Ready to go back

    It's been a week since we have been in Charlotte, and I am so ready to get back and see the progress. As soon as the husband flies in from California on Friday, we are heading straight there. After finals are finished, I'll finally be up there with him for good. Can't wait :) Will post some pictures when we get up there this weekend.
   After reading all these blogs and looking at all the different color combinations, I really began to doubt my original choice of Luna Pearl Granite. The Santa Cecilia looks so good with the espresso cabinets that I have seen. So I sent my SR an email asking if we could change, but she said it was too late :(
    (Trying not to be one of those people, but)....Now, I'm beginning to think we should get the dark distressed hardwood expanded from the foyer to the living room and dining room. We had originally planned for upgraded padding and carpet, but with the dogs, it just doesn't make sense. We sent our SR an email asking if we can change, and we are waiting for a response. I really don't see why we couldn't as I don't think they have even broken ground yet, and we just had our preconstruction meeting last week. I guess if they can't change the granite, they will probably tell us the same here, but I think I'm going to have to put up a fight on this one. I really want those hardwoods put in, and since it is so early in the process, I really hope they don't give us a problem. I know others have been able to make changes even later in the process, so I'll be upset if they say no. That's the only thing we really want changed, and I really had no problem being turned down on the granite. Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow with good news!

Our first Build

     I feel like all of the other "Ryan Homes Blogs" have been extremely helpful for me in providing some comfort that we made the right decision to go with Ryan, so I wanted to, hopefully, help others who were in the same position. I got very upset when I started reading all of the negative reviews for Ryan homes, and started second guessing our decision to build with them. I think our Sales Rep and my husband helped when they pointed out that most people only take to the internet, or forums, when they want to complain, and few people write about all of the positives. These blogs have helped relieve so many of my nerves. Anyway...

 When we first rolled up to Sheridan, (a neighborhood in Indian Trail, North Carolina) I knew it was my future home. We'd been looking at homes online, but not really considering building at all or really buying so soon. My husband's home base is in Monroe, North Carolina (He is a SAP business analyst for Goodrich Aerospace) and we are relocating from Savannah, Ga to Charlotte. We had figured we would rent an apartment until our house in Savannah sold and then start looking at houses. Of course, things never work out as planned, and we started looking the second weekend we spent in Charlotte. We found Sheridan, fell in love with the Verona model, and signed the contract the next week. We were lucky enough to sell our house in Savannah in 10 days (I know VERY unheard of). My graduate program has allowed me to do my last year through independent study, so we decided while the market is in such good favor of buyers, it was now or never. It also doesn't hurt that we have two babies (a Beagle mix and a German Shepherd mix) who are begging for a fenced in yard to run around in again.  

   Although we originally signed a Contingent contract based on the sale of our original home, we were able to lift the contingency at the beginning of November. Our sales rep is AMAZING, (really I think we bought the house because of her) and had the builders already getting all of our permits taken care of so they could start building as soon as we lifted the contingency. Because of that, we had our pre-construction meeting last week, and they started building November 25th. We are SO excited to be building and have an estimated closing date of February 2012. 

Here is a breakdown of our house:

Verona Elevation B slab foundation

Alternate Partial Brick Veneer Front (Grand Caramel)

Extended Kitchen Peninsula

Gourmet Island

Espresso Cabinets

Luna Pearl Granite Counters

Stainless Steel Appliances

Gas Range

Morning Room

Ceramic Tile in Morning Room and Kitchen

Downstairs bedroom and full bath

Upgraded carpet and padding in living room, dining room, study, and bedroom

fireplace

Dark Hardwood Foyer

Upgraded carpet and padding upstairs 

Bonus Room

Upgraded master bath with separate bathtub and shower

espresso cabinets in all bathrooms

Tile surround in master bath

9 ceiling fan rough-ins

bronze finishes

Arch. Shingles

Upgraded Paint

2 floodlights

attic

Post Guardian Meeting:

Base Package Security System

2 Keypads

Pet motion detector (of course)

Smoke Communicator

Cellular Back up communicator (All of this more for my peace of mind as we start a family and my husband is traveling around the world for work half of every month)

We added quite a few outlets and jacks (kind of disappointed that Ryan only comes with 2 and 2)

(For my husband) We did the Klipsch 5.1 Silver Audio System

We are having a third party inspector come 4 times during/post build just to make sure everything is how it should be. I will be adding pictures, and updating as the process continues. So excited :)