One large contract, one larger house in five months!

The clock has started ticking...we're now officially committed to the building of the new house in Garner on Lot 15 in Vandora Pines. Or as they say, we ought to be!

Today was the payoff for the last few months of constantly asking questions on how much this upgrade would cost or if they could install an in-wall ironing board or fussing about how the telecommunications system would be wired (OK, that would be that nerdy nutball of a Daddy who cares about that!).

That's right...the dreaded contract to build. In this lovely document, it pays to be anal-retentive and stick everything in the document that you possibly can because if you change things more than thirty days after signing, you will pay a pretty penalty to do so. Fortunately, this was made a bit easier by constantly pestering poor Ms. Thomas with all sorts of off-the-wall questions and building a rather large Excel spreadsheet with what we wanted to upgrade (as much as was known...lot clearing, carpeting, and lighting are the unknowns).

Even with that legwork, we were still breaking seal on the model home down the street this morning to see if putting the fireplace in the corner of the family room would work out. So out with the measuring tape we go and we determined that it'd be a really tough fit. I'd have to say that the family room is the one room we're finding to be a bit limiting...but if that's the worst we have to contend with, then we're pretty darned lucky all things considered. What makes it hard to work with is that our furniture and entertainment center if not properly placed can create some awkward walkways because of the stairs and the door to the guest room. We finally decided to push the fireplace out into the backyard (so that it's flush mounted) and ditch the TV shelf that was built above the fireplace (when the fireplace was pushed into the room so that the back of the fireplace was flush with the back wall of the house).

The actual contract writing ceremony itself was pretty anti-climactic because of our spreadsheet and the fact that we'd pretty much talked everything through before walking through the door with our agent (we're getting a 1% break on commission and we don't have to pay her to represent us on the buying...not that she has to do much there because it's pretty much non-negotiable pricing). We didn't set a record in upgrades and we're not done yet...but yeah, the total of known upgrades is fairly impressive and will only get more so. Even so, we are getting a much nicer house in Wake County (just south of Raleigh) for a pretty decent price considering what North Raleigh, Cary, and Apex are going for these days.

Well, anti-climactic until it came time to cut a check for part of the upgrades up front (which is a bit unusual but I can understand them not wanting to put in a bunch of goofy upgrades that make the house harder to sell later). It's pretty painful writing non-refundable on that check...but there is joy in knowing that we're now on our way (cue Phil Collins' catchy tune from Brother Bear!) to our new home. Targeted closing date is 12 November 2004 (one day after Veteran's Day) but Ms. Thomas indicates that they typically move that date in and have never missed a closing date yet.

Now that the contract is official, they'll be clearing off the lot and will have the house up fairly quickly if the others in the neighbourhood are anything to go by. Next up for us, picking carpets, counter and cabinet colors, and the lighting fixtures.