Whilrwind

Once you sign the purchase agreement to buy the house, the next thirty days become a whirlwind.  For us we got slammed because we wanted to get our house on the market and various Ryan Home meetings took up our time.  Here is a short description of each meeting:

NVR

We had to send a list of financial information to the Ryan Home mortgage department.  Since we decided to purchase in a more expensive school district which causes more tax, we really needed both salaries to be able to carry both mortgages.  We easily make all required financial ratios when we use a combined compensation.  During the initial screening, it came up my fiancé has a low credit score and can’t be included. (Dam student loan mix up that dinged her credit)  We pushed through with just my information.  I was able to do the entire process without having a meeting.  NVR sent me the loan application and I was able to send them all my financial information electronically.  Ryan Homes requires all your financial information and application completed in 7 days, but I had a list of questions I sent my loan officer and no one returned my email for 2 days.  Once I signed it and submitted it, I got a call from someone demanded a bank statement showing more cash.  This was really odd, how did he expect me to “show” more cash on the bank accounts I disclosed to them and didn’t he know I currently have a home I am selling with the proceeds going to the new mortgage.  When I reminded him of my house sale, he seemed fine.  On Friday June 19^th, I was approved for the mortgage.

Home Remodeling

I decided to remodel one of the most expensive rooms in the home in hopes it helps my house sell fast.  My home was built in 1944 and the bathroom had tile that fell off the wall and the back board was not very supportive.  A new clean crisp bathroom would go nicely with my newly remodeled kitchen, new windows, and other improvements to sell the house.  I started my demolition the weekend we signed the Landon purchase and recently finished it.  I am pretty handy for a girl and my father helped a lot, but it took entirely too long.  We lost a weekend for a friend’s wedding, a planned summer concert, and more Ryan Home meetings.  This project and the other home fixes is another reason why we considered purchasing a new home…….it’s hard to spend every night working on home improvements and I miss my gym.

Rite Rug

Based on a suggestion of a Ryan Homes sales rep at another location, we budgeted for upgraded wall tile for the master bedroom.  I just finished remodeling my bathroom and knew how dirting and hard removing old tile is.  We planned to upgrade the wall tile and I would do the floor.  We were told it would only be 1,000.  Sadly, the Rite Rug people told us the upgrade is 1,600 and we cant just do the wall with out the floor.  We also learned that we wanted to budget for the top tile which would be over 2k.  We were sad that the sales rep told us bad information and the overall price will be going up.  The basic vinyl flooring is not very attractive at all but we planned to replace it later with hardwood we would do ourselves.  The basic carpet seemed ok.  I have read on my blogs that the basic stuff doesn’t last and many people replace it after 5 years.  We spoke to a friend who built with Ryan Homes 3 years ago and he had to replace his carpet after 2 years.  Odd that Rite Rug will warrenty their carpet for 10 years when the general tone from Ryan Home purchasers is that it will die in half the time.  We’ll find out first hand.  Overall the Rite Rug person was helpful and patient.

Guardian

This was a meeting I wished I had more data to prepare with.  They publish no pricing online and no one has anything like a price list to offer.   I was able to find some bloggers who cited some pricing for room speakers and such, but very minimal.  We opted for surround sound in the great room, no receiver, and a two room speaker positioned in the area between the kitchen and morning room, and one outside for the deck.  I also later discovered the reason why Ryan Homes uses Guardian is because Guardian provides a rebate from the Armstrong Group to Ryan Homes.  This made sense as I read another blogger who noted Ryan Homes gets a huge rebate on windows due to volume.  Guardian did really push their security system which I felt wasn’t needed as I’m an avid gun owner and we have two dogs.  A friend who built with Ryan Homes three years ago did suggest we place a 2^nd key pad in the master bedroom for the basic system.  Seems like a good idea?

Structural/option Meeting

We had to take out some things to keep in our budget which we were exceeding.  We made sure our focus was on structural things we couldn’t add later on our own such as the morning room.  Our lot has a slight slope which means our floor plan will be reversed.  Because of this, the morning room door will open up to the smaller part of our lawn and not the larger portion of our yard.  We requested it moved.  The first sales rep said no you can’t move it but when we asked again in this meeting the senior sales rep said let me get a quote on it.  Moving the door is a 495 fee and we took it.  We didn’t have another more changes to the structure.  We also picked the color of the siding, door, cabinets, and counter tops.  Make sure you take lots of pictures on your choices for the Rite Rug meeting.

Electrical

Since we had a short price list, we were able to already budget and plan for it.  We budgeted for ceiling light rough ins in every room without a light and fan rough ins for the master bedroom and morning room.  I also budgeted for 10 extra outlets and 200 amp service.  Based on the floor plan, we didn’t need as many outlets as there are outlets next to where we planned to hand the TVs.  We decided to put an extra outlet on the island, top of the kitchen cabinets, outlets in both master closets, and several more in the garage.  We added an extra switch for the garage light so that they can be turned off/on at the front door and not just inside the garage.  One problem I had was with the switched outlets Ryan Homes include.  They install a switch to turn off an outlet so it can control a lamp.  I hate this type of setup, and I mean HATE this with a passion.  It basically makes an outlet useless.  When I first asked about having them removed, the first sales rep said no…..they are standard.  During the meeting I asked again and again I heard they are standard.  I pointed out that I am buying a new home for XXX,XXX and they can’t simply remove the switch and wire?  The alternative is that I will have to replace the outlet and cap off the wire for the brand new house I am purchasing.  I also pointed out this is not a good way to get 10s on their review when Ryan Homes asks me.  They don’t have to reduce the price for using less wire and switches…..just don’t do it!  The sales reps said they would discuss it with their PM and managers.  Overall we were close to our budget and the extra was for adding switches which was not in the standard option list they gave us.

Now we are in the three week holding pattern waiting for the pre-construction meeting.  We are very busy trying to get the current house ready for sale.  We had hoped to get the realtor in this week, but we might have to push it back a week as the house is still a mess of boxes and clutter.  I’m happy that things are starting to slow down with Ryan Home meetings and that we already have two rooms in the old house cleaned and staged.  Hopefully the house will be on the market by the pre-construction meeting and I find time to hit the gym.

Here is our lot