condo and car update

The paperwork is done and on its way back to the loan agent, so the process is underway: by the end of November, I should have a new mortgage for 15 rather than 30 years, a lower, fixed interest rate, and some cash in hand. The condo tentatively has been appraised at almost 75% more than I paid for it six years ago this month; an official appraisal will be done in the next couple of weeks as part of the refinance.

And Wednesday night I have an appointment at the local Toyota dealer to test-drive a new Prius; assuming I like it as much as I fully expect, I plan to place an order for one that night. Since my boss ordered one two weeks ago and was told it "probably" would be here before the end of 2003, I don't expect I'll be seeing mine before late December or January.

Similarly, the new heat pump has a ship date of six weeks from now. There were no right-handed units in stock, and the contractor says that basically the company has to build one. Since that puts me into mid-December before the unit is shipped here, and then an installation date has to be set afterwards, let's hope for a very mild late autumn.