First Time Inside the House!

We met with the Project Manager today, who by the way I think I love (more on that later), to look at a finished master bathroom in a Florence model. After reading so many blogs about the new home owner not liking the single sink/one cabinet master bath, we were worried. After looking at the finished bathroom, we feel better about our choice. We can live with it for now.

After meeting with the PM, we went over to our house, and for the first time, we were able to walk through! The electricians were there finishing up. The plumbing will be completed tomorrow and the insulation will be installed on Monday. We will have our pre-drywall meeting next week. The only thing we weren't happy with was the small window in the "girls' room". This is a result of elevation A.

Pictures:

(1)The small window in the "girls' room". Dislike. Oh well, this room has three windows so I probably shouldn't complain too much.

(3) Upstairs. Standing at the top of the stairs looking into the master bedroom.

(2) Hall bathroom.

(4) The recessed lighting over the fireplace that the sales rep said we couldn't do...hmmm...looks to me like we could do it!

(5) Standing in the kitchen looking into the family room.

(6) Standing in the kitchen looking into the morning room.

(7) Kitchen. The doorway is the mudroom.

(Blogger is frustrating me and I can't figure out how to put the captions next to the picture, so I think it's time for bed)

Oh and the reason I think I might love our PM: One, he is the first person throughout this whole process that hasn't made me walk away feeling like a cheap date. He seems sincere in wanting to make us happy. Two, he seems good at his job. I like people who do their job well. Three, he's young and kind of cute (I've already discussed this with Scott). :-)

A Little Disappointed

Life has been COLD here in Columbus Ohio. Today the high was around 19 degrees and lows have been near zero. Thursday night we received about 5 inches of snow. Jackson had a snow day on Friday partially due to the snow and partially because of the bitter cold temperatures. Whatever put Whitehall City Schools over the edge was fine with me. It was SO nice not having to pack up all three kids, in the cold, to get Jackson to school.

So, the disappointment: The house.

The builders are making great progress. No complaints there. The roof has shingles, the garage door is hung, the gas lines are in and the plumbing is in as well.

The problem is the elevation we chose. Now, I do not want to sound like one of those uninformed consumers that blames the company for everything because he failed to read the fine print, but Ryan Homes and our ex-realtor have not been helpful. We were told we had to choose elevation A (the elevation is the outside appearance of the house, i.e. 5 windows v. 6 windows, porch v. no porch, things like that) because our soon-to-be neighbor had elevation B. Ryan Homes doesn't want our cookie cutter neighborhood to look anymore like a cardboard cut-out than it already does, so it will not allow two homes with the same elevation to sit next to each other.

We decided that we really wanted the Venice so we opted for elevation A. Well....elevation A is stupid ugly. Stupid because the bottom left window is not a double window like all of the other elevations and ugly because of the window, no porch, and a very small peak. Now it is totally our fault for not seeing this blemish, but I also fault our worthless realtor for not speaking up and saying "hey, these guys really want elevation B and can't afford elevation C, so how about they move down one lot so that they don't have to build the stupid-ugly elevation A, because, let's face it, honey-my husband-the builder, we've gotten over on these guys way too much already, let's throw them a freaking bone". Seriously, a freaking bone!

Now, I know that we will love the house when it is done and maybe the single "Vicki window" on the bottom will turn out to be a blessing, but as virgin home builders, we trusted her to help us out and she totally has left us face down in the mud. So that is the disappointment. I am going to try to beg the project manager to throw us that bone and help us out, but chances are everyday for the next ten years of my life, I will sit in my office and stare out of the "Vicki Window". But then again, maybe I'll love it.

Lots of good, I know, but this journey has not been fun. If anyone EVER tells you that building a home is fun check their breath for evidence of alcohol because they are either drunk or sleeping with the builder.

Looking Like a House

In addition to the house being fully erected, the windows and doors have been installed. Also, we met our new neighbor. She was very kind. In fact, so friendly, that she invited us in to look at her home. She has the same model, but her kitchen is slightly different. Seeing the inside of her home, made us even more excited to get out of our one-bath, 1940s, in the ghetto home. One upgrade that she had that we won't have are wood floors. They were REALLY nice...oh well, maybe in the near future. That would be a nice project for Scott.

Back of the house (yes, that's Jackson).

Right side.

Left side of the house.

Looking like a house!

Weekend Update

This is our house! Yay!!!!!!!!This is the back of the house. On the left with the three windows is the morning room. The small window upstairs is the bathroom and the window upstairs to the far right is Jackson's bedroom window.

Inside the garage.

Right side of the house.

Looking in the front window through the office. You can see the stairs in the background.

(Miscellaneous pictures from this week)

Bundled up to go get Jackson from school.

Jackson and Aida to Ivie's rescue

Exhibit A: Ivie is left unattended in the middle of the floor and falls asleep.

Exhibit B: Jackson and Aida "rescue" Ivie and provide a pillow and blanket for their little sister. They are very pleased with their assistance.

Friday Night Game Night:

We played two very competitive games of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders last night. Aida won Candyland and Daddy won Chutes and Ladders.

House Update

Realtor No More

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were having problems with our realtor. After several months of unanswered questions and an absent realtor, Scott told her that we no longer needed her services. I completely fault her for being careless in her job and not Ryan Homes. Every question we asked, she would pawn us off onto either her husband the builder or the mortgage broker. All the upgrades we received, we asked for and negotiated. After we signed the contract we didn't her from her for 6 weeks! When Scott confronted her last night about her poor performance as a realtor she said "you guys kept putting me in the middle". Really??? She's a realtor, she is supposed to be the middleman between her clients and the seller, i.e. the builder. Apparently she didn't get this memo and/or dozed off during this portion of her real estate class. Either way, to put it in the simplest words: She sucked! And we feel much better with her out of the picture. We are not nervous about being sans a realtor, because we have done pretty much everything ourselves. She also stated, when Scott criticized her for not doing anything, that she "got us a great house for a great price"...ahhhh...no. We are paying fair market value for a new build. No great deal there. Anyway, enough ranting about our ex-realtor.

Instead, good news: The builders have started framing! Here are some pictures from yesterday morning as the framers were beginning their day. By the end of the day, they had the garage up. Scott questioned the wood being out in the elements. We are assuming that this is ok. Anyone know? We are now about a week ahead of schedule. If the weather continues to cooperate, we should close around March 12th.

The Weidners are building a home

Ok...Scott has been reading blogs about Ryan Homes for a month now. He wouldn't start a blog; so I am!

Hopefully I'll remember to keep up with this. Right now I have all the time in the world, but I know when I start classes the blog will most likely get pushed to the side. Hopefully, Scott will take over at that point.

So for those who don't know: We are building a house! It is called the Venice. You can check out the floor plan at http://www.ryanhomes.com/Venice_16555.html. Once you get to the site you can look at the floorplan and take a virtual tour. We are doing Elevation A with partial brick on the front. In the kitchen we will have the morning room and gourmet island. Instead of a dining room we, I should say I, will have an office with french doors (nice!). Upstairs we upgraded the master bathroom to the garden tub and stand up shower.

Location, location, location!!!
Our new address will be 113 Princess Street (hence the blog title). Can you believe that! Aida thinks we are building her a castle. The subdivision is called Preserve at Royal Oaks and butts up to a preserve. Right now there are about 10 other homes in the neighborhood but most of the lots are vacant. We have one of the biggest lots in the neighborhood: .4o acres! The house is being built so close to the road that we will have a HUGE backyard.

We are moving east of Columbus, which means our commutes will be increased by about 15 minutes. Even though we will have a little extra driving, it suits us. We learned we are not city dwellers. We like a country setting, rather than the worries and closeness of city living. We will be in Pataskala which is located in western Licking County. Jackson will attend Southwest Licking County schools next fall.

Breaking Ground:

Scott met with the Project Manager yesterday. Today they break ground. The house is scheduled to be complete March 17th.

Overall Feelings:

We have a whirlwind of emotions: We are excited, anxious, nervous, scared, and annoyed. Of course we are excited to build a brand new home, but nervous about taking on such a large responsibility. We are scared only because we don't know what the future holds (no one does...right?). And we are annoyed because we haven't had the best experience with our realtor and her husband the builder (that's right folks, our realtor is sleeping with the Ryan Homes builidng rep). That is a long story and I will save it for another post. But besides that, when the home is built, I'm sure we will be so excited to have a new home and castle for Aida and the rest of us (I list Aida only because if you know Aida, you know we are all apart of HER world).

Here are some pictures of our lot.

Stay tuned!