(Zoey was working on crop circles with rocks)

I took a break last week to “enjoy my house” and I didn’t update you all on what was going on. It was mainly unpacking and establishing the new routine.

We set up beds and said good bye to our pack rat

We celebrated two birthdays with donuts and chocolate waffles… Tiva is 16!

We also went to the Temple Hill symphony and listened to music from Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Star wars. The kids had a lot of fun!

One Time close construction loan can be awful

This week has been a lot of ridiculous paperwork requested by the lending company.  Here is their laundry list of items they would like before they will close on my home. Can I live in my home if it hasn’t closed….? I won’t ask.

NCF (National Capital Funding) has been awful to me since day 1. They are why it took me a year to close on the land. Now they are dragging their feet again. Here is their list of items that are required before they will close on the home.

Stupid Conversation with lender

Here’s a real life example of how our conversations go:

Ben “Here is the septic final signed and dated showing the septic is running properly.”

NCF “It claims in the final permit that there will be a certificate given, we need that certificate”

Ben “I haven’t heard anything about that, but I’ll call the county and find out”

Ben to county “I need a certificate like it states in the final approved-permit to close on my home”

County “We’ve never heard of that, I see it on the paper but no one asks for them. The final permit is all we ever give”

Ben to county “I thought so… I’ll tell NCF”

Ben to NCF “The county only provides the final permit and states that it is all that has ever been required”

NCF “We still need it”

Ben “…..”

Or when I spoke with them about my well water analysis

NCF “We need a well water analysis with a lead certificate”

Ben “I tested for everything the county required Nitrates/Nitrites, and coliform bacteria”

NCF “We still need a lead certificate”

Ben “Ok I’ll see what I can do in 1 day”

Ben to Water tester “Can I get a lead test?”

Water tester “Why would you want that, the only way you’ll have lead in your water out here is in the delivery method. Since we test straight out of the well, there is no way for our results to have lead in them. Your best way to test for lead is in the furthest faucet from your water main. Pull water from their first in the morning as water has been sitting in the pipes. But if you do not have lead pipes this test would be unnecessary. Also, our turn around time is 14 business days”

Ben to NCF “Water tester states that a lead test is pointless because it’s new construction and all pipes are PVC.”

NCF “We still require a lead test”

Ben “Ok I’ll see what I can do.”

Water analysis tests

I have now dealt with two water analysis companies. One out of Stockton that the county required I use FGL Environmental and another out of Pittsburg because they quoted me a 1 day turnaround time on a lead analysis McCambell Analytical. The lead ended up taking two days.

If anyone out there would like to get their water tested it’s not too difficult or expensive. A (pointless) lead test is $20. And a large mineral test for PH, sulfur, clorine, nitrates/nitrites and other things is about $67 bucks. You can collect the water yourself and bring it back to them on ice. Results are in 5 days. And if you want it in 1 it’s double the cost. A sliding scale if you want it rushed but less than 1 day. After $200 here are my results.

ND stands for none detected. I’d attach my other results, but there isn’t anything to show. It’s clean in all ways that could be necessary to sustain life. Still working out a bit of a clorine shock so it doesn’t taste great… yet.

Hope to close this week

I still need to send original copys to the silly lenders. But we’re hoping to do some fun stuff in the future. Design the backyard, front yard, get chickens, get a fence, unpack. I wondered what I would write about once we finally moved in… I think it will be fun stuff! If any one has advice on how to landscape, I’m looking for ideas. Thanks for reading, we’re mostly happy over here homesteading 5 acres