I finally did it – picked up our building permit today!  It’s been ready for a while, but as soon as you pick up your building permit the clock starts to tick and it actually expires 12 months later (or you pay for an extension).  Since we’ve already paid $25,000+ for permits, I’d rather not give them any more of our money and simply wait until we needed the permit to pick it up.  So today was the day!  Of course there was a bit of a hiccup in getting the permit – some paperwork they thought I needed but really didn’t – but besides that it was smooth sailing.  We just needed to drop off our covenant for drainage best management practices (BMPs), pay our remaining balance and I was on my way!  I know it’s really just a piece of paper, but it feels like such a huge accomplishment to get the permit…definitely reason to celebrate tonight!

Huge Milestone: I picked up our Construction Permit today!

Besides that, we have an update on our loan process.  HomeStreet came back with a slightly higher appraised value, and with better rates and lower fees, they were an easy choice for us.  We anticipated to be closed on our loan by now, but apparently they’ve been swamped.  So hopefully we’ll be closed by the end of next week.  (So much for their 30 day close, but hopefully it’s not too much longer).

Other news is that the empty property next to ours is no longer pending and has officially sold this week!  Cheers to them and to having neighbors (now we’ll just need to meet them) 🙂