Contingency Update Part 2

According to our contract, we had 72 hours to decide whether or not to lift the contingency.  We took the full time in order to weigh our options, and in the end, decided that though we would be approved for both mortgages, it was a gamble we just weren't willing to take having been burned by that before.  I felt bad for taking all that time.

When I called our sales rep last Tuesday to let her know, she told me that she had heard through the grapevine that the person who wanted our lot was unsure what they were doing.  The sales rep's manager said they would give this person a deadline of Sunday to determine what they wanted.

Fast forward to yesterday: I emailed our sales rep to find out if a decision had been made.  After a week, this person finally decided that they do want our lot.  So, we are moving to the lot next door.  I don't recall if I mentioned this, but the new lot has a lot premium.  Without us even asking, Ryan has waived the fee for us.  It was a lot we had originally considered and though it's not our first choice, it's a great lot.  It's the last cul-de-sac lot in the plan, so I don't know what we will do if someone comes in and wants it.

Thanks everyone for your support.

Contingency Update

After speaking with our loan officer, we got approval to go ahead with the build.  However, we opted not to start.  As much as we wanted to move forward, we are concerned with selling our current home.  We live in a great neighborhood, but we haven't had many showings.  If we were getting people looking at our home consistently, we would be less worried about moving ahead with the build.  But, in the 2.5 months our house has been listed, we've only had two showings :(

We've decided to move to the lot next to the one that we originally wanted.  I personally don't know if I could live next door to the lot we really wanted, but time will tell.

We are also considering other nearby communities that might have better lots available.  There are so many communities in the area where we want to be that we have options still.  Though it's not what we had originally planned, we choose to see it as a blessing in disguise to force us to look at other options that may end up being better.

Thanks for all your support everyone :)

The Dreaded Phone Call

We arrived home yesterday afternoon to a cryptic voicemail from one of our sales reps.  We knew immediately that our lot must have been sold.  Sure enough, another sales rep (not either of ours) sold our lot on a non-contingent contract.  Our main sales rep K is on vacation, so B was voted to make the call.  I felt bad for him as he seemed a little nervous as to our reaction.

B laid out our choices: Lift our contingency and go ahead with our build or select another lot and wait for this to happen again.  Of course, he didn't mention option 3: walk away.  We are probably not in a position to lift our contingency.  There is a lot available right next to the first lot we selected.  It's a little bit smaller and has a lot premium due to some very small green space (otherwise known as weeds) that it borders.  This is the last cul-de-sac lot remaining at this stage in the plan.  There will be more opened up eventually, but not in the near future.

We have continued to look throughout this time as we were keeping our options open.  We will probably move over to that other lot so that we are able to keep our pricing.  It just stinks that we have gone through the entire process and spent so much time on this house.  I wish we didn't do all our selections already.  We put in a lot of time and effort to have to walk away.  The only other remaining lots besides the one next to our original one are on the main street.  There are about 75 houses in the current plan, which would mean all of those cars driving past us daily.  We have kids and don't really want to deal with traffic, hence the cul-de-sac.

We were well informed when we signed our contingency contract that this was a possibility. I'm not upset with Ryan because we had a feeling this would happen if our house took awhile to sell.  It's just disappointing that we're not going to have the lot that we felt was the best one for us.

Cabinet Dilemma

We are having a difficult time deciding on kitchen cabinets.  Our current choice is the maple cognac with the upgraded laminate in antique mascarello:

Another blogger posted a picture of a model kitchen with this combination but without the upgraded ogee edge we will have:

We will have vinyl flooring because we don't care for all that wood.  I think we were drawn to this because it's similar to our current kitchen:

 

However, the model of our floor plan's kitchen looks like this (with granite that we are not getting):

These are the espresso cabinets, which we both love.  We went to Lowe's and put the cabinet doors and countertop next to black appliances (which we are getting because DH does not like stainless) and it looked sleek, almost like built-ins.  

The dilemma is the railing and flooring.  In the model, they have a dark railing to match the cabinets:

We just don't know if we like the dark railings, especially upstairs where all of our current furniture is oak.  Then, what do we do with the flooring in the foyer?  We currently have selected a cherry laminate, so that would have to change along with the kitchen flooring.  We have already been to Rite Rug twice.  DH has said that if we have to go back, I might be going back alone or we are finding a babysitter as the kids have had quite enough of that place!  

The only wood furniture that will be downstairs is our kitchen table which is oak and pretty much matches the cognac cabinets.  All other wood furniture will be new (end tables, entertainment center, etc.).  

So, do we stick with what we've picked which looks similar to what we've had for the last eight years (and do love, btw) or do we go with something new and have to re-pick everything else?  WWYD?  Which combination do you like best and why?

Just for Fun!

I added a closing widget just for fun.  It is based on our estimated delivery date.  It means absolutely nothing since we are contingent, but it's something to shoot for.  We plan to drop our sales price if nothing happens in the next week or two, so we hope that will mean a quick sale so that we can follow our projected timeline.  Besides, I'm bored :)

Current House

Not only did I call NVR yesterday, I also called our realtor.  We have been listed for a month and a half and have had only two showings.  I expected it to take awhile (and our realtor estimate it would be around four months before we had a contract on the house), but now that we have everything set to begin our new house, we are very anxious to start.

We talked about reducing the price.  However, she recommended that we hold out for a couple more weeks.  Apparently, FHA and other government programs just ended their fiscal year September 30.  Preapprovals and other lending related issues are in limbo because the new programs don't roll out until October 15.  So, we're going to wait on the price reduction and hope we get someone in who's already preapproved.

It's very hard to be patient when everything is ready to go for the new house.  It was a little easier to wait when we had selections to make, meetings with Guardian and NVR and change orders to do.  Until then, it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so we are going to take advantage of the fact that we have nothing to do on either house today and just have some fun!

NVR Approval

I called our loan officer yesterday with some questions we had about the upgrades we had made to the house.  We haven't heard from her since we did the loan application.  We weren't too concerned about that since we are contingent and assumed we wouldn't get an approval until we were ready to flip to a sale on our new home.  When asked about the additions we made, she said, "You could have added the West Wing to your house and you still would have been approved."  I said, "We're approved?"  She said, "Yes. You didn't know?"  Turns out, she had a new underwriter in her office that wasn't letting customers know when they were approved.  Our loan officer immediately sent out our approval letter via email.  So relieved to have one more thing checked off the list.  Now, we just have to sell our current house.

Selections, Part 2

Since our first appointment at Rite Rug, we changed our minds on pretty much everything.  So, our new selections are:


Our current selections: (additions in bold)

Verona elevation B with partial stone front

kitchen peninsula

morning room with added side windows

finished basement with full bath

upgrade master bath with ceramic surrounds and floor

bonus room w/ closet

stone fireplace with blower

3 piece rough in in basement

landscaping

paint package

42" maple cognac cabinets

antique mascarello countertops

bridgeton-cinnamon vinyl flooring in powder room, laundry room, kids bath and basement bath

upgraded vinyl (Canyon Creek) in kitchen, morning room and mud room

american cherry laminate in foyer (to be changed to hardwood)

upgraded laminate in foyer (selected for durability due to dogs and children)

included carpet- thornwood

upgraded carpet level 1 Oat Bran with 6 lb. pad in great room, living room, dining room, bedrooms and stairs and 8lb. pad in basement

Antique Mascarello upgraded counters, maple cognac cabinets and Canyon Creek upgraded vinyl

Ceramic for master bath floor and tub surround

Accent tile

Oat Bran carpet with included vinyl on the left and upgraded vinyl on the right

(They really don't look that much alike in person!)

Upgraded laminate for foyer

Selections

Our selections so far:

Verona elevation B

morning room with side windows

finished basement

upgrade master bath

bonus room w/ closet

kitchen peninsula

stone fireplace with blower

3 piece rough in in basement

landscaping

paint package

maple cognac cabinets

antique mascarello countertops

bridgeton-cinnamon vinyl flooring

american cherry laminate in foyer (to be changed to hardwood)

included carpet- thornwood

To Build or Not To Build? That is the question...

After dealing with a long a commute for the past 18 months, we decided to move closer to DH's job. Though we love our neighborhood and all our friends, our family being together is more important. So, we started looking. Our search online led us to Ryan Homes. Our first night, we visited a Venice model and then the Naples. We loved the Naples and DH went to look at a community near his work that was offering a quick build on the Naples. However, the lots were tiny.

We went back to the drawing board. We visited resale homes, none of which were what we wanted. Our current home was a former builder's model and we really wanted another new construction. So, it was back to the community that offered the Naples. We were pretty set that that was the house we wanted. Until, our sales rep showed us the Verona. It had everything we wanted and with the incentives they were offering, it fit into our budget. We were able to see a newly completed model in the area and, upon first viewing, DH said it was too big. The model was unfurnished and felt overwhelming. Three days later, he said it was his favorite house.

We listed our house for sale, and on August 30, we signed our contingency contract. Now, we just wait for a buyer!

The picture is a Verona B without the bonus room. Our house will have another peak over the garage, but I don't have a picture of that.