Time Machine (part 4)

[To avoid one, long, endless post of how we got to where we are today, I've broken the background up into several parts—Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.]

Scoob shielded me from most of the headaches related to the construction loan by handling all communication with the bank. He would have shielded me from the bank entirely, except, because we currently own the condo we live in, in order to take on another home loan, Scoob had to include me on the paperwork.

I will say, I gained a new appreciation for my organizational skills, at least with regards to paperwork, during this. I had to pull up bank statements for the previous 4 months (I have accounts at 3 different banks), statements from retirement accounts (I have 2 401(k) accounts, and a Roth IRA), any loan liabilities (thankfully, just an almost paid off student loan), and any other assets (I have some stock in a company I used to work for). I was able to retrieve and pull all this information together in about 15 minutes.

But it was still a pain all around. Between miscommunication, mistakes by the bank, delays by the underwriter, and incredibly confusing instructions, the loan didn't close until the end of February. I won't get into the specifics, but we had a couple minor meltdowns just dealing with the loan.

While waiting for the loan to close, the builders sent us copies of the blueprints and architectural drawings for the house and I geeked out for a few days just pouring over the drawings and thinking about what we could do with the different spaces. Exciting! Scoob teased me about my inner geek as I deciphered the drawings. He then decided to order a design program (Home Designer, which will be helpful with landscaping later, too!) so we could better visualize the possibilities.

The moment the loan closed (we sent off the final notarized page on 2/26, YES!), the supplies started arriving at the lot and the builder began framing to pour the foundation. These photos are from March 2nd! (Thankfully, our friends live in the same neighborhood we're building in, and they've been sending us regular updates!)

And 2 weeks later…

And 3 days after that…

And 2 days after that (yesterday)…

OH. MY. GOD! I had no idea it would go up this quickly!

And that pretty much brings our story up to date.