Choosing a site

I've already spoken a little (or a lot, depending on your perspective) about how this journey began, and for context, that can be found here.  When our search began, we had a few lot sizes to choose from.  I'll take pictures of the various lots soon, and post them to the site.

There were a few requirements we had for our home, and lot size was one of the most important.  Our ideal lot was 1/2 to 1 acre, but while we were open to larger lots, we definitely did not want a lot smaller than 1/2 acre. 
Another factor for lot selection was location within the community.  We didn't want to be at the front of the community, nor at the back.  We hope that a location in the center of the community would allow us to mingle with neighbors, and present better opportunities for socializing.  Ultimately, one look at the blog name and you can guess which one we chose :).



Lucky 13

As mentioned in the previous post, our Sales Representative (SR), showed us the two lots available, as Ryan Homes' policy for this development was to only release two sites at once--for whatever reason (maybe permits or something...who knows).

Lot 1was about 2 acres, which was cool.   It's located on a corner lot at the intersection of a low-traffic road (in the sense that it's a dead end), which I was actually OK with.  However, our major issue was the pond located at the rear of the lot.  And while my SR thought it could make for some interesting times for the kids (I agreed--but not interesting in the good way), I was more concerned about standing water, bugs, and mosquitos--thanks to my fiancé's irrational fear of the Zika virus.  Not only did the pond seem less than desirable, it felt like it limited lot usage to 60%.

Pre-existing structure (barn and house obscured by trees)



I've mastered paint shop!!

I admittedly just got carried away with google earth and paint shop.  However, that's a pretty rough idea of how Lot 1 was placed, relative to Lot 2 (which was not available yet) and the pond, barn on the other side of Lot 2, which you can see.

Okay, so that's enough talk about a site we didn't even choose! Now on to good ole LOT 13.  Full disclosure, I was not totally in love with the lot at first site (see what I did there?).  Mainly because it was so much land (3 acres) and I was worried that due to positioning, most of the yard would be side yard, which wasn't ideal for gatherings (cookouts) or privacy in general.  However, after taking a look at it a second time, when our SR could actually mark off where and how much our yard would be, I quickly grew to appreciate the site more.

The Pressure: The decision between Lots 1 and 13 was primarily driven by the fact that these lots did not have a premium (Extra money paid on top of base price of home for the location of the land).  The SR told us that after these lots sold, all future homes in the community would have lot premiums, ranging from $20-$40K.  It's not like this information was presented in writing, so we had to go with our gut.  We certainly felt good about the site, since it was a corner site backing to trees, and our nearest neighbors are about and acre away on each side...literally.  Thus, LOT 13 IT IS!

I'll update these pictures shortly, but in the interim, here's what I have for good ole lot 13!

That's my scientific estimation of our lot size. That's about 3 acres right??

Right now, there's just mainly pictures of dirt and dirt and more dirt. But I'll upload more pics as time goes on.