Buying a Home in Charlotte (maybe)

We recently put in an offer on a new home in Matthews, in Union County, NC. We should find out Monday whether the offer will be accepted. The house is a new build, and part of the builder's current inventory. While the yard is neither as large nor as scenic as our house in Powell, the home does have an open floor plan, almost 4000 square feet, and we are able to pick our flooring types/colors. The commute looks to be bearable from this location, at least based on the current information I have from others and from driving it myself a few times. Also the community amenities are awesome, the community is new (so we should be able to meet people easily since they are new too) and since Nadya will be home with Mia, it will be great to have access to so much within walking distance.

A link to a virtual tour of a completed version of the home we're buying (but not using the rooms in the ways we'll use them): http://www.jwhomes.com/virtualtours/brookhaven%20essex%20all/essex%20web%20page/brochure.html

A link to the Brookhaven community amenities: http://www.jwhomes.com/Neighborhoods/main.asp?CityCode=CLT&Current=Amenity&Template=Amenity&NeighborhoodID=88

We thought seriously about putting an offer in on another home, in another community, but it would have been about $100,000 more expensive, and would have been the most expensive home in the subdivision (vs. the Brookhaven home which is one of the least expensive in the subdivision). Also, the commute would have been a bit longer. However, the home has a 3.5 car garage, relatively open floor plan, screened in porch, in-wall/ceiling speakers, and a private .8 acre lot that backs to homes in the $2-6 million price range.

The decision was certainly not easy, and we technically don't have a contract on either home yet, so stay tuned. We think we could be happy in either one, so as long as we get one of the two, we'll be happy. Plus, it will be nice to have an estimated timeframe for when we can get out of temporary housing. Can you believe we've passed the 1 month point in Charlotte? We've been here so long that other people I used to work with have left the company and the source of substantial demotivation has been removed.

If you set up a google e-mail account and sign up for google chat, we can chat in the evenings. It's easy to do, and it helps me to stay in touch with what's going on in your lives.

Our house is on the Market

Well, we worked frantically last weekend to get our Powell, OH home ready to be listed. We painted, moved furniture to storage, bought fake plants to add color to some rooms, etc. Basically we became an episode of "Flip This House" or "Buy Me". Thanks to help from Bev, Kevin, Eric, Jen and my mom, we were able to get a lot done. Now all we can do is wait and hope the house sells soon. We've had several showings, with multiple interested parties, and we are hoping to get an offer soon, as that would allow us to rest more easily as we approach the purchase of a home in Charlotte. We'll see how things unfold.

"Day 1" Orientation

Tomorrow I will attend my day 1 orientation at BOA. Sure it's actually day 10, but I've been busy getting integrated into 5 different projects, attending off-site meetings, having 20+ onboarding discussions, etc. I'll let you know how the formal orientation goes. One thing I'm looking forward to is the 1 hour lunch break. During a normal work day, it's tough to find time to eat. If only each work day were like an episode of 24 where Jack Bower doesn't pee, eat or sleep. Then I could get plenty accomplished.

My Office Building

As you can see in the sequence of pictures above, the security guard wasn't thrilled that I was taking pictures of the building I work within. Fortunately, he accepted my explanation that I was taking pictures for nostalgic purposes, and not with any malevolent intentions. Anyway, the first picture is the plaza leading to Chik-Fil-A and a couple other places to eat right outside my office building. It's also the beginning of my two block walk to the parking garage on my way home. The second picture is my office building (there are many other Bank of America buildings, and I'll try to take pictures of those too, at my own risk). I believe the second picture was taken as the security guard was calling his boss on his radio. In the third picture, you can see that I'm just a few seconds away from "a talking to".