Introduction

Hi, I'm Dustin.  I am 33 years old and am starting this blog to document my experience in building a new home by Ryan Homes.  I have never blogged before and I have never built a house before, so these are firsts for me.  My intention is to make my posts comprehensive and inclusive, in the effort to both document my experience in building a home and to help potential buyers out as well with insider information from the home building process with Ryan Homes.  As we walk though our elected options and features, I may include pricing where I feel it will benefit people looking at this blog as potential new home builders with Ryan, because that was one thing I wished I saw more when I was doing the same thing.

First, some general information you'll need to know to follow this blog:

A note about upgrades...

On major upgrade selections, Ryan Homes, like any other builder I'm sure, may offer several levels of upgrade for that selection, with each higher level giving you more in terms of quality, style, space, etc.  The trade-off of course is as you select higher levels, you also get higher costs.  So when I talk about level 1 or level 2 upgrades in this blog, this is what I'm speaking of.  For example, a level 1 upgrade on the owner's bathroom gets you a separate shower and soaking tub (as opposed a combined unit), with fiberglass surround.  Go for level 2 and you get ceramic surround and a built-in seat in the shower.

Okay, so how did we end up here..?

I have a family of four and we finally decided this year that we were tired of renting and ready to buy our first house and plant our roots.  After looking at literally dozens of houses in the area, we found one that was a decent price, had lots of room, and most of the features we wanted.  We put a bid in on it but lost out in a bidding war with another buyer.  We were discouraged but determined.  We had previously put off the idea of building a new home because we figured we'd have to spend a lot more money and couldn't really get what we want feature-wise without totally going over our budget.  After we lost that bidding war though, we took a chance and visited a new home development site that was in the neighborhood we wanted to live in.  I have to admit, we were hooked right from the start.  The lots were nice, we liked the floor plans we saw, and it seemed affordable.  It was the right place, with the right school district that we wanted for the kids.  The sales reps, Mindy and Kelley, did a great job presenting us with honest, upfront, and important information.  They showed us a floor plan that was well under our budget to allow for plenty of upgrades, which we had expressed an interest in.  I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about doing business with Ryan after reading some pretty horrific reviews on the Internet.  Then again, I searched out other builders as well and almost all of them had terrible reviews.  So, I was both pleasantly surprised and impressed with our initial consultation with our sales reps.  They answered all of our questions and really helped us debunk the myth that you can't get what you want if you build if you're working with a limited budget (which we are).  We took all of the information, went home, did a ton of research on the area, costs, etc. and went back to the model home a few days later with a decision........

To be continued...