Elevation and Rate Lock

I spoke with our loan officer today regarding our 30 day rate lock, and as usual, the conversation and communication was A+. I point that fact out because in all of this process, namely, the homebuilding process...communication is so crucial! But I digress, first things first, we locked our rate (yayyy!). But on the other hand, thanks to our closing occurring post-election, the rates now are higher than they were pre-election (boooo). Regardless, our LO discussed what options we had to achieve the monthly mortgage estimate we originally were sold on, and the convo went well. We're scheduled to close in mid-January, so we'll see how that goes!




For those that have been through this process, or considering going through it, one of the MANY "gotchas", when it comes to building your house is choosing your elevation. According to http://homeguides.sfgate.com/house-elevations-39208.html

Elevations are architectural drawings of a building's exterior. In architectural drawing terms, house elevations are two dimensional pictures of the façade of a house or interior features that have faces projecting from a flat, solid background, like cabinetry, fireplaces, niches and elaborate wall designs.

In this case, when it comes to say the Avalon, there's a myriad of options to choose from. I'll include a few just to give you an idea. 



So here's the thing. You don't "have" to pay for an elevation. Your house will come with siding or wood or brick or stone water front etc., But I like to think of the elevation as a crucial part of making your otherwise cookie cutter home, look distinct and personal. For instance I once read a blog where the writer noted how somewhere around 25% of the homes in their development were X (I forget what model they mentioned, maybe it was Dunkirks? or Victoria Falls? I don't recall, I'll find it later I think and link to it). 



To be clear, Ryan Homes tries to enforce some sort of model and elevation diversity in the community. For instance, if our neighbor across from or besides us had an Avalon, they could NOT have the same elevation as us. 

The thing is, as one would imagine, elevations can be expensive. So if you are OK with the default vinyl or plastic or whatever siding, you're good to go. However, if you want stone, or brick, and depending on where you want stone and/or brick...things get expensive really quickly. Ranging from 0 (default) to $20K! In any event, I pushed for brick (and the aforementioned hip roof), because I think curb appeal goes a long way, and to be quite frank, I had fell in love with red brick some time ago and knew I wanted it. 

Ryan Homes has a nice fancy color visualizer, that allows you to select your brick and trim colors (this comes after you select your elevation with the sales rep). Ours came out like this:




What's interesting is, first, our windows are not that nice looking (boooo!!) and second, our elevation doesn't really look like that at all. You can be the judge, but here are some pics so far:

Strength in Numbers

Still no official word on loan approval yet. Which obviously sucks. But on the positive side, our loan processor expects that once all of our paperwork reaches underwriting, we should hear back from them within 5-7 days. All parties involved, from our SR, to LO,  and even the LP, seem confident that our loan approval is just a matter of when, and not if.  At this point, it's still hurry up and wait.

A part of the appeal of building a new home for us lies within the fact that we as a neighborhood and community will all somewhat be new to one another. I think that will help with the kid transition of making new friends, along with forcing all of us to interact a little more then we might normally, if say the neighborhood was pre-existing.

We're very excited to meet some of our new neighbors. Our SR is planning on organizing a community event in August sometime. That will serve as most of the community's first opportunity to meet one another--other then those moments when you're either sitting in the SR's office at the model house and "random/strange" people come in or you visit and see strangers sitting where you usually sit!

Possible sneak peak at our inaugural community meet and greet

When pre-interviewing home inspectors, one mentioned that it would be a wise idea to start a user group or some sort of internet forum in effort to communicate with others within our new construction community and to stay on top of Ryan Homes, with respect to the inevitable issues and concerns that will arise.  A prime example can be found here: Shame on you Ryan Homes

I'm not sure if we are going to take the lead on that whole "rally the troops" and begin the aforementioned community internet user group or not. I think it's such a phenomenal idea, since it's also a means for all new comers to stay in touch over things like HOA-esque questions, or discussions on adding bus stops, trash referral pick-ups, etc., I'm not usually for being so, well, social--but the pros outweigh the cons (my comfort level), so we shall see!

Still waiting on loan approval

They say no news is good news.  I assume that came from the internet, and the internet is always right!  Technically, it's not a case of "no news", just limited movement.  We've been in contact with the Loan Officer (LO) and the Loan Processor (LP), who have both been easy to reach and provided feedback on the process.

By my count, 996 out of the required 1,000 (exaggeration) documents have been submitted and we're only waiting on the last 4, before the LP feels comfortable passing the documents to the Underwriter.

Image Courtesy of: http://parksihoo4u.com

So far, my experience working with NVR mortgage has been fairly positive, especially our LP, Eboni. Our LO has been clear on what he thinks we need and where we are, and I appreciate that as well. Sooo...definitely a lull in news or posts, as we head into this holiday weekend.  I'm so excited, that I'm sure I'll find some random ways to make a new post or two and spill out some of this anxiety!

Dream (basement) deferred...

After a lot of discussion and hand-wringing, Ashley and I decided to remove the finished basement. In our plan since Day 1, at a whopping $31K, it wound up being the only major ticket item we could finish later.

It felt like going from

Dream

To...

Reality

Ultimately, it made the most financial sense (can you hear me talking myself into giving up on the man cave dream?) to postpone that element of the dream home until a later date, and remain within budget.

Part of the problem was when we initially priced the house and got our Good Faith Estimate, we hadn't been to the other appointments (Design Center and Guardian).  Additionally, we overlooked two big ticket items: a walkout egress (~ $7K) and the Roman shower option ($1K) in the Master Bathroom.  So, with those additions, and other appointments, the basement was the easiest and most cost-effective casualty.

In hindsight, we probably would have budgeted differently and allotted enough money for a finished basement.  In particular, our elevation and hip roof was a big cost item (~ $27K) by itself.

Yet, the proverbial glass is half-full.  Thanks in part due to some other home bloggers who have shown pics of them finishing their basement, we feel confident that it's something we can and will do together (minus the drywall labor).  With careful planning, it won't be nearly as costly as RH quoted (though in all fairness, their estimate appears to be in the neighborhood of $30/sq. ft, which is what my amateur internet surfing says is about right)

The Guardian (low-voltage wiring) appointment

Our Guardian appointment was with the HS Technology group, who are in responsible for helping you decide on the wiring for your new homes' audio, networking, cable, and security needs.
As an electrical engineer, I stem from a breed of folk who tend to be O.C.D. about, well, electricity and wiring, IT, and home networks, etc.. I'm also (no surprise) a gamer (when life allows), and to that extent, so is my youngest son.

Between us two heavy internet users, along with the world of streaming, and two plus other people in the house, let's just say I had specific ideas on how we'd set up our dream home and man cave for optimal efficiency! After reading other bloggers' posts about the Guardian appointment and their experience, I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect and what they actually could and would do.

So while I sort of was hoping for them to help me achieve something like this:

What I thought of when envisioning the Guardian appointment

At the end of the appointment, it turned out to be something more along the lines of this:

Much better idea then what I had in mind, and way more cost efficient

As mentioned, I'd be as transparent as possible with prices, and thus here's a link to the pamphlet that was sent to me: Ryan Homes: Low-voltage pricing

In an ideal world, with unlimited money, I would have had HST do a lot more. After all, they showed us a room they've done that looks like this:

It's actually more impressive in person

That's not to mention what's in store when you walk into their bathroom (also, equally impressive!!!).

Well, we went into the meeting with somewhat of a very reasonable budget and idea of what we wanted to do in each of the 4 major categories as we saw them:

1. TV placement
2. Home Audio
3. Networking
4. Home Security

After arriving at our appointment, we were greeted by Paul, who was, fantastic as a consultant. If there was a rating sheet or survey for him, he'd get a 10/10. No pushiness. Nice order and flow to helping him walk through each of the major categories. And he took the time to explain what can and can't be done, including an extended tutorial of helping Ashley visualize where the wires went when it came to TV mounting!

Ashely before meeting with Paul

When it was all said and done, due to budgetary constraints, we selected the following:

• 2 HDTV pre-wires (family room and master bedroom)
• 3  CAT6 outlets
• 6 RG6 (cable) outlets (1 for each bedroom and one for the family room)
• 1 pair of speakers in the family room
• 1 pair of speakers in the kitchen

The rationale behind our selections went something like:

• Let's get the TV mounted over the fireplace in the family room and master bedroom. In my mind, we're just paying them to hide the cords. In the other rooms, we'll just have to be clever about TV and wire placement.
• CAT6 outlets in the family room, master bedroom, and living room (which will become my study)
• Cable outlets in each room
• Since we wanted speakers (or at least the wiring) in the family room, it made sense to also get speakers in the kitchen so people (and the morning room I suppose) don't or won't have to ear hustle to hear what's going coming out of the family room speakers!
• Editors note: I think, We elected to have the router placed in the basement as a central location from which we can route the LAN cables to the family room, MBR, and office. I just can't remember if it's there in the basement, or upstairs in the living room (office)

We left the meeting under budget, and feeling good about our selections. I need to clear one or two things up (such as where exactly did I have the router placed?) and whether we get in wall/ceiling speakers. However, those are things that can be addressed at pre-drywall!

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.