House Update 10-8-09

Progress continues on "casa del norte de Stafford." The electrician and plumbers appear to have completed most of the rough in. All the interior framing is done. The driveway is paved. They are hoping to get it painted this week, but the exterior lap board still needs to be put on the front. We spent most of last weekend picking out our lighting fixtures. Due to a mix up, we had to re-pick out our appliances, but luckily what we wanted was still in stock.
Our realtor, Dody, continues to be the best decision we ever made in the house buying process. I use to say that you didn't really need a realtor for buying a home, but I was wrong. It's great to have someone in your corner, especially if its your first time.
We locked in the interest rate this week at 4.875%. It's a bit of gamble... You want to lock in when rates are low, but if you do it too soon, you have to pay to extend it if it goes past 30 days.
We really need to be packing and getting ready to move, but it's been hard to get motivated. Maybe we'll just leave it all and buy new stuff...

 

 

Our Realtor...

Many of you have been following the progress of our house through the Facebook photos. Of course we are pumped about finally having our own place. It's been quite a process, working with the builder, picking out colors and flooring and lighting and appliances.
But, the whole process has been made very smooth by our Realtor, Dody Kettler of Prudential Vista Real Estate. She has been AMAZING! She has treated us like we are her only clients. She has taken time to meet with us at all kinds of hours. She's been aggressive with the builder and his Realtor to make sure we are getting exactly what we are paying for.
If you are looking to buy a home, Christy and I would 100% recommend Dody. Don't live in the Valley? Either move here, or pay Dody to move to where you are at. Trust me, it's worth the money.

If you follow my Twitter or Facebook account, you saw that today was a steady stream of Random Robot Thoughts from Zinger Sandwich.

Now, for your reading pleasure is a summary of the posts, with a bonus story from Reuben on Robot Lie Detectors…

• Just because your robot is good at washing dishes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t let him try some other tasks every once it a while.
• For robots, getting caught in the rain is much more tragic than it is romantic. 
• When your robot is fully charged, don’t worry about unplugging him right away. It’ll stop charging automatically.
• If your robot gets expelled for cheating, and you can’t afford private school, it’s ok. Most robots don’t need to go to school anyway.
• If your robot starts making more money than you do, it’s ok to steal that money. After all…your robot.
• If your robot becomes paralyzed, don’t just get him a wheelchair. Try fixing him first.
• If robots could smile, I think we’d all be a little more open to letting them teach our children.
• A good way to know that your robot has turned evil is to look and see if its eyes are glowing red.
• If you ever get in an argument with a robot, just flip its switch. They probably put it somewhere on the back.

Robot Lie Detector:
"So a man buys a robot from a street vendor. The vendor tells him it is a lie detector robot and that every time someone lies it will punch you according the severeness of the lie. The man is overjoyed and takes it home. Upon seeing his son arrive late home from school, he tells his son to tell the robot what he did. He tell the robot he went to his friends house to study, the robot slaps him on the head. He tells his son "Son this is a lie detector robot and he knows when you are lying I suggest you tell the truth" So the son says he was watching a movie. The father asks about the movie and the son says it was a National Geographic movie, the robot promptly punches him in the lip. "Now son, you need to tell me the truth, what movie where you watching?" With tears in his eyes the son says "OK OK I was watching Vampire Vixens 2000!" "Now son why would you watch that?" When I was your age I would never have watched that kind of movie!" To that the robot gave him a swift upper cut. At this the wife laughs and says "Haha what would you expect? He is your son!" At this the robot walks across the table and delivers a round house kick to her head."

House pictures from the last couple of days are up...

The roofing is complete, the duct work is part way done. The electrician will be in there by early next week with the plumber to follow. Tomorrow we have to pick out our exterior color. Saturday we pick out our lighting fixtures.
We have to time when we lock in our interest rate. We can't lock any earlier than 30 days prior to closing. We don't know when closing is, because it depends on when the house is complete. Right now the rate is 4.875. That's down from 5.000 on Monday. Next week the Fed is auctioning off a bunch of Treasury Bonds, and their rates will affect mortgage rates. So, if we lock now and it's more than 30 days before the house is done, we have to pay to extend the rate. If we wait the rates could move, up or down.

 

To summarize...

On Friday, I did a flood of Twitter/Facebook posts with one liners from Zinger Sandwich.  Below is the complete list...

• I wonder if mocking birds get beat up more than regular birds.
• If you find $50,000 in the wash, you’ve probably waited too long to talk to your kids about robbing banks.
• If your name is actually John Doe, you’re just asking to get murdered.
• If you can’t figure out why your car smells, try removing each dead animal one at a time until you find the culprit.
• I bet right after the Civil War was over, it still took a while to get out of the habit of shooting each other.
• Some people think most UFO sightings are actually weather balloons, but I don’t believe in weather balloons.
• If you were to replace the eggs with babies, I think you’d be surprised at how much longer a game of egg toss lasts.
• Who do you think would win in a fight between a music conductor & a train conductor? Most likely the music conductor, because of the stick.
• Probably one of the most tragic things I’ve ever seen was a game of musical wheelchairs.
• Once you’ve turned your house into a massive refrigerator, a penguin can be a pretty affordable pet.

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did...          

House Progress 9-25-09

It was raining pretty good today, so they didn't get the shingles on. They did do some of the detail work on the inside, and cleaned up most of the scrap lumber.
The shingles are going to be delivered tomorrow. The builder stopped by while we were there. He said they are going to pave the driveway as soon as possible to beat the weather. He said in another 2 1/2 we'll have plumbing, electrical, duct work, painting and the garage slab and doors done. Then he said another 10 days after that to finish up all the details. So, he's saying 4 more weeks. "No problem." Man, I love that guy!
We met with the mortgage lady yesterday to sign another stack of papers. Apparently, according to my credit report, I opened a Wal-Mart charge account in 1975. Pretty good, since I was ONE at the time. But, they said it won't mess up the process. Now we just have to watch the interest rate, and when we think we are 30 days out, lock it in on a day that looks good. It's been between 5.000 and 5.250. We are hoping for 4.875, but 5.000 isn't shabby either.
So, it's still moving along. We are pretty excited. But, we have got to start packing up all of our junk. That part is going to suck.

 

New House Photos! We have a roof... Now we need shingles.