House Update No 8 & Mortgage Update

House hunters (well, we could not think of anything to say?!?!)


More pictures of our home build. Again, not much to report as we could not get into our house over the weekend, but here's a couple of outside pictures for you all......













The guys working on the house in the pictures are installing the sidings onto the house. Don't ask us what the UK translation is for sidings...we don't know (hehehe!!) Basically the bottom half is framed in brick and the top half in sidings which are like sheet metal slats inserted and overlapping each other.


Staying on the same topic about houses, we went to sign our mortgage papers during the week, but the lending bank SCREWED up the paperwork. We have hired the services of a mortgage broker (free of charge, they get paid by whoever they recommend for you) who you meet with you and discuss your mortgage requirements and search on your behalf for the best deals.

Turns out the lending bank (no bank names mentioned here just in case they are watching!!) received updates on our house build from our mortgage broker, but they had not entered this on their system (GGGRRRR!!!)


See...not all in Canada is perfect.....


The bank are in the process of resolving this issue, but with just under 3 weeks to go before we move in, Elaine & I were starting to panic. But people here sometimes don't sign mortgage papers until on the day of closing on the house (closing=completing). And that is not an issue.

Anyway, we will keep you abreast of more updates soon.


TTFN

House Update No 7

Hello there!

Just a quick note to say that we have FINALLY got into the new house to take some internal pictures.

Our house build is on track for Dec 18th...so not long now.

Here are some shots:

Elaine in our kitchen

Our en-suite bathroom, with Whirlpool bath and shower (the shower will have a glass frame fitted):

Brian on the floor top with railings now fitted (UK translation = railings mean bannister):

The fireplace is now fitted as well downstairs:

And finally a photo from the basement:

See you all later!

House Update No 6

Good day!

We hope that you and your families are all well, and thank you for taking the time to view another update on our blog. This is a quick update as we cannot show you pictures from inside our new home, as the house now has doors and windows, these are being locked everyday by the builders when they finish their work.

We turn up after work during the week to see what work has been completed and we can't get in!!! The only time we can get in the house really is on a weekend, on the chance that the builders are working overtime then.

Only a couple of photos to show this time (thank goodness we hear you shout!!!) below:

Our new address in Kitchener.......

And finally a picture of the outside work completed so far:

See you all soon.

A Weekend Break....

Hello everyone,

We had a weekend break to cottage country last weekend (October 31st). We drove to a place called Oxtongue Lake, in Muskoka. It is about 3 1/2 hours drive north of Kitchener.

We had rented a cottage for the weekend with Bob, Lorie and their two children, Jeff and Elysha and Elysha's friend, Bethany.

We had a great time together and here are some pics from our trip below:


A view of outside of the cottage and the dirty 'Emery' mobile:







View from the deck at the back of the cottage, looking between the trees at Oxtongue Lake:





The posse is here!:








A view of Oxtongue Lake:








We visited a park called Aconquin Park on our break which is about 20 minutes drive away from where we stayed, and the website for the park is below:


http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/index.html


This part of Ontario is considered 'Cottage Country'. Basically, a place where people might buy a holiday cottage, and spend their weekends there whenever they can. This has pushed up the price of such property in this type of area.

We walked a trail called 'Lookout' where along the route, you can stop can take view of the park in all its natural beauty. Again, pictures are as follows:

A view from the Lookout trail:









Brian pausing for a moment of reflection:








The posse is here....take 2!:








We had such a good time time that we are already looking into going away again next year!

This is Brian & Elaine signing off until next time.......