Saturday, August 31, 2013

Framing is fast!

So the framing of the house started on Tuesday and as of today all 3 floors are done. We couldn't be happier...Here are a few pictures :)

the front of the house
 
the back of the house


Back of the house where the deck will come off from the morning room

The view from the morning room
 

 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

NVR Approval- finally!

I got a call from our LP just a few minutes ago letting me know that we are approved and that she was sending an email with all the details. What a relief! Having a definite answer makes me a little more relaxed :)

Friday, August 23, 2013

Hi, my name is Debbie

92- Is the number of days since our initial meeting with NVR Mortgage.
8- Is the number of days it's been since I last spoke to our LP at NVR- and she didn't have answers.
7- Is the number of weeks it's been since our Pre-Construction meeting and still no framing.
2- Is the number of questions that we asked at our Pre-Construction meeting.
0- Is the number of answers that we received about the 2 questions asked at the Pre-Con meet.
70- Is the number of days that are left until the original closing date that we were given.
1025- Is the amount that we will have to pay for an extra months rent if we don't close on time.


Ok, so I know that I have been a Debbie Downer lately, but it's hard to be happy, happy, happy when RH and NVR is either giving us bad news or no news. We still haven't heard anything from NVR. Last week our PM told me that framing would start this week, then when I emailed him last night he said that the framing crew was behind but our home was going to be started today, and then this afternoon he emailed me and said that now it will be Tuesday before they start. I am stressing out because we are clearly behind and if the closing date gets pushed out it means that we will have to pay an additional month of rent- And I don't want to do that!!!

I just really want things to work out- I don't like being negative and I know it's not personal because the others building around us are in the same boat.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

OVER IT - for real this time


I am beyond frustrated with Ryan Homes and NVR mortgage right now. When we originally signed our Sales Agreement and applied with NVR in May the interest rate was 3.25% - which was great, we were getting the house we wanted at the price that we wanted to pay per month…Well that has completely went to heck in a hand basket! Now we are 6 weeks into construction and 72 days away from our estimated closing date, things are behind schedule, framing hasn’t started so who knows when we will have our pre-drywall meeting so we can lock in a rate – and who knows how high the average rate will be by then! The average rate right now is 4.55% and that increases our mortgage payment by about $200 a month. I don’t want to be house broke! And even if we could lock in a rate any time soon I’m not sure that we could since we haven’t even received and approval from NVR and it’s been 90 days!! That’s right – 3 months!! They are so inefficient that they can’t review and confirm our information in 3 months? My husband and I were talking over this last night and had decided to email our SR to see if we could make changes to reduce the price of the home (from finished basement to unfinished/hardwoods to vinyl) this is about an $18K difference. I emailed her this morning and I’m waiting on a response. I’m just over it and to be honest if NVR decides to deny us I would be happy because I am just so sick of having to worry about it…again it’s been 3 months! We’ve talked to another builder in the area and I’m 100% positive that things would go a lot smoother with them. I hate the thought of having to start over completely and wait another 6 months, but we may not have a choice if things keep going this way. Oh and to top things off we asked 2 questions at our preconstruction meeting 6 weeks ago and no one has even bothered to provide an answer- and they want us to complete a survey rating our experience? Ok, bring it on.

Friday, August 16, 2013

A slab and neighbors

Today our slab was poured and it's wonderful! I am really glad to see things moving along because progress seemed really slow at the beginning. I'm looking forward to seeing the framing next week :)
 
We met our future neighbors yesterday- they're a couple building next to us and they've just had their footers poured this week. Their home is going to be a Venice elevation K also, but the floor plan is reversed and they will have the stone up the front where we only have it along the bottom of our house. They also have a very similar color scheme-we picked pebble clay siding with sandy tan shakes and theirs is the opposite. Both will have Kentucky stone I believe, but the trim, shutters, and door will be different - The house on the other side of us also has these colors (sandy tan, pebble clay). I know that the houses will look different, but I'm still a little concerned that our house might disappear with all the sandy tan, pebble clay going on. Our new neighbor "S"also admitted that she was worried too, but I really think that their choice of the white trim is going to make all the difference because this will mean that the garage door is white also.  I have been regretting not going with my initial choice of the white trim, but now I'm glad that I finally settled on the almond. To be honest I think that their home is going to look better because of the white trim and the stone- I love the stone! Our home will be awesome too though.....Anyways, the neighbors are set to close about 2 weeks after our estimated date. They both seem awesome and I'm looking forward to getting to know them. I just hope they don't scare easily because I suffer from weirdness and my family is loud :)

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Happy, not so Happy

Since my last post they have poured the walls, removed the forms, waterproofing was completed, and the plumbing rough in was done. I spoke to our PM yesterday and he informed me that the plumbing was inspected and approved and that this week would consist of prepping for the slab to be poured and next week framing would start :)


It's been 82 days since our initial meeting with NVR Mortgage and we have yet to receive an approval - our LP has kept communication going and I don't blame her, but I sent an email today letting her know that we need an answer. My husband doesn't ususally get involved with these things, but he even made a phone call to NVR yesterday which completely shocked me. It didn't help that no one returned his call. I really want to be excited, but it's hard to overcome the worries about NVR :(

Saturday, August 3, 2013

TGIF- Thank goodness it's forms

Yesterday we check on the lot to see that the forms are set and waiting for concrete to be poured. I really hope they get that done early in the week so we can move along to the next step.
Future garage



I was curious to see what the inside looked like. So these metal things stay in to reinforce the wall?

 
 
 
 
This is the view from the back