Week 16: August 29 - September 4
It finally happened, and it still feels surreal! In true Fab fashion, it was not without drama. (sigh).
Our good friends had offered to take Munchie off our hands so we could close and move in peace. So I met them to hand her over Monday morning. Thank the Lord for friends. All of this madness would have been a lot harder with her underfoot!
Closing Day
Hubs, our realtor, and I met at the Ryan title company office on Monday, August 29 at 11 a.m. in Blue Bell, PA with our cashier's check, extra blank checks, and ID's in hand. We've been through two other closings and several re-finances and expected it to take an hour or so, max. Maybe shorter since Ryan, NVR/ Homeside, and the title company are ALL THE SAME DAMN COMPANY.
I was wrong.
Delay #1
We got through signing about half of our paperwork before we realized that the county was listed incorrectly (Berks, we're in Montgomery). Title company woman had to stop us and re-run that paperwork, then have us re-sign everything.
Delay #2
She explains a tax form that gives us the total of the additional tax bill we should expect in 8-12 weeks. Totaling almost $7,000. First we've heard of it. Hubs understandably flips out. I ask the woman to give us five minutes. She steps out. Realtor calls mortgage guy. Mortgage guy points to builder/ sales rep. Title company points to mortgage guy. We can't get ahold of our sales rep to see who she points to, but realize that it's just a waste of time. We completely understand and agree with owing the tax, but strenuously disagree with not being told until the middle of closing. In the end, we understand the reason why our estimated cash to close mysteriously dropped by $5,000 the week before closing....those were tax funds that for some fluke reason of tax schedule, we're paying in a few weeks instead. DEEP SIGH.
Title woman returns, signing continues. At this point, my hunger-induced pregnancy nausea is really kicking in. I ask how much longer we might be here. Woman laughs at me and offers to find me some crackers from someone's desk (I grudgingly decline).
Delays #3-5
We finish the neverending signing, but are immediately faced with more delays. Title woman explains that 1. We need "approval" from Homeside that they have everything they need. 2. She needs to run us our copies of the documents, and 3. Homeside (NVR) has not wired the money yet. We had an 11a.m. closing. Not 9 a.m. At this point, we've been in the office for over 2 hours. So throwing out the notion that the bank could have wired the funds the night before....they have had 4 hours during which to do so that morning, but did not. I don't know about you, but if I was 4+ hours late doing a key part of my job, I wouldn't last long.
I am barely holding it together. You just cannot mess with a miserable pregnant woman like this. Hubs and our realtor, being smart men, realize this and are desperately trying to hurry things along. We continue waiting for another half hour or so before the wire transfer is confirmed. Realtor busts out the sparkling apple juice, we chug, and we run the heck out of there. Entire process clocked in at 3 hours.
We have only appliance deliveries scheduled for the afternoon, and figure we have lots of time to get to the house, so we stop for a pizza lunch. I put the first delicious bite into my mouth, and Hub's cell rings. The Best Buy delivery truck is running 2 hours ahead of schedule, and is now sitting in front of the house. We are currently 45 minutes away, and still need to run back to our temp living house (15 minutes in the opposite direction) to grab my car. We tell them we'll be there as soon as we can, throw the slices in a to-go box and run out the door.
We finally get to the house and find Ryan installers replacing the kitchen appliances with the upgraded ones. There's obviously no where to sit, so I plop my nauseous self on the stairs. At that moment, my tush is glad we hadn't upgraded to the hard-woods! Best Buy comes with the washer and dryer and for a while it's like an appliance store exploded in the house. Of course, the fridge was on a DIFFERENT Best Buy delivery truck that we would now be waiting for.
Hubs runs out to do I have no-idea what errands, and in the meanwhile, I unload the Bed Bath & Beyond goodies (new bathroom décor, towels, etc.), the hand soap and TP into the house. Which is about all there is to do except wait.
When he gets back, we decide to run to our new post office to change our address and get the key to our community mailbox. We get within 1 minute of the post office when Best Buy driver confirms he will be at the house in 5 minutes; and so we turn around and fly back to the house to take fridge delivery.
As fridge delivery guy leaves, our friends arrive bearing hoagies, tomato pie (it's a Philly thing), and drinks. The husband is a pastor, so he walks us through the house offering a prayer and blessing for every room, and leaves us with a beautiful cross to hang over the front door. It was lovely.
As we're finishing up with them, the Budget Blinds woman arrives to show me samples, and give us a quote for whole house faux wood, cordless blinds. Once we choke down the number, she leaves, and we follow.
I know we did some other errands on the way back to our temp living, but I can't remember what they were for the life of me. We passed out unconscious and set alarms early to meet the movers.
Moving Day
Hubs awakens before dawn to pick up his boss's pickup truck, then meet the movers at the storage place at 7 a.m. I go directly to the house to await the Comcast installation guy by 8 a.m. By 9 or so, I get word that the movers are on their way to the house. Their crew boss is waiting for the truck in my living room and gets a call to tell him that they have been pulled off the road by state troopers for a Department of Transportation spot check. I think it's a joke for a while, and when I realize that it's truly happening, I text my state trooper friend to "please call off her friends and let my furniture go!"
They are delayed for about 45 minutes, but finally arrive and quickly begin unloading. I stand at the front door directing them where to bring everything. Hubs is off running mystery errands again.
My lovely and wonderful friend arrived around 11 to help in whatever way she could, and I kept her busy with small tasks as the movers finished up.
Once they left, she and I went to work, and mostly focused on the kitchen, as most of the boxes were destined for that room! We had been too nervous to let the movers place all the boxes on the hardwoods, so we were forced to make trips into the garage for everything. Burning calories(?) My friend took on the designated shelf-liner cutter role and became an expert quickly.
Another wonderful friend stopped by around 1 with Wendy's for us. Have I mentioned how awesome all of our friends are?
Our work continued until an afternoon Raymour and Flannigan furniture delivery. Our master bedroom mattress, dresser, and nightstands all arrived in good condition. Munchie arrived with the friends who had kept her, and we gave her a tour of the house and her newly arranged playroom! She was thrilled, but didn't stay long. Hubs took her back to our temp living house to sleep; and my friend and I resumed work and didn't stop until after 10 p.m. I tossed and turned on the new mattress all night. The next morning I took my first shower at the house, and despite only having a sample packet of conditioner and bottle of hand-soap to work with, it felt amazing!
Wednesday, crazy Hubs went to work, Munchie stayed with our niece, and my friend and I continued our mission; unpacking and organizing, and managing a second furniture delivery. Mealey's delivered two new family room sofas, a morning room table, chairs, and sideboard, and new "big girl" furniture for Munchie's room. The garage door replacement panel arrived and was quickly replaced, and a random local window guy came to take measurements of the glass in our front door for potential switch out. We made major kitchen progress, and welcomed a visit from another friend bearing dinner for us in the afternoon. Hubs picked up Munchie on his way home from work, which meant the whole family would finally sleep in our new house!
My amazing friend left early Thursday morning, and while Hubs installed our new FrontPoint security system, I threw clothes and swimsuits in bags and packed the car for our Labor Day vacation to LBI. We finally left the house around 2 p.m., and Munchie and I promptly passed out for the ride to relaxation.
The rest of the madness at the house would be waiting for our return.
Showing posts with label Homeside Financial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeside Financial. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Monday, July 11, 2016
Week 8: Garage Door, Drywall, and a Garage Full of Goodies
Week 8 - July 4 - July 10, 2016
7/4 - day 50 - Holiday, no work.
7/5 - day 51 - Drywall + garage door installed
7/6 - day 52 - Drywall (visit)
7/7 - day 53 - driveby - saw garage full of goodies!
7/8 - day 54 - Mud - front porch poured
7/9 - day 55 - Mud - broken windows replaced
7/10 - day 56 - Mud
We are drowning in packing/moving chaos, so the house is honestly on the back burner.
I planned to visit the house to see drywall progress on Tuesday night, but packing took priority. Our movers come next Wednesday, 7/13, and we've been putting as much as we can into storage now, to hopefully save a little on moving costs. For future reference: two-part moves SUCK!
It's a challenge to figure out what we'll need in our temporary living arrangement (friend's basement) vs. still need to keep in our house, vs. what can safely go to storage. Plus, I'm still feeling under the weather and would rather curl up in bed and ignore all of this madness.
We've been keeping up with NVR (Homeside) to make sure all is well, and to watch the lock deals...
I found this handy-dandy website on another blog, and it's proven really useful so far in the constant rate watch, and lock timing decision:
But Homeside isn't saying much. Sure hope that's a good sign and not just the calm before the storm.... updated - We emailed our Homeside guy with a request to lock on Friday around 3pm. But he did not respond. Sigh.
Saturday was spent intensely packing with the help of a wonderful friend (thank you Amy!!) But I was able to sneak over to show her the house before she left Saturday evening. So fun!
Interesting note - found that the egress window isn't actually installed in the basement yet...but the wall and window frame is dry walled. So strange that it's all sort-of exposed to the elements...
Sunday was a desperately needed day of rest. We visited friends for swimming and the grill, which is helpful, because we now have no pots, pans, bowls, silverware, etc. etc. in the kitchen. I also snuck back into the house Sunday evening to show progress to the friend who originally signed in our development....and then ultimately backed out. :(
She and I investigated the madness in the garage and found sinks, trim, doorframes, doors, windows, door knobs, railings, etc. etc. SO exciting! Also found a daylight leak in the master bath closet and an off-center light over the sink in the kitchen. I've reported those to our PM, and we'll see what happens.
Pics...
Saturday was spent intensely packing with the help of a wonderful friend (thank you Amy!!) But I was able to sneak over to show her the house before she left Saturday evening. So fun!
Interesting note - found that the egress window isn't actually installed in the basement yet...but the wall and window frame is dry walled. So strange that it's all sort-of exposed to the elements...
Sunday was a desperately needed day of rest. We visited friends for swimming and the grill, which is helpful, because we now have no pots, pans, bowls, silverware, etc. etc. in the kitchen. I also snuck back into the house Sunday evening to show progress to the friend who originally signed in our development....and then ultimately backed out. :(
She and I investigated the madness in the garage and found sinks, trim, doorframes, doors, windows, door knobs, railings, etc. etc. SO exciting! Also found a daylight leak in the master bath closet and an off-center light over the sink in the kitchen. I've reported those to our PM, and we'll see what happens.
Pics...
 |
| Day 52 - Entryway drywall |
 |
| Day 52 - "Mudroom" Closet & Garage Door |
 |
| Day 52 - Living Room/Family Room |
 |
| Day 52 - Kitchen |
 |
| Day 52 - Morning Room. Loving all the windows! |
 |
| Day 52 - Family Room with study door to the side |
 |
| Day 52 - Master Bedroom |
 |
| Day 52 - Master bath awaiting the waterproof drywall |
 |
| Day 52 - Loft |
 |
| Day 52 - Basement with morning room bump out and special request egress placement. |
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Baseboards and Basement Egresses
This waiting for groundbreaking is painful. PAINFUL I tell you!
Mortgage Status
Haven't heard anything in a while from NVR. We continue to trickle them copies of documents they have requested as they become available. Still no formal mortgage approval in hand, so I'm taking the one-off "approval" email with yet another document list as our formal approval. Ha.
The Homeside website shows our status as still in underwriting. I'm really hoping they have their acts together enough so that NVR/Homeside has to give Ryan some sort-of "go ahead" for us to break ground in 12+/- days as scheduled.
All of this silence and waiting, however, given us time to ruminate on the two outstanding issues with the house. Both were discovered at the pre-construction meeting.
Baseboards
If you're following this blog, you may remember the first "baseboard incident". If not - catch up here.
This time, we were talking about the quarter-round issue with our PM and SR and realized that the gorgeous tall baseboards shown in the model were NOT included as part of the max-upgraded trim package we are paying extra for. Surprise!
We could theoretically purchase these tall baseboards for $1200-ish. But we were way past the change date, and were therefore out of luck. We found this obnoxious for several reasons:
1. The model showing the trim package we selected has the tall baseboards, it's not a crazy assumption to make that they would be included in that upgrade.
2. The tall baseboards are not listed in the selections sheet as a stand-alone upgrade option.
3. Doing it later ourselves would be an issue - since we're already paying for the top-level trim package, we get boxing detail in the dining room. The boxes are centered on the wall using the short, standard baseboards. Swapping them for tall later = re-do of boxing trim work to re-center.
4. Is it REALLY a huge deal to switch standard for the taller baseboards at this late a date? We still have months to go before that step.
Current status - SR provided regional SR contact info. Hubs had a conversation with him stating our concerns. We offered alternative solutions such as:
1. Buying our own tall baseboards and leaving in the house for the trim guys.
2. Cancelling the trim package, reverting to standard
3. Having the trim guys measure for the tall boards when installing the boxing.
4. Discounting the trim package we paid for
5. Ryan exception to allow late change order for tall baseboards (we pay)
6. Paying cash for the baseboard difference now, or at closing so as not to mess up mortgage paperwork.
None of these were accepted during the call. Regional SR promised to get back to Hubs. Stated that
"they did not mis-represent anything". Not sure how this comment was helpful to anyone. That was 3 weeks ago, and crickets. Hubs was unhappy, but is rapidly moving towards pissed as we get no follow-up and no resolution to an easy-to-solve issue. See long list of potential solutions above.
Egress
In our pre-construction meeting, our PM explained that our basement egress would be on the back wall of the house. We express strong concern - as we plan to add a deck/ patio, and the egress would land smack-dab in the middle of it. We didn't choose that wall for the fireplace to avoid having that bump-out in that space. We ask (strongly beg) to have it moved to the morning room bump out wall.
PM talks us off the ledge and promises he'll do his best to move it. This is more than a little scary - since we just met him, and we've built up no trust yet...eek.
5.12.16 update - Hubs contacted our PM to discuss both issues, since he hadn't heard back from the Regional Sales Manager. PM confirmed that the egress will be moved to the morning room (Yay!)
On the baseboard situation; PM will either be asking the trim guys to move up the boxing detail to center based on the tall baseboard measurement and/or just installing tall baseboard that we deliver to the house ourselves. He's really earning that 10 on the survey here!
Later 5.12.16 update - Regional manager is not my favorite person. Confirmed that Ryan is not budging on the baseboards. Insists again this was not a "bait and switch". I guess we'll see what magic our PM can make happen, if anything. We're annoyed. Well, I'm annoyed. Hubs is PISSED.
Mortgage Status
Haven't heard anything in a while from NVR. We continue to trickle them copies of documents they have requested as they become available. Still no formal mortgage approval in hand, so I'm taking the one-off "approval" email with yet another document list as our formal approval. Ha.
The Homeside website shows our status as still in underwriting. I'm really hoping they have their acts together enough so that NVR/Homeside has to give Ryan some sort-of "go ahead" for us to break ground in 12+/- days as scheduled.
All of this silence and waiting, however, given us time to ruminate on the two outstanding issues with the house. Both were discovered at the pre-construction meeting.
Baseboards
If you're following this blog, you may remember the first "baseboard incident". If not - catch up here.
This time, we were talking about the quarter-round issue with our PM and SR and realized that the gorgeous tall baseboards shown in the model were NOT included as part of the max-upgraded trim package we are paying extra for. Surprise!
We could theoretically purchase these tall baseboards for $1200-ish. But we were way past the change date, and were therefore out of luck. We found this obnoxious for several reasons:
1. The model showing the trim package we selected has the tall baseboards, it's not a crazy assumption to make that they would be included in that upgrade.
2. The tall baseboards are not listed in the selections sheet as a stand-alone upgrade option.
3. Doing it later ourselves would be an issue - since we're already paying for the top-level trim package, we get boxing detail in the dining room. The boxes are centered on the wall using the short, standard baseboards. Swapping them for tall later = re-do of boxing trim work to re-center.
4. Is it REALLY a huge deal to switch standard for the taller baseboards at this late a date? We still have months to go before that step.
Current status - SR provided regional SR contact info. Hubs had a conversation with him stating our concerns. We offered alternative solutions such as:
1. Buying our own tall baseboards and leaving in the house for the trim guys.
2. Cancelling the trim package, reverting to standard
3. Having the trim guys measure for the tall boards when installing the boxing.
4. Discounting the trim package we paid for
5. Ryan exception to allow late change order for tall baseboards (we pay)
6. Paying cash for the baseboard difference now, or at closing so as not to mess up mortgage paperwork.
None of these were accepted during the call. Regional SR promised to get back to Hubs. Stated that
"they did not mis-represent anything". Not sure how this comment was helpful to anyone. That was 3 weeks ago, and crickets. Hubs was unhappy, but is rapidly moving towards pissed as we get no follow-up and no resolution to an easy-to-solve issue. See long list of potential solutions above.
Egress
In our pre-construction meeting, our PM explained that our basement egress would be on the back wall of the house. We express strong concern - as we plan to add a deck/ patio, and the egress would land smack-dab in the middle of it. We didn't choose that wall for the fireplace to avoid having that bump-out in that space. We ask (strongly beg) to have it moved to the morning room bump out wall.
PM talks us off the ledge and promises he'll do his best to move it. This is more than a little scary - since we just met him, and we've built up no trust yet...eek.
5.12.16 update - Hubs contacted our PM to discuss both issues, since he hadn't heard back from the Regional Sales Manager. PM confirmed that the egress will be moved to the morning room (Yay!)
On the baseboard situation; PM will either be asking the trim guys to move up the boxing detail to center based on the tall baseboard measurement and/or just installing tall baseboard that we deliver to the house ourselves. He's really earning that 10 on the survey here!
Later 5.12.16 update - Regional manager is not my favorite person. Confirmed that Ryan is not budging on the baseboards. Insists again this was not a "bait and switch". I guess we'll see what magic our PM can make happen, if anything. We're annoyed. Well, I'm annoyed. Hubs is PISSED.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Is Death by Mortgage Paperwork a Thing?
Received an email from HomeSide (NVR) last night stating:
"Congratulations! Your loan has been conditionally approved by the underwriter. Items required to be provided by you are listed below."
Proceeded by yet another insanely long list of document requirements. Some of them are obvious and expected carryovers - for example, monthly bank statements, Homeowner's Insurance Policy, 2016 tax returns; while other requests were....a little special.
Other Ryan Home build peeps - is this the "Official" approval? Because it was very non-eventful. From reading other blogs, I thought there would be a call / letter / email....something?
Hubs has called our (4th) rep. three times already to ask important questions about moving forward, and to provide updated information (most important - the FINAL total cost from Ryan, because their numbers are based on an old total). Each time she has promised to "call him back before she leaves at 4 pm". Spoiler Alert: she has never called him back.
I'll spare you the full list, but point out a couple of the most frustrating items this go-round:
8. Copy of the final CD that is signed by you and by the seller for the sale of your current home.
No clue what this is. Our agent has no clue what this is. If the woman would call my husband back, perhaps we could get clarification so that we can provide this item.
9. Signed, dated letter from the person that shows as the joint account holder on your TD Bank accounts stating you have 100% access to those funds.
Have already sent this 2x. Nothing has changed. I just keep re-sending the same document like a crazy person.
11. Signed, dated letter to explain the following address that is noted as current within the time frame of residences listed on the application: 101 Tyler Ct. Comment if you owned or rented and approximate dates.
We rented a basement apartment from friends from 2000 - 2003, before we were even married. Why they could possibly need this information from SIXTEEN YEARS ago, I cannot begin to fathom.
"Congratulations! Your loan has been conditionally approved by the underwriter. Items required to be provided by you are listed below."
Proceeded by yet another insanely long list of document requirements. Some of them are obvious and expected carryovers - for example, monthly bank statements, Homeowner's Insurance Policy, 2016 tax returns; while other requests were....a little special.
Other Ryan Home build peeps - is this the "Official" approval? Because it was very non-eventful. From reading other blogs, I thought there would be a call / letter / email....something?
Hubs has called our (4th) rep. three times already to ask important questions about moving forward, and to provide updated information (most important - the FINAL total cost from Ryan, because their numbers are based on an old total). Each time she has promised to "call him back before she leaves at 4 pm". Spoiler Alert: she has never called him back.
I'll spare you the full list, but point out a couple of the most frustrating items this go-round:
8. Copy of the final CD that is signed by you and by the seller for the sale of your current home.
No clue what this is. Our agent has no clue what this is. If the woman would call my husband back, perhaps we could get clarification so that we can provide this item.
9. Signed, dated letter from the person that shows as the joint account holder on your TD Bank accounts stating you have 100% access to those funds.
Have already sent this 2x. Nothing has changed. I just keep re-sending the same document like a crazy person.
11. Signed, dated letter to explain the following address that is noted as current within the time frame of residences listed on the application: 101 Tyler Ct. Comment if you owned or rented and approximate dates.
We rented a basement apartment from friends from 2000 - 2003, before we were even married. Why they could possibly need this information from SIXTEEN YEARS ago, I cannot begin to fathom.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Homeside Financial
NVR learning of the day: they use Homeside Financial for 80/15/5 loans. Figured that out when a random electronic-signature consent email from Homeside appeared in my inbox today. I was suspicious because Quicken had called offering a refinance deal on our current home only hours before. A quick Google search had led me to a link between Quicken and Homeside, but I stopped the investigation when Hubs confirmed that the NVR underwriting guy told him to expect to hear from them.
Once I followed the link, low-and-behold, NVR confirmed. So I completed the authorization for electronic document transfer and approval of mortgage materials.
So.Fun.
Once I followed the link, low-and-behold, NVR confirmed. So I completed the authorization for electronic document transfer and approval of mortgage materials.
So.Fun.
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