Monday, May 7, 2007
Floorplan
Here is the floorplan we selected. It is the "Dover," and we added the optional breakfast bay, the 4' extension to the owner's bedroom, a fireplace, and the "deluxe" owner's bath (with a larger tub, separate shower, and double vanities). We also got the cathedral ceiling, but for some reason that is not shown on the floor plan!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Location, location, location...
Everybody keeps asking "Where is The Highlands?" So, here is a map of the southern part of Bloomington, showing where our new home is being built. (Yes, the area is so new that the streets do not even show up on the map yet.)
Back again
We stopped back at The Highlands today to finish up some paperwork that needed to be changed. Everything went well, hopefully everything is now properly prepared and signed, and now we can just sit back wait for the construction to begin (in about 90 days!).
Emilie standing by the "Future Homeowner Parking" sign at the model home.
Derek posing by the entrance to The Highlands.
Here were are by the entrance to The Highlands. (Yes, a very nice couple saw us, stopped their car, and offered to take our picture since we were new homeowners!)
Emilie standing by the "Future Homeowner Parking" sign at the model home.
Derek posing by the entrance to The Highlands.
Here were are by the entrance to The Highlands. (Yes, a very nice couple saw us, stopped their car, and offered to take our picture since we were new homeowners!)Friday, May 4, 2007
Applying for the mortgage
Wednesday, May 2, I applied for our loan. Due to scheduling issues, it just worked out better for me to meet the loan officer, Tia, in Indianapolis. (Emilie was giving a final that day and couldn't make it up to Indy.) When I arrived at the office, the sign by the door of the office said "Beazer Mortgage Welcomes: Johnson." I felt famous!
It is amazing how many different loan options there are. Conventional loans, FHA loans, 10% down, 5% down, 80/20, 75/25, 30/15... And the jargon and abbreviations are so confusing: APR, ARM, Balloon Payment, CLTV, Escrow, Lock, LTV, PMI, Points... After just a few minutes, I was pretty dizzy. But Tia helped explain everything I didn't already now.
After working with Tia for a while, and basically providing her our entire life story (where we have lived, where we have worked, how much money we make, how much we save, how much we owe, the name of our first childhood pet, etc.), we finally got a loan application printed out. I then brought it home for Emilie to review and sign, and we will drop it off so they can start processing our application.
We should hear something within 30 days or so (hopefully its an approval!). However, we do not really have to set anything in stone until about 30-60 days before closing, so we can change things (type of loan, points, etc.) around in the meantime. The closing will be when the house is all finished, which is still six to eight months away!
It is amazing how many different loan options there are. Conventional loans, FHA loans, 10% down, 5% down, 80/20, 75/25, 30/15... And the jargon and abbreviations are so confusing: APR, ARM, Balloon Payment, CLTV, Escrow, Lock, LTV, PMI, Points... After just a few minutes, I was pretty dizzy. But Tia helped explain everything I didn't already now.
After working with Tia for a while, and basically providing her our entire life story (where we have lived, where we have worked, how much money we make, how much we save, how much we owe, the name of our first childhood pet, etc.), we finally got a loan application printed out. I then brought it home for Emilie to review and sign, and we will drop it off so they can start processing our application.
We should hear something within 30 days or so (hopefully its an approval!). However, we do not really have to set anything in stone until about 30-60 days before closing, so we can change things (type of loan, points, etc.) around in the meantime. The closing will be when the house is all finished, which is still six to eight months away!
Lot Pictures
Our New Home, Lot 356, The Highlands
Emilie is really excited to be standing on our new lot!!!
Derek posing by our new lot
Emilie "taking possession" of our new property
Emilie showing off the dirt we now ownBuying the Home
Last Sunday, April 29th, we put down “earnest money” on a house. Or, as Derek put it, we bought a whole lot of dirt. There is no house yet, and they won’t even start building it for about 90 days. But we won’t let that stop us from being really excited!
We get to pick from several floor plans, and we chose the “Dover” which is a one storey plan with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. It is 1447 square feet, not counting the garage, which is about twice as big as our apartment. There will be a little porch (4’ by 8’) on the front of the house. It will have a two car garage. The front bedroom we plan to use as an office, with the extra closet to be used for belly dance attire. (Clearly, I need to buy more costumes to fill it up, right?) There is a small bedroom we will use for an exercise room and guest bedroom. (Better save some room in that closet for guests, I suppose.) The front bathroom is a full bath, with a shower in the tub, so to speak. The master bedroom is really big, about 15’ by 15’ with its own bathroom. The bathroom there will have an extra large tub and a separate shower and two sinks. We hope separate sinks (and two bathrooms) will help us maintain marital harmony. There is also a walk in closet that is bigger than the one we have now. At the front of the house there is a small linen closet.
The kitchen is open to the “great room,” a combination kitchen/dining/living area. I wish the kitchen weren’t so visible from the rest of the house, because my kitchen is always messy. Oh, well, at least there is a little half wall to hide some of the mess. The kitchen has a cute little pantry. We are upgrading to 42” tall cabinets, ten inches taller than normal, so we can stash more stuff inside. The ceiling in the “great room” will be a cathedral ceiling, so there is plenty of room for tall cabinets. And they have a cute little crown molding around them. I will try to add a picture later.
A tiny laundry room is in between the kitchen and the garage. There is just room for the washer and dryer and the water heater and heater. I think we may try to hide the heater and water heater behind a curtain or something. They are hidden by the open door, but they are kind of ugly.
Off the kitchen is the “breakfast nook.” Also known as “dining room that is too small for a decent sized table.” So we plan to use it as an extension of the kitchen and put our baker’s rack and card catalog there, and maybe eventually have a cute little table for two and a chef’s cart. Someday when we can afford furniture for this house, that is.
The living room is so long we plan to use one end of it as the dining room and one end as the living room. There will be a wood-burning fireplace with tall, narrow windows on each side. We weren’t able to get a gas fireplace because there are no gas lines to this development. I think that is safer, but a wood fireplace is a lot more trouble. I think the mantle and fireplace surround will be polished oak with beige ceramic tiles for the hearth. And glass doors in front of the fire. I’m sure Derek can’t wait to play Boy Scout and start building fires. Safely, of course.
We get to pick from several floor plans, and we chose the “Dover” which is a one storey plan with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. It is 1447 square feet, not counting the garage, which is about twice as big as our apartment. There will be a little porch (4’ by 8’) on the front of the house. It will have a two car garage. The front bedroom we plan to use as an office, with the extra closet to be used for belly dance attire. (Clearly, I need to buy more costumes to fill it up, right?) There is a small bedroom we will use for an exercise room and guest bedroom. (Better save some room in that closet for guests, I suppose.) The front bathroom is a full bath, with a shower in the tub, so to speak. The master bedroom is really big, about 15’ by 15’ with its own bathroom. The bathroom there will have an extra large tub and a separate shower and two sinks. We hope separate sinks (and two bathrooms) will help us maintain marital harmony. There is also a walk in closet that is bigger than the one we have now. At the front of the house there is a small linen closet.
The kitchen is open to the “great room,” a combination kitchen/dining/living area. I wish the kitchen weren’t so visible from the rest of the house, because my kitchen is always messy. Oh, well, at least there is a little half wall to hide some of the mess. The kitchen has a cute little pantry. We are upgrading to 42” tall cabinets, ten inches taller than normal, so we can stash more stuff inside. The ceiling in the “great room” will be a cathedral ceiling, so there is plenty of room for tall cabinets. And they have a cute little crown molding around them. I will try to add a picture later.
A tiny laundry room is in between the kitchen and the garage. There is just room for the washer and dryer and the water heater and heater. I think we may try to hide the heater and water heater behind a curtain or something. They are hidden by the open door, but they are kind of ugly.
Off the kitchen is the “breakfast nook.” Also known as “dining room that is too small for a decent sized table.” So we plan to use it as an extension of the kitchen and put our baker’s rack and card catalog there, and maybe eventually have a cute little table for two and a chef’s cart. Someday when we can afford furniture for this house, that is.
The living room is so long we plan to use one end of it as the dining room and one end as the living room. There will be a wood-burning fireplace with tall, narrow windows on each side. We weren’t able to get a gas fireplace because there are no gas lines to this development. I think that is safer, but a wood fireplace is a lot more trouble. I think the mantle and fireplace surround will be polished oak with beige ceramic tiles for the hearth. And glass doors in front of the fire. I’m sure Derek can’t wait to play Boy Scout and start building fires. Safely, of course.
Visiting Beazer's "Design Studio"
We have been searching for a house in earnest since about February 2007. Our search began at the Home Show in Bloomington, where we met with Linda from Beazer Homes. After looking at a number of different options in Bloomington, we were learning towards Beazer's development, The Highlands. We visited the development a couple of times to look at the model homes, and to talk to Linda, but we were still undecided about what we wanted to do.
On Saturday, April 28, we made our way up to Indianapolis to visit Beazer's “Design Studio,” which is sort of like a miniature hardware store. They have samples of counters, carpets, doorknobs, and so forth. Their real function is to sell you on upgrades. Basic carpet and so forth is included in the price of the home, but they make their profit on upgraded accessories. We managed to hold off on the upgrades, mostly. We haven’t finalized our choices yet, but here is what we are thinking of.
The carpet color we liked is called “Brown Sugar” and it really is the color of light brown sugar. Mmmmmm. We plan to upgrade to a thicker pad to make the carpet feel plusher and last longer. The walls could be either white or cream, so we picked cream. There are all these choices of things, but NO, you can’t choose the colors for your walls. Honestly, isn’t that the one thing everybody wants when they finally buy a home and get out of renting: to paint their walls? I was really hoping for a pink bathroom! (Big sigh of relief here from Derek.)
The kitchen and bathroom cabinets will be sort of a basic, medium-toned oak (well, oak-stained pine, I think.) The counters will be laminate (that’s the normal countertop material, unless you get something fancy like Corian or Avonite or granite) with a little raised lip to contain spills. The color is sort of a stone-look beige with a little bit of gray. The kitchen floor will be vinyl that imitates tile in a beige and cream color. The bathroom will also be vinyl imitating stone in a gray and beige pattern. I know that vinyl isn’t the coolest choice, but it was the cheapest. And it is a lot softer to stand on than tile or stone. This is the kind of vinyl that comes in one big sheet, rather than in squares, so it will be easier to keep clean than most floors. And cheap is always good.
The basic faucets are shiny chrome with a single lever in the middle. Very easy on my hands. There were fancier choices, but they were all very elaborate. I could just picture hours of scrubbing all the cute little designs with a toothbrush. Not a pretty picture!
We may have to buy our own doorknobs from an outside source, because we didn’t really see any lever-type door knobs (as opposed to knob-shaped ones.) I often can’t open doorknobs, so we will have to see if they have levers available. If not, we can always install our own. The house comes with a doorbell. It is very funny to me what is included and what costs extra. A door bell is included, and so is a fancy closet system of bars and shelves. But the water heater just sits out there for everyone to see with no door hiding it. Very odd.
I am sure this is the least exciting but most used design choice: toilets. We couldn’t see paying extra for colored toilets. At least with white ones you can tell if it they’re clean or not. But I think we will pay more for an extra large toilet. No, not for people with big posteriors. It is two inches taller, for people with bad knees, backs, hips, etc. I really liked the new extra-tall toilets at my parents’ house.
On Saturday, April 28, we made our way up to Indianapolis to visit Beazer's “Design Studio,” which is sort of like a miniature hardware store. They have samples of counters, carpets, doorknobs, and so forth. Their real function is to sell you on upgrades. Basic carpet and so forth is included in the price of the home, but they make their profit on upgraded accessories. We managed to hold off on the upgrades, mostly. We haven’t finalized our choices yet, but here is what we are thinking of.
The carpet color we liked is called “Brown Sugar” and it really is the color of light brown sugar. Mmmmmm. We plan to upgrade to a thicker pad to make the carpet feel plusher and last longer. The walls could be either white or cream, so we picked cream. There are all these choices of things, but NO, you can’t choose the colors for your walls. Honestly, isn’t that the one thing everybody wants when they finally buy a home and get out of renting: to paint their walls? I was really hoping for a pink bathroom! (Big sigh of relief here from Derek.)
The kitchen and bathroom cabinets will be sort of a basic, medium-toned oak (well, oak-stained pine, I think.) The counters will be laminate (that’s the normal countertop material, unless you get something fancy like Corian or Avonite or granite) with a little raised lip to contain spills. The color is sort of a stone-look beige with a little bit of gray. The kitchen floor will be vinyl that imitates tile in a beige and cream color. The bathroom will also be vinyl imitating stone in a gray and beige pattern. I know that vinyl isn’t the coolest choice, but it was the cheapest. And it is a lot softer to stand on than tile or stone. This is the kind of vinyl that comes in one big sheet, rather than in squares, so it will be easier to keep clean than most floors. And cheap is always good.
The basic faucets are shiny chrome with a single lever in the middle. Very easy on my hands. There were fancier choices, but they were all very elaborate. I could just picture hours of scrubbing all the cute little designs with a toothbrush. Not a pretty picture!
We may have to buy our own doorknobs from an outside source, because we didn’t really see any lever-type door knobs (as opposed to knob-shaped ones.) I often can’t open doorknobs, so we will have to see if they have levers available. If not, we can always install our own. The house comes with a doorbell. It is very funny to me what is included and what costs extra. A door bell is included, and so is a fancy closet system of bars and shelves. But the water heater just sits out there for everyone to see with no door hiding it. Very odd.
I am sure this is the least exciting but most used design choice: toilets. We couldn’t see paying extra for colored toilets. At least with white ones you can tell if it they’re clean or not. But I think we will pay more for an extra large toilet. No, not for people with big posteriors. It is two inches taller, for people with bad knees, backs, hips, etc. I really liked the new extra-tall toilets at my parents’ house.
Welcome to our blog
This blog will be about our new home: picking it out, building it . . . and eventually . . . things going on in our new house. This blog is also intended to keep me from driving everybody crazy talking about the house. Do you think it will work? Derek has already added a picture to show the current state of home. This week they . . . leveled out the dirt. Woo-hoo. Progress has been made! So he took a picture of it.
Our blog is called "Johnson's Meeting House" because our new house will be on "Meeting House Lane." I think they were trying to evoke the idea of a community, maybe a town hall meeting. But the two meanings of meeting house I am familiar with are: a tavern, and a Quaker church. Hmmmmm. Probably not quite what they had in mind. Can we have an alcohol-free tavern? Maybe we should put a dart board in the garage? Derek has already threatened to put up posters of muscle cars and bikini babes in the garage. Of course, if you know Derek, you know he was kidding.
Our blog is called "Johnson's Meeting House" because our new house will be on "Meeting House Lane." I think they were trying to evoke the idea of a community, maybe a town hall meeting. But the two meanings of meeting house I am familiar with are: a tavern, and a Quaker church. Hmmmmm. Probably not quite what they had in mind. Can we have an alcohol-free tavern? Maybe we should put a dart board in the garage? Derek has already threatened to put up posters of muscle cars and bikini babes in the garage. Of course, if you know Derek, you know he was kidding.
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