Planning, planning, planning and more planning

Locked in my interest rate today, so that's one item to check off the stress-inducing tasks list. I'm not going to allow myself to fret about it anymore. The lending market is super-crazy right now and I know that it'll be better at some point in the future and when it is, I will make changes if necessary and advantageous. So there! Mortgage nightmares be gone!

This means I need to get down to the business of really planning all the work that needs to be done to my little house. I met Contestant #3 at the house last night. He's the contractor I had come out to look at the house before I even made an offer. He can talk the hind leg off a mule, but he's a good guy. However, after an hour with him, he says that he'd still need to do a walk through with all his sub contractors before he can generate a bid. Boooooo!

He'd already seen the property and we'd talked about the work necessary to bring it up to code as well as some other improvements the first time he was out there. I even sent him my RFP in advance thinking he'd review it before he got there. Not so much. I decided that he's probably not likely to be a finalist, so I told him I'd have him come back with his subs after I take ownership since it's not exactly convenient for Nora to come up from Saratoga to RWC all the time.

I have a feeling that I'm going to go with contestant #1. He has done work in Nora's house, which is a referral in itself, and his ballpark number is VERY attractive. I have yet to see a formal bid from him, so I'll decide once I do.

On a positive note, it looks like the floors are worth salvaging if they don't need to be ripped up for the foundation work. Bonus that a friend who recently remodeled her house has offered me some 1920's red oak floor planks rescued from her house. I sure hope they are the right size to do a little patching here and there. There probably is not enough to do the whole kitchen floor, but my tiny little house might be in luck!

One thing is very certain at this point: the day I get the keys will see me out there raking up apples from the back yard. The stench of rotting apples is powerful indeed, and that doesn't even begin to address the mushy mess.