Saturday, December 22, 2007

A Big Present


We got an early Christmas present this year. We were finally able to close on our house last week! A special thanks goes out to Rita Brooks with Prime Mortgage and Brian Johnson with Edina Realty for their perseverance on this one. We are NOT easy clients for them and by buying the house with a construction loan, it made for a tricky loan process. Our closing took nearly 3 hours and at times, we weren’t even sure it was all going to get done. During the time we were held captive in the closers office, we were able to get to know the current owners and learn a little about the history of the house. Turns out it was one of the first houses on the block and that explains why this property is so much larger than other lots on the block. Apparently there are old aerial photos that show this. It is better known as the “Brown” house, as the first owners, the Browns, lived there for quite some time.

The current owners handed us over a large file for the house, with warranties and instruction manuals for appliances. The file also included a detailed map of the trees for the property, which shows types and when they were planted. The owners had a background in forestry, so they planted quite a few different species of trees. I was really excited about this information, as it allows us to know how old the trees and what smaller trees can be relocated if necessary. For the most part, our construction will not be affecting the major trees.

We officially own two houses now, which means that we have two sets of sidewalks to shovel.

Since the permit is all set and ready to go, we can begin construction anytime. Only thing is, we are now in the midst of the holidays and vacations and time off. So it looks like we might be able to start excavation about Jan 7. Maybe we can get some of the demolition of the interiors started prior to that.

Our kids haven’t even seen the interior of the house yet. I think we’ll go over there tomorrow, let the kids check out the project in it’s “before state” and shovel the sidewalks.

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