Nicholas' Nutball Father Camps Out for New House Lot!

The rumors are true that we've been looking to transfer our flag to a new home ten miles west of here in Garner.

OK, they're not much of a rumor considering that we've been showing the prospective house layout to anyone who even feigns an interest in that subject for the past four months or so. If the interest seems more than feigned or we are a bit delusional for a moment and think that the other party really is interested, we've been more than happy to flog the story of how we're going to use the floorplan to maximum advantage until their eyes positively glaze over due to the boredom...errr...excitement...yeah, that's the ticket! :)

And if this wasn't enough to convince you of that we've been flogging the idea of a new house to every victim we could find, this BLOG entry earlier in May ought to do it when we're importing lot inspectors from Florida! :)

Seriously, we knew when we first got married that our current home was not going to be sufficient to contain us and our stuff ad infinitum. We'd have been at this point a couple of years ago had we not had some unfortunate incidents concerning 9,200 gallons of Clayton's finest water going through Mommy's house right before we were going to put it up for sale, the subsequent rebuilding effort, and then the year of waiting for it to finally sell. But survive these hurdles we did as well as a little one known as Nicholas Ryan Williams who has really taken front stage. And his show does not travel light, let me tell you! The living room on an average day looks like a modern day museum to Fisher Price and various other toy manufacturers who have been donated to said museum by more than a few enablers out there. You know who you are...and so do the pages of this BLOG! Nyah, nyah, nyah... ;)-

About four or so months ago after recovering from the sale of Mommy's house on the other side of Clayton near the Clayton Cultural Center (Rainbow Lanes! :), we started having a look-see round the Raleigh area to see what suited our fancy. We originally started looking for houses with basements and found out quickly that basements are one of the rarest things in this state unless you've got a custom builder. That's rather surprising in a state that has as many tornadoes and hurricanes in a given year that we do (North Carolina is perenially tops on the list of states outside of Tornado Alley...but I think we're going to get spanked this year in the statistics thanks to that big outbreak last week!). We did manage to find two houses with basements...one that was an older home that just wasn't ready to be viewed by the buying public and the other a new-build with all of five inches of a usable back yard...and the rest sloping at a 45 degree angle to a restricted area surrounding a creek. Lovely. None of the other houses in that subdivision had yards that were worth a darn, particularly with a child and a jungle gym in mind.

The next week found us visiting a subdivision in Garner just off Vandora Springs Road after the junction with Buffaloe Road. This is Vandora Pines and we really liked the floorplan for the third house we visited which was an Angela (Elevation "A" with no bay windows). There is a magical moment when one is looking for a home where you can actually see yourself living in the home as you tour it. That was pretty much what we found in that Angela...we were already tossing out uses for particular spaces (like the lower level living room would be re-tasked as Daddy's new office, etc.). (Unfortunately, they don't have the plans online...but never fear...your friendly webmaster will soon have a site up so you can experience the building of the house with us... but I'm getting a little ahead of the story!).

We were interested in Phase II which was delayed by all of the rain we had this spring...they had a heck of a time putting down the road and doing the lot surveys. Toward the middle of April, Sharon Thomas (the builder's representative on site) sent us the packet that explained the process for reserving a lot on the morning of 29 May. Originally, it was going to be a sign up sheet that would be put up the night before but this was changed...but it was first-come, first-served. She had been dropping hints that she had about ten people ready to drop a deposit on a lot and yeah, I know...selling agents do drop those sorts of hints out there to motivate sales but she seemed reasonably convinced of it after having sent out 40 packets the previous week.

Since the first inspection tour, we had been out walking the lots a couple of more times (this time, including Grammy on one of them) after we received the final lot layout (on the Bill Clark homes web site, there is a rough map of Phase II...it may help to have that in a separate window to know where the lots are!). Gramps had originally voted for Lot 66 as the commanding lot but unfortunately the dimensions of the house quickly ruled it out. The Angela is a pretty wide house and we were hoping to be on the sidewalk side and have a decent back yard. Mommy tended to favor Lot 15 (a wide and reasonably deep lot) as her first choice whilst Daddy was on about Lot 68 (a very deep lot). Over time, we would come to agree that Lot 15 would be better suited for the house and give us some elbow room (an important consideration considering the lot is one-third the size of our current lot. It backs on to a wooded area that hasn't been developed in 30 years and doesn't look like it's going to be any time soon and there are some really beautiful oaks in the back we'd love to keep. So we ended up with a selecting order of Lot 15, Lot 16, Lot 68, and finally Lot 62. But we were really keen that we never get past Lot 15 as we think it's the prize of the new phase (a view apparently not shared by the builder as Lot 15 has one of the lowest premiums of any of the lots in the new section and the only ones without a premium are some seriously lousy lots below the street level and lower than any of the others that are going to experience some serious flooding when it rains). The slope in the front of Lot 15 really isn't bad at all and the drainage down to Lot 14 (which has the highest premium, mind you!) is going to be truly excellent! :) The only real downside is that North Carolina builders seem hell-bent on putting sidewalks only on one side of the street in this state...and what stinks worse is that the sidewalk is on our side...until it crosses over at Lot 66. Grrrrrrr.....

Sharon had indicated that everyone who was kicking dirt on the lots were looking at different things. We knew of a couple from New Jersey who were aiming only for cul-de-sac lots but we didn't know what the others might be interested in taking. So it was decided that Daddy would wake up early today to stake out a selecting position and hopefully be there to take the first lot. You might say that getting up at 0430 and showing up at 0505 when lots were going to be reserved starting at 1000 might be a tad overkill...but it was well justified when the Deans arrived on scene at 0545 (that's forty minutes later!).

Of course, being first in the queue does allow one the opportunity to have a bit of fun, especially when Thomas seemed very interested in what lot I was going take. It's fun playing with one's cards close to one's vest...but I decided to let him off the hook after he volunteered he was aiming for Lot 12 in the cul-de-sac. After quickly putting him at ease, we had a great time hanging out and getting to know one another. For the first hour, his lovely lady (Susan) relaxed in their car (smart lady, too!) but then joined our conversation which needed to move a bit when the sprinklers started. He's a counsellor at Johnston Community College and she's going to be working at a Raleigh CPA's office (that could come in handy!) and this is their first foray into real-estate. That made the time pass really well as Daddy got to go into lecture mode and toss out some freebies they might want to consider during the process. :)

We were expecting the couple from New Jersey round about 0700 but they rolled in at 0835 to get the third selection in this year's draft. And naturally, we had to screw with them a bit for being late (but hey, they did have to deal with the nasty Memorial Day weekend traffic from New Jersey...and man was I-95 between Smithfield and Four Oaks much nastier than usual where it was shut down for a few hours a couple of times). And they are from a really pretty part of New Jersey near Pennsylvania and New York...which is a far cry from Joisey which is usually identified by an exit number! :) They were anxious to select Lot 13...and their wish was granted, much to their relief. It looks like Daddy might well have another job this summer...not only will he capture the progress of our house but also for our friends from New Jersey who will likely be there during most of their construction. Having on-site human intelligence resources is a nice thing... :)

Shortly before 0900, Mommy calls to see what's going on over there in Garner. She was quite pleased to learn that Lot 15 was going to be the number one selection in the draft and would soon be on her way with Nicholas in tow.

Sharon shows up shortly before 0930 and the look on her face as she pulled in her big black Suburban land-abuser could be roughly translated as I knew which bunch of nutballs were going to be out here waiting for me. The smile got even wider when she learned of the drafting order...she'd guessed that one right as well!

From that point on, it was pretty much a blur. Lot 12 was technically signed first as Mommy hadn't arrived yet, but Lot 15 was very clearly off the table. And soon enough, we had the paper to prove that...and we were a bit lighter in the wallet and much lighter on our toes because we are positively thrilled and excited that we are on the path to *OUR NEW HOME*! Of course, there was the obligatory pictures with the new SOLD sign and time to let Nicholas explore what will soon be his new home (the twigs and the pine cones are mighty tasty!). Next up for us is to actually write out the contract...and then fork over a boatload more money for upgrades...but the end result will be well worth it.

Our current home will be going on the market soon (anyone want a really nice house in Clayton on a great lot...we've got a great deal for ya!). I'll be doing up a web site soon so you'll be able to follow along with the construction of Nicholas' (and ours!) new home. Please be patient with us as we babysit the builder and keep them on the straight and narrow...we're going to be busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

But come Thanksgiving all of this will have been worth it and we can't wait to invite you into our new home!