Things have been a bit slow on the renovation front. It has pretty much been a waiting game for the financing to fall into place.

Just to catch you up, the construction loan process requires an appraisal of the property as it currently is and estimate the new value of the home based on the plans and contract signed with the contractor. The other week, I got the news from the lender. The appraisal hit my target mark! So that means that I will get the funding necessary to do the renovation. I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive of the appraisal. If it went too low, then bye-bye funding!

With the appraisal taken care of, I am now in “sit on my buttocks mode” until the loan is finalized. If I had to do this all over, I would have gone house hunting with a fixer upper firmly in mind and more cash on hand. Instead, it was a crazy spur of the moment act and I’ve been scrambling to make it all work.

I did start a scrub down of the entry way which was the covered porch. It smells like a dog with a continency problem lived there. With a scrubber in hand and Mr. Clean with Febreze in the other, I started washing down the covered porch. It was an unpleasant experience. Not as bad as the waterfall of roaches, but still not cool.

There are still a few details to work out with the contractor like accent tiles. I also have some other optional work that will be added to the list. If everything works out, I should have the financing finished up at the end of February and construction starting in mid-March. So here’s to being shown the money!