Fin

Its official. We have signed the 3,500 papers required, I have developed carpal tunnel...but all worth it. We own our home!! It has been an amazing journey and we loved every aspect of it. All the stress, excitement, worries, elation, ups, and downs seem to fade away in the pure satisfaction..and it feels so good. Now we begin the scurry of moving. It will really sink in, I think, that first night we sleep there. I am looking only forward to that, and spending as much time as I can with my family in our new home.

Keys come tomorrow...

Walk on through to the other side

Just got done with our pre-settlement walk-through. It was great. Our PM was very thorough and gave us some fantastic maintenance tips. We only found a few minor things for the punch list. A few paint touch-ups, some silicone here and there, etc. It was great. We are very very pleased with the final outcome of our new home...

Now off to the title company at 3pm to sign our lives away...I will check in after that(well after I stop sobbing in the corner like a school girl).

Some things suck, and some things dont

What doesn't suck:

So we officially have less than 48 hours until we sign our lives away. I am so excited. We get the keys sometime around noon on Friday. It has really gone quick. I really cant believe we are there, and its happening.

What does suck(literally):

So while talking to my brother in-law, and perusing the Internet, I found what seems to be the BEST solution for a back up sump pump. Some people told me to get a battery back up sump pump, however after the horror stories, I decided against that. I am going to use a water pressure back up that uses your existing cold water pressure.

Here are my cons with the battery ones, that aren't present in the the water pressure:

1. Need to replace the battery every 18-24 months, cost in between $150 and $300. Just about the price of a new unit.

2. The battery is constantly charging, using electricity.

3. The battery will only last around 10-12 hours of continuous service. Meaning if your power is out for more than that(look at what these storms just did to the east coast) you are literally screwed.


This is the unit I am going with, cost is $299.00.

http://www.basepump.com/Basepump.htm



Basepump is an extremely reliable, very powerful, water powered backup sump pump system. With no battery to wear out or maintain, no charger to plug in or monitor, it is designed as an automatic, independent system from the primary sump pump. Basepump is essentially in a class by itself. Mounted on the ceiling, high above the sump, it doesn't have to fight the downward force of the water that most competitors' pumps must push up vertically. For this reason, Basepump consistently removes more water per hour than other water powered backup sump pumps and even rivals the best battery powered backup sump pumps, short- and long- term. Period. So instead of a flooded basement because of a sump pump failure or a power failure, install a water powered Basepump backup sump pump before it happens.

When the water in your sump rises above normal for any reason, the Basepump float is lifted. This activates a valve, sending municipal water under pressure through the Basepump Ejector. Then, acting like a giant soda straw, it draws the sump water up and ejects it to the outdoors. As the float returns to its lowest level, the pumping stops after a pre-set period of time, draining the sump down until the water rises above normal again and the cycle starts all over again.

If you build it, she will shop..

So after getting the "final approval" we let loose this weekend and pretty much got most of the "essential" items to move in taken care of. We had already purchased our family room furniture, refrigerator, and garage door opener. This weekend we purchased our blinds, ceiling fans, morning room chandelier, floor lamps, office desk, dehumidifier, backup sump pump system, and more. It was fun and relieving to get all that out of the way. Here are some pics of a few things we got:

The brushed nickel chandelier for the morning room. Lowes($150)

72" Torchiere floor lamps. We fot 3 of them. they are brushed nickel to go with the rest of the lisght fixtures. ($39.95 each, Home Depot)

Ceiling Fan for master bedroom ($80, Lowes)

Bought 2 of these. For kids bedrooms.($70, Lowes)

White Faux Wood Blind, 2 in. Slats, inside window mount, had to buy A LOT of these. Lol.($32.25 each, Home Depot)

Winix 50 Pint dehumidifier. Has bucket, gravity drain, and a pump drain. Lost of cool features and settings. Many people dont think about Dehum, but in a new house, they are crucial. ($299 - 20% from coupon i got in the mail. Bed, Bath, and Beyond)

I found that approval from others is nice...

Just heard from our loan processor at NVR, Lesley. She called and told us that we have final approval and the green light to close. WOOHOO. This was the last thing i was stressing about. She said we can now deposit money, spend money, charge stuff, whatever we want. NICE!!! (not that we have really been adhering to that). Now all we have to do is wait for next Thursday, take our ID's and a check for closing costs and the house is ours. Super stoked!

Pour me a stiff one of the hard stuff...

Went by the house and noticed something new..... we have a driveway, walkway, and sidewalks. Nice. Seeings we close in 9 days, I was wondering when that would go in. Sucks for the movers, the drive will be too new for them to park the truck on, so they will be hauling everything from the street. Ouch.

Close up before the driveway, but after the cloumn was painted and the carraige lights are in. Nice.

Sneaky Storage...love it

I saw this and for me it may be a must have.
From Rev-A-Shelf, another cool product. Tired of wet, stinky sponges sitting out on the sink...
Found this kit at Lowes -
http://www.lowes.com/pd_297865-1214-6572-14W-5_0__?productId=3031321&Ntt=rev-a-shelf#BVRRWidgetID