Flooring meeting

We met with Nicole at Rite Rug, today. Yet, again, we were thrilled with her knowledge and professionalism. With the holidays and everything else going on, a Saturday appointment worked best for us and she was so gracious, even though we were fifteen minutes late because of Christmas traffic.
As for the flooring options, we really lucked out. We started out with the first floor. We're getting laminate flooring in the kitchen, dinette, morning, and powder rooms, plus the hallway. The problem? All of the patterns are wood grain. We really prefer tile patterns. You can go "out of line" and pick different flooring, but there is no availability guarantee, which means that you risk them being out of stock and delaying the closing or having to choose a different pattern. Until a week ago, we would have had to order samples and come back another time to make the choice, but they just added residential flooring services, so they had a ton of options in the showroom! We are taking the chance and chose a stone tile option with some tan, rust, and dark grey colors, the Armstrong Roman Grey pattern. We also picked a wood grain backup option, just in case, Bruce Bronzed Jatoba. We plan to keep this flooring for the long-term, so we went with top-of-line (G) laminate. If you think of cardboard with a low-quality picture on it when you think of laminate, you really should take another look. Laminate has come a long way since it was introduced in the US twenty years ago. The high quality flooring is textured, has high-quality images, is very durable, and very affordable. We have a stone tile laminate in our current entry and kitchen and people have to do a double-take and look closely before confirming that it is not actual stone.
We're getting carpet in the family, living/study, and dining rooms. We upgraded the carpet to second tier (B) because it is stain-treated through the whole pile; the bottom tier is only topically treated. The second tier is also 3.25 rated out of 4 for wear, as opposed to 2.5. Even though we plan on replacing the carpet within a few years, with three kids and a dog, the more durable carpet is a better choice. There are only about a dozen color choices of mostly tans. We chose a dark tan for the family room, and light medium grey for the study and dining room. My wife and I disagreed about the padding, but I went with her choice, the base 5#. We ended up choosing a steel blue-medium grey for zone 2 (the bedrooms, upstairs hallway, and steps. While there is no charge for different options in the first floor rooms, every different option in zone 2 comes with a $200 fee, on top of prices variations.

The bathroom options were the one thing that was extremely disappointing. I realized after the fact that it was because we chose level 2 tile. We get two options - white and almond. The base countertop comes in your favorite color, as long as your favorite color is white. Ugh. I said multiple times that I was not happy at all with the options, but Nicole did not once point out that there would be more options if we upgraded the option. In the end, we chose the almond tile. We think that it will look better than having white walls, with a white countertop, and white floor time, but I really do not think that it will look good.

As for the laundry room, we went for base-model rolled linoleum resilient flooring. It's ugly and cheap, but no one should ever see it, except us. We chose a stone tile pattern, which my wife is virtually certain is the same exact pattern that we chose when we temporarily needed to cover our kitchen floor in our current home. If it was good enough then, then why not, now? The thing to be aware of with the linoleum flooring is that it is glued down! It can be a huge pain to pull up. Originally, we were just going to go with linoleum throughout the house and then pull it up and replace it, ourselves, but once we remembered this, we elected just to pay for the linoleum that we want to keep. Carpet is easy to pull up, generally, but the staples that hold down the padding can be a pain. It is nothing compared to linoleum glue, however.

Pictures do not do it justice, but this is our first choice.

The linoleum for the laundry room, up against the second-floor carpet.

Our backup laminate flooring selection.

Our laminate flooring and counter top selections. Again, the colors are off on the picture.

The Wiring Meeting

We met with Jeff, the rep for Guardian Home Technologies, the low-voltage wiring service provider for Ryan Homes in the greater Pittsburgh region. When I made the appointment, I explained that while I undertsood the value of their services, I helped start a home automation company (albeit a long time ago), so I would listen to what they had to offer, but would not be very likely to add anything more than the base services.

In the Cobblestone plan, the standard wiring options are 2 Cat 5e runs (phone or network) and 2 coaxial cable runs (television). This is very basic. We only wanted television runs to the master and the family room, but Jeff convinced us that the study would be good, too. He also convinced me that they way that Ryan builds homes with their super energy-efficiency, they seal all of the walls and the ceiling in the basement, making it much more difficult to wiring after the fact. I don't know if it's true, but for a reasonable $95/run, we ended up also adding two more network connections, as well. The one thing that is genuinely top-notch (at least from what I could tell from the pictures) is the cabinet. When it comes to structured wiring, the cabinet is the heart of your home system and having a good one with plenty of room to work and the ability to easily add and remove modules to keep the system organized is critical. The Guardian base cabinet seems to meet these needs very nicely. It is also a nice-looking unit, which my wife was particularly happy about. It appeared to have a white enamel coating on the steel frame.

The one thing that my wife was genuinely interested in was a security system. These systems can be purchased from independent providers very affordably, but when it comes to the monitoring, they may leave a lot to be desired. Jeff was quick to steer us towards a special that they had, which saved us a great deal on the upfront costs. The monitoring is a little more than I would like, but in line with going rates for such services. For security reasons, I am not going to get into what, exactly, we chose. Needless to say, Gaurdian has a lot of options with motion detectors, keypads, door chimes, window and door opening detectors, mobile phone backups, a mobile app, etc. The mobile app is a double-edged sword, because you will be in serious trouble if that ever gets hacked, but the convenience is a really nice option to have.

Overall, again, it was a very pleasant experience. Jeff's job is to sell things and he is good at his job, but he was not pushy and accepted "no" as an answer. He was very reasonable and helped us to make what I feel are educated decisions. At the end of the day, we only added a few hundred dollars to our mortgage, but did add a monthly service fee with a five-year agreement (one thing that I was definitely not thrilled with).

Again, we met in the morning room of the model home, and that stupid chair leg is still loose, but I couldn't help looking around and thinking of how nice it will be to have a room like that in our house...

The Initial NVR Mortgage Application Meeting

We met with our mortgage specialist, tonight. Kendall has been truly great this far. I was as little worried because we heard from the flooring and wiring folks at Rite Rug and Guardian Home Technologies on Monday, but not from NVR Mortgage. We have 30 days to settle the former, but only seven days to take care of the latter. Kendall called me on Tuesday, however, and was able to work around my work schedule to make an appointment for tonight.

We met at the Cobblestone model home, and completed the application in the morning room. You've got to hand it to the Ryan Homes folks; they know what they are doing. Except for my chair having a loose leg, everything was warm and inviting, and I could completely envision myself having Christmas dinner, doing homework with my children, or having a glass of wine with my wife in the morning room in our new home.

As for the actual application, other than being long, it was surprisingly painless. Kendall explained everything to us and was incredibly patient with all of our questions and my need to at least skim the documents before signing them. She had everything prepared, including having the documents in a sensible order and highlighting where the needed to be signed. I could tell that she'd done it, before. She assured us throughout the process that our credit score allowed us for the best rate (although it was not quite as high as I would have expected or wanted). She gave us excellent advice on what to do and what not to do, to keep our score and mortgage-worthiness high. The most surprising thing was that they had a problem with our bank account transactions.

Last year, we took a Dave Ramsey class called Financial Peace University. We loved it and learned a number of things, including that we were already doing many things the Dave Ramsey way. Just to be clear, I think that Dave Ramsey would call us insane for buying this home. Regardless, the basis of the program is to pay for as much as possible with cash, and to save up for expenses (predictable and unpredictable). The problem with that is that we withdraw and deposit cash from the bank on a regular basis. The banks apparently consider these "large" cash transactions a red flag. And by "large," I mean hundreds, not thousands of dollars. This came as a complete shock to us. We had never imagined it, but these cash transactions can be considered evidence of illegal off-the-books business. When you think of it that it way, it kind of makes sense, but it still seems crazy to me... being penalized for using cash...

Excited Homeowners To-be!

As we left our agreement signing last night, it was snowing pretty badly, so we drove straight home. Our children were pretty upset about the prospect of leaving our current neighborhood. One way that got them excited about the move was by agreeing to let them put the SOLD stickers up the next day. It was surprisingly fun for our whole family, including my in-laws:

It's official!

It's official! We signed our initial agreement last night. It's kind of overwhelming with all of the decisions that need to be made over the first 14-day and 30-day periods. Full mortgage application, exterior colors, finalizing options, and choosing the flooring is just the start! All this over the craziness of Christmas. Ahhhh!

We are so excited. Our daughters are excited, but also anxious about leaving our current house, neighborhood, and friends behind. Also starting at a new school is always a cause for anxiety. Our contact and experience with Avonworth thus far has been stellar, however. Just knowing that we will have our forever home, and that all of our children will be able to stay in the same schools and home until they go to college is the type of stability that we have been working so hard for, for years. This is my first post about our journey, but I will backfill a few posts with our experience and update this blog with everything that happens as we move forward.

I would just like to thank all of the other Ryan Homes bloggers out there who have taken the time to chronicle their experiences. You have all simultaneously given me the confidence to make the decision and the ammunition to fight for the best price and against the pitfalls that they try to lead you into.

Second model, second lot

We are at an impasse... again. The only lots that will fit a Sewickley with an attached garage are highway side and we are not willing to buy one of them. I called Michael, today, to let him know that this was not going to work and we were going to resume our search for an existing home.

Michael is a salesman, and a good one. I knew that he would look into this and do his best to find a solution. I did not expect, however, an immediate response. He responded with, "well... there is ONE lot." Now, this pissed me off, quite frankly. He gave me a line of BS about how we wanted a walkout basement and this other lot would not allow for a rear walkout, only a side walkout. At the same time, I was glad that there was another option. My brother's advice about the lot rang in my ears and I will forever be grateful for it.

So, the bottom line is that there is one other lot, across the street and up the road a bit. I looked it up on the map and it appears to be in a great spot, where there should be a lot less road noise. We'll see...

Location. Location. Location.

I spoke to my brother, who is a real estate agent in Florida, last night. He confirmed a lot of what I thought about the process of building a new home, but gave me one critical insight. "New construction sales people will do ANYTHING that they can to sell the worst lots, first," he told me. All of a sudden, it clicked that it was exactly what they were trying to do.

Today, on my lunch, I drove by the lots that we looked at at dusk last night. Even in the light midday traffic, there was a very noticeable hum from the front yard. I ruined a pair of shoes doing it, but I hiked across the muddy yard to check the noise level from the back of the lot and it was very loud. Loud enough that if you had a cookout in the back yard, you would have to significantly raise your voice constantly to have a conversation. Aside from putting a hideous sound-proofing wall all along the property, if it is even allowed, I don't think that there is anything one can do to mitigate the sound. The worst part of all, however, was that when I left, I went south on Mt. Nebo road, and confirmed that the lots are completely visible from the road. The entire rear of the home and backyard are plainly visible to the main road, and partially visible from the highway.

That was the end of it for both my wife and me. There was no way that those lots would work for us.

Let's do this

So, the more that we look at the Sewickley floor plan, the more we like it. Unfortunately, there is no model home on display, so we can only go by the floor plan and our imagination. The Sewickley is a slightly smaller version of the Fox Chapel model, so it's not too difficult to imagine, but with one key difference. Having an attached side garage instead of an integral garage gives you a massive basement the size of the whole house. Then, you can also get the alternate master suite option, which puts the master over the garage, enlarges the other three bedrooms, and gives a two-story entry. This makes up for the smaller initial square footage and gives us exactly what we are looking for.
We discussed it and did a lot of research over Thanksgiving, so that we were ready to discuss this with our SR, Michael, today. Michael gave us all of our options and was pretty candid about some negatives that we faced, but did convince us to go for it. He came into the office on his day off, while he was working on a personal project for this. I understand that as a salesman, this is not unusual, but I still appreciated his dedication.
We went over everything with Michael, including costs, flooring, writing, and floor plan options at a high level. It all worked well, until we went to the available lots. There are only five lots available wide enough for an attached garage and graded for a level entry and a walk out basement. We checked out the lots and were not thrilled. They are all highway-side and have a noticeable amount of sound pollution. There is a ravine between the phase four and phase five lots where there are no trees to block the noise and the available lots are right next to that area. Since these were the only lots able to the wide footprint of a Sewickley with an attached garage, we didn't have much of choice, so we decided to go for it!

Enter the Sewickley

Our sales rep, Michael calls and tells me that he has good news. At this point, my wife and I have moved on and are back looking at existing homes. I ask if there are wider lots, now. No. He explains that they have a sales meeting every Monday and today they announced that they added a new option to the Sewickley model, an attached garage, which would allow for a level entry like we wanted. The only models that we considered were the Fox Chapel and Oakmont, which is slightly larger than the Fox Chapel. The reason is the dining room. My wife had fallen in love with the 13' x 13'+ dining room and couldn't imagine settling for anything smaller. The Oakmont and Fox Chapel are currently the only models with either builder that have a large dining room.
You see, my wife is a great and considerate hostess. As we have been looking for a new home, we have realized that it will be the largest home of anyone in our immediate family. As such, we will likely be hosting most large events, like Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner. There is no way that we will be able to fit a large dining room table and buffet in a smaller dining room.
So, we look at the Sewickley floor plan and, sure enough, it has a smaller dining room. Then it hits me. Do we really need a larger dining room? When we have a big event, like Thanksgiving, there is no way half of our guests will fit into even a 13'x13' dining room. That's where having the large morning room will be so useful. I talked it over with my wife and she agreed. So... we are back in the Cobblestone game!

Our Real Estate Toolbox

My wife and I have been searching for the perfect new home for three years. In that time, we have gained a lot of good experience in Pittsburgh house hunting and these are the best tools that we have found.

An aggregator is a tool that automatically pulls information from one or more sources. There are many real estate aggregators available, but Zillow (http://www.zillow.com/) is our preferred one because it has great functionality and it has been available in the Pittsburgh region for a long time. It has more feedback and listings than the next best option, Trulia (http://www.trulia.com/), although that is a good option, too. Although Zillow aggregates from tons of sources, including private sales, new construction, and pre-foreclosure, in one convenient location, it does generally take several days for Zillow to get the updated listings. In very hot markets, this may be a deal breaker, but is not usually an issue in the Pittsburgh area.

As for realtor web sites, Howard Hanna (http://www.howardhanna.com) is the favorite for both of us, as well. The website is very functional and allows you to easily filter by school district, which is our top priority. Recently, they changed their results so that all of the results display together, whereas they used to display all of the HH listings, first. The mobile website leaves something to be desired, but they all do.

The Allegheny County Assessment website (www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/Default.aspx) is a great resource, once you have narrowed your search to a specific street or house. You can find historic tax and sale information, exact lot dimensions, as well as the comps used to determine tax value. You can also quickly scroll through all of the houses on a specific street. A few years ago, they removed the ability to search by name, but once you find the house or street, owner and tax-payer information is all available because it is a matter of public record. It is kind of creepy, but can be very useful when you are trying to contact an owner, directly.

The single most valuable tool, however, is the West Penn MLS (http://westpennmls.com). I believe that you must be a licensed real estate agent or broker to have access to listings, but I know there is a significant cost for access. This is the biggest advantage to using a buying agent, but is not a necessity. The really nice thing is the options for filtering over geographic address, including hand drawing an area,  checking the DOM (says on market), and historical listing information. Other than that, the information is often available elsewhere for free. Believe me, though, once you have access to it, you will never want to go without it!

First glance - Love the Fox Chapel

I grew up in Fox Chapel. For those of you unaware, Ryan Homes is a Pittsburgh-based company, so many of the models are named after areas of Pittsburgh. So, when we visited Cobblestone and toured the Fox Chapel model, we thought that it was kismet, because we loved it! It is a great plan, especially with the morning room and 4' family room extension, which creates the nice open floor plan that we have been looking for.

There are problems, however. First of all, the model, as presented, is approximately $430,000! That is way out of our price range. We don't need everything shown, however, so it looked like it work out. It essentially came down to the elevations available. They were all integral front garage options. Because the current phase V lots are too narrow, there is no way to accommodate a side or rear garage door. This meant having a full flight of steps to get to the front door. Although this is Pittsburgh and lots of steps are common, it is not what we are looking for. We have several relatives who have problems with steps and understand well what an issue it would be for them, and for us when we get older.
We are at an impasse and cannot find a resolution, so it seems like Cobblestone is simply not going to work for us...

In the beginning...

After three years of searching without luck, I was browsing Zillow and noticed this funny little cluster of homes and clicked on it. It was the Zillow icon for new construction, which I had always filtered out because in our minds we could not afford one. I began browsing through the different new construction communities in the North Hills, including North Allegheny and Hampton, but the base model four bedroom homes were at the very top of our price range, so I knew that we wouldn't have the room to buy any upgrades and get what we wanted. That's when I found the Cobblestone development.

We've recently expanded our search into the Quaker Valley and Avonworth school districts and Cobblestone piqued our interest. The prices were $20-30K less than similar homes in other districts, which made them realistic for us. I called the Ryan Homes office and the S&A offices and left voicemails. Michael from Ryan called back that day and spoke to me for almost fifteen minutes and eagerly invited me to come for a visit.

Tomorrow, we head out to Ohio Township...

Note: I never heard from S&A homes. I even had a real estate agent friend of mine reach out to them half a dozen times. They called him back once, but would not follow up. To be fair, I think that they had all of their lots sold, or nearly sold, but why not just tell us that? It was a really bad customer experience.