Housing Rush Week

Maybe I will change my mind in the weeks to come, but I think this week is officially rush week. I have been doing lots of calling and paperwork in order to try to get everything in line so we can submit our building plans to the lender. Almost all of the final decisions have been made, and almost all of the bids are in. We are getting close!

There are a couple of things that we are still waiting on though. One of the things is the bid from the lumber yard for the building materials that we will need to do the finish work - drywall, studs, insulation, etc. They have had our information for quite awhile now. Last I talked to them, it was supposed to be done Monday or Tuesday. If it doesn't come through (I realize our project isn't a huge one, but it would still be business for them), my dad volunteered to help us piece the info together.

The second thing we are waiting on is the bid for the septic system. In order to even get the bid, however, we need to get our perk test completed. If you remember from a previous post, we had the holes dug for this test a week and a half ago. It is supposed to be a two day test. Needless to say, with the continuous rain we have gotten this month, this isn't going so well. Since we finally had a couple days in a row without rain, the engineer was able to check on the holes today. The perk test didn't look too perky though as the holes were still filled with water. He ended up digging some new holes, and we will try those. We are hoping that they will drain well. If they don't, the septic system will cost an additional $3000 to put a sand filter in.

The last part of this rush week is something that I haven't mentioned yet, but it is just as pressing. The house that we are living in now is owned by our church. Since my husband is the youth pastor, part of his salary includes housing - living in this house. This spring the church voted that they would sell our building if we wanted to buy a place of our own, which of course we are doing. So this week we are also trying to finish up the work needed to get our house listed on the market. It is important to get it listed soon since now is the good season for selling a house, and also because Ethan's housing allowance ($ for our loan payments) won't start until this house sells. Since I have been doing so much with the building project lately, the house has kind of taken a hit in appearance. This week I am trying to pull it back together and shine it up too, just in case there is someone right away that would like to see it.

So that is some of what is going on in my Housing Rush Week. It is nice to be close to the end of this whole planning process, it will be great when the loan closes, and it will be a blessing when this property sells!

(A sweet potato update will be coming soon. We just have one camera, and Ethan has been putting it to good use.)