The decisions that we've had to make in the last three weeks have been plentiful.  We had to pick out laminate color, carpet, vinyl, faucets, sinks, siding color, inside paint color, tub colors, cabinets and counter tops.  The final selection that we actually have a say in will occur tomorrow (we hope) and that is the choosing of the dishwasher, microwave, and stove. 

Last Friday we had our electrical walk-through and the electricians were going to begin the wiring today.  The walls are studded, the roof is on, the door is on, the stairs to the basement are in, and I'm ready to fast-forward to August so that it can be done.  However, I need more time on the side of getting our current house rented out for this fall. 

Lot Leveled

Upon a trip by our lot, it appears that the ground has been leveled, but we haven't heard for sure when our builder plans to start building.  We walked around the property today and guessed as to how much yard we would end up having and where the house would approximately be.

We've decided to go with a triple-plated ceiling in the basement, a finished bathroom in the basement, and hard-surface flooring in the common areas of the house.  We also decided that we'd take the bedroom in the basement through the dry-wall stage and see where we end up.  According to the agreement that we have with the city, we absolutely cannot exceed a purchase price of $150,000. 

Our targeted completion date had been June 30th; however, we are probably looking closer to the end of July or the beginning of August for this to actually happen.  With an expanding family and the arrival of a new baby expected sometime in the middle of September, I just really want the house completed before the new baby comes.   

Patience, but no Progress

Today I have a lot of patience that there has been no progress on the construction of our house.  It's been more than thirty days since our offer was accepted, but the lot remains unchanged since we signed the purchase agreement.  Our builder told us that it was possible, (but not necessarily probable) that ground would be broken by next Friday.  However, we haven't been in touch with the builder since Veteran's Day and essentially have no idea if the EPA and the Historical Association have completed the tasks required prior to groundbreaking.  Perhaps we'll know more soon.  At the moment, I'm content having patience.

Offer Accepted

Our offer was officially accepted and submitted to the City of Cedar Rapids, which means that we have a little more freedom as far as what we can do with our current house.  Our official plan is to rent the house out until perhaps the economy turns around.  Once we have a little more equity in it, it won't be as difficult to sell it for less than what we paid for it.  However, I'm hopeful we'll find a good renter.  For the time being, we'll be living in it.  Today I'm excited, though, because our smallest bathroom in our new house will be bigger than our current bathroom!

A Tough Decision - Pre-existing housing or new construction?

Once upon a time I would have loved to find a fixer-upper type of house that I could make into my own.  However, after having owned a house that was built in the 1940's, I was not as anxious to find a fixer-upper this time around.  This time I wanted a house that I didn't have to "settle" for and one that, if necessary, would actually sell down the road.  After almost two years of looking at pre-existing houses and having our current house on the market for 9 months out of the last two years, when the option to build came along we couldn't afford not to take it.

This week, we met with our builder and put a formal offer on the property that we want.  Our main floor square footage will increase by about 500 square feet from our current house and our basement will be dry and usable.  We will also gain main floor laundry and potentially three bathrooms.

At the moment, we need to decide what exact ceiling height we want on both the main floor and in the basement.  I would like to stick with 8 foot ceilings, but my husband would like to explore the possibility of 9 foot ceilings.  Other options would be to change one of the windows to a long and narrow window in the master bedroom and moving the basement stairway.

What's Better a Triple Plated 8 ft Ceiling or a 9 ft Ceiling?

Since we decided to go with the city grant to purchase a new home, our options are not only monetarily restricted, but are also tied to certain requirements by the city.  Yesterday, we visited a couple of different model homes and were quite please with the amount of space we'll be getting.  I'm sure that it will still fill up rather quickly, but after having lived in just over an 800 square foot house for the past five years, we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. 

Our purpose for visiting the model home was simply to view a triple-plated ceiling in the basement, which gives you a full 8 feet of space in the basement, rather than only leaving 7 1/2 feet or so.  My husband bought a projector capable of having a 16 X 9 foot screen, so he really would prefer 9 foot ceilings in the basement.  However, there is a significant cost difference between having a 9 ft ceiling and triple plating the 8 ft, so we've agreed to do the triple plate.

My only requirement was that the bathroom in the basement be complete before we move in.  Is it entirely necessary?  Probably not; however, I believe it will save some headaches down the road.  What we've agreed on so far is that we will finish the bathroom in the basement and we will have a triple plated ceiling in the basement.  We are still trying to decide to what extent we'd like the bedroom in the basement finished.  That is not a decision we have to make right now though.