Let There Be Drywall!

So a few good things happened in the past few days. On Saturday we get an email from Hugh (the selling agent for Shea Homes, the company that's building our home) saying that they had upped the closing cost credit for people buying into Phase 3 of Reflections from $12,000 to $15,000. Now, since we bought into Phase 1 he wanted to see if they could go back and increase our credit too to make it all fair, and he did. So, that was good news! Once the closing costs are covered if there is anything of the $15k credit left over we can use it to buy down the rate, which would be really nice. Plus, it gave us a chance to walkthrough our unit again and see the progress as now all of the drywall is up (pictures below).

Then today I get a call from Natalie at the Design Center saying that they had underestimated our flooring credit originally and that the cost of our hardwood floors will actually be $1,300 less than originally thought. So, we get to knock that off our purchase price. Not too shabby!

Even though the entire process isn't completely finished yet, I must say that I'm very impressed with Shea Homes and the service we've received from all departments of their company (sales, financing and design). We heard good things from other people going into the transaction and everything so far has been great with them. Technically they didn't have to go back and adjust out closing credit and flooring credit, but by doing so it shows a lot of integrity on their end which gives Bridget and myself confidence in them and peace of mind. The estimated closing date still hasn't been changed from 12/7 yet, but seeing the amount of progress they've made in such a short amount of time leaves no doubt in my mind that they'll be done before the 11/30 deadline for the $8,000 first time home buyer credit.

And now, the pictures of the drywall. We have walls!















The Garage















The Living Room
















I promise our kitchen will look better




















Bridget wondering when I'll stop taking pictures





















Gonna wall mount the 40" LCD in the office right there... can't wait

Fun at the Design Center

We took the entire entourage to the design center with us, consisting of Chris, Christina, Bethany, Lindsay and Bridget's mom. Good thing we had our entire committee there, too, as sometimes I get a little carried away with the upgrades and they were able to reign me in when I started to get out of control. :)

Thankfully, Chrissy (the designer working with us) was a good sport and wasn't flustered by the mini-army that showed up at the door. Two hours later we still didn't have everything finalized, though that was due mostly to a glitch in their system. We went back a few days later (just me and Bridget this time) and firmed up all of our choices. It was quite a process, but once everything is done it will have been well worth it!

















(Almost) The Entire Crew


















Christina & Bethany considering the options
















Decisions, decisions
















Chris giving the upstairs carpet a thorough test

















Chrissy was definitely a trooper handling all of our craziness

Let the Framing Begin!

Bridget and I swung by our new home this weekend to snap some pictures of the progress. Last weekend there was only a concrete foundation, but within a week they got the framing for the first floor up already. Nice to see some progress!















Our garage... Yikes!

















The front of our house






Bridget in our "kitchen"






The living room (left) and dining area (right)

Some Basic Info (and model pics)...

So, a little 411 on the home we're in the process of buying. The neighborhood is in a new community in Oxnard, CA called RiverPark. Those of you curious enough to check out the neighborhood can click here for more info. The community itself has been around for three years and will continue to add homes until 2012 or so. Bridget and I are especially excited about The Collection, a 600,00 sq ft "open-air, lifestyle center" complete with a 16 screen movie theater, Whole Foods and other fun shops and restaurants (and, God willing, Starbucks) set to open in the fall of 2010.

As for the unit itself, it's a 3BR/2.5BA townhome which comes standard with granite countertops, recessed lighting, 2-car attached garage and all major appliances (fridge, washer/dryer, range, dishwasher and microwave). On the 14th of this month we'll be going to their design center to pick various upgrades for the home, such as hardwood floors, the color of the granite and cabinets, in-ceiling surround sound (which makes me beyond excited) and various other little touches. We'll post more when we come back and have made all of our choices.

Since it's still a couple of months before we can post pictures of any substance of our new place I'll post some pictures of the models below so that you can get a sense of the layout and some of the design options.




We're the one with the walkway right in front of the flag. Well, we will be in November :)

What the front of our home will look like

This isn't the layout of our kitchen, but it's the flooring and cabinetry we're going with. We may go with tan granite for the counters instead, but definitely stainless steel appliances instead of the black.

The actual layout of our kitchen

Living room

What exactly we're doing here, and why...

Dear friends, family and curious onlookers:

As many of you know, Bridget and I are in the process of buying a new home. We're currently in escrow, but since it's a brand new construction and our actual townhome hasn't been built yet, it's going to be a looooooong escrow. The expected close date is the end of November... four months from now. Yikes!

Since building a home is such an exciting process and a lot of people have been asking for status updates, Bridget and I thought it would be a good idea to create this blog so that we can update everyone on the progress and post some pictures and videos along the way.

It could be a long, bumpy ride. But, with a little luck and a lot of help from the Big Guy upstairs we should make it through and move into our new home in a few months. Stay tuned!