We had our appointment with Rite Rug this morning and we came out happier than we expected to be. We went in there with a game plan on what type of flooring we wanted in each room and what granite we wanted as well.
They had 3 levels of vinyl. The rep kept calling the Level 3 vinyl laminate because it's basically the same thing. They actually used the laminate on the floor of the room we were standing in and we really liked it.
This is what we ended up going with:
-Foyer, kitchen, family entry where you come in from the garage, and powder room - Cherry Bordeaux cabinets and Natural Living/Black Walnut Laminate floors (The floor that all of the things are sitting on above). Side note: We really liked the look of the hardwood from the model going into the powder room. It seemed to flow really nicely.
-Standard carpet with upgraded 8lb. padding (got this advice off of other blogs and the rep even recommended it). This will be upstairs in the bedrooms/hallway, on the main floor in the dining room/family room/study, and in the finished part of the basement. There were only 5 or 6 options to choose out of the standard options and they were all almost the same colors. If we would've upgraded to Level 1 carpet, then that would've given us a whole rack of different colors to choose from. Carpet just isn't extremely important to us.
- Upstairs hall bath - The standard Fairfield Wheat (the light cabinet in the above picture) with the vinyl flooring underneath it. That vinyl is out of their cheapest ones. The vanity counter will be their standard white.
Laundry room - Cherry Bordeaux cabinets with the lighter laminate floor in the above picture (under the C.B. cabinet).
Master bathroom - Cherry Bordeaux cabinets with the same flooring as the laundry room. I would've never thought of the "hardwood" look in a master bathroom, but the rep said it's becoming more and more popular. I had a very tough time choosing between the white or almond colored 6x6 inch tiles. We ended up choosing almond, but what I really wanted to do was upgrade to the Level 1 tiles because they look so much nicer. They're bigger and plus you would get a decorative trim, but we ended up not upgrading. (That upgrade would've been $1,500). The master bath counter will be the standard white countertop.
Handrail for stairs - We wanted to make sure the railings matched our kitchen floors, so we went with Classic Fruitwood SW3214.
Kitchen counters (Rite Rug doesn't provide the granite, but they had samples there) - We also went back and forth with ourselves before the appointment on whether or not we wanted to stick with laminate or do granite. This was one of those things where we didn't want to hassle with doing once we moved in, so we went with granite. The color is Giallo Napolean (Level 2), which is supposed to be one of their brand new options. It's more of light tan look in person. I like this one because it's more of a "marbl-y" look and doesn't have as many speckles as the other granites. And since granite is natural stone, the look slightly varies in each slab. For example, the sample at Ryan Homes looked a lot lighter than the sample at Rite Rug. I wasn't sure if it was the same one, but it was. In case anyone is wondering, Ryan Homes charges $7,500 for the Level 2 granite upgrade.
We didn't go with any backsplashes because we really don't care to have one. At least not yet. She said the granite will come up on the wall a little bit, so that'll add a nice look. Plus our sink will be on the island, so we don't have to worry about water splashing onto the wall.
One more side note: If you're stuck between getting hardwood or laminate, we would highly suggest laminate (what Ryan Homes calls luxury vinyl). The rep said that hardwood takes a lot of upkeep and laminate is so much easier. I really wanted to do hardwood before the appointment because "luxury vinyl" still sounded cheap to me. But once I researched a little online and actually saw what it looked like in the store, I decided I wanted the laminate instead. Our floors will look just like hardwood.
All in all, we'll be spending $7,400 for flooring. Our Ryan Homes rep gave us an estimated number around there, so we went in expecting to spend about that much. Now that all of our appointments are done, we will have to play the waiting game. Our loan hasn't even gone into underwriting yet, so I'm guessing it'll be about a month until we're approved.
My fiancé and I have been together for 6 1/2 years and we have two beautiful children. We are actually getting married this month, so life has been hectic. Our 3 bedroom apartment is literally bursting at the seams and our living room is slowing becoming storage. We decided that we need to move into a house and also decided to start the whole building process with Ryan Homes. (Again)
I say again because we started to do the building process with the same neighborhood before, but we backed out because the timing wasn't right. This time, we are 100% positive that the time is right and we couldn't be happier. We decided to go with the Landon model at the neighborhood we chose because of the awesome price they're offering it at and it's just beautiful!
We had our first appointment with our SR about two weeks ago and have since met with NVR, Guardian, and we're meeting with Rite Rug tomorrow. During our first go-around, we went through these meetings, so we are more prepared this time. We felt very rushed the first time and it made us feel uneasy. Again, I think it was because we knew we weren't quite ready.
At the NVR appointment, the rep was very friendly and helpful. We made sure to have all of our paperwork ready and in order of the checklist they provided via email beforehand - or you can get online. My fiancé didn't have his 2014 tax returns, so NVR is going to order it for us. He gave us pointers on how we could raise our credit score and gave us a sheet that showed the process of underwriting and such. We haven't heard anything since our appointment (last Friday), but hope to soon. This appointment took about an hour.
We were at the Guardian appointment for about an hour or more. This is where you pick your cable ports (I think that's what it's called), speakers, and alarm system. It is very easy to quickly rack up the $ at this appointment, so be prepared and know what you want before you go in. Set a budget and stick to it.
Oh! We also met with our SR again last Sunday to sign a change order since we decided to change a few things about the house. The SR has to do a change order EVERY time you make a change to the house until everything is set in stone.
Want to learn a trick with Ryan Homes? This may or may not vary by each neighborhood, but it can't hurt to try. You add EVERYTHING to your wish list at the beginning. They will give you the price of the home after the base price, premium of the lot, and upgrades. You then ask them to bring a certain percentage to closing and that percentage would be based off of the total cost of the house. (MAKE SURE THEY PUT THIS IN WRITING AND YOU SIGN THE CONTRACT!!) THEN you go in and take out stuff that you really don't need/want and they won't be able to change their percentage since they signed the contract. We negotiated them bringing 2% to closing and then realized later that the 2% they're bringing doesn't change, no matter how much you add or take out.
In the end, we have decided to get all structural things first since they're the hardest to change later. Then we added stuff on the interior that was within our budget. The bonus room costs $16k for them to add it now, but it would cost about $40k for us to add it on later. Those are the kinds of structural things I'm talking about. The finished basement was an incentive for us to use NVR.
My fiancé doesn't want me posting any pictures of the house, so unfortunately I can't share those on here. But I will try my best to describe the home and give as many tips/tricks as I can. I, myself, have learned a lot just from reading many of the other Ryan Homes blogs. Unfortunately there aren't many about the Landon model, but I read all that I could find.
What we are getting:
-First pick of cul-de-sac lot. The backyard backs into trees and they said there is no chance that there will be any homes built behind ours. Also, the backyard is mainly flat with a faint slope in the very back. The other lots on the cul-de-sac have big slopes in their backyards, so we didn't choose any of those. Plus, ours was cheaper.
-Elevation A with partial stone (stone is all over the garage)
-Bonus Room
-Upgraded Master Bath (separate tub and shower)
-Finished Basement - my fiancé doesn't want a bathroom down there, so no rough ins
-Morning Room
-Upgraded Cabinets (Cherry Bordeaux) with cabinet crown molding
-Upgraded to Stainless Steel Appliances (They provide stove, microwave, and dishwasher. You have to buy your own refrigerator and washer/dryer)
-Granite Countertops (Level 2) - this is what we're picking out tomorrow
-Luxury Vinyl Flooring in the kitchen - this is also what we're picking out tomorrow
-Expecting to pick Carpet A with upgraded 8 lb. padding (learned that this is the best to do from other blogs). This may change tomorrow as well, but we'll see.
-Tray Ceiling in master bedroom
-Planning desk in the morning room
I'm sure there's more that I'm missing. We had a very hard time with choosing what to get and what not to get. Some things we can do down the road easier than others (i.e. floors), but we also wanted some things to already be done when we moved in (i.e. granite).
Crossing my fingers that our Rite Rug appointment goes as planned tomorrow!
