Okay, so I updated about random house decorating stuff but there have been other house things dealing with Ryan Homes so I thought I should follow up on some of that too.
First, we had put in our 1st service request mid August, by the end of August we had still never heard anything, and now we had more issues to report so we sent a 2nd service request in and also added that we put in a request August 15th and it was now August 29th and we hadn't been contacted. I think the next morning we got a phone call saying our PM had been on vacation and he was trying to catch up and then he scheduled to come Friday afternoon.
He came walked the house with us and scheduled to come a week and a half later to fix it all. Which happened, he came and fixed squeaky spots in the subfloor in the master bedroom and the bedroom closest to the stairs. Fixed kitchen cabinets that were banging into each other everytime we closed them... forgot to fix a seriously crooked set but he did teach us how to fix it so we need to figure it out. Fixed trim on the outside corner of the garage. Fixed the squeaky floor in the shower. Fixed door handles that weren't catching. I think that was it.
We have an issue with our granite staining pretty badly in one spot from strawberries. Our construction PM told us at our final walk thru that the granite was sealed so we wouldn't need to worry about that but that the shower grout would need to be sealed... fast forward to the strawberry incident and our countertops are definitely not sealed. And the service PM laughed at us and said they've never ever sealed the granite and he doesn't know why our PM Bill would have told us that. He gave us some ideas to try to get the stain out and said he would have the granite company come look but then he didn't and instead gave us the number to call and ask if it was ok to try and bleach the stain out.
I have since found another item that needs service but I hate having to make the request and have the PM come and then schedule again to actually come fix it later. I will eventually submit it (splintering hardwood I found while swiffering).
Lastly, an update on the propane situation. I never heard anything back and finally emailed the regional manager again (our SRs boss). He did not give me an update on the situation with Matheson as a whole at all but did offer to help us with our first bill from Matheson. So that was really nice and unexpected. Of course now it feels like we can't discuss the shadiness of Ryan and Matheson and the contracts they forced on us.
Good news for our neighborhood though is that we are in talks with a natural gas company to get natural gas hook ups, we need more neighbors to sign the agreements and we are in the section of the neighborhood that would be last to get hooked up but hopefully we won't be stuck with propane for the next 30 years!
Last update on the construction/Ryan homes side of things... our driveway. When we settled we were given a really rough driveway and we were told it would get a 2nd layer and would be level and smooth and we were on the schedule for August. We are almost to the end of September now and have heard nothing else about the driveway paving. I noticed 3 neighbors waaayyy down the street got paved a couple weeks ago so I figured they were at least starting but there haven't been any new driveways paved around us and we are definitely not going to be first in line behind all the neighbors who settled before us so I am wondering if we will get paved before the winter hits. The driveway is settling really badly in this one corner where there is a pipe, the pipe is actually coming up out of the metal cover and we are hoping it doesn't end up breaking from the impact of a car driving over it. My husband thinks its probably a good thing they haven't paved again yet bcuz its giving the driveway extra time to settle and hopefully it won't settle too much more and cause issues again down the road.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
4 months in... {almost}
Well its almost been 4 months in our home and its beginning to look and feel more like home everyday. We have done a couple little things around the house these last few weeks and we've been excited about them so I wanted to share them the only place I could. Lol.
Okay these photos are so random because I am blogging on my phone and its being crazy and won't let me re order them... anyway, first up is the trash and recycling system my husband added to one of our cabinets (to the left of the stove in our Milan). We really love it, its so nice to have our old plastic trash can out of the mudroom. The mudroom is our first big project, that we are hoping to tackle this weekend actually. We don't have a clue what we are doing but when the kids started school it became very obvious that we needed that room to "function" and its just not working for us right now.
This is a terrible photo but the only one I have, we finally got a light/ceiling fan added to the morning room. It is getting darker earlier now so this was a necessity. Its kind of a boring light for the morning room, I've seen the trend in fancy light fixtures with Ryan homes owners but my husband for sure wanted a fan in this room to help with the air circulation and the plain white is something my mom always recommended just so it would blend in with the ceiling. We like it, it really brightens up the room and the kitchen and the fan is great when its feeling especially warm in that room.
I found fabric I liked and sewed this pillow cover and another identical one. It was frustrating trying to figure out how to sew a zipper but after a few hours I managed to "make it work".
The best thing will be when we paint, which I was going to wait to do until after the 1 year drywall BUT i am seriously itching to do it now. And once I do I will feel like I can hang stuff on the walls!
Another bargain I couldn't pass up on...
My 4 year old has a birthday coming up right before Christmas and she has said she wants her room decorated as her present. She says she wants "all the things" (curtains, bedside table, lamp, clock, rug, gold polka dots on wall, bean bag chair, pictures on the wall, etc.) Anyway that made me remember the good deal on the curtain rod I got at kohls a couple weeks ago, tried one kohls, only one curtain rod but she has two windows so I checked another kohls today and found a bunch of curtain rods for $11.99. Yay!
I was hopeful that maybe the clearance tags weren't correct, maybe they'd be on more of a sale so I checked with their price checker and all these curtain rods rang up for $7.99 (down from $39.99... which kohls super marks up their stuff so they can put it "on sale", so if these were on the current sale the other curtain rods were on they would have been $20... ) I also had a 30% coupon so I paid $5.59 each and earned myself $10 kohls cash to use next week!
My husband thought I was crazy when I came home with all of these... and I know I looked crazy walking out of kohls with all 8 in my arms. Three will go in our bedroom, four in the kids bedrooms and then one for my husband's office.
Last thing... Monday I heard SW was having one of their 40% off paint sales but it was ending that day so I wanted to hurry and paint this half wall in the morning room with my leftover sample paint, that I had painted one spot on to test the color about 2 months ago. I wanted to see if I liked the color on a whole wall and I wanted to convince my husband to let me buy like 5 gallons and let me paint at least the family room, morning room and kitchen... unfortunately I didn't get around to buying the paint during that last day of the sale... however I do LOVE the color on the wall and in my house and can't wait to get all the walls painted. (I will be waiting for a paint sale though.)
Well thats my update for now, sorry its all over the place and super long.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Our Monday Evening Activity Tonight...
Tonight my 4 year old and I walked around the front yard pulling weeds and rocks out of the yard. I've heard in this neighborhood Ryan Homes supposedly has a machine that sifts out all the rocks but I have watched first hand that they grade the yards with the rocks (natural and the ones they brought in for construction) still there. They add the stinky smelling decomposing leaf "top soil" then lay sod on top. Anyway, tonight the rocks sticking out of the grass and the mulch finally got to me and we pulled out as many as we could. My 4 year old thought it was so much fun and didn't want to stop-- luckily for her the rocks aren't going anywhere and there will for sure be more working their way up to the surface.
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| That big dirt covered rock at the bottom is the size of my daughter's head, literally) |
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Propane Issues...
When we first came to check out this neighborhood and these Ryan Homes we ended up walking away for a couple of reasons actually, one being the timing of not wanting it to be completed before we were down with our rental contract but mostly what had us running for the hills was the propane contract Ryan Homes makes you sign in this particular neighborhood. We had been up to show the kids our lot we were thinking of getting and met our would be next door neighbor who told us about the propane contract and how he had bought his from the company so he could use any company he wanted to fill his tank. Scared us. We decided we didn't want to deal with the propane issue. We even asked our SR about getting electric heat... which he said its energy efficient, I am now starting to feel like they just don't offer it because they are in business with this one propane company (Matheson, by the way... so if anyone out there is reading this and is thinking of building with Ryan Homes or with anyone where you will be forced to sign a contract with Matheson, I am telling you right now... RUN! Don't do it!!)
Anyway, as the story goes we ended up signing about a month later, despite our worries about propane. Our SR assured us of a few things to help ease our worries... 1. We could buy the tank for $3400 now but as time goes by the price of the tank goes down significantly so if we wanted a couple years it would be much more affordable. 2. Matheson was competitively priced and if we ever felt like that wasn't true we should inform Ryan Homes and they would take care of it. 3. Ryan homes fills the tank to use during construction and whatever was let in the tank when we closed was ours to keep and then we would be responsible to fill the rest.
Now, when we closed our tank had 50% propane in the tank. We called Matheson to have them put our name on the account. No one explained anything to us just asked us to fill out some forms, and send a photo of our propane gauge so they'd know how much we needed. Over a month went by and we finally received a bill. A bill for nearlt $800, charging us for an entire tank of propane instead of just the 30% we needed (they only fill to 80%). My husband called and got the explanation from Matheson. Something about how Ryan Homes was suppose to fill our tank to full before we moved in, but that it was still all our responsibility to pay for the entire tank. See how these two statements, one from Ryan Homes before we signed our contract, and one from Matheson after we have already closed are 100% opposite of each other?!?!?! (We have also learned the price of the tank remains $3450 no matter when you buy it... also I have researched how much a tank costs and this is 3-6 times more than market)
So I emailed our SR and he talked to his boss. They both agreed that we were right and something sounded off. That was a month ago, at least. And that is still as much as I personally have been told.
About a week and a half ago I went around my SR and contacted his boss directly. Not only asking about the status of our personal situation but letting him know how disappointed we are in the service we are receiving from the propane company they FORCE us into business with. And asking for help in getting Matheson's prices lowered to match other competitors prices, which are more than 100% cheaper. (.89 a gal vs 1.99).
He wrote me back the next day and said he was working on it and asked for my phone number to give me a call. That is the last I heard from him.
Come to find out from our neighborhood FB page and from our family walk around the neighborhood, many people happened to also contact our SRs boss and so it wasn't just my email that prompted him to "look into it". Our neighbors had more info bcuz they actually spoke on the phone with the man and some of the options being thrown around were leasing the tank at $120 a year and being able to use whoever we wanted for gas, a lower price to buy the tank outright from, and a more competitive price. All of these sounded great.
Next day some neighbors say the gas company isn't budging and they think their prices are competitive.
I have still not heard back from my SRs boss, so I am unsure if anything is even being done anymore. And I am not sure what the status of our personal bill situation is.
I am completely disappointed in this entire scenario. Other homes in our neighborhood were built by other companies and their homes CAME WITH their propane tank. Which oh my goodness MAKES PERFECT SENSE!!!! Why doesn't Ryan Homes include the propane tank in the sale of the home?!?!? Why did they not even offer buying it out right from them as an option when pricing out the house? I am so curious about just what back room deal they have going with Matheson? It must be pretty sweet for them, they must be making so much money from it to FORCE all their home owners into business with this shady, dishonest company.
Our personal experience with them double charging for gas isn't unique, they have done it to all the home owners of recent. Since we all let Ryan Homes know about it they have since scolded Matheson and told them to fill the tanks no higher than the 25% they charging Ryan Homes for, then they will charge the home owner for the propane they put in on top of what is "leftover" from construction.
Our personal experience is also just the tip of the iceberg people. Some neighbors have reported damaged fences from Matheson trespassing and putting locks on their propane tanks so one one else can fill them. Some neighbors report being told their tank belongs to Matheson and they will sue the home owner even though they built with one of the other builders whose tanks came with their house! Its crazy in here right now with everyone fighting Matheson and no helpful solution being offered.
What I want to do is warn any potential home buyers of Ryan Homes and more specifically in this neighborhood. Educate yourself before you buy, and if its propane gas neighborhood maybe don't buy at all... and really don't buy if Ryan Homes has a contract they force you to sign putting you in business with any one company but absolutely never do business with Matheson!
I am not sure what the outcome of this will be, or what my next step is to get help from someone at Ryan Homes. Its really putting a damper on our house excitement, making me wish that we never built with Ryan Homes in the first place. I hate being lied to and I hate being taken advantage of.
Anyway, as the story goes we ended up signing about a month later, despite our worries about propane. Our SR assured us of a few things to help ease our worries... 1. We could buy the tank for $3400 now but as time goes by the price of the tank goes down significantly so if we wanted a couple years it would be much more affordable. 2. Matheson was competitively priced and if we ever felt like that wasn't true we should inform Ryan Homes and they would take care of it. 3. Ryan homes fills the tank to use during construction and whatever was let in the tank when we closed was ours to keep and then we would be responsible to fill the rest.
Now, when we closed our tank had 50% propane in the tank. We called Matheson to have them put our name on the account. No one explained anything to us just asked us to fill out some forms, and send a photo of our propane gauge so they'd know how much we needed. Over a month went by and we finally received a bill. A bill for nearlt $800, charging us for an entire tank of propane instead of just the 30% we needed (they only fill to 80%). My husband called and got the explanation from Matheson. Something about how Ryan Homes was suppose to fill our tank to full before we moved in, but that it was still all our responsibility to pay for the entire tank. See how these two statements, one from Ryan Homes before we signed our contract, and one from Matheson after we have already closed are 100% opposite of each other?!?!?! (We have also learned the price of the tank remains $3450 no matter when you buy it... also I have researched how much a tank costs and this is 3-6 times more than market)
So I emailed our SR and he talked to his boss. They both agreed that we were right and something sounded off. That was a month ago, at least. And that is still as much as I personally have been told.
About a week and a half ago I went around my SR and contacted his boss directly. Not only asking about the status of our personal situation but letting him know how disappointed we are in the service we are receiving from the propane company they FORCE us into business with. And asking for help in getting Matheson's prices lowered to match other competitors prices, which are more than 100% cheaper. (.89 a gal vs 1.99).
He wrote me back the next day and said he was working on it and asked for my phone number to give me a call. That is the last I heard from him.
Come to find out from our neighborhood FB page and from our family walk around the neighborhood, many people happened to also contact our SRs boss and so it wasn't just my email that prompted him to "look into it". Our neighbors had more info bcuz they actually spoke on the phone with the man and some of the options being thrown around were leasing the tank at $120 a year and being able to use whoever we wanted for gas, a lower price to buy the tank outright from, and a more competitive price. All of these sounded great.
Next day some neighbors say the gas company isn't budging and they think their prices are competitive.
I have still not heard back from my SRs boss, so I am unsure if anything is even being done anymore. And I am not sure what the status of our personal bill situation is.
I am completely disappointed in this entire scenario. Other homes in our neighborhood were built by other companies and their homes CAME WITH their propane tank. Which oh my goodness MAKES PERFECT SENSE!!!! Why doesn't Ryan Homes include the propane tank in the sale of the home?!?!? Why did they not even offer buying it out right from them as an option when pricing out the house? I am so curious about just what back room deal they have going with Matheson? It must be pretty sweet for them, they must be making so much money from it to FORCE all their home owners into business with this shady, dishonest company.
Our personal experience with them double charging for gas isn't unique, they have done it to all the home owners of recent. Since we all let Ryan Homes know about it they have since scolded Matheson and told them to fill the tanks no higher than the 25% they charging Ryan Homes for, then they will charge the home owner for the propane they put in on top of what is "leftover" from construction.
Our personal experience is also just the tip of the iceberg people. Some neighbors have reported damaged fences from Matheson trespassing and putting locks on their propane tanks so one one else can fill them. Some neighbors report being told their tank belongs to Matheson and they will sue the home owner even though they built with one of the other builders whose tanks came with their house! Its crazy in here right now with everyone fighting Matheson and no helpful solution being offered.
What I want to do is warn any potential home buyers of Ryan Homes and more specifically in this neighborhood. Educate yourself before you buy, and if its propane gas neighborhood maybe don't buy at all... and really don't buy if Ryan Homes has a contract they force you to sign putting you in business with any one company but absolutely never do business with Matheson!
I am not sure what the outcome of this will be, or what my next step is to get help from someone at Ryan Homes. Its really putting a damper on our house excitement, making me wish that we never built with Ryan Homes in the first place. I hate being lied to and I hate being taken advantage of.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
2 months...
Finally found an acceptable tv stand for the family room. We wanted something longer and shorter than the sofa table we were using for the tv because we had nothing else. It looked all wrong so when I finally found this table on target.com I was so excited, also glad they were having a great sale... put it in my cart, go to check out and it wouldn't let me sign in on my phone so I get on the computer sign in... out of stock. Are you kidding me? It was in my cart 5 minutes before. I was sad but noticed they had an email address to ask for color swatches so I thought I'd ask about another place to buy it. I got a response the next morning telling me to keep checking target.com because it should be back in stock in a few days. Sure enough Saturday morning it came back in stock and the amazing sale was still going on. (Ten minutes after I bought it, it was back out of stock again so I got super lucky). I saved over a hundred dollars and with my target card got the shipping and extra handling fee taken off. It mailed right out and arrived here Wednesday afternoon. My amazing husband put it together as soon as he got home from work. Took about an hour.
I love the look of it, the size and height. I also love that it freed up the sofa table that I wanted to put in the main entry/ hallway.
Also this weekend I finally found the navy and white striped rug I was hoping to find for the entry way (Also got one for the mud room). Before, I had this old red rug that we had in our tiny apartment living room back in 2004. I am not doing red anywhere in my house so I was anxious to get this old rug out of here (and down to the unfinished basement for the kids to play on).
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| Before and After |
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Our couch finally arrived!! And my 1st house project!
Today I got an itch to do a project and this one seemed simple enough. Lowe's has sample paints on sale for 99 cents thru 07/18. However home depot is whats closest to us (I don't even know where Lowe's is yet). Anyway, I thought they would price match it and give me the extra 10% off but they said they didn't know what to do bcuz their paint is so much better than Lowes.... uhhh anyone know if this is true? Anyway, she offered me half price since I was there. I took it. Four kids in home depot, I was not anxious to drive across town to lowes to do it all over again, for a couple dollars difference. Anyway, I got SW Naval and I did the hall closet door as a test since I wouldn't have to look at it much if I hated it.
And here's 3 pics of the finished product because I love it and I am obessed. I am super excited to buy a gallon and paint many more doors.
I have decided to leave the french doors to the office and off the morning room white. But I am definitely painting the front door, the pantry door, the laundry room door (since it says closed and is visible from downstairs), the three doors in the mudroom, and probably the linen closet upstairs... the first two I want to do right away though are the front door and the pantry door, they look so blah to me now amd they're what I can see from the couch. Its funny I find myself back on the stairs like I used to sit when we were still waiting for our couch because I just want to stare at my pretty navy blue door.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
If it isn't one thing...
...its another. And this doesn't have anything to do with our Ryan Homes build, its just life in general these last couple of weeks.
Maybe it all has to do with moving in general as well. I just can't seem to catch my breath with everything I have on my plate.
Last week it was my van dying. And my tire popping from a construction screw. This week its our couch being delivered by an incompetent driver who decided in front of our home that he thought the couch packaging numbers were wrong and he would not give it to us, or even let us see it or let us show him our order or photos of what it should look like, instead telling us "no delivery for you today" (he barely spoke english by the way, so getting that sentence out of him was pretty much all we got) and in turn caused lots of trouble. I've been on the phone for hours today with the delivery company, and the couch place that hired them. The best they could do was say they will try to get it on another truck and back out to us for delivery sometime next week! Are you serious???
Also this week I've been in contact with GE because our microwave is doing something crazy, so far the customer service rep has been kind and professional, I emailed back photos and hopefully they will be replacing our microwave. Not sure what else can be done to fix this issue. Photos below of the microwave problem:
Tomorrow our PM and his crew are coming to fix our 30 day issues. I want these things fixed but I am not looking forward to having people in my house all day, and not being able to go anywhere. I wish we could have blue taped and had things fixed prior to closing bcuz I feel like had we done that my desire to not have anyone mess up my house in the process of "fixing" it would have won out and we would deal with anything extra or wait it out until the drywall thing in a year. But since there was no blue taping and fixing issues before closing I feel the need to have them fix these things, because there are many. Anyway, tomorrow will be interesting with a house full of workers and my 4 kids running around.
We still need to get our drivers licenses changed, which we thought we had more time than we do, but found out when our van died that we need to do some extra inspection things here in PA and get all the car stuff fixed right away. Of course our van was dead so getting that stuff done wasn't happening, so now its on the top of our list of things to do.
The propane company hasn't contacted us back yet in about a month about our application they had us fill out. Still confused how that all works, also found out our neighborhood is now eligible to get natural gas hooked up and I'm not sure what that means for us... are we out of luck? Are we stuck in this propane contract Ryan homes made us sign? Maybe I could get some information if the neighborhood FB group would approve our requests to join, its been a month and we can't get them to let us in...
My daughter sprained her ankle at tennis camp today and came home and threw up because it made her queasy... wish I could say it didn't get all over the wall in the bathroom... with that paint Ryan homes uses that we all know wipes down so easily... 😕
I have been feeling more and more sad to not have my mom here to show her the house or to help me decorate. All these things I've just blogged about I probably wouldn't have even felt the need to share except that I don't have my mom, who was also my best friend, to vent to or share the fun stuff with. I find I can get through the day and not let it get to me, but its every night when I cry myself to sleep just missing her and wishing she were here to listen to me or help me figure out what to do.
I am feeling like I'm at the end of my rope, just hanging on. I am ready for everything to calm down and feel normal. No more issues with appliances, furniture deliveries, not knowing how to pay HOA fees, needing to get new licenses and car registrations, registering kids for school, kids getting sick or hurt, house defects needing to be addressed, cars breaking down or getting flat tires... I need a break from the mounting bills and more and more problems that need to be solved. I guess that's just life, but I am hoping for a smoother ride going forward because these last few weeks have felt heavy to carry.
Okay, that is all. Sorry I'm such a downer tonight.
Maybe it all has to do with moving in general as well. I just can't seem to catch my breath with everything I have on my plate.
Last week it was my van dying. And my tire popping from a construction screw. This week its our couch being delivered by an incompetent driver who decided in front of our home that he thought the couch packaging numbers were wrong and he would not give it to us, or even let us see it or let us show him our order or photos of what it should look like, instead telling us "no delivery for you today" (he barely spoke english by the way, so getting that sentence out of him was pretty much all we got) and in turn caused lots of trouble. I've been on the phone for hours today with the delivery company, and the couch place that hired them. The best they could do was say they will try to get it on another truck and back out to us for delivery sometime next week! Are you serious???
Also this week I've been in contact with GE because our microwave is doing something crazy, so far the customer service rep has been kind and professional, I emailed back photos and hopefully they will be replacing our microwave. Not sure what else can be done to fix this issue. Photos below of the microwave problem:
Tomorrow our PM and his crew are coming to fix our 30 day issues. I want these things fixed but I am not looking forward to having people in my house all day, and not being able to go anywhere. I wish we could have blue taped and had things fixed prior to closing bcuz I feel like had we done that my desire to not have anyone mess up my house in the process of "fixing" it would have won out and we would deal with anything extra or wait it out until the drywall thing in a year. But since there was no blue taping and fixing issues before closing I feel the need to have them fix these things, because there are many. Anyway, tomorrow will be interesting with a house full of workers and my 4 kids running around.
We still need to get our drivers licenses changed, which we thought we had more time than we do, but found out when our van died that we need to do some extra inspection things here in PA and get all the car stuff fixed right away. Of course our van was dead so getting that stuff done wasn't happening, so now its on the top of our list of things to do.
The propane company hasn't contacted us back yet in about a month about our application they had us fill out. Still confused how that all works, also found out our neighborhood is now eligible to get natural gas hooked up and I'm not sure what that means for us... are we out of luck? Are we stuck in this propane contract Ryan homes made us sign? Maybe I could get some information if the neighborhood FB group would approve our requests to join, its been a month and we can't get them to let us in...
My daughter sprained her ankle at tennis camp today and came home and threw up because it made her queasy... wish I could say it didn't get all over the wall in the bathroom... with that paint Ryan homes uses that we all know wipes down so easily... 😕
I have been feeling more and more sad to not have my mom here to show her the house or to help me decorate. All these things I've just blogged about I probably wouldn't have even felt the need to share except that I don't have my mom, who was also my best friend, to vent to or share the fun stuff with. I find I can get through the day and not let it get to me, but its every night when I cry myself to sleep just missing her and wishing she were here to listen to me or help me figure out what to do.
I am feeling like I'm at the end of my rope, just hanging on. I am ready for everything to calm down and feel normal. No more issues with appliances, furniture deliveries, not knowing how to pay HOA fees, needing to get new licenses and car registrations, registering kids for school, kids getting sick or hurt, house defects needing to be addressed, cars breaking down or getting flat tires... I need a break from the mounting bills and more and more problems that need to be solved. I guess that's just life, but I am hoping for a smoother ride going forward because these last few weeks have felt heavy to carry.
Okay, that is all. Sorry I'm such a downer tonight.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
One Month In...
I am so excited that I can take photos in front of my house again now that our PM replaced our two dead trees by the front door. They don't warranty landscaping so we knew it might be a long shot getting the trees replaced, we hoped for the really really dead one because it was dead before we closed. Anyway the second our PM came by for our post settlement follow up on Monday morning our adorable 4 year asked him for a new tree. Who could resist her request? Haha. It was too funny, I couldn't believe she ran right up and asked him. Wonder if we would have had the same luck as her if we were the ones who asked? 😉
In other news we worked for an hour or so Saturday afternoon, putting all the littles to work as well 😄 and we finally got all the boxes and furniture out of the garage and can park both of our cars in the garage. We love it.
Tonight, my sweet husband, after working a full day, going with me to pick up my van from the mechanic (dead alternator), and then going to a tire store to attempt to have my tire plugged (dumb construction site screws!!! Makes me mad I go around picking them up out of the roads in an effort to save everyone's tires and I end up with one in my very expensive tire... ugh.) Anyway, it couldn't be plugged, and we had to order a new tire since they didn't have the size we needed... but he came home from doing all that and still managed to muster up the energy to hang my new curtain rods and curtains in the family room. Love that man!
As you can see we are slowly... very slowly... pulling together our family room. Still waiting on that couch to be delivered. Think it'll be after the holiday now. Bummer.
But we are loving it coming together. I am not a decorator but I wish I was. Its fun for me but hard to know if certain patterns and colors will work together.
Sunday night I wrote a blog post but kept it as a draft because I thought I would contact Ryan Homes first and let them try to fix our problem before venting publicly. So glad that I did that because they fixed our problem right away. We hadn't heard from our PM once since pre settlement and we were over 30 days. We heard our new neighbors were about to have a 10 day post settlement follow up and that felt wrong to us that we hadn't even heard from him, and our things pre settlement never were fixed. Anyways, I emailed our SR and was probably over dramatic but I have been extra emotional lately... he emailed back first thing in the morning, then we got a phone call from our PM and he scheduled to come over that morning to do our post settlement follow up.
Turned out there was a mix up btw two PMs we had, an old one and a new one and each thought the other was handling our follow ups and actually that meant no one was. And since we didn't have any contact information for our PM we had no way to let him know we were being forgotten.
Anyway, its all fixed now. Next Thursday we are scheduled to have our issues addressed, which include scratches in hardwood floors, wall touch ups on drywall and paint, a new window, vinyl in kids bath, shutter and garage door.
We received our survey in an email and will be filling it out as soon as our things are all fixed. Can't believe its been a month in our house here. :)
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Home Depot Price Matching
Okay, I may be slow, and I have heard of price matching before but haven't ever tried it out before and definitely not AFTER the purchase either but today I gave it a try. I am a bargain shopper (sometimes even to a fault), we don't ever make big purchases or go on vacations (married 12.5 years still not even a honeymoon-lol.), and I always shop around for the best price on the things I do buy. Yes I even shop at multiple grocery stores to make sure I get the best deal on food as well. My bargain shopping is also why we still do not have a couch in our family room nearly a month after moving in-- because after falling in love with a really nice sectional (nicer than any piece of furniture we've ever owned) at the local furniture store I looked for it online and found it for nearly a thousand dollars cheaper through an online retailer... they are taking their sweet time delivering it and everyday we get a little more anxious to receive it but definitely worth the savings in our opinion.
Anyway, I really shouldn't make a habit of checking prices of things I've already bought since it drives me crazy if I find a better deal after the fact but in this case it managed to work out in our favor. I noticed Home Depot's Red, White and Blue sale had started and just out of curiosity wanted to see if they had a better deal on my washer and dryer at their Memorial day sale or their 4th of July sale-- I fully expected the Memorial day sale to be the best price and I was just going to go on my way being happy with my good deal... ummm nope! They now had my washer and dryer set for over $80 cheaper (total plus taxes).
After being disappointed about it but really knowing there was nothing to do about it, we had needed a washer and dryer right away and it would have been super inconvenient to have not been able to do laundry this month waiting around for the 4th of july sale... so I really decided it was okay because it was something we needed.
Then I had the thought about price matching and price adjustments. A quick google search told me home depot did 14 days. We were definitely out of the 14 days but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask on their convenient little chat feature on their website. The rep there told me they do price matching and will refund money within 30 days of the purchase. The rep was super helpful and got our refund all worked out, sent me a confirmation email with the receipt for the over $80 going back on our card! I can't tell you how much this made my day!!! (I was so excited I joked we should go to Olive Garden to celebrate the extra money coming back to us... instead I boiled a box of pasta and a package of hot dogs and we had hot dogs and pasta salad as planned ;) )
We have been frequenting Home Depot since we moved in, bought the washer and dryer, a lawn mower (3 times actually, there is a story for another day), and all our ceiling fans , plus little things like hose, sprinkler, grout sealer, hardwood floor cleaner, drywall anchors, etc... they are the closest home improvement store to our house but they also have the best prices (or you can believe me I would drive further if the deals were better somewhere else). Anyway, we have been shopping there quite a bit and we keep having very positive experiences with pricing, selection, and customer service-- so I just wanted to share our experience and also give others a heads up about the awesome price matching policy they have! Also, if you are still in the market for appliances their Red, White and Blue sale seems to be one of their bigger sales of the year for sure so definitely check it out! :)
Anyway, I really shouldn't make a habit of checking prices of things I've already bought since it drives me crazy if I find a better deal after the fact but in this case it managed to work out in our favor. I noticed Home Depot's Red, White and Blue sale had started and just out of curiosity wanted to see if they had a better deal on my washer and dryer at their Memorial day sale or their 4th of July sale-- I fully expected the Memorial day sale to be the best price and I was just going to go on my way being happy with my good deal... ummm nope! They now had my washer and dryer set for over $80 cheaper (total plus taxes).
After being disappointed about it but really knowing there was nothing to do about it, we had needed a washer and dryer right away and it would have been super inconvenient to have not been able to do laundry this month waiting around for the 4th of july sale... so I really decided it was okay because it was something we needed.
Then I had the thought about price matching and price adjustments. A quick google search told me home depot did 14 days. We were definitely out of the 14 days but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask on their convenient little chat feature on their website. The rep there told me they do price matching and will refund money within 30 days of the purchase. The rep was super helpful and got our refund all worked out, sent me a confirmation email with the receipt for the over $80 going back on our card! I can't tell you how much this made my day!!! (I was so excited I joked we should go to Olive Garden to celebrate the extra money coming back to us... instead I boiled a box of pasta and a package of hot dogs and we had hot dogs and pasta salad as planned ;) )
We have been frequenting Home Depot since we moved in, bought the washer and dryer, a lawn mower (3 times actually, there is a story for another day), and all our ceiling fans , plus little things like hose, sprinkler, grout sealer, hardwood floor cleaner, drywall anchors, etc... they are the closest home improvement store to our house but they also have the best prices (or you can believe me I would drive further if the deals were better somewhere else). Anyway, we have been shopping there quite a bit and we keep having very positive experiences with pricing, selection, and customer service-- so I just wanted to share our experience and also give others a heads up about the awesome price matching policy they have! Also, if you are still in the market for appliances their Red, White and Blue sale seems to be one of their bigger sales of the year for sure so definitely check it out! :)
Sunday, June 5, 2016
One week in...
One week in our new Ryan Home and you aren't getting rid of me so easily. It makes me sad when people stop blogging after their build is over, or even just part way through their build bcuz I love reading those blogs so much (seriously if I could make a career out of it I would)-- I don't know if anyone cares to continue to read this blog but I plan on continually updating it as we go along anyway. I have been a family blogger since 2007 and kind of stopped once facebook and instagram came into play bcuz sharing there was so much quicker-- anyway I don't think fb or instagram care to see my house updates so I will channel all my house excitement into my blog posts. :)
Today marked one full week actually waking up in our house (though I suppose it technically wasn't since we went and slept in MD on Memorial Day so the kids could go to school one last day). Anyway, it was our first Sunday attending our new church and it was exciting to meet all the new people. After dinner tonight we walked the neighborhood with some ice cream sandwiches for a treat, as you can see some evidence of that in this photo we took afterwards. (First family selfie on our new front porch btw ;) )
On our walk I snapped this photo of the back of our house. If you look closely you can see where my husband gave up on mowing that crazy steep hill!
This photo I took and texted to my landscaping managment major brother and asked of this poor sad tree will "come back". He basically laughed and told me its dead. He said it either didn't get enough water or was planted poorly by the landscaper, or it was just a bad tree from the nursery. Either way it isn't coming back. We know its not a water issue since it rained for 3 straight weeks before we moved in-- Ryan Homes made us sign a paper saying they don't warranty landscaping, which makes sense but seeing as this tree was dead before we closed I am hoping they will replace it for us. That is one of my questions for our PM.
Thursday was my husbands first day back to work after taking over a week off to move-- my goal for that day was to finish unpacking the kitchen and have the island cleared off and clean! Totally accomplished my goal minutes before he arrived home. (I also mowed the front yard, did laundry, and gave my aunt and uncle a tour of the house that day too). Anyway, really love my pretty kitchen, it totally motivates me to keep it as clean as possible (with 4 littles running around... seriously makes us re consider our decision to buy a nice home while we still raising children. Lol.)
I took this photo when an old family friend asked where my laundry room was... but I am posting this to help illustrate this scary moment we had yesterday afternoon... my 4 year old decided it would be a good idea to climb along that railing from the stairs side in. Meaning when she made it all the way over to the corner and looked down she was over 10 feet off the ground. Thankfully, she was fine and managed to get back on safe ground quickly and it certainly scared her enough that we hope she won't ever do that again!
Tuesday night when we got back from our two day trip to MD we found that our PM had pulled up the dead sod and replaced it with new. So happy about that!
Sunday, May 29, 2016
We Closed!!!
So we actually managed to close on Friday afternoon at 1pm. It was nothing short of a miracle. And there was so much drama in the first couple hours of the morning on the phone with NVR. (I will admit I cried like a baby on the phone, and demanded they close us no matter who had to stay late the day before their long weekend vacation.)
We give all the credit to our amazing SR who jumped right in and got in contact with everyone involved and their bosses as well. Our loan processor got ahold of someone at USDA and pleaded our case- the rep. he spoke with said she was leaving for the long weekend at 11:30am but promised to get us approved before she left. And that she did. NVR worked quickly from then on to get everything in order and scheduled our closing for 1pm. It went pretty smoothly from there, and was pretty uneventful.
We got the keys, drove up and moved some things that night. Yesterday was the big move and we are now getting settled in. Still lots more to do but we are loving the new house.
Here are a couple photos of my favorite things so far... of course the morning room, and the kitchen, and then the view from my bedroom window. Loved waking up to that this morning!
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Didn't Close...
I will update you all, while my crazy husband plays sad, depressing music in the background, lol. We are both pretty upset about not closing today. NVR has been less than responsive or helpful at all today. They are pretty quick to push off the blame on to USDA and haven't been apologetic or problem solvers at all.
About an hour ago, in a moment of weakness and needing to vent to someone I texted our SR and told him we didn't close today. He was quick to respond and quick to apologize that we were going through this, he had no idea. He quickly sent an email to the head of NVRM and also to his VP. He agrees that our file should have been sent early enough for USDA to issue our approval and agrees that this is unacceptable. He is working on getting us some answers now--which is comforting and helpful. Not at all what we've experience from the NVR side of it.
So as it stands now we have NO IDEA when (or IF) we will be closing. Sucks because our whole house is packed up. We were going to go out to dinner as a family tonight to celebrate. My kids want outback because they've never been and we told them we'd go tonight. Now instead its mac and cheese and Ramen noodles. My husband and I have both been too stressed today to eat a single thing all day. We both just realized that the only thing either of us had all day was a can of soda (and I don't even drink soda normally).
We were going to be packing up the car tonight with our kitchen items and clothing to take up to the house while the kids were in school tomorrow. Now we're not.
So far we still have our moving truck scheduled for tomorrow night, our washer and dryer are suppose to be delivered on Saturday.... not sure what will happen with either of those things now. If we don't close tomorrow the earliest will be Tuesday which just is unacceptable. I can't even figure out how that will work at all. This weekend we have people who can help us move. Tuesday they will all go back to work. Wednesday my little sister is scheduled to have her baby, it is the first baby to be born without our mom here and I have every intention of being there with her, we had a pretty tightly planned weekend of moving, (oh did I mention my youngest sister is moving to California on the 31st?) so yeah, busy weekend with my entire family, helping two of us pack up and move and then ending on the 1st of June with a new family member being born but it was all going to work fine if we just would have closed tonight like we were suppose to!
I can't tell you how stressful these last 24+ hours have been. Imagine being told from NVR for months that we're all set and ready to go, so we never worried about it, to then less than 24 hrs before closing be told "oops the loan approval hasn't come in yet". SO. FRUSTRATED! (And there's not a darn thing we can do about it!)
About an hour ago, in a moment of weakness and needing to vent to someone I texted our SR and told him we didn't close today. He was quick to respond and quick to apologize that we were going through this, he had no idea. He quickly sent an email to the head of NVRM and also to his VP. He agrees that our file should have been sent early enough for USDA to issue our approval and agrees that this is unacceptable. He is working on getting us some answers now--which is comforting and helpful. Not at all what we've experience from the NVR side of it.
So as it stands now we have NO IDEA when (or IF) we will be closing. Sucks because our whole house is packed up. We were going to go out to dinner as a family tonight to celebrate. My kids want outback because they've never been and we told them we'd go tonight. Now instead its mac and cheese and Ramen noodles. My husband and I have both been too stressed today to eat a single thing all day. We both just realized that the only thing either of us had all day was a can of soda (and I don't even drink soda normally).
We were going to be packing up the car tonight with our kitchen items and clothing to take up to the house while the kids were in school tomorrow. Now we're not.
So far we still have our moving truck scheduled for tomorrow night, our washer and dryer are suppose to be delivered on Saturday.... not sure what will happen with either of those things now. If we don't close tomorrow the earliest will be Tuesday which just is unacceptable. I can't even figure out how that will work at all. This weekend we have people who can help us move. Tuesday they will all go back to work. Wednesday my little sister is scheduled to have her baby, it is the first baby to be born without our mom here and I have every intention of being there with her, we had a pretty tightly planned weekend of moving, (oh did I mention my youngest sister is moving to California on the 31st?) so yeah, busy weekend with my entire family, helping two of us pack up and move and then ending on the 1st of June with a new family member being born but it was all going to work fine if we just would have closed tonight like we were suppose to!
I can't tell you how stressful these last 24+ hours have been. Imagine being told from NVR for months that we're all set and ready to go, so we never worried about it, to then less than 24 hrs before closing be told "oops the loan approval hasn't come in yet". SO. FRUSTRATED! (And there's not a darn thing we can do about it!)
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
11th Hour NVR Woes...
So we were thinking everything was going pretty well and we were all set to go. Our biggest stress was getting this house packed up and ready for our move on Saturday. That was until our loan processor called this afternoon and said that they had yet to receive final approval for the loan from USDA.
We have been in contact back and forth this evening and our LP is quick to tell us that NVR is ready to go, they have all the papers ready for us to sign and its really just USDA we are waiting on. Which is true but there is a little more to it. USDA can only go as fast as they can go and if they have a lot of files coming in and get backed up then the approval process takes longer. NVR should have anticipated this and sent the file in WELL IN ADVANCE! (I mean its not like they didn't have access to everything they needed... how long have we been working with them and giving them all the documents they need?) Everything I can find on the internet says to expect two weeks... so why is NVR submitting our file for approval 4 business days before we are suppose to close?
Not to mention they were the ones who set our closing date to begin with. 11 days after our signed contract date... and nearly a month after the home has been sitting completed... why not have the file ready sooner?
So yes, here we sit approaching 12 hours till our scheduled closing and we are waiting on the USDA to give final approval... but only because NVR submitted our file later than they should have.
Meanwhile we have always submitted everything they have ever asked for from us right away, in less than 24 hrs. Wired the money to them for closing two days in advance. Have all the utilities switched over to our names for closing. We have done everything right throughout this whole process and now we may not close on time. It is very frustrating and disappointing to say the least. Our move has sucked all of our energy and time these last few days and the motivation to keep going is quickly decreasing. I can't even. All the "what ifs" are killing me tonight.
What if we don't close tomorrow? What if we don't close Friday? What if we can't move on Saturday? and then its memorial day weekend and no one will be working so the earliest we can close is Tuesday... but thats the day we have to give our keys back to the landlord... thats the day we have a carpet cleaning coming at 9am. Thats the day our kids have their last day of school and my daughter has her strings concert at school.
Even worse... what if it takes two weeks for usda to approve? where will we go? Or even worse than that what if they don't approve us at all....?
I have a feeling I won't be getting much sleep tonight and tomorrow might be a long and very sad day for us. We are praying hard for a miracle so that we can close on time. My oldest son is so sweet and very faithful and positive and he is just certain we will close on time and he tells me to have faith and not to worry about it. I will try my hardest! Anyone out there who might read this blog in time send us some prayers and positive vibes for closing on time tomorrow. I will update tomorrow and hopefully it'll be good news!
We have been in contact back and forth this evening and our LP is quick to tell us that NVR is ready to go, they have all the papers ready for us to sign and its really just USDA we are waiting on. Which is true but there is a little more to it. USDA can only go as fast as they can go and if they have a lot of files coming in and get backed up then the approval process takes longer. NVR should have anticipated this and sent the file in WELL IN ADVANCE! (I mean its not like they didn't have access to everything they needed... how long have we been working with them and giving them all the documents they need?) Everything I can find on the internet says to expect two weeks... so why is NVR submitting our file for approval 4 business days before we are suppose to close?
Not to mention they were the ones who set our closing date to begin with. 11 days after our signed contract date... and nearly a month after the home has been sitting completed... why not have the file ready sooner?
So yes, here we sit approaching 12 hours till our scheduled closing and we are waiting on the USDA to give final approval... but only because NVR submitted our file later than they should have.
Meanwhile we have always submitted everything they have ever asked for from us right away, in less than 24 hrs. Wired the money to them for closing two days in advance. Have all the utilities switched over to our names for closing. We have done everything right throughout this whole process and now we may not close on time. It is very frustrating and disappointing to say the least. Our move has sucked all of our energy and time these last few days and the motivation to keep going is quickly decreasing. I can't even. All the "what ifs" are killing me tonight.
What if we don't close tomorrow? What if we don't close Friday? What if we can't move on Saturday? and then its memorial day weekend and no one will be working so the earliest we can close is Tuesday... but thats the day we have to give our keys back to the landlord... thats the day we have a carpet cleaning coming at 9am. Thats the day our kids have their last day of school and my daughter has her strings concert at school.
Even worse... what if it takes two weeks for usda to approve? where will we go? Or even worse than that what if they don't approve us at all....?
I have a feeling I won't be getting much sleep tonight and tomorrow might be a long and very sad day for us. We are praying hard for a miracle so that we can close on time. My oldest son is so sweet and very faithful and positive and he is just certain we will close on time and he tells me to have faith and not to worry about it. I will try my hardest! Anyone out there who might read this blog in time send us some prayers and positive vibes for closing on time tomorrow. I will update tomorrow and hopefully it'll be good news!
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Pre Settlement Demonstration
Yesterday morning we had our pre settlement demonstration. My dad drove up and met us at the house, it was his first time being to our new neighborhood and the house. Upon arriving we learned that we had a new set of project managers who were the ones to finish our house. I wonder how often they move them around. I hope they don't change them again anytime soon. Its hard to know who you'll be dealing with if an issue arises. Anyway, the beginning was going over the warranties and signing some papers. Then they took us through the house, starting in the kitchen. They taught us about our appliances, our windows, the doors, the floor, lights, tile, water heater, sump pump, garage door opener, etc.
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| love our cute little house |
Our PM said that he didn't "blue tape" the house and wouldn't. He kept stressing that the drywall issues could only be addressed one time and around 1 year after we move in would be the time to do it. He did also say that if there was something that needed to be fixed before settlement he would take care of it. As we walked the house there wasn't anything that was jumping out at us, not that we were really looking though either because he had already said we wouldn't be blue taping anything. As we were leaving we noted the drywall tape spot on the wall in the family room (you can see it from across the room- that is how bad it is)- I asked if we needed to wait until the one year to fix that and he said he would take care of it before we close and took his pen and circled it on the wall. I am kicking myself for not speaking up about a spot on the wall near the sink that was driving me crazy the whole time he was talking about warranties). Super hoping he sees it himself and has them paint it. Its just a spot that needs touch up paint. Other than that we didn't see anything that jumped out to us. He did say we will notice a lot more in the first 30 days that we're living there than we would walking the house that day and that they would fix it all at the 30 day mark.
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| view of the family room |
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| view into the morning room |
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| kitchen view |
A couple days before our walk thru we received our closing disclosure to sign and send back. It had our official amount to bring to closing. The next day our loan processor emailed and asked for our latest paycheck stub and a signed letter from me about being "unemployed" (aka- stay at home mom). It feels so good to be so close!!
Today we spent every minute from the time we woke up until the time we put the kids to bed packing and working on getting all of our items put into a central location in the living room to make it easier for our friends and family to help us load up the truck. My back hurts so badly, I am laying flat on my back typing this blog post right now, trying to ease the pain.... Ouch! ouch! ouch!
We worked over 10 hours straight and got a bunch accomplished but the house is a wreck right now and there is still so much more to do. Our plan is to close on Thursday at noon, which is kind of too late for us to be able to go see the house, since we will have to run back home to get the kids from school. But the following day our plan is to load up the minivan (while the kiddos are at school) with all the kitchen items and the clothes from everyone's closets (I do not want to take clothes off hangers, so I am just going to move them from one house to another... hopefully it'll work as well in real life as it does in my head). Friday night we will pick up the moving truck and Saturday morning we will be loading up, driving north and then unloading. The next few days we will be bouncing back and forth between houses, cleaning the rental up and having the carpets cleaned.
With knowing our official closing amount we were able to go ahead and purchase (with cash) our washer and dryer and have it scheduled to be delivered. We also signed up to have our internet hooked up and on Monday we will call to set up all our utilities in our name. We are so excited to be checking these little things off our list and can't wait to be in our very own home again!!!
I will try to update again after closing and moving in.
5 MORE SLEEPS!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
9 days til...
...our pre-settlement walk through!!
We are getting excited but both of us don't feel like its real. In the meantime we've reserved our moving truck, and been busy fixing things up around our rental. We put in our notice at the end of April (a little earlier than required) and our landlord has listed this place for rent and we have our first showing tonight. This was easily the most stressful part when we were trying to sell our house (two years ago), of course this won't be as bad because we aren't the ones trying to "sell" the property to a new tenant but I will still want to have it as clean as possible when someone comes through--which isn't so easy in the midst of packing, selling furniture off, four kids, three in school, science fair projects, pinewood derby cars, recitals, concerts, etc. May is always our busiest, most stressful, event packed month and this year may just "take the cake". I am ready for it to be June so I will have passed over all the unpleasant parts of packing and moving in the midst of our normal everyday chaos and finally be able to breathe and start to unpack and settle into our new home and town... (and state!)
I am getting nervous about utility bills, looking into how much the electric is and the water... I am reminded when I get to the sites and download the documents that I have done it all before... before we signed the contract. So I really just need to not worry about it and figure it out as it comes... and pray that we will be able to afford this crazy idea we had to buy a house and move an hour north to where its supposedly more affordable... though the taxes have me feeling its actually more expensive. I am second guessing everything. Luckily for us we {think} we love the country feel of the area we are moving to (of course we've only been up for short visits)... so if all else fails and this was a stupid idea, hopefully we will at least love the area since we'll be stuck with it.
Speaking of taxes.. that was one thing I didn't update about... we decided to lock in our interest rate the day after we found out that we could. It was the same as it had been the day before (and on all the loan estimate sheets they'd sent in 2016) but it came with a small lender credit. So we decided to take it. It was too stressful to think about for another day. But when our LO sent us the lock agreement she also sent an updated loan estimate sheet and made note that our closing costs had gone up (significantly I might add!!!!!!) because of the due date on our school taxes. Oh my goodness, it was shocking and disappointing to say the least. I freaked out. Our loan officer was very helpful and called me to discuss my questions and concerns and she explained it all... (and other concerns I had had and wrote about earlier with regards to transfer taxes... seriously, taxes are just my sore subject... why are there so many and why are they so high compared to other areas??? yikes!)
Anyway, the reason for the almost $3,000 jump in our closing cost estimate was that our original LO had the due date for the school property taxes as August 2017 but it should have been August 2016... HUGE difference... especially when it was in the area where the taxes are the highest (more than double the regular property taxes). I really wish NVR would have offered some kind of credit for their mistake, and the misrepresentation of the taxes due with our closing costs. It would have been a nice gesture. Anyway, the LO was helpful as far as explaining the mistake and trying to help us figure out ways to have more cash for closing... her idea was bumping our interest rate up and giving us an extra $1100 credit. We weren't interested in a higher interest rate so that didn't work for us.
Now money is extra tight and I am a little nervous about having the cash to close. Remember when I was going to ask the LO about buying our washer and dryer.. yeah, not going to happen now until after closing... and maybe we'll be washing our clothes in the bathtub for a while. lol. Its kind of frustrating to be at this place where our budget is so tight. Buying a new house is fun, and it makes you excited to decorate and make it a "home" but with these extra last minute additions to our closing costs its impossible to allow ourselves to purchase one single thing for the house.
One last update... we did receive our appraisal report last week. I printed and studied all 27 pages of it. Lol. Its kind of a mystery how they come up with the number they come up with. Either way, it appraised for just over our loan amount so I suppose we're all set to go. It was another worry I had running in the back of my head (I am a worrier... its what I do), with regards to it not appraising and having even more money to bring to closing... we would have had to walk away if that were the case.
Anyway... sorry for the long and boring post with too much information. We haven't been back up to the house and won't be back until our walk through on the 20th. My Aunt and uncle did drive by on their way through town this past weekend and took a photo on the front porch. The front door is definitely ajar in the photo but they did not go in because they were afraid to... also I'm sure they just wanted us to be able to show them around once its officially ours. I did notice my house in the background of our future across the street neighbor's photo on the FB group and noticed that the yellow/brown patches of grass around the driveway have not bounced back yet and I was sure they would with all the rain we've been having... wonder if it'll come back or if its just dead? :(
So 9 days til walk through and 15 days til closing! I am ready to be on the other side of this! My nerves can't take it!
We are getting excited but both of us don't feel like its real. In the meantime we've reserved our moving truck, and been busy fixing things up around our rental. We put in our notice at the end of April (a little earlier than required) and our landlord has listed this place for rent and we have our first showing tonight. This was easily the most stressful part when we were trying to sell our house (two years ago), of course this won't be as bad because we aren't the ones trying to "sell" the property to a new tenant but I will still want to have it as clean as possible when someone comes through--which isn't so easy in the midst of packing, selling furniture off, four kids, three in school, science fair projects, pinewood derby cars, recitals, concerts, etc. May is always our busiest, most stressful, event packed month and this year may just "take the cake". I am ready for it to be June so I will have passed over all the unpleasant parts of packing and moving in the midst of our normal everyday chaos and finally be able to breathe and start to unpack and settle into our new home and town... (and state!)
I am getting nervous about utility bills, looking into how much the electric is and the water... I am reminded when I get to the sites and download the documents that I have done it all before... before we signed the contract. So I really just need to not worry about it and figure it out as it comes... and pray that we will be able to afford this crazy idea we had to buy a house and move an hour north to where its supposedly more affordable... though the taxes have me feeling its actually more expensive. I am second guessing everything. Luckily for us we {think} we love the country feel of the area we are moving to (of course we've only been up for short visits)... so if all else fails and this was a stupid idea, hopefully we will at least love the area since we'll be stuck with it.
Speaking of taxes.. that was one thing I didn't update about... we decided to lock in our interest rate the day after we found out that we could. It was the same as it had been the day before (and on all the loan estimate sheets they'd sent in 2016) but it came with a small lender credit. So we decided to take it. It was too stressful to think about for another day. But when our LO sent us the lock agreement she also sent an updated loan estimate sheet and made note that our closing costs had gone up (significantly I might add!!!!!!) because of the due date on our school taxes. Oh my goodness, it was shocking and disappointing to say the least. I freaked out. Our loan officer was very helpful and called me to discuss my questions and concerns and she explained it all... (and other concerns I had had and wrote about earlier with regards to transfer taxes... seriously, taxes are just my sore subject... why are there so many and why are they so high compared to other areas??? yikes!)
Anyway, the reason for the almost $3,000 jump in our closing cost estimate was that our original LO had the due date for the school property taxes as August 2017 but it should have been August 2016... HUGE difference... especially when it was in the area where the taxes are the highest (more than double the regular property taxes). I really wish NVR would have offered some kind of credit for their mistake, and the misrepresentation of the taxes due with our closing costs. It would have been a nice gesture. Anyway, the LO was helpful as far as explaining the mistake and trying to help us figure out ways to have more cash for closing... her idea was bumping our interest rate up and giving us an extra $1100 credit. We weren't interested in a higher interest rate so that didn't work for us.
Now money is extra tight and I am a little nervous about having the cash to close. Remember when I was going to ask the LO about buying our washer and dryer.. yeah, not going to happen now until after closing... and maybe we'll be washing our clothes in the bathtub for a while. lol. Its kind of frustrating to be at this place where our budget is so tight. Buying a new house is fun, and it makes you excited to decorate and make it a "home" but with these extra last minute additions to our closing costs its impossible to allow ourselves to purchase one single thing for the house.
One last update... we did receive our appraisal report last week. I printed and studied all 27 pages of it. Lol. Its kind of a mystery how they come up with the number they come up with. Either way, it appraised for just over our loan amount so I suppose we're all set to go. It was another worry I had running in the back of my head (I am a worrier... its what I do), with regards to it not appraising and having even more money to bring to closing... we would have had to walk away if that were the case.
Anyway... sorry for the long and boring post with too much information. We haven't been back up to the house and won't be back until our walk through on the 20th. My Aunt and uncle did drive by on their way through town this past weekend and took a photo on the front porch. The front door is definitely ajar in the photo but they did not go in because they were afraid to... also I'm sure they just wanted us to be able to show them around once its officially ours. I did notice my house in the background of our future across the street neighbor's photo on the FB group and noticed that the yellow/brown patches of grass around the driveway have not bounced back yet and I was sure they would with all the rain we've been having... wonder if it'll come back or if its just dead? :(
So 9 days til walk through and 15 days til closing! I am ready to be on the other side of this! My nerves can't take it!
Sunday, May 1, 2016
More from our visit...
So there wasn't too much "new" to see on the bigger details of the house but there were a few little things we noticed, I just want to share a couple of them and also maybe get some opinions on.
First, the view out the back gets better every time we go with the grass and trees turning green, so much better than the winter.
Here is our "red" door... its really more of an orange rust color, especially from this view.
It does seem to look better from a distance and with the other colors of the house it does appear to be a little more red.
This granite back splash behind the sink was new, the last time we were there it had been just a few inches high, as you can see it continues that way off to the right and then throughout the rest of the kitchen. That was the way we expected it to be, and looking back at photos of the model, that's how it is there too. I am not sure why they pulled out the smaller granite border (what do they call it?) and added in its place this counter to ledge back splash version. I have tried looking around online to see if anyone has had a similar thing in their kitchens. So I guess my question is.. why? and then also is there a benefit to having it like this? My immediate response is to scrunch my nose at it every time I look at it or think about it. Aesthetically it isn't my favorite, and I had planned on putting white subway tile all the way around in the future, this to me is too dark for my taste. My husband doesn't care, he's kind of like "whatever" and says we can just rip it out later, but then if we do that we won't have the uniform smaller border piece of the granite to go at the bottom of the subway tile we will install, also pulling it out could damage the drywall behind it, so if we don't want it there I would lean towards asking them to put it back the way it was before. Or... is there some really good reason to keep it and leave it this way forever and just do the subway tile around the other parts of the kitchen? Opinions please!!!
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| Update: At family dinner tonight all the construction men in my family said this was a good thing and my sister pointed out its easier to clean. They all seemed to vote to leave it like this... |
Last thing... where is your towel rack installed in your bathroom? Especially if you are a Milan owner? Ours turns out to be in the little water closet area with the toilet... doesn't make much sense there, we thought it would be on the wall right behind the tub... are we crazy? Is this the perfect place to put the towel rack? Behind a door, away from the shower and tub? Opinions...
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