Didn't See This Coming

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On May 16, with less than three weeks left in Italy, we FINALLY closed escrow on the house we'll be putting on the property we've owned for 12 years in southeastern Arizona.  Securing and closing on the financing was a yearlong process and it took FOUR notarized signings before we finally closed the deal.  YAY!

Back in 2013, after it became painfully clear that we had no reasonable funding options to build the house we had worked with an architect to design, we began work with Cavco on doing a manufactured house.  We settled on a Santa Fe style home and we've fortunately been able to make some personalized changes to the floor plan.  It's something they've stopped doing because of the high production demand but fortunately our house made it in under the wire.    

On our property, in the years before we moved to Italy, we laid some ground work.  We pulled in electric, put in the septic tank, dug the well, cut in the road, and had the construction site graded. 

While in Italy, we finalized the house plans and worked through financing.  As we prepared to come home to Arizona,  we felt like we had a solid plan.  Our closing paperwork stated that the house model is 2023 and our salesman told us the house would be coming out of production in July.

We figured we had a year to save up some extra money, do final site prep and road work, trim trees, and line up subcontractors for flooring and stucco siding.   

Within days of getting home, I stopped in the local Cavco offices to let them know we were back.  I made a HUGE discovery!!  Perhaps you've guessed where this is heading.

It seems that manufactured houses are like automobiles.  The new model year starts in the prior year.  So that house we thought was coming in July 2023 is actually coming THIS month!!

So, needless to say, Tom and I have been in overdrive these past six weeks.  Trimming trees on a three mile stretch of road leading up to our house.  We finished that grueling project this morning.  Arranging to get the road graded, which thankfully happened this week. Visiting flooring and appliance stores.  Getting quotes from stucco contractors and propane suppliers.  And getting our water well repaired, which had a bad circuit.   

And in the midst of all this house stuff, we've also both started our jobs.  We received our long-term storage items and picked up our car in San Diego.  And celebrated Tom's birthday on July 7th.  Now we're just waiting for the arrival of our household goods coming from Italy.  

Our house is not off the production line yet but yesterday (Friday, July 15) the very first piece of construction equipment arrived on the property and the ground has been broken.  A very exciting moment for us.  

It's starting!

Ground breaking - anyone got a ribbon?
 
We were, and probably still are, a bit stressed and overwhelmed with everything (so any prayers you want to send our way are welcome) but we're taking things one step at a time.

It's honestly exciting to think that in the next few weeks we'll get to see the house start to come in.  And while our plan is to slowly ease into the house [we have a rental through April], we will most likely spend Christmas in our new home.  

I'll try to do some periodic updates in the coming months so you can experience the journey with us.  

Here are some photos from the past few weeks.   

Breakfast break while working on the property

Early morning tree trimming

Boys have settled back into desert life

Happy Heeler

Our property is in the foothills of the mountain behind us

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