back to our irregular Gracie posts soon. And we will also post progress on the house.
WOW!!! Apparently the builders took advantage of the good weather. This week was very rainy early on, so we don't think we will see nearly as much progress this week. Not to mention they are probably out of all the prefabbed bits. We'll be sure to keep everyone updated, though.
also from Easter weekend... we went to a nearby park after we took pics of the lot. Gracie had a lot of fun!
We decided to visit the site on Easter weekend because we heard from the mortgage folks that all is approved. When we got there, the lot was staked out and underground utilities were marked. So we knew they were getting ready. But we got this far before, so we were still holding back our excitement a bit.
t builder, they wouldn't start until you met with the project manager. We figured it was the same thing, but hey, we were there, so why not look at our little plot of dirt...and surprise!!!