Meyer Mix

This is the first post from our new home. We agreed on the contract on July 31st, and closed/moved in on Friday, August 10th.  Ten days.  Unbelievable.

Things have just been so busy since last weekend.  I can’t imagine that we’ll have time to keep up the posts, with the new home, new job, new schools, new community, etc., but we’ll try.  We have to thank our moving dream team: Jeff P., Jon and Sarah, Jeff and Meridith, Dad Meyer, Scot, and Dad and Mom Fronza. When Scot and I took the rental truck back, we talked about the amount of time it took for the move. We calculated (conservatively) that it took at least 72 man-hours to complete the job! And that didn’t include the initial truck load on Friday. We just can’t thank everyone enough.

Oh, and the fridge that Sarah spent 2 plus hours scrubbing clean? It was DOA. We gave it 24 hours, and it never got more than a tad bit cool. Sorry Sarah.

At  6:00 this evening, my Aunt Karen called and said she finally had a contract from Hewitt Associates LLC (the relocation company who owns our house).  We agreed to a price with them last Thursday, but they then took FIVE days to sign the contract.  Dealing with this company was a joke  to say the least.  An absolute miserable experience.  We know that everyone feels stress when buying their first home, but I would hope our experience with this company was just an isolated situation.

But, it is time to move on.  The house is the one pictured in the post titled “Welcome Home.”  The closing is scheduled for August 10th. Perfect timing for all of Jenny’s brothers and sisters-in-law to muscle up and pitch in.  Meridith, you’re on closets and crafts.  Jeff and James, furniture.  Sarah, bring your grid paper to tell us what walls in the new home need to be knocked down and/or moved.  Jon, carry out Sarah’s vision in about 12 hours or so.  Jeremy, get your butt back to Chicago and help out your family.

Scot and Sharon, you live in Naperville, so we expect you two to grease the right hands to avoid any complications for us.  Oh, and you’re moving furniture too.

Any questions?  No?  Good.

Well, the weekend is here, and we haven’t received a contract from the relocation company.  Therefore, our house deal isn’t done yet.  This means we have to wait until Monday morning now.  I don’t know how they expect us to stick to our closing time line if they don’t sign the contract.  Arrrrgghh!

Your opinion please! 

[Option 1] When we close on our mortgage, we have the choice to put our monthly tax payment in escrow.  This is free to do, but we aren’t able to earn interest on the money while it sits in the bank’s wallet. 

Or, [Option 2] we can pay a fee up front, to not use escrow, and then save that money ourselves during the year.  Doing so would allow us to collect interest in a money market account, which would cancel out the fee after one-and-a-half to two years.

The finances suggest that we go with option number two.  And I know we are disciplined enough to put the money away.  But what else am I missing?  Let me know.

It’s not 100% until we receive the contract (which is what happened when the last house fell through), but it sounds like we have reached a sale price agreement for our new home!   We’ll post again with more details when the deal is done.  The home is located in Naperville.