Updates, Updates, Updates!!!

Holy cow.  I totally get why the other Ryan Home bloggers disappear off the face of the earth for a week or so after they move in!  We have been BUSY!

It is hard to believe we have been living in our new home for about a week now!!  I love it.  I am so happy.  I will post pictures soon, but I need to finish unpacking. 

I love our neighborhood.  Tons and tons of little kids for my girls to play with and I'm getting to know one of the neighbors whose daughter attends preschool with mine.  We might even go to a fall festival together this weekend! 

Our move went GREAT.  Probably the smoothest move we've ever had.  Our project manager checked in with us to make sure everything was going ok.  Funny story, one of our movers just built a Ryan home a few months ago!  He's been in it for about 2 months and he had the same project manager.  And he's been really happy with everything so far! Glad to hear it!

There are a few issues that need to be fixed - as I'm sure there are with every new build (at least, that's what I'm hearing from people!).  There was a nick in the bottom of our bathtub and someone came and fixed that right away.  Our doorbell doesn't work and I'm not sure what is going on with that.  I know it will be fixed soon.  We are keeping a list and our Project Manager said that we'll go through everything at our 30 day meeting.  There are a few drywall issues, the front door needs another coat of paint and some sanding, the pillars might need more paint - nothing mission critical.  My biggest issue is that I'm a total perfectionist and overly critical so I'm trying not to be super anal about things. 

Great news - our lawn was able to be graded and seeded.  YAY!  That was a very pleasant surprise.  But guess what else?  We get 2 trees!!  I love trees and they aren't cheap - especially to have a professional landscaper come and put them in, so I was absolutely THRILLED when I found out about that. 

Ryan Homes came out with a website for current homeowners.  I just got the email about it yesterday so I'm looking forward to checking that out. 

Overall, we have been so, SO happy with this experience.  We love our home.  And I'm very pleased with the attention and service that NVR and Ryan Homes give to their customers.  I know other people have had issues, but for those building in Western New York - definitely consider them.  You get so much more for your money!

I will definitely continue to update this as we live in our home and will update with pictures soon!

Final Walk Through

Today we had our final walk through at the house.  We close on Friday.  Everything looked great.  The meeting was kind of boring (no offense Project Manager Mike!!!!).  All about warranties, and furnaces and hot water tanks, etc, etc, etc.  Can you tell I was really paying attention?  I've just got too much on my mind - I'll let my husband worry about maintenance issues!!

Keep your fingers crossed for us that our move goes well on Friday - its supposed to rain buckets.  GAH!!!!   

Recent pictures

Vanity in upstairs bathroom.  Not loving it - it's SO small!

Lame-O vanity in Master Bath.  This is being replaced.

Master Bedroom.  And a cameo by our Project Manager!

Natalie checking out her room.

View of dining room

Office

Powder room

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! 

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????

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!