Progress Week 2: Footers Now in Place for Our Rome :)

Footers have now been been poured!

This week they poured the footers for our Rome.  The way our Project Manager explained it - the footers will hold the walls in which the home will sit on. 

So this will sit over the weekend and next week he said weather pending, they should be ready to pour the Walls :)

They are shooting to have lumber delivered around April 6th, again, weather pending.

So far, this weather has been weird and unpredictable to say the least her in Pennsylvania.  The day after the first day of spring it snowed.  Today the weather is nice.  So who the who knows what it will be like next week.

Will keep you posted :)

It's Finally Real: Broke Ground Today! Let the Construction Begin :)

The title pretty much says it all.  I can't believe it's finally happening!  They Broke Ground Today!  My project manager said they will probably be digging for 2 days and will put post in place around Thursday.  This is so exciting!  Now let's Turn a Hole into a House  :)

OMG! Construction Starts on Monday! Pre-Construction Meeting Moved Up!

I just got a call from my SR!  They wanted to move up my Pre-Construction Meeting to Friday, tomorrow because they moved my house up on schedule so they are going to start construction on MONDAY 3/17 !!!

I am so excited! I will be so happy when this long journey of downsizing comes to a close!

Update:  So there is not too much to discuss on the Pre-Construction Meeting.  My Project Manager, Wade, was very nice!  Basically we just re-confirmed all the options he had were updated and correct from our last change meeting which everything was correct.

Some minor things we learned that we were not aware of:

Sump Pump - so since our lot is on a hillside, for precaution purposes our house will have a Sump Pump - short and sweet explanation is the Sump Pump keeps water from getting into our house/basement.

Energy Star - There is a fan that comes on every hour for 15 minutes in the upstairs hall bathroom to keep the air circulating.

Hall Bath and Master Bath - The 1 Piece Shower Units were upgraded last year to a nicer model which has little squares instead of being solid material which likes very nice.  (Once this is installed later I will upload a pic).  Aside from getting Ceramic Tile, which I can live without cleaning the grout, this is about as fancy as its gonna get in our Master Bath LOL!  I'm fine with that - since I was the one that had to take a toothbrush and bleach once a month and scrub the grout at the old house!!  NO THANK YOU!!!  LOL!!

The Depth of Our House and Backyard or NOT LOL - OK I didn't realize how HUGE this house is LOL!   The back of our house basically takes up our entire backyard LOL!  Once we add our deck/patio - there will only be a very small strip of grass to cut straight across the back of the base of the hillside and that'll be it!  So we're happy about that being that our kids are grown and no one is ever too thrilled about cutting the grass, this will be PERFECT!  I know! I know! We're kind of weird not wanting much backyard huh LOL!  BUT we really don't need it - it's more of a pain in the butt to maintain from our prospective.  Plus I'm not an outdoor person, I'm SCARED TO DEATH of Bugs and Spiders! Like really really bad!  LOL!  We do love cooking out though, so the deck will be our hangout when we do go outside. :) 

Oh, Sorry future grandbabies, Nana and Pap will just have to take you to the playground as they'll be no room for a play yard out back LOL.

Here is our Lot for our Rome Model with Ryan Homes

This is our Lot and Future Home Site :)

Here is the lot we picked - I think I forgot to post it earlier LOL!  Not too crazy about the hillside but this lot had no premium which was important for us to keep cost down. 
We will have an underground basement which was a must for us as I am not a fan of walkout basements.  Other then the hillside behind the house - the lot is very flat.  I think we'll love it :)

One downside is our community does not have sidewalks or street lights which I'm not happy about but I can live with.  Nor does it have a Club House but our HOA fees are also only $12 a month.  So those communities come at a higher cost and just depending on what you as a family are looking for in a community it may work or it may not work for your family.  It works perfectly for us as this is our 3rd time building and we've experienced the best of both worlds - both a community without a clubhouse and one with a Club House and Pool.  Honestly we never ever used the Pool and can count on one hand how many times I utilized the gym.  Not to mention our kids are grown!  So we'll take the community with no Club House/Pool for $68 a month less  please LOL!  :)

NVR - OMG!! Just Got Our MORTGAGE APPROVAL!!!!

We were out all day and when we got home we opened our email to find our MORTGAGE APPROVAL!  I am ecstatic!  I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I cried and thanked God for about 5 minutes straight LOL!!!  Anyone who read my first post knows this has been a very long and hard journey.  I am so glad the wait is over and now we can move forward from here to build our GORGEOUS ROME!!

It was a very long wait because I am self employed.  But my loan rep was amazing and getting things done and it was so worth the wait!

Plan Furniture Placement BEFORE Guardian Pre-Wire Meeting - Helpful Online Tool

It's important to plan furniture placement prior to your meeting with Guardian.  This will help you figure out where you need TV Wallmounts, Cable Outlets, Internet Plugs etc.

I found this neat little tool online that might be helpful to you - Click Here to Visit Plan Your Room.

Also be sure to check out my post here where I go more into detail about how to prepare properly for your Guardian Pre-Wire Meeting - Click Here.