Countdown to closing!

We're T-minus 12 days to closing on our house! With Black Friday coming up, we're scoping out the best deals possible and planning our fridge and washer & dryer purchases. Best Buy, here we come!

Who's got a rate lock? This guy, and girl, and toddler and baby!

Many of you current homeowners and soon to be homeowners understand the anxiety that goes with locking in your rate. Do I lock in today and it could be lower tomorrow? Or worst, if I don't lock in, then the rates rise!

Well I'm happy to say we jumped off of the rate lock merry-go-round and I think it was just at the right time. For the last week, I stared at the rates on the lender's web site (and no it was not NVR). And they were going down. We planned to lock our rate today but looking at the trend that was taking place we could not wait any longer.

The rates began to creep up only a small tick but not much at all. But seeing this two days in a row, we decided to lock immediately. And I have to say I'm glad we did. The next day it was up .2% and by the end of the day .225%. It has not lowered yet and I have to say I am over-thrilled with the rate we received. :-)

Now I will take a moment to say something about why we didn't go with NVR. At the time we officially decided to move on from them, our drywall was hung and we still did not have an approval. We decided to go with SunTrust as our lender of choice. From the time we started our initial conversation with them until the time we had our approval, it took them all of two weeks. TWO WEEKS! Something NVR had not done in 3.5 months. I have no bitter feelings, but the truth of the matter is their process is flawed and to be such a well-regarded builder, they should be ashamed with the way in which the mortgage arm of the company operates.

Nonetheless, working with our Loan Officer at SunTrust has been a true blessing and to make matters even better, our rate with SunTrust was a whole .4% lower than what we were offered by NVR.

Now down to the home stretch of completing the home and making that closing date :-)

DJ

Lightening Speed

What can I say, we went from no progress to tons of progress in 2 weeks! Since our last post, it seems like our house went from a wood frame to a real house in the blink of an eye.

Done so far:
Framing
Drywall
Electrical work
Asphault poured for driveway, sidewalks, patio
Columns installed
Stair rails installed
Kitchen cabinets installed
Bathroom vanities installed
Surround tile installed in the bathrooms

Siding is supposed to begin today. And...we have an estimated final walkthrough of 12/4 and we've locked in our interest rate! Whew!

All good news, right? Yes, but we've had a few hiccups along the way. Good thing my husband is Type A and checks on the house way more often than I do.

So yesterday, he did a random stop-by in the middle of the workday (which we highly suggest since they're working all day and when you see it, it's done). He walked in on the tile guys installing cabinets and tile. And what do you know? Our cabinet hardware was WRONG (nickel was installed and it should have been bronze) and our upstairs bathroom had the WRONG tile installed. All of those items were correct on our worksheet that the project manager had, but nobody bothered to check locations before installing.

You'd think that's what the project manager is for, correct? You know, to verify that the items delivered were the actual items ordered? Or that the tile you are getting ready to install really does belong in that room?

Maybe it's just me to think it should be that organized...

Anyway, our advice is to do random drop-ins. You might catch something wrong in time to fix it before it ruins a closing date.

Enjoy some of our pics and more to come!

TJ