When I accepted a new position working for eBet, Inc. in North San Diego County back in the Spring of 2000, my wife and I had already become quite adept at house-hunting. Living in the Inland Empire in the greater Los Angeles area had presented us with many, many, choices. We hadn't looked, though, in the San Diego area.
I started my new job in early March. To prevent a lengthy commute, I stayed with some friends, Rick and Karyn, in Ramona. It was a 40 minute commute to work but better than the hour and a half to our current home in Claremont, CA. We finally settled on a house in San Marcos, mainly because the house was complete and ready to be occupied. By the end of the month we had closed escrow. It was nearly six more weeks before we had sold the old house and were completely relocated to San Marcos.
We knew this new house was a temporary solution. We had been looking to buy a new home and this met that criteria. However, we had bought a new home without enjoying any of the benefits of picking out any extras. We didn't even have a flooring option - it was already installed. At 1973 square feet, this new house was almost 200 square feet smaller than the old house. Further, the lot sizes were so incredibly tiny compared to the third of an acre we previously had. There is literally 10 feet between the houses with fences sitting in the middle at five feet. One could almost reach across and borrow that proverbial cup of sugar! Further, we quickly found that living with an HOA (Home Owner's Association) was not conducive to our style of living. We'll leave it at that, just in case the asshole I'm talking about knows how to read...
The search was on for our next house.
We wanted out of our current house, but not so quickly that we were going to make another, similar, mistake. We had a few requirements for our next home:
We looked for months...
We finally found it. A development by Fieldstone that offered a 3522 square foot house that had everything we were looking for. We got even more lucky with the ability to "pick-a-lot, pick-a-plan". We went against normal convention and bought the largest house and put it on the largest lot of the entire development.
We signed the contract on March 31, 2001, my dad's birthday, and a year to the day that we closed on the house we wanted out of...
Cindy and Betty, the Fieldstone Sales Associates, were very helpful and efficient. They have been very responsive to our questions and needs as you will learn as you read on.
Three months later, the building on our phase has commenced. Click on the Calendar to the left to follow the steps as we build our house: The Spot House.
The anticipated close date for our phase is now mid-November. Since we are at the end of the phase, we expect to be closing late November.
I've started video taping the interiors for future reference. The video is digital and easy to transfer to my computer where they are then converted to .mpg files and backed up to CD. These should be helpful later... I won't put them on the web as they are quite large and of no use to anyone but me (email me if you feel otherwise).
The first phase are prepping for stucco.
The last phase have their foundation pipes installed. The rebar/concrete should be soon.
The slopes along the main street have been clean off and trenches dug for the irrigation. They are going to plant Deodar trees (fitting since it's Deodar Rd.). From the looks of it, we'll get two in front of our house.
Tuesday morning I was in my car listening with growing dread at the events unfolding on the east coast. I came around the corner towards our new development and discovered a smoldering ruin at lot #38. Some kids, it seems, tossed a Molotov cocktail early in the morning, burning it to the ground. It's unknown if Fieldstone will have to remove the foundation and start over; if the heat melted the plastic underneath (water barrier, waste pipes) it'll be a complete loss. Security now lives on the worksite.
The framing of our house is in full swing. The roof is framed. The gas pipes are in.
We're in the midst of deciding the flooring and trying to keep the cost down. We've agreed that the upstairs will be as inexpensive as we can stand. We've upgraded the carpet pad throughout from the 2.2lbs to the best at 8lbs. We upgraded the carpet a little upstairs and put in better vinyl in the three upstairs baths. Downstairs we're still undecided on what flooring to put in the traffic areas: laminate or tile. The price difference is looking to be around $4k and we know we can do it much cheaper later - but then we'll be paying for it out of pocket. If we decide to do it later, we'll put cheap vinyl down and save nearly $10k. We're to have a decision next Wednesday so this weekend will be spent looking around at flooring stores and thinking about whether we want to do it ourselves, later.
I've been puzzling over the hot water recirculator. It makes sense that there are three pipes going under the foundation to the sink location. One for cold, one for incoming hot and the other for outgoing hot (to keep the hot water circulating). Looking at the copper installation on one of the houses in the first phase, instead of an outgoing hot, the third pipe routes cold back underneath the foundation and terminates at the refrigerator for the ice-maker. They started the water pipes today and I notice that I have the ice-maker option listed above. For the life of me I can't see how the hot water recirculator works at the kitchen sink. I may wait until our framing walk-through to ask (the walk-through should be in the next couple of weeks).
I talked with a gentleman who is in the same phase but at the beginning of the construction (in fact he's been told he's first for this phase). He was told that anticipation, now, for his closing is around Thanksgiving which realistically puts us in early December.
Our framing walk-through has been scheduled for October 8th.
I've updated the options page to include the final step - flooring. The easy part was doing upstairs. We knew we wanted a basic, neutral, color towards the idea of replacing it in a couple of years. The basic carpet was very poor quality, though. The reasonable upgrade for the entire upper floor (and a little better for the downstairs living room and family room) added over $7k to the price. One decision was easy - to upgrade all of the padding from the 2.2 lbs to the 8lbs.
A harder choice was the downstairs. We knew we wanted to put down something durable in the main traffic areas (see diagram). We looked into a laminate but weren't thrilled with the "wood" look. The "tile" looking laminate didn't make sense - just get real tile. It really didn't matter as the markup was very unreasonable. Even going with a tile appeared to cost about twice as much as pricing we got separately. So we opted to put vinyl down instead and will install tile later.
We had our framing walk-through this morning. It was quick and easy. Most of the electricity was in or in the process (as we were doing the walk-through) of being installed. The house network and security pre-wire won't happen until after the electrician is done and out of the way. I found out that by default, the wiring of cable (RG6) and phone (3-pair) always gets installed. It just becomes unused when the structured wiring is put in. I was thinking of putting a couple of additional RG6 runs to where the satellite run is in the attic but since we don't know where that is and won't know until the guy comes out to install it, I'll do it myself after we close. (That will give me four runs to the two sat dishes, each with a dual-LNB. I'll connect them to the 5x8 multiswitch and run satellite to any location in the house. But that's a subject for a different, dedicated, web page...!)
I got my answers on the hot water recirculation. There is a big loop that the hot water faucets branch off from. It runs up to the ceiling of the second floor. That is where the kitchen connects. So, although it doesn't circulate through the kitchen, it is a lot closer than the hot water heater on the other side of the house (basically two floors straight up).
Fieldstone hosted a breakfast meeting yesterday morning for all homeowners of Phase 2. It was a real breakfast, too! We got to meet one of our neighbors directly next to us (lot 37). They have two daughters, two dogs, and two cats.
We learned of another week's delay due to the shortage of equipment available. (We've heard, too, of shortages of man-power after the terrorist attacks last month.)
After the meeting, we met with Greg, the assistant superintendent, at the house and went over all of the incorrect speed-wrap placements. Toting his trusting spray paint can, we marked all of the places and types of runs there are supposed to be. Greg said he'd walk the changes with the installer.
Phase 1 is nearly complete. I think they're supposed to start closing in the next couple of weeks. They're putting in the fences.
I talked with the security folks and learned a lot of fun information. I won't divulge some of the data as they are actively preventing vandalism with some of these tactics and I wouldn't want to aid the enemy! It was reassuring to see that they actually stay in different houses during the night...
Word to the wise: a whole-house insulation package does not include the garage.
Unfortunately, we've discovered this too late to do anything about it. Between when the insulation was put in place and when the drywall was started, the absence of insulation in the garage was obvious. We just thought they had run out. It didn't dawn on us that there wouldn't be any at all. We had even purchased the insulated garage doors. Why would that be an option if the garage wasn't going to be insulated, too?!? Despite our willingness to pay whatever it takes, the higher-ups weren't willing to accommodate us.
Yes, we're disappointed...
While we have not been official informed, we have it on very good authority that our move-in date is now scheduled for December 26th. I think we're on to something as I doubt they will be allowed (by management) to extend it beyond the end of the year). Some of the other houses in the phase are moving on very quickly, though, with their roofs done and the outside stucco'd. Half of the houses from phase 1 have people moving in.
The Corinthian countertop delivery has slipped to December 22. This may be a major factor on the house being ready by the 26th. We're still being told, though, that they anticipate us being able to close on Dec. 28. It's going to be tight.
Our walk-through inspection has been scheduled for December 27th with an anticipation close date of December 28th.
We locked in our rate today. We're not too pleased with the rate we got; they've been going up and up with everyone seemingly refinancing their houses. The builder was getting extremely anxious that we hadn't locked in, yet. There was even some rumor of a "default letter". According to our contract, though, we have five working days after our walk-through to close escrow. (Hmmm: the fifth working day past the 28th is January 4th, well after the end-of-quarter.)
It looks like all but two of the houses in phase two down the street have closed and have people moving in. Our walk-through has been scheduled for December 27th and we've decided to go ahead and close on their schedule after they signed off on our having "garage-access" early (starting today, in fact) so we can start moving some of our stuff. We haven't gotten the escrow instructions, yet, but we believe they are still aiming for a close of escrow on December 28.
The Corinthian countertop was installed today as well as the carpet. All that remains is the exterior fence, plants on the hills, and odds and ends throughout the house. We've started setting up utilities.
It's so close...!
We've been in the house for two and a half months, now. The major issues have been addressed and most of the minor ones have been written off. We had a near falling-out at the last minute when the recording did not take place on the day it was supposed to. It was supposed to record on Friday, December 28 which would have given us the entire weekend to move in. We got a call on some paperwork issues that could have been addressed in early November. When we did not receive the keys or permission to move in on Friday, we threatened to delay the close until Wednesday which would have pushed this sale into the next year. We met half way and got garage access and moved the garage stuff. On Sunday, December 30th we decided to f*ck them and started the interior painting anyway. We got the keys on Monday and did the major equipment move on Tuesday, New Year's Day.
Several things were wrong with the house - no hot water at the kitchen sink or two of the upstairs showers (the water was turned off on the day of our walk through and couldn't be tested). The powder room toilet leaked. Upstairs powder room vinyl floor had to be replaced after the mirror installer dropped a glob of adhesive on it. Two windows had to be switched when it was found that the cross-hatches didn't match.
As it stands, today, things are pretty good and we are once again pleased with our house. The slope landscaping is installed (and we've removed the pine trees that we don't like). The street out front has been filled in. We've move the fence and put in a couple of gates. Phase 3 is complete and they've mostly moved in. Furniture has been moved, re-moved, and manipulated until it has found a home. Ceiling fans and chandeliers have been added or swapped. Wounds and strains have healed. My cat has finally chilled out about the new digs.
We had our previous landscape architect over last week and are looking forward to the plans he comes up with. This will be a major project and, of course, will be documented in full on this web site.
After being in the house for 15 months, and after 10 months of planning, we've finally begun the landscaping. It should be done within two months. Late last year we got together with a couple neighbors and all three of us had our wood fences cleaned, primed, and painted a common color.
Other things done to the house include more interior painting, ceiling fans everywhere (10 in all), arranging, and rearranging the furniture, etc. You know, normal house stuff. There hasn't been any great issues with the house discovered during the last 12 months.
And here's a plug for the folks doing the work:
Image Designs Landscaping
Mike Olsen
(760) 480-0980San Diego Hot Tubs
Chuck Rubacky
(858) 586-1188California Gazebos, Inc.
Lenny Ross
(951) 551-2964
The patio cover is nearly complete. Well, the cover part is done, we're just finishing off the fence around the pool equipment and putting up the hammock poles.
It's been over four years since this project was started. We're still working on the plants but only by looking at the old photos of the yard do we realize how far they've come. Internally, we turn our attention to the cheap carpet. The dogs and cats have done their fair share of damage and we're considering the replacement options.
We've refinanced twice already. The increase in value of the house paid for the landscaping. The property value increase is amazing...