Approval!

When we came back from our trip to New Orleans, we found the city's approval letter in our mailbox! :) :) YAY!!!

It was approved on June 20. It's a conditional approval which means that we have to wait 14 days for any adjacent neighbors to complain or object to our remodel plans. THEN we will finally have the OK from the city planning department.

The next steps are to get building permits after the city reviews the structural plans and to get an approval for a construction loan.

Funny thing about the construction loan is that before the whole mortgage crisis, it was a lot easier to get one because most of the big banks had them. But since a lot of the same big banks lost a load of money in their mortgage departments, they have stopped giving out construction loans. I don't know if it's permanent but hopefully it's just a temporary over-reaction to the housing mess.