The best laid plans...

 

Today is scheduled to be "New House Day": the final walk-through and we get the keys.  Three hours before that time, Steph called to tell us that Moe (the guy doing our walk-through) told her that we can't close today - there is a problem with an exterior door on our side... it isn't locking properly.  The door is going to have to be replaced, and that means re-doing the structure around the door and rebedding the tile on the floor in front of that door.

After a few seconds of fuming - there has been a lot of anticipation on our part for this day, AND we have workers and moving pods scheduled to be delivered - we all took a breath.  It is going to be a pain in the ass and cost us money to reschedule (the pods would go into another month for the storage cost).

Moe explained to Stephanie that it would be better to not close so his workers can come and go at will while they do the repairs.  So, not closing would be for their convenience.  More discussion, then: IF we close today, we have to have someone at the house to let the workers in starting on Monday (while they try to find another door).

Obviously, we want the door to be right.  We also have a lot of plans and the need to get keys to the mailbox dependent on closing today.  Moe agreed to put an exception in writing that they will do the repair/replacement and still close today... as long as we agree to be there to let workers in.

The "boss" in me says they should have identified this problem and fixed it a long time ago.  The new homeowner in me is disappointed in the potential delay.  The practical me says: "too much riding on the timing - close today and we'll deal with letting workers in."  And that is where we left off at 10:30 this morning.

We have concerns.  Moe is frustrated that this didn't get handled before getting this close.  I'm thinking of all the mail we have stacking up in that mailbox.  I'm thinking of workers we have hired to be there tomorrow.  I'm thinking of a door that doesn't close/lock properly on a brand new house.  I'm thinking we have done all we said we would do, when we said we'd do it... a delay in this process is going to create new problems and expense for us.  I'm thinking: every bit of signing and paying has been according to their schedule and we have met that schedule.

So, we think we're going to the house to close this afternoon... with a written exception.  Updates to follow.

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So, we did close and get keys today.  We have to be at the house to let workers in (next week) to tear out the door (including some drywall and lathing on the inside, probably some tile; and weatherproofing and stucco on the exterior.  The door frame is not square.  They replaced the door already, and it is certainly better than it was, but Moe (the guy we are dealing with from the builder) wants everything to be good long-term; I appreciate his concern to make it right.

We can have them come in and touch up whatever needs it in 30 days (even if the people moving in furniture, washer/dryer, TVs, etc scuff anything).

The good news: there was mail waiting for us when we found our mailbox (central locations around the development).  Joan said, "Moe said to just try the key in every box until you find the one that opens."  That didn't sound right to me... because it wasn't.  The envelope with the mailbox keys in it had the location AND box number on it.  Fortunately, we now have proof for the DMV that we have an address (they need 2 things addressed to each of us), so we can get AZ drivers licenses.  By the way, I asked Moe about "trying the key in every box" thing and he shook his head no and rolled his eyes.  I was just sure that a surveillance camera somewhere was filming me, and we were probably committing a federal crime by messing with mailboxes.

Moe reset all the locks with our keys, so we have entrance to the house, they don't.  Pretty sure he told us how to do all the wifi and security stuff, but Steph was in charge of that.  Dan will be contacting Cox for our high speed internet tomorrow.

We're still waiting to get the new estimate from the landscaping guy, after the first estimate he gave us didn't have some stuff on it that Steph and Dan want.

Painters, garage storage installer, water softener/purifier/filtration installer, Cox internet tech are all scheduled tomorrow.  We'll have an early start to the day.

Some photos from today:

As we pulled up to the house, cleaners were working inside...

After signing...

The house is officially ours (the 4 of us), with the assurance the builder will replace the exterior door.  It's a pretty impressive door: once you close it, you lift up on the handle to create an air-tight seal, and then you can lock the deadbolt.  It must have some kind of extra insulating glass: when I put my hand on the interior glass, with the exterior in direct sunlight, it wasn't warm to the touch.

When we first walked through the house, we had to remove our shoes or wear booties...

I like the look - I may go for this all the time.  Or not.  While Steph and Dan had questions with Moe, Joan and I set out to find our mailbox (description above).  We went to one bank of about 90 boxes and tried the key in all of them - it didn't open.  We walked to another bank of mailboxes, and my key opened the third box I tried... felt like I was a winner on The Price Is Right... except none of it would have been necessary if the person who got the keys out had read the exact location and box number on that envelope.  Walking back, there were SO MANY homes in the building process...

It is going to be a while before this development is all built out.  Right now, workers' trucks are on both sides of the street in some areas.  I'm hoping the truck that will be delivering our moving pods can thread their way through them to get to our house.

After getting back from the hike to the mailboxes, we took a moment to sit (sort of) in the air conditioning... and it wasn't that hot (82º)...

We had a few sitting conveyances in our car - I'm thinking the new furniture (that is supposed to be delivered next Monday) will be more comfortable.  In the meantime, we aren't going to be living in the house, yet.  A lot to get done before taking delivery of the furniture.

Chris, Steph and Dan's realtor friend (who handled the sale of their house and guided us through this purchase) came by to offer his congratulations, answer a few questions, and took a couple photos of us...

Before leaving for the day, I pulled the Equinox into our single garage.  Then, Dan pulled their Lexus into their garage...

  

Not oversized, but it will be nice to have a garage again - we didn't have one at our Texas house, and the rental Steph and Dan have been in since they sold their house in Goodyear doesn't have a garage.  I was wondering about that 90º turn into our garage - I'm thinking if I pull into the driveway at about 60 mph and do a half bootlegger turn, I should be able to pull straight in.  Maybe tomorrow I'll try backing in?  At something less than 60 mph... because it will be an early morning.  I'm kidding, of course - I won't be able to pull into the garage tomorrow because there is a guy coming to install garage storage racks.

We did stop for pizza at a nearby place on our way back west - Dan picked; it was a good choice, and the chance to relax for a bit before taking on the traffic.  Even using the Maps program to find the routing with the least amount of congestion, it took an hour and 20 minutes to go 26 miles.  I can put up with that while we get moved into the new house... if I had to deal with that everyday, I'd be on my way back to Texas.