Stake out

Monday morning, Chris called us and asked if we could meet at the land. It was a cold blustery day, but after a little while, we figured out where we wanted to build our house. We put it back 150 feet off the road to help minimize the dust and put it square to the road. We had considered having it angled, but putting it square just seemed like the best place for it.

Final Bid

After a little more than a month of calling for bids and trying to find the best deals possible, CL Construction finally got us to where we needed to be. We knew we would have to do without some stuff and there were a few things we'd have to do by ourselves, but we managed to reach our target range. After a quick check with Grant (our construction loan guy) and Taylor (our final mortgage guy) we got the go ahead! Another reason for us to be thankful on the day before Thanksgiving!

Apartment

Now that the house was sold, we needed a place to stay in the mean time. We hunted around and narrowed our options to 5 places. We scheduled showings for each of the places and spent each noon and evening touring them.

The first place we saw was big, but was in a really rough area and the neighbors seemed a little scary. There were both 2 and 3 bedroom apartments available, but the washers were at the end of the hall. It was not a good fit for our family.

The second place we saw was the biggest. It was a 3 bedroom and had an indoor pool. Unfortunately, it was a long way from Jeremy's work and had no washers in the room. It was also fairly pricey.

The third place we saw was a 2 bedroom apartment with a loft. It was blocks from Jeremy's work and it had in unit washer/dryer. The master bedroom had a huge closet and there was a garage available. We really liked this place and had mostly decided on it. However, we had an appointment that night and one the next day.

That evening we saw one more unit, but after seeing the narrow stairway, the distance from Jeremy's work, and the layout, we decided that we were going to be living in the ones we had seen earlier that day. We canceled the appointment we had for that evening and instead went to sign a lease.

We leased an apartment in the Alena Courts division of Chateau Development where we will live until our dream house is ready. We moved in November 19th and 20th with the help of our family (Thanks guys!).

Sold!

On October 18th we woke up a little late. We had just returned from a weekend trip to visit Jeremy's parents, celebrate Bernadette's birthday, and meet our new niece. Jeremy had the day off of work since it was Bernadette's 4th birthday. Ann, our Realtor, called us at a little after 8:00 AM to ask if we would be able to have the house ready for a showing that day at 5. We had planned a few fun activities for the birthday girl, so we stayed out until well after 6.

We weren't sure if anyone had been there as the lights were still on and the wasn't a card, but our Realtor confirmed someone had been there. We didn't think much about it at that point. We were used to showings that didn't amount to much.

However, the next day, Ann called us to say that the couple who had been shown our house "love-love-loved it". We were encouraged by the news, but tried not to get our hopes up until Ann told us that their Realtor wanted to meet with us in person to make an offer!

We met their Realtor and found out the situation. The couple, it turns out, was from West Virginia and was moving to Lincoln for the husband to start his career in Soils. They had a young girl and just loved our house for their family. They presented an offer and it was a great deal for both of us. We got over 96% of our asking price, which is great for the market we were selling in. We signed the papers and put up the "Sold" sign.

It's ours!

From the north drive facing south. Our land goes to the
second set of trees you can see. 

September flew by and before we knew it, it was the last week. Our closing date was set for September 30th. Closing was at 4 that day, so we dropped off the girls with a sitter (except the baby who was still too young to leave her Mama). We then drove to the title company where we handed them our big check (we needed 20% down). This wasn't the first time at a title company for us, as we had bought our house that we live in now. However, it was a new experience buying land that didn't have the house on it yet.

From the north drive facing east. Most of the trees in this
shot our on our property.

We signed the papers and were out in about 30 minutes. To celebrate, we got some supper, picked up the girls, and then drove out to our new land.

One of our major concerns was mowing the grass out there. It was 5 acres with most of that covered in grass that came up to Jeremy's shoulders the last time we had visited. However, on this day, we were surprised to find that the grass had been mowed, raked, baled, and the bales removed.

We got the girls out and let them run around a little bit. They really enjoyed the wide open space. We told Clare that this is where we are going to build our castle and she wanted to get started right away. Both girls were encouraging us to "get the shovel and start digging" as if we were going to build our house that night. While it was cute, it did express a feeling we all had to get this process moving faster.

Listing Agent

As we tried to sell our house, we realized that we just didn't have the time or resources to advertise like we needed to. We ended up deciding to list with a Realtor with the hopes that we would sell soon enough to start building this fall.

We asked for recommendations of good, high energy Realtors and then we prayed about it. We then let God guide us by putting all the names in a hat and drawing. Just to be sure, each of us (not counting baby Felicity) drew one name out. Kati and the two girls drew the same name out while Jeremy drew a different one. Then just between the two names, we drew one last time, and that was that. God was obviously sending us a message by having us draw the same name 4 of 5 times.

We emailed Ann Francis on September 14th and she responded to us the next day. We met with her and showed her the house. She gave us some recommendations and we got to work.

We added new comforters to the beds, covered the chair in the girls room, rearranging the living room, and various other small tips. We completed these as quickly as we could and then we put the house up for sale with Ann.

The first weekend, we had an open house, but after three couples came through with no real interest, we were a little discouraged. Three weeks later with another open house and only one agent doing a showing left us feeling pretty concerned. Was this another way God was telling us no?



We just kept praying for guidance and hoping that God would let us know what we were supposed to do.

Finished Plans

We finally got our finished plans and here is what we ended up with.

• Front Elevation
• Foundation
• Main Floor
• Second Floor
• Details

It is one of those houses that people ask questions about, but it is perfect for us.