A peek at our new place

Words cannot even describe how happy we are to be in our new place... we're still surrounded by mess for the most part, and it will take weeks or months more before we're truly settled in, but to have this space of our own back, and to finally enjoy the fruits of nine long months of waiting... pure awesomeness. :)

I'm going to whine for one more minute about the process, and then you'll never hear a peep about it from me again. But for posterity's sake, I feel the need to mention one more time how frustrating it was to get here.

This is not a custom home. It's a small (by Texas standards), 2200 square foot track home, albeit a very beautiful quality one, which is why we chose the builder we chose. However, in the interest of sales, we were essentially deceived into believing our home would take four to five months to build, when this was contrary to everything our builder most definitely knew about the upcoming process. We said to ourselves it would probably take about six months, since these things never go as planned, and we signed on the dotted lines. From there on out, absolutely NOTHING went as planned. We signed the first week of April, and framing didn't even go up 'til mid July. Our "worst case scenario" October move-in date rolled around, and the home had barely just been drywalled. Then we were told we'd be in by November. Then we were told we'd be in by Thanksgiving. Then we were told we'd be in by December 16th or sooner. But in reality, we closed the day after Christmas, just after construction manager number four had taken over.

The truth of the matter is that we would have never in a million years chosen to build if we'd known it would take nine months, and if we'd known we would impose on my mom's hospitality for four months longer than we estimated, but it is what it is, and we're here now, and we have a really lovely home to show for it. So that's that.

Here's a little glimpse of the mess we're so, so glad and grateful to finally call home...

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So close but yet...

This past week there has been incredible progress on our house... they completed all flooring, put in the master vanity, put in toilets, fixtures, and lights, and the electricity and water are on! It's so exciting to go over there now, but we're still weeks away from closing. Supposedly this last stretch of inspections and last minute fixes can really drag out, so... that should be fun. ;)  It's nice to finally see some real progress though. It's starting to feel like a bonafide HOME over there. It's hard to leave when we go visit. I'll be posting more pics on Instagram, if you're interested!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend to follow. The forecast is super rainy here, so I might finally get a much-needed weekend off from shooting. Doing a happy dance over here. ;)

Check out today's (fabulous) featured SOML sponsor, and have yourself a great day...

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Hi everyone! I’m Chelsea and I blog over at Lost in Travels, a blog to spark the adventure in your own life. After getting hitched to my man three years ago, we both started getting cold sweats at the thought of ‘settling down’ in our hometown. Ya know, mini me's, mortgages, full time jobs. We wanted something different, something exciting, something adventurous. So we did the only logical thing; sold all of our belongings and moved half way around the world to teach English in South Korea. Makes sense right? I write about our daily life as expats (where charades is our form of exercise), our world adventures, tips on traveling, and how to not break the bank while taking those dream trips. Stop by and follow along on our world travel adventures as we try to figure out newlywed expat life in the land of kimchi and rice. 

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Reasons why you should probably never build a house/Advice to anyone who is

Matthew and I signed the contract on our new home in early April of this year after being promised a five month build-time, and here we are, seven months later, and our house is still at least a month out from being done. I know it could be worse, but still, this whole process has been incredibly frustrating, and I could never recommend it to anyone.

We chose to build because the homes currently on the market in our price range here in Austin were not nearly as nice as what you can get when you build at the same price point. Due to a very strong seller's market, resale homes are snatched up in hours or days after going on the market, and often for 20% more than asking price. We didn't love what was available when we were looking, so we decided to build. (contrary to what some people seem to believe, building a home is not more expensive than buying one resale. For example, if your price range is a $250,000 home resale, it does not cost a penny more to build a $250,000 home, and often the new-build is nicer and, obviously, new). That's where they get you. They reel you in, butter you up, make false promises, then break your heart over and over again, like a bad boyfriend. 

Here's 7 reasons why you should probably never build a house:

1. You will need to multipy every time frame they give you by 3 to 7 times. Oh, they say your floors are going in the 19th? That means they will put in half the kitchen tile on the 23rd, then realize it was the wrong tile (after half a day's work), tear it up, and start over. The kitchen floor tile will be two-thirds finished when the workers leave and do not return for four days. On the fourth day, they will return and finish the kitchen tile, as well as the tile in the hall bathroom shower. They will not complete the other two showers, the bathroom floors, the kitchen backsplash, carpet, or hardwoods for five more weeks.

Mind you, this is after your construction is already three months behind the promised completion date.

2. The builder will find a way to change things you paid for and were promised, and then make you feel like it's your fault and you're being an asshole for asking them about it. This will be emotionally confusing and you will wonder if you're going insane.

3. Sometimes 2 weeks will go by and the only progress will be one light socket. This will make you feel like stabbing someone repeatedly.

4. Your sales consultant and construction manager will continually over promise and under deliver. Don't ever believe them. Don't believe a single word that comes out of their mouths. See first point.

5. On a similar note, they tell you what you want to hear, not the truth, every time. When you sign that contract, they will tell you a build time of five and a half months. Budget for eight to ten, and then see if you still feel the same way about the house.

6. Don't bother building a relationship with your construction manager, because you'll go through three of them. Don't be fooled if the first guy gives you delicious, homemade canned pickles and tomatoes. The next day he will quit and you will never see him again.

7. If you're going to live with family during this process, you better really like each other and have a strong relationship. After about four to six months of said living arrangement, it gets old.

THE END.

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To build a home

We're going on month six since we signed the contract on our new home, and month five of living with my mom. The house is slowly but surely coming along... well, mostly just slowly, but there has definitely been significant progress in the last couple weeks. They bricked the outside, mostly drywalled the inside, and poured the driveway. Now all we have left is a million other things that go into piecing together a home. But it will be beautiful, and it will be worth it, and I already envision our future there. Just waiting on that future to begin...

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