Thursday, September 30, 2010

MUCH happier.

Updates.

We will be closing on the 15th!  YAY!!!!!  I really wish we could close on the 13th, but that's just me being picky and a planner.  The 15th is just dandy.  I cannot wait!  I am so anxious to start living in our new house. 

Ryan Homes is fixing the vanity in our Master Bath - for FREE!  YAY!!  I am extremely pleased with this.  I was NOT expecting to get anything for free.  I was really just upset that the master vanity was not clearly communicated to us.  Note to Ryan Home Employees: there should really be a visual or something.  Either a picture or at the selection center.  You'd probably have a lot more people upgrading their bathrooms!!  There won't be any change in the other bathroom, but I'm ok with that.  I DO remember our Sales Rep saying it would be a single vanity in that bathroom.  I didn't realize how SMALL it would be (hence the need for a visual!) but there definitely wasn't a miscommunication on that.

A big thank you to our Project Manager and Sales Rep for getting this taken care of! 

Monday, September 27, 2010

I have a bigger complaint.

I am SO disappointed right now.

My husband went to check out house progress today and the bathrooms are not what we expected them to be AT ALL.  We opted not to get the double sinks because it was insanely expensive.  When discussed with our sales rep, he said it was because of plumbing.  When we opted for the single bowl sinks, we did not realize that we would actually be getting smaller vanities!  In the kids bathroom, its fine.  It looks kind of dumb, but its fine.  But in the Master Bath - it just looks so stupid.  It's a single vanity with a kind of extension of countertop, so the space underneath is empty.  It looks awful.  I am so disappointed. 

My husband called this morning to get more information and it is sounding like they won't do anything.  That really sucks.  We're spending all this money on our house and we hate the bathrooms and now we're going to have to rip out these vanities and put new ones in. BOOOOOOOOO!

So, yea...I'd say this is my biggest complaint so far!

We still don't have a definite closing date.

We stopped in at the model and talked to one of the sales reps on Saturday and he said we were in the computer for October 13th.  Sounds great.  Apparently we're supposed to get some sort of letter, but we haven't seen that yet.  Today, hopefully!

My husband spoke with our Project Manager this morning and apparently October 13th isn't the closing date, its the date of our final walk through and our closing will probably be the 15th.  GRRRRRR.  Can we just get some straight and DEFINITE answers here?  Maybe I'm just jealous of all you other Ryan Home bloggers who seem to have better communication about your settlement date than we do.  Apparently there were some paperwork issues delaying things. 

I know I've been waiting since May to get into our new house - what's a few more weeks???  Why do they seem like they're dragging on FOREVER????

Saturday, September 25, 2010

We're moving WHEN?!?!?!?!

Oh wait...we don't know yet.  The question is quite literal.

I'm frustrated.  I want to know when we're moving!!  I have 2 little kids to factor into this moving equation, I need to figure some stuff out.  And my husband works from home so we HAVE to make sure we have internet as soon as we move in. 

When we had our pre-drywall meeting a few weeks ago, we were given an estimated closing date of October 8th.  But when we talked to our Project Manager, he mentioned he was about a week ahead of that schedule.  Then this week he happened to mention to my husband that some things got pushed back recently due to weather.  I don't know if that was with our house or some other house that happened to affect ours?  I have no idea...  And of course if we move October 8th (and that weekend) - we have very little help to move!  My In-Laws are out of town for the weekend, my parents have a wedding in Albany, our babysitter is going camping, my husbands Aunt is going out of town.  ACK!  I think my brother and sister-in-law can help and a couple of close friends.  But can you see why this is semi-maddening?  I need to know if we're moving on the worst possible weekend or not!

Anyways...drywall is done.  House is painted.  Trim and doors are up!  They poured our porch.  The vinyl flooring is installed.  Cabinets are inside the house, but not hung.  It seems like everything is so close!   I'm so ready to be IN!

On a really fun note, we met one of our new neighbors today!  Her daughter is the same age as my daughter and they are in the same preschool class!  How awesome is that?!  And her son is close to my other daughters age.  I'm so excited!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Want to help a good cause AND get some great Pampered Chef gear??

I'm having an online Pampered Chef show! 10% of the sales will go to benefit the Waner Children's Vascular Anomoly Foundation. http://www.pamperedchef.biz/katiegalvin Just type my name in as the host (Kristine Huber) and you're set to go!
The Waner Children's Foundation is a great cause and has been a great help and support to my friend while her daughter has gone through treatment for a hemangioma birthmark. For more information check out http://wanervascularanomaly.org/
Please consider helping me out with this very important cause! Thank you!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

We have siding!!

They just have a little bit that they need to finish tomorrow. How exciting to finally see what the outside of the house looks like! I'm not 100% sure I like the gray and blue together. Everyone keeps telling me it looks great so I'll just go with it!




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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Updates

We have drywall!  Since the last update the house has been insulated and all of the drywall is up.  They also did the first coat of mud. 

We also upgraded our hot water tank to gas.  My husband was a little frustrated with that situation because we were never given an option to upgrade the hot water tank.  Luckily we were able to switch, no problem, and not charged a fee for changing it so late.

Not too many pictures to share because all of the work has been on the inside lately!  There is another house going up across the street from us - it is the same model as our house except they got the bonus room over the garage.  Not sure what I think about it.  Yes, the added space would be great, but I just don't care for the way the house looks with it.  Too boxy or something. 

Here is the siding and shutters we picked.  I don't remember what the colors are called exactly.  The siding is a light gray - stone maybe?  And the shutters are classic blue - I think.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Other Ryan Home builders...what kind of hot water tank do you have?

My husband stopped by our house yesterday and he was disappointed to find that the hot water tank was installed.  And it's electric.  Apparently he says that's a bad thing because electricity is expensive where we are.  (I have no idea...)  He said that he specifically asked about the hot water tank and that our Sales Representative told us it was a gas water tank.  He's going to call soon and hopefully get some answers!

If you've built a Ryan home - what type of hot water tank do you have?

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Pre-Drywall Meeting and Good News!!

Several things...

1) We had our pre-drywall walk through. Everything looks great. Our project manager is estimating the house will be done the first week in October. Our Loan Officer is thinking we'll have an October 8th closing date. Fingers crossed!

2) My Father-In-Law came with us for the walk through - just an extra set of eyes and he's familiar with building codes and whatnot. He was impressed! In fact, he said that our house is built better than our friends house that was built last year by a different builder. Their house is almost 1,000 sq ft smaller than ours and they paid the same price we're paying for ours. It makes me that much more confident in our decision to build our house through Ryan.

3) We got a little surprise with our front porch lighting. Instead of just having the 1 light by the door - there are 2 lights in the ceiling of our porch! I love it!

4) We spoke with our loan officer today and locked in our interest rate at 4%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so psyched! We need less $$ than we expected for our closing costs AND our monthly payment is going to be $60 less per month than we originally thought!! (And that is with adding the $14,000 morning room!!!!!) I am so excited right now. We are only paying approx. $700 more a month for this new house that is 1500sq ft bigger that our current house. I am so thrilled, we got such a good deal, we're under my target monthly payment - I feel really fortunate!