Surprise!

Saturdays seem to be the day we drive out to see the house and today was no different.  I've been looking forward to this all week. We knew that dirt had been moved around a few days ago and didn't think that much else had been completed yet.  We thought we might be able to walk around our newly pushed around lot and get a feel for the footprint of the house.   We were wrong, in a good way!

I cannot begin to describe how amazing it felt to see people actually working on our lot.  I'm pretty sure I got butterflies.

So much progress that we were not expecting.  The framing for the concrete looks nearly complete. We were
told by one of the guys that the concrete will be poured on Monday.

This guy finally turned around and asked "Is this your house?"  :)

That's our basement!

This is the front corner of the house, where the living room will be.

The back of the house, this is the framing for the stairs out of the basement.

Front stoop.

Things are starting to feel real now.  I needed this boost.  This past week has been too much for me. Completely thrown from my routine, getting horribly sick, living out of boxes and I'm starting a new job on Monday.  Seeing our new house come together is what I needed to keep me going.  I just have to concentrate on the big picture.  We will have our dream house soon enough!

Groundbreaking

This week has been insane.  We moved out of our house and closed on Tuesday.   There was entirely too much drama on closing day including lying on the part of the buyers agent but I don't want to relive that, I'm just happy that it's over now.  Chapter closed!  We are now living out of boxes in our friend's townhouse that he is letting us rent for the next few months while the house is built.

Since closing day I have been down for the count with a stomach flu, and we also found out that our dog may not have very much time left.  It's just too much for one week.   I'm ready for things to be on the upswing again.

In happier news, we finally have some movement on the lot.  Our awesome new neighbor sent us these pics yesterday.  Basement is being dug out!

It's a little sad how excited I am just to see dirt being pushed around.  We plan on driving over there this weekend, wonder how much progress will be made by then!


BONUS...our PM just sent us this photo letting us know himself that things have officially begun!

Packing!

This has nothing to do with the building of our new house but I just had to share.   I am going a little loopy packing up our current house and stressing about how much we still have left to do before we move out on Monday.  Akk, less than a week!

Anyway, someone moved in on our street over the weekend and today she put out some of her moving boxes.  Recycling comes today so I knew they were out there for trash so I didn't hesitate to take some for us!  I got overly excited about this and wanted to take a picture to show my husband what I had scored.  The picture didn't really show how big the boxes were so I looked around for something to give it scale.   I grabbed the closest thing I saw.

Poor Brooklyn, she had no idea what was going on.  But it got the point across.  I made sure to give her extra snuggles after this.  But yeah, I'm loopy because I thought it was the funniest thing. I need help. 

This packing stuff is exhausting.   I'm so ready to get out of this house.  I'm done with the whole selling process and I'm done with the crazy requests from the new owners.  Get me out of here!

Pre-construction meeting

We had our pre-construction meeting today.  Finally got to sit down with our PM and he is great, just like our new neighbors told us.  He's very down to earth and can see that we are, too.  We were able to joke around with him a bit and to me that's very important, means that we are all on the same page and comfortable with each other.

He saw that I had a list of questions on my laptop and I think that might have scared him a bit, but by the end of the meeting he saw that it wasn't bad at all.  Just some things that have been on our minds and some things that I pulled from other Rome blogs. And I mean, this is a big deal so of course we want all of our questions answered.

The meeting lasted about 1.5 hours and we had every question answered.  Well, to the best of his ability anyway.  Here is the list of questions we asked, in no particular order:

• Can we get a copy of the plot plan? Yep!
• Can we get a 240 line installed (for hot tub)? Going to check and see if they can designate a circuit
• Is it too late to add a window in the family room? Yep, it's too late
• Is there anyway to get the ground right behind the house flat for patio/hot tub prep? They can pour after settlement, but not before
• Can extra insulation be added in the interior walls and floors to make a quieter house? No, but it sounds like we can do it ourselves right before they install the drywall!  Time to figure out how to do that!
• The dishwasher that is on the list is now discontinued, does that mean we change it? If it is discontinued they upgrade.  Which is great because the reviews are awful for the one listed.
• Can we give input with the front landscaping?  If not, can we ask for no plants so I can plant my own?They have to do it but they can rip out at 30 day inspection.  
• What brand are the HVAC? 92 % efficient Goodman HVAC unit
• Where are the hose bibs located? One in front and one in back
• What outdoor lighting is included? If there is a flood light is it motion detection? No flood light but there is a light outside of the morning room
• Can we hire a home inspector? Pre-drywall or after is fine, they just need a heads up.  Final one must be done at least 48 hours before settlement
• Can we pick the granite slab ourselves? nope
• Is there an option for a screen door? No, we can add later on our own
• Does the attic have stair access or just a panel? panel
• How many outlets are in the garage? One on ceiling and one on interior wall.­­
• Are the basement doors french doors where only one opens?  Is there another option to upgrade so that both doors can open? Only one door opens, no chance to upgrade
• Possible to get a 2ft extension on driveway? nope
• What inspections do we have after settlement? 30 day and 10 month (for windows and doors)
• Pond across the street from the house, will that be filled to be an actual pond or is it a drainage ditch? Ryan Homes has no idea, it's a separate company and they won't share details for some reason.
• Will touch up paint be left?  Any extra tile/flooring, etc? We will get touch up paint as soon as possible, they just switched their paint to Sherwin Williams so the kits haven't come in yet.
• Is there any lighting in shower/bath? Recessed LED lighting above shower and tub

So all in all we are happy with what we found out today.  Disappointed in a few things but thrilled that we can do the extra insulation if we want.  I was certain he would say no.  I left the appointment with a huge smile on my face.  It's starting to feel real.  

Our elevation.  Super secret plan here that we weren't allowed to take home. The house will be 4167 sq. ft.

By far the best news of the day was when we saw the plot plan and that we only
have 4 stairs leading out of the basement.  We were told it would be 7-8, but now we will
actually be able to see daylight from our basement.  So happy!

After the meeting we drove by our lot again.  Our neighbor was in his garage so of course we went over to talk. I love how friendly our neighbors are.  They all have been so welcoming.  We asked him if we could go in the backyard to sort of try and visualize where we might put our hot tub and patio, plus we would get to see the side and back of our lot.   This was the first chance we got to actually see how big our backyard will be.  I love the amount of space.  It's not too big and it's not too small.  There is plenty of room for a large patio and our hot tub and we still have a decent amount of green space.  

Our backyard.  Love the evergreens! And we found out today that the backyard will be virtually flat which is great to hear.

Panoramic of the side and back of our lot.  We couldn't be happier with the lot we chose. 

Using our neighbors backyard to test out where the hot tub would go.  You know, priorities!

So, next step is breaking ground.   Our PM said he would give us a heads up on what day that will be.  All we know right now is that it's sometime next week.   Can't wait!  It has certainly been a great day.

Before shots

Today we stopped by our lot to get the official before photo. We picked a spot that we will use every time we go out to check on progress, should make for a good series.  Only a week or so until they break ground so this was the last time we would only see dirt.  So exciting that everything is starting to finally move forward!

Hopefully we can get this same angle every time.

Dirt, dirt and more dirt.

Playing with our neighbors toys, our daughter is already settling in.  Our neighbors are nice, we have already
met everyone on our little cul-de-sac and have been invited inside twice.

Of course we had to stop at the playground before heading home.  So happy that she loves being there already.

Next step is our pre-construction meeting in 2 days!  I'll post questions and answers for anyone following this that might be building a Rome.  I know that I have found other blogs so helpful for this process, it's where half of my questions came from!

Why we fell in love

My husband and I have been browsing realtor.com and zillow.com for years.  We would do this periodically just to see what we like and if we are on the same page with what our next house could be, and what we could get within our budget.  We wanted to see what was available in the area and which areas we liked best, just in case we moved one day. We had never seen a house that we both agreed to everything on.   That was until we saw the Rome.

The day we walked into the model (Valentine's Day to be exact) it didn't take long for me to start picturing our family in there.  I loved everything I was seeing.

Huge kitchen (and morning room), check!

Laundry room upstairs, check!

Open floor plan, check!

Large basement, check! (no bar for us right now)

Loft, huge check!

Giant master bedroom, check!

Glorious master bath, check!
       


Fireplace!

So yes, we love everything about the house!  And we also love the neighborhood.  Our street is so quiet and there is no one in front of us across the street.  Plus, we back to trees.  Score!

Ok, I've exceeded the maximum allowance of exclamation points for one post...

We were at the lot one day around sunset.  It's amazing.  But it does make me sad that I couldn't get the one thing I wanted in a new house, a porch.  Both of our neighbors have the elevations with porches which means we can't.  Boo.   So, I will be high class and sit on a chair in our garage to watch the gorgeous sunsets :)

The beginning

I sit here finding it mind boggling that 2 months ago we had zero plans to move or sell our house.  Now, we have a plot of land and our current house closes in just a few weeks.   To say it has been a whirlwind is an understatement.

We had zero intentions of moving but one day we decided to just drive out and go look at a model home that we saw online.   My husband and I instantly fell in love and sat with the rep to talk about if it was even possible.  We were kind of floored that it was and that's what started the ball rolling.  We were warned that the neighborhood was selling fast and that we needed to get our house on the market ASAP.

Our house was a disaster, filled with way too many things.  It's amazing what gets you motivated, though.  We both knew that we wanted this, wanted it so badly. We quickly ordered a POD and had it delivered to the house.  We set up meetings with our realtor and had a contractor come in to paint, update some bathrooms, add new fixtures, etc.

Within about 2 weeks, the house updates were done and the POD was packed.  We were ready to list our house!

2 days.  It took 2 days to sell our house!  I still cannot believe how crazy the market is right now.

Long story short, we are only a few weeks away from closing and moving into temporary housing while our beautiful house is built.

I should have started this blog much earlier!