After a closing that almost wasn’t and some hard hours spent painting and installing odds and ends, I am proud to announce the completion of our condo purchase. While the furniture and other items were transferred to the new abode this past weekend there is still some work to be done. However, our place is coming along nicely. Feel free to check out the new pics here.

The closing on September 29, 2006 occurred with little to no hitches. However, we went with a “dry close” in lieu of the conventional closing as events we could not control entered the equation. We were initially scheduled to have our inspection completed on September 29 (Thursday) in the afternoon. However, upon arrival our inspector promptly turned around and stated the unit was uninspectable. Apparently, construction was ongoing without an end in sight. I investigated the state of (dis)construction and concurred with his findings. I did not think it possible the builder would have everything finished by our closing time of noon the next day.

After speaking with the developer (Roy Hawthorne of R. Hawthorne Group, Ltd.), he suggested the dry close. Basically, we would go to closing at noon on Friday and execute all the relevant documents and agreements but hold back disbursement of the money and exchange of the keys until our inspector, Michelle Teague of All About Homes, could complete her inspection. With some minor jockeying and discussions with the attorneys we decided this would work. Of course, there were numerous reassurances that the unit would be completed by the inspection the next afternoon. Michelle’s inspection went off without event and she relayed that the construction was of very high quality and the punch list minimal compared to most new constructions. We were, needless to say, elated.

Upon receiving the keys we took delivery of our brand new mattress. My parents arrived shortly thereafter and they helped with installing some pendent lights above the peninsula in the kitchen, ceiling fans in the living room and master bedroom and the mounting of the flat screen TV above the fireplace. The following two weekends we enlisted Rachel’s parents to help in painting all of the rooms except the guest bath. They were instrumental in getting the place painted and looking like a million bucks. We can not express enough thanks to both our parents for their kindheartedness and diligent work throughout this whole process. Our house is actually starting to look like a home.

There are a few minor things yet to be completed. Namely, we still do not have a shower door for the master bath and the surround sound in the living room and the whole-house sound system are yet to be installed. Not to mention, a conduit made of PVC piping was installed above the fireplace to hide the wires running from the back of the TV to the side of the fireplace but it was installed too low. Basically, the TV does not hide the hole – the purpose of the pipe in the first place. Regardless, I am confident the repairs will be made and we will be able to enjoy the new TV and sound system eventually.

Not to mention, we had a leak above the master bath shower that resulted in the plumber making a house call on Saturday. The repair was done on Saturday and the patch work should be finished as of today.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.