Finalized our selections

Today was the day we finalized our selections. Yes, I know this seems to be a little fast from the many blogs I've read but I have also had a lot of time to think about this before we even started the process and luckily I did. I am completely in love with our sales Rep Jim and how transparent he is with the process and not afraid to give his honest opinion. We even had the pleasure of making our selections with the VP Andy.

Well it's not much more to post about other than to ask you to head over t the selections tab to see the updates and selections. I can however drop a few pics of inspiration, this is what I fell in love with.

 

 

Oh who am I kidding I didn't drop everything over there so here are our first choice options for the exterior.

And who doesn't want to see the actual kitchen from the model

 

Isn't it gorgeous? If you took a peek over in the selections tab you will notice we made a few changes. For instance we opted for a fridge with exterior water and Ice machine and we will have a double oven giving us a microwave over the cooktop. Originally we chose the kitchen just as you see it here but with a price tag of $4700 I just couldn't do it. Especially because I wanted a double oven and it would have been an additional $2500 for that. So this is what we did, we downgraded the choice to the most cost effective package that would give me the double oven, fridge and cooktop we wanted. We will purchase the hood I really want and install a conversion kit because the microwave recirculates the exhaust and isn't an exterior vent. Here is the hood we will install down the road.

Maytag 36" Convertible hood Model UXW6536BSS

I almost for got that we are pressing forward with wet bar in the basement and platform seating in the media room. Looking at the floor plan below, the exercise room will be converted to the media because it doesn't have the window and we will finish the "Extended Rec Room" on our own, saving $10K. Noticing that the wall is angled I will add a cabinet and countertop the closet wall for a snack area with a few shelves on the wall to complete it.

We had to do a special request and are waiting to hear back from the designer on the wet bar. We want to flip and reverse the plan they gave us for something that I feel would give us more functionality. This is the original...

 

 

Now we want to eliminate one of the counter ledges, close off the right side and only have a ledge on the front and in order to do that we will also have to extend the shorter wall. So it will kind of look like this with the open side extended to the 103" and only having the 1 bar top counter.

 

Ok all I think that's all I have for now until we have our meeting with the guy responsible for the low voltage items and maybe the electrician, as there are a few electrical changes we need to make.

 

Thank for stopping by. 

Window shopping for the Family Room and Good News

Well it's still so early in the game that I have really nothing to say. Except of course we got some good news Tuesday. We are the first buyers in this phase of development and in the short time frame from Sunday to Tuesday the price of any future models built has already gone up $5,000. I'm not quite sure what that means but I assume that it means we are starting off with a benefit to our side. If anyone knows how that works please let me know.

Now to give you a little incite into me...I am a pretty laid back person that doesn't get excited until everything is in it's place. Meaning that as exciting as this process is I am finding it hard to get really excited because so much can go wrong between now and settlement. Being a first time home buyer and a person who has a tendency to over research, if there even is such a thing, I have found virtually no information from anyone who has purchased a home from Haverford. Actually the only detailed information I have been able to find as been solely about Ryan Homes. I can't imagine that Ryan dominates the market so much that it's the only builder people want to talk about. That is kind of the reason why I have begun this blog for people who are interested in Haverford, a builder who let's it's product speak for itself and doesn't spend loads on marketing and advertising.

With that said back to my reservations. I subscribe to many blogs regarding Ryan homes and I'm even part of 2 facebook groups, I found a little family with them that has helped me a lot. In my research I have come to realize that once you sign on the line you are at the mercy of the builder and loan officer. I have read more times than I am comfortable with that homes appraise for less than the purchase price, the inability to lock in a lower rate, lost documents, pushed closing dates and many changes to the SR, subcontractors and Project Managers, but I digress and try to stay positive.

Moving forward lets get into the fun stuff as I try to stay positive and not let the experiences of others loom over me having my own experiences. Throughout the "window shopping" phase that began last year I had some serious time to think about how I wanted to decorate and the color scheme we can both agree on. We both settled on Navy and White, Aubergine and Gray or Navy and Kelly Green for the family room. I do realize aubergine is a tough color to match but as a shade of purple, it's such a royal and regal color.

Let's start with the inspiration...

Look how beautiful the blue and green are together. I find blue to also be very royal yet "family friendly" for us, as we have a 6 year old and plan to have 2 dogs. We also have large families that like to gather so lots of seating is necessary.

 This blue and white is so crisp and clean giving me a comfy/cozy feeling and keeps it light and airy as well. And if you look into the background near the fireplace, the benches are amazing.

 The same is true for the picture above. This gives me a calm coastal feeling, yet cozy at the same time.

And finally the beautiful purple and gray. The nice neutral sectional allows you to bring in the pop of purple in the accessories. The purple is a tone that is balanced and not to feminine but dark enough to be masculine.

Ok, I'm rambling on but what do you think? Are these selections too trendy? What are your color schemes?

Sooooo we're building a home

I  want to first thank you for visiting  my little place on the internet.


When we first started to toss around the idea of buying a home I was a little scared, overwhelmed even. I mean it's a huge decision and even more money. We spent most of the last year driving around most of Prince George's County looking at various models and falling in love.


Wait, wait, wait, let's really start at the beginning. It all started with us driving past "The Villages of Savannah" in Brandywine leaving church. Those homes were so beautiful and stately. I remember we absolutely fell in love with the master suite of the model home, the Modena. I mean just look at it

Isn't it beautiful?

The pictures can show you the beauty but take a look at the floor plan, the master suite is massive. In fact it takes up the entire side of the house and even has an option to add a covered porch.

And just look at the bathroom

Ok, back to how it all started. After see this beautiful master we sat down to see what that would cost us and boy were we in for a rude awakening. So now that we saw what we couldn't afford thus began the dreaming. We were able to create a dream home in our minds and were very firm on what we did and didn't want.

Not quite sure how we ended up in Upper Marlboro but we did and fell in love with the area. Well most of our model tours were a direct result of signs on the highway and internet searches on the builders we like.

On the first visit to Beechtree we viewed several model homes, I mean they are all located in a cul de sac. I completely fell in love with the community, it has both single family and town homes, it's a golf course community and is in the perfect area. You know not to far from family but not right next door, lol. I'll admit that I became a little obsessed with it, so much so that we have gone back about 4-5 times. I liked their Facebook page and even visited the club house and had lunch (it's open to the public). Somehow I always found things I loved but then there was always something that kept nagging at me. On one random trip to another community we came across Haverford homes.

Fast forward months later to today, after I had given up and we decided to wait a little longer. I even signed another lease with my apartment, we come across Haverford homes. Haverford had built in previous phases of the community and didn't have an open model at the time. The new model doesn't even have furniture but is beautiful with all the paint, flooring, just everything. Yes even empty.

I can't even tell you what is was that made us sit down with the finance guy to run numbers but we did. It all really moved pretty fast and the next thing you know the SR is closing up the model, going over selections and printing documents. Suddenly it's 11:00pm and a sales contract has been signed and a check has been written.

We are prayerful that everything works out and come next Spring we will be home owners.

Now onto the selections...

Model

Lancaster, Elevation A (reverse of photo)

Structural 

The builder is throwing in a 14' x 20' Sun room off the Kitchen and Rec Room. We added in the the gourmet Kitchen, Exercise room (will be turning it into a theater), finished area under sun room, basement bath and wet bar.

 

Now because it was so late we only got to make the initial flooring selection. Haverford uses a Canada based manufacturer for the wood floors, a company named Preverco. I chose the maple floors in Komodo. It is a beautiful brown with a hint of gray. Keeps us trendy but no so much that it could hurt the resale value. Take a look for yourself

And finally, as I said we went with the gourmet kitchen. I have to remember to ask about getting the double oven instead of the micro/oven combo. None the less, Haverford uses Maytag appliances and I am happy to say I was impressed with all the options available. 

Well I think this has gone on too long so I'll come back later once I have collected all the pictures necessary to fill in the blanks.

Thanks again for stopping by.