Contract - March 23, 2013 - Saturday
Got a call this morning from our fantastic Sales Representative with Ryan Homes Palmer Village in Avon, OH - a man with great patience and true care for his customers. He continuously kept checking with us as we were looking for an existing home even while considering For Sale houses on the same street. If it was not for his dedication we would not have the built this house.. because he called and said, "We have a deal!"
We stopped by at noon and signed a contract to build Victoria Falls, elevation D on one of the last two lots left in the current phase... The upgrades from base model are full brick front and bonus bedroom, family room extension, office, morning room, the basement shall remain unfinished. Estimated ground breaking sometime in June with closing some 84 days later on September 5, 2013, close enough to schools starting... (Update: broke ground 5/22 and moved in 8/22).
We have been going back and forth for exactly one month on various designs before arriving at the final configuration. Very glad we did not sign on first meeting, as the house now is completely different from what we initially envisioned we needed. We really wanted the Jefferson Square and that bloody gorgeous foyer window (in the old Jefferson design, not the Square, only offered in Avalon now) but operating on a limited budget doesn't help... besides, Mr. SR convinced us that the Victoria Falls model would get us what we really wanted at our price target. Thank you very much Mr. SR.. (would name you and give you the honor and recognition you deserve but we are trying to avoid naming people, unless they really screw up)..
Take a look at the Pictures and Floor Plans tabs to see what the house should look like.. no clue what the brick colors will be and all that.
Applied for loan based on prior pre-approval and locked rate. Spoke with NVR Mortgage but was very disappointed with the conversation. They didn't attempt to give us any incentive to sign with them. Why would anyone sign with NVR without incentives is a mystery. anyway, went with our original pre-approved lender who guaranteed no PMI with 15% down and where we landed a fantastic deal on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Very pleased.
Flooring appointment is set for Wednesday April 3.
Guardian meeting scheduled for Saturday April 6.
Have been reading lots about those two meetings, seems there is more information out there about the Guardian meeting than the flooring meeting. [UPDATE: This website, it seems, has become the #1 hit on Internet search results to provide information about Ryan Homes and Rite Rug due to the next post.. how about that!) I requested a price and selection sheet and was immediately forwarded a copy by each party. I can tell the flooring meeting will be interesting. We have a networking and IT background.. The Guardian offerings seem insanely priced. We shall see..
Congratulations on your purchase! Can't wait to watch your build.
ReplyDeleteGood call on getting the pricing; it will be very helpful to go into the meetings having done a little homework beforehand.
Yes, Guardian pricing is very insane (to me anyway).
Thank you for the kind wishes. We are also watching your build and getting a 2 month preview into the future for what is to come, so it is very helpful, thanks! We had our flooring and Guardian meetings by now and I posted about them.. Flooring was so awful we decided to go with the freely included base, but Guardian was great and we still went with the included base outlets.
DeleteWelcome to building and blogging! We are also in NEO. For awhile, there was quite a contingent of Ohio bloggers, but it seems to have dwindled. The Victoria Falls is a beautiful home. We have friends that are considering building a Courtland Gate in Palmer Village. I will definitely point them to your blog :).
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel. Glad to see you built close by and glad to meet someone else from the area (it was getting lonely here, ha)!
DeleteWe have family who built with RH in the Waterbury in North Ridgeville three years ago and that is our oldest experience with RH.. if it was not for seeing their house I doubt we would have had the confidence to build this one at such a hefty price tag. Palmer is very expensive. The most expensive RH community in NEO. I wish it was not as we are very much out of our comfort zone with the price. but our only criteria in looking at Avon was NOT wanting to be west of Center Road /83 or south of Detroit, and this really is the best location in Avon IMHO.
There is only one lot remaining in the current phase II, lot 22 and it is directly across the street from us. Our SR, Jon, just put a listing for a Courtland Gate on it last night for 396K. I would recommend your friends to meet with him, he really goes out of his way to help. He was a PM for years and built over 205 houses. So he knows what is doable and what is not and it is a true pleasure to work with him.. There will be three more phases over the next couple + years. But the price is guaranteed to only go up. The next phase will not be selling until September at the earliest as it is has not even been developed..
When Covington was built up in Phase I, houses were selling starting at 280K.. Now on Palmer, the starting price is 311K and there are at least 4 houses over 400K. it is all good for property and resale value, but we will feel the pain with every monthly payment. But the location can't be beat. Location Location Location, they keep saying on HGTV... watching too much HGTV leads to this!
I totally agree that it is the best location in Avon. There was a close out lot for a Verona in Palmer Village when we were looking (almost two years ago now), but we couldn't move forward without selling our old house first. Unfortunately, that took a little more time than we wanted, so we ended up in another development.
DeleteI cannot believe the way prices have gone up everywhere. The base price of the Verona has gone up $20K since we signed in August of 2011. I can't imagine what the cost of the upgrades has gone to.
Location can't be beat. I watch too much HGTV, too! For us, location was more about being on a cul-de-sac with little to no traffic. We accomplished that by being on a cul-de-sac with only three other houses. The other location requirement was that it be less than 30 minutes for DH's commute. Avon was stretching it a bit, so we ended up with a 20 minute commute for him. It's such a blessing after him driving nearly an hour each way for most of the last 6 years.
I will let my friends know about the lot across from you. Thanks for the info!
Rachel, sorry for taking long to respond, this one required some thought! I actually wrote something up and it ended up way too long and talking about pricing and costs and home searches, so I'll just post it as blog entry soon..
DeleteBut to sum it up, prices are going up at an insane pace. We never really expected to be at Palmer or to build because both are too expensive. Our budget was 250K but.. here we are. We needed to be close to work in downtown and Parma, and our current location in Rocky River is our first choice.. But..
Home prices are going up. I posted somewhere else how our the Victoria Falls is a much cheaper house for RH to build, thus they can be more aggressive on the discounts on it and that's why we went with it.. The Jefferson Square jumped up in price 10K in the month we were looking... We stopped at the model first on 2/23 and it was 317K, jumped to 320K on 3/3, up to 325K and now at 327K by 3/23 when signed.. In that same time the VF moved from 307K to 311K.
In talking to our SR last week he indicated all prices are going up across the board, as well as the cost of lumber is going up 10% in July, which is now being reflected in all new home prices. All upgrades have gone up in price. To demonstrate, basement 2-piece plumbing rough in was $600, now it is $1,100 or $1,200. 3-piece rough in moved from $800 to $1,400 or $1,500 now.. just in a month. This is the time to buy, so we bit..
The starting price is still around $310K for the community with lot 22 being the last available (and I am sure they will negotiate).
There is a Verona on Covington for sale.. It came up about the same time you were looking, so it may have been the same special you were looking at back in 2011. It is a nice home with 5 bedrooms and 3 car garage, but it may not have all the bells and whistles in the kitchen in particular and lacks a morning room. Your friends probably looked at it already, but it may be worth a second look. We had put an offer on it before, but they were still asking too much, it is now at $334K but I expect it should really sell in the $320s range give or take 5K. Best of luck.