It is finally done!

Today I took the day off work to head to Chino so that Dan and I could do the first inspection of our finished house. The most amazing thing to me about purchasing a new home is that it comes with customer service and a warranty. Dave, our customer service agent, walked us through the house to explain how everything works and help us create a punch list for the construction manager so that he can fix all the little imperfections. It took us over three hours to do this but halfway through the tour our selling agent, Melissa, surprised us with a lunch in our new kitchen! So today Dan and I hosted our first party in our new house with the customer service agent, selling agent, and all the construction managers! Too bad we didn't have any seats for them. Next Monday, Sept. 29th, we close escrow and get our keys. I seriously can't believe this is happening! The packing has been a lot of work but the end result will be SO worth it. We can't wait for company!

Canopy Row Cottage

P.S. Sorry for all the typos; I did this quickly and I'm too busy to go back and fix it!

A tale of two houses. . .

We are moving in two weeks and this past week we (mostly Dan) embarked on the adventure of finding renters for our Long Beach house. Tomorrow we will hopefully sign a sweet little family to a two-year lease on our house. Our Chino house will be finished by this Friday (Sept. 19th) and then we get to begin to move!

It has been interesting having strangers come walk through your house scrutinizing it. I thought it would be difficult to find people to pay the $2400 price tag but we had 15 walk throughs in five days! The things that people most liked about our house were the colors of the walls, the backyard oasis (as Dan calls it in our rental ad), the loft space, and the fireplace. The things most people didn't like were the things I don't like about the house: how small the two bedrooms are, lack of a closet in the master bedroom (which technically declassifies it as a bedroom), and that the pool isn't heated. We will have to rectify the closet situation sometime in the future and I would still like to upgrade the kitchen space a bit with tiled floors, new appliances, and granite countertops. But for now our renters seem extremely happy with the property. I think they love the neighborhood.

Well tomorrow I get to go to Chino to check on the progress on Canopy Row Cottage (as I so fondly now call our new house). The floors, countertops, and other details have been installed since we've last been there. I'll post some new pictures soon after we get back from our visit.

We have grass!!!

One month and counting!!!

On Friday Dan and I had to make another trip out to Hidden Hollow for a VERY fun reason. Standard Pacific homes (our builder) called us to tell us they are dropping the price of the house again by $21K bringing the grand total to $381K which includes $23K in upgrades!!! We couldn't believe it! Since we reserved the house in mid-July the price has dropped $46K for a total of $121 off the price of the house. I am amazed at God's generosity and goodness. Since we were in town we visited our new house again and I snapped several update pictures for you all. Since we were last there the interior painting has been finished and the baseboards put in. The interior doors have been installed as well as the hardware. The front door has been painted a nice dark blue/green. The porch and walkway cement has been layed, the side yard wal has been built, several trees have been planted, the central air unit installed, and probably a lot of other things we can't yet see. We met the construction manager on Friday (he was so nice!) and he told us about the things they plan to do to our house.
Today (Saturday) they will finish installing the sprinkler systems as well as the rest of the landscaping. They will also paint the shutters the same dark blue/green color as the front door. This week the granite and flooring is going to be installed as well. The house should be finished by Sept. 19th and our walk through with the construction manager will be on Sept. 22nd. We officially close escrow and take possession of the house on Sept. 29th. We have three other police officers in our neighborhood so far but we still have no neighbors in the house next to ours or across from ours. We are really excited to meet our new neighbors soon!

We have a move-in date!!!

This past Sunday Dan and I went to finish our paperwork and to visit our new house. Our official moving day is September 29th!!! We are very excited to say the least. The house will actually be done on Sept. 22nd when we will do our offical walk-through inspection.
On Sunday when we were there I was surprised at how quickly the house is coming along. The kitchen cabinets are up, the ceilings are painted, and the recessed lights already have their light bulbs. All the stone work and exterior painting is finished and it looks like they are about ready to begin preping the walls for paint. Dan and I climbed through the house and were excited to plan out how we will use each room.
The house next to ours is still available. . .any takers??? It is 2,800 square feet 4 bed 3 bath american colonial style (light green, white trim, with red shutters) for $416,000 (includes stainles steel applicances, recessed lighting, hardwood floors, granite countertops, etc.)

More Treasure

My second great find on craigslist: this pair of chairs!