A "Lot" has changed!

In just a few hours we will be closing on our dream house. We have been living in a hotel for the last four nights because the buyer of our condo would not do a rent back until today so we are really ready for this! The movers are coming this afternoon. I thought I would post a picture of us when our lot first became sold. We were going to do a retroactive post about why we picked the lot we did but of course we never had time too. Basically, we got the best lot available that didn't have a lot premium. The exterior lots (the ones backing to the trees and / or the ones in the cul-de-sac) were about $40K more than the interior lots. We really wanted a lot that had a view of trees so when we first visited PS we were pretty disappointed about that but decided to take a tour of the neighborhood anyway. While driving around on the golf cart we passed a lot and K shouted "STOP. This is it! This is our lot!". A corner lot that had trees across from it and just beyond the trees you can see the golf course. It is beautiful and since we didn't have to pay that lot premium we were pretty happy.

Pre-Settlement Meeting (and don't listen to all those complaints)!

We had our pre-settlement meeting last week and everything went great. There were just a few minor things we pointed out that our PM marked to be "cleaned up". There was a scratch on the kitchen floor so he will be replacing that board before we move. The day before our meeting I took my parents to see the home and we had noticed a puddle right beside the basement door. It was just about gone the next day and our PM is almost certain it was from the door being left open when the sprinkler was running but he is going to keep an eye on it. He also said it would be  very rare for a walk out basement to leak and even more so for a RH walk out basement to leak....especially with our grading (you really couldn't ask for anything better than what we got...so blessed about that as the yard is the main reason we wanted a single family home).

We are very excited but it also hit us all the work we will have to keep track of (mainly with the lawn and just general maintenance). We've never had a lawn before so it will be new to both of us. We had no idea the work involved for new sod but we are going to love it. Some of the trees already looked "distressed" but that will be part of what the HOA's is in charge of so we don't have to worry with that. We did confirm  that we will have to maintain all the other landscaping (we weren't sure if the landscaping "upgrade" package included maintenance as well. It does not but we didn't think it did so that is fine).

I also want to say that we have been very impressed with our PM thus far and RH's in general. When searching for a new builder we saw  A LOT of complaints about Ryan Homes. Well, I think they were paying attention tho those complaints. They seemed to have put so many  new policies into place now and have stopped using many materials they use to use. We were also told that they now have to do a mold inspection almost 5 times before Settlement and that there is an entire regiment in place if mold is very to be found (which rarely is at this stage). We had never heard complaints about mold from Ryan home owners  but we do know 2 personal stories about mold in other new homes (Toll Brothers and Pulte) so it was a worry of ours since I'm highly allergic to any mold / mild dew.

Another thing to keep in mind about those complaints is that it really depends on the PM and who they decide to subcontract with. I found out today that one of my coworkers use to work for Ryan Homes. According to her Northern Virginia has (or at least had when she was working there) the highest customer service rate compared to the other areas RH's builds at. So when reading the complaints pay close attention to WHERE  (state and region) they are coming from. When considering buying any new construction home do some research on the PM first. We actually asked him right off the bat what his credentials were and which community he worked for before this. We were shocked at how much experience he had. We even knew some people in his old community so we asked how they liked him and we heard nothing but praise. If you notice a community is going through a lot of PM's that are not sticking around long that may be a red flag.

A "Lot" to choose from

We've got sod, landscaping and a painted garage...and it looks grrrreat!!!

Loving the "iron grey" garage

A 3/4 view showing the nice landscaping job

turf-tastic!

Maybe it's since I'm a guy, but the house is really just starting to become a reality for me. The only way I can really explain it is to compare it to having our first son, Patrick. He only started to become "real" to me when he was born. It's so different for women than it is for men. As men, I feel like we have to see it take shape before we can truly begin to imagine all the possibilities it holds for our future. I think women share a much more intimate and personal connection to the home building process. Just as they have a profoundly intimate, personal connection to the life that is growing inside of them. Us men, we just want it to be done and finished so we can start wrestling with it, or throwing the ball with it, or (on the more nurturing side of things) read to it. My wife and I (mostly me, to be quite honest) had to prove some things to ourselves before we could dare to dream that the dream could become a reality. Well, as Napoleon Hill famously said, "whatever the mind of man (and woman, thank you very much!) can conceive and believe, it can achieve!" It will be all the more sweeter knowing that my family, still small, will, God-willing, grow up to know that big things often have very small beginnings.