We are getting closer and closer to moving into our new house. I can scarcely believe it! Right now, all the work is scheduled to be complete at the end of the first week in August, but we’re scheduling the closing on our permanent loan for a couple weeks later to leave some contingency time in case something goes wrong. A mid-August move-in date would mean seven months from start to finish (the original estimate from the builder was six to eight months).

 

We are getting close to locking in a 4.5% interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage. We’ve turned in all the paperwork; we’re just waiting to

One of the nice things about the builder we chose for our house is that the company is a one-stop shop from real estate to architecture to construction. Of course there are definite drawbacks to this set-up (for example, I met with another architect who argued that it was better to separate out the architecture from the construction), but Matt and I have appreciated the simplicity of the process.

Part of their process includes limiting our choices (which I sometimes appreciate and sometimes feel constricted by). For example, we had a choice between two bathtubs, two types of faucets, two types of pendant lights, etc.

When it comes to bathroom