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!

Electric Slide

We haven't had our "electrical" meeting yet, and I'm unsure if adding outlets later, as in, after the 30 day window, will count towards a "order" change or not. Thus resulting in the cost of the outlet and the cost of the order change.

I was looking at the electrical plans, and trying to figure out what all of the  dotted lines and dashed lines and squiggly lines meant, in terms of will we have enough outlets and what light switches will control what, etc.,

Yes, this line means, ummm...flux capacitor?

I am (or was?) hoping that we wouldn't have to decide on how many outlets, or even ceiling fan rough-ins, until the house frame was up, and we could better visualize the room layouts. And even then, I'm hoping that it'll be the case where I/we can go to the PM and say "we would like for this switch panel to control these lights and for that switch panel to control those lights", etc.,

On top of that, I wish (wonder?), that I could give them recessed outlet plates and have the electricians install them at certain places, instead of the standard ones.

This isn't the exact plate I'd like, but it's close

I know that I want to have an outlet on each side of our kitchen island.
I want an outlet in our master bedroom closet.
I want an outlet in the garage. You know, the funky looking kind for a deep freezer.

Finally, I think I'm picky on what lights can control where from what? Yes, that was probably confusing, but you know what I mean I bet!

For instance, some switches will be tied together in a common sense way *judging by the blueprint*. Meaning, the foyer light should be able to be controlled from the top of the stairs and the bottom. Same as the basement hall light, and so on. But until I'm actually in the house and can confirm with the electrician (or PM) what light panels allow me to control which lights, then I'm kind of in the dark--literally! (See what I did there?)



So, my fiance' thinks we need to sit down with our SR now, and sort these questions out. Otherwise, we'll risk being dinged for "change orders" later. So being better safe than sorry, I'll set that meeting up ASAP.

Well water

Being "city clickers", one of the major things that we had to accept and will need to adjust to with our new home, is the dependence on well water.  This will be a huge leap from city systems, to a home with 3 acres of land and well water!  When our SR first mentioned that our development would rely on it, I was so caught up in the euphoria that I thought, no biggie! How different can it be? After all, it's not like we're bathing in it or drinking it, right?

The good ole (new) Griswolds

Wrong, dummy! That's actually exactly what we're doing.  And oh, by the way, well water also requires a "septic system"...another foreign concept to me, the city slicker.

Because it's the 21st century, and the entire community is using it, then I've kind of rationalized, "hey, how bad can this be?  Man developed and mastered this technology years ago right?"

Me man! Me get water from earth!

Rightfully so, everyone else around me who I've mentioned this to, from my father to Ashley cautions "pump your brakes Walt!  This will require a life-style adjustment".  To which I internally respond "How so?" And the first answer I hear is: "Wells, can run dry!"

I immediately envision:

Could this be us in a few months or years??

Now that I'm actually listening, I've begun asking co-workers, friends, the good ole internet: What do I need to know about well water (and septic systems)???

Anyone with experience? 

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!

Models. Inspiration. And Disaster Averted!

First, the disaster averted part...

At this stage, say, 8 or so days in, thanks to our SR, we've selected most of the options and things we think we want in our new home.  The thing is, in our particular development, the only model is a Jefferson Square--which to be completely honest, doesn't have enough in common with our Avalon to give us the warm and fuzzies.  Since we wanted to visit an actual model, 90 minutes away, we decided to combine the visit with a trip to Washington, D.C. since we'd be roughly half way.  Why not drive the extra 45 minutes to see the model in person?

It's here, with the keyword: model, where the author of this post almost went astray.  Simply because my original thought was to put a picture of a "model", somewhere here in this post, just plastered all big and bold.  And then when Ashley saw it, I'm sure her first thought wasn't going to be: How clever Walter!! So instead, I'll put a pic of us from DC instead.

My real muse and only model I need!

Now that I'm done avoiding that near blunder, and hopefully earning some brownie points...back to our model visit.

I've got literally dozens of photos of the model and it's various rooms from a variety of angles.  Rather then link them all here, I'll just publish the photo album and folk can view as they see fit. After all, a good bit of the model pics are available via RH's Ryan Homes Avalon Model website.

I will take this opportunity to point out some of the things we learned from visiting that model, beginning with the kitchen island. 

Inspiration Kitchen - NOT a Ryan Homes model

Avalon Model kitchen

Overall, not too shabby!

Moving on, the second, major feature that we fell in love with from the original home was it's walk-in closest, that became available if you selected the 3 car side loading garage.  Unfortunately, and probably for the best, I couldn't find any pics of that home's walk-in closet.  But trust me, it was cavernous-almost to the point of disgust!

The best I can do is post a pic of the floor plan and state that the "Walk-in closet" portion, extends over the 3 car garage, same as the Avalon. But it's ceilings are not slanted, and there's this like, entire bedroom area before you even get to the part that is over the 3 car garage!  We contemplated leasing out that space alone, sort of like Air B&B!!!

Dream Closet

Avalon Closet

Ok, so no more crying over spilled milk I guess.  These are first world complaints, griping over kitchens and walk-in closets! So I shall stop.  I'm just saying...

Ryan Homes Avalon closet

After taking a lot of super redundant pictures, we sat down and wrote a list of questions to ask our SR upon return to MD, such as:

• Will our selected trim look like the models?
• How many recessed lights are included in the kitchen?
• What flooring and cabinet choices come in the mudroom?

And a bunch of other things that were really, just stuff we wanted to keep in mind.  Such as: what size area rugs do we want, and how many will we need?  Should we add windows to the living room? And so forth.

It would have been nice if the SR on site had time to answer any of our questions (or the telephone when we called to ask if the model was indeed open that day...). However, our local SR back in MD accepted our e-mailed list of questions and responded back with answers to all of them!

Next-up, design center!!!