This week saw two visits to the new house. I imagine by now we're really pissing off the office staff at the community there, but every time I've asked they've said "no, actually, you two are pretty good; kinda cute too."
We never complain about anything when we look around, and really, we're probably the kind of people these staffers wish they dealt with more of. We're still just amazed that we're getting a house at all, much less a new construction.
We went Wednesday, just to look, and even before they gave us the master key to get into the house (they haven't changed the locks yet), they said "oh! We have a walkthrough date for you!" The house will be completed and its keys in our hands August 18, 2003, a full two weeks ahead of schedule! Already elated, we walked from the sales office to our new house to see what progress had been made in the few days since our last visit.
The floor tile was in place in the entryway. Workmen were unrolling and cutting the vinyl flooring for the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry area (hey, we're not made of money; tile would have been wonderful for these, but we're already pushing our luck on this mortgage at is it). The floors, upstairs and down, were very clean, having apparently been swept up like mad the day before, in preparation for the flooring.
We took pictures. We were excited.
We came back home, I called up the assorted utilities to get services transferred or started up at the new house, and I called the lender to make sure we could close on the house in time to get the keys right after our walkthrough. The phone company gave us the first good news -- we get to keep our DSL. Hurrah!. The lender took her damned sweet-ass time, but also chimed in with good news -- she was putting everything together and promised to try her best to have the paperwork ready for closing this Wednesday, August 13, 2003.
With all that crap done with, we chilled for a couple days. Friday, we visited the house again, figuring they might be getting ready to put in the carpet.
With the requisite chat with the office staffers out of the way, we rushed to the house. The appliances were already out of the boxes and installed. Well, okay, they were hauling the new dryer upstairs when we arrived. To our astonishment, the carpet and flooring was completely finished. We didn't quite know what to do with ourselves, so we took off our shoes and walked around on it.
The dishwasher was mounted and installed. We didn't realize it was running until we looked at the control panel and saw it running through a cycle. It's seriously that quiet.
The refrigerator was powered, but not in place yet (they were still digging in their toolbox for the water line cable fastening thingy). The stove was positioned, powered, and presumably ready for use. We didn't fire it up, namely because it's not ours just yet.
The dryer looked nice and purdy (it's one of those spiffy front-loading deals, like the Maytag Neptune things but cheaper -- whether that's a good or bad thing is a mystery only time will solve) but comatose because, of course, it was being carried up the stairs by two grunting but seemingly competent guys.
The weirdest part was when we discovered a six-inch wide gaping hole in the drywall going up the stairs. We didn't even care (and we probably should have). We did mention it to the office critter, but she said "yup, things like that happen a lot." This got me wondering -- how exactly does that happen a lot? Anyway, they claim they'll have it fixed by the walkthrough, so we're happy.
It's amazing, though -- the house is really coming together. It really is as awesome as we'd hoped it would be. I can't wait to move in.