Moving Geek

Our first box is labeled and entered in the moving binder!  Have we broken ground?  Nope.  Do we have a permit?  Nope.  But I'm ready to pack!  

I've been researching different organization methods for moving and settled on a system I think will work well and also be fun for the kids (and me).  They've chosen different animals or symbols for each of their bedrooms and various rooms in the house, and are excited to label boxes in their animals of choice.  It's been fun having them help come up with a visual code for each area.  

I received a gift card for my birthday and used it to buy a nice fireplace screen for the back patio fireplace.  It was a good opportunity to try out the labels we designed, add our room label sticker, and add it to the packing list for that area.

Yes...I'm totally geeking out on moving organization.  But it's making it feel fun rather than the daunting task it is.  

Almost There!

Quality control was signed off today!  One final step left, which we've been told should go quickly.  But I don't think our definition of quickly aligns with theirs.  

All Reviews Finished, but Still Not Done Yet

 I asked for another update, since we can see the plans were approved on Monday.  Seems like there's more steps to go, which just sound like nonsense to me.  

The next step is it goes to Mr. D for quality control.  She has no idea how long quality control is taking, especially since Mr. D was just promoted to the position.  Then it goes to Ms. G for quality assurance.  Wait...it just went through quality control, then it needs to go through quality assurance?  You're kidding, right?  

So, we're back to having no clue how long it will be until we get our permit.  I'm getting impatient.  Yesterday was 19 weeks since our permit was officially received.  

A Little Bit Closer

 The King County system shows the plan reviewer signed off on "Construction Services Review" today.  But "Engineering Services Review still appears to be pending with no one assigned to review it yet.  And our overall permit still shows "Reviews in Progress".  I'm waiting to hear from our builder as far as what this means, but it does seem like we made some progress today.  

Finally A Permit Update

 Our builder gave us the green light to email the plan reviewer and ask for a status update.  We sent that last night and today he responded that he has two plans ahead of ours, but he expects to start our review tomorrow or Monday.  Yay!  

We've been told once plan review is over, it usually takes the permit tech about a week to collect all the documents and be ready to issue the permit.  But our builder said he would reach out to the tech to see if it could be ready any faster.  

With this update our builder can begin lining up subs for the initial steps of our build.  It feels like we're close to the fun part!  

Plant Rescue

We couldn't wrap our heads around bulldozing hundreds of native plants in the building envelope, then buying hundreds of native plants to re-plant the well road.  So, even though it's August and the worst possible time to move plants, we boight a bunch of nursery pots and went for it.  

Grandma Betty used her connections to get us an excavator which made digging so much easier.  This is the first time Mason and Viv have been allowed to operate solo, and I couldn't get them off the thing.  They did a great job sharing with each other, but I was having a hard time getting a turn!  

The ferns seem okay after the move.  Not sure about anything else, but they would have died anyway so we had to try.

A Win With the Bank

We've been going back and forth with U.S. Bank about our application for an increased HELOC.  They said we needed to take a State Title Elimination Form to the Dept of Licensing to prove our property  has been surrendered as real estate and it no longer a titled vehicle.  What?

I called and left a voicemail explaining there hasn't been a mobile home on our property in the 18 years we've owned it, and beyond.  Our primary mortgage is with U.S. Bank, and this wasn't an issue with closing that loan.  This is our third HELOC with U.S. Bank (we've increased it over the years as our home value has increased) and this has never been an issue.  She didn't mention it again, and that requirement fell off the list of things they needed from us, so I assumed it was resolved.

Then we got another auto notice from their system that we needed the State Title Elimination for a manufactured home.  I emailed her and asked about it.  She said it was still required, and reminded me of the email she sent explaining how we'd have to take the form into a D.O.L office and blah blah blah.

My emailed response was not as nice.  I reminded her of my voicemail, which she never responded to with a call or in writing.  Then I re-explained how there hasn't been a manufactured home on this land in 20+ years, how this was never an issue with previous dealings with this bank, and how any necessary proof must be located in closing documents somewhere from one of our past loans.

Today she emailed to say the manufactured home stuff has been resolved and we should have loan approval in a few days.  Success!