Pre-Settlement Walkthrough

FINALLY!   I have been excited for this day though I will say it is a bit anti-climatic since we visit the house weekly now.   We took family members through the house on Saturday so the only real difference was that it had been cleaned again.  Our PM did say we get at least one last cleaning that will be what he calls the "white glove" cleaning prior to settlement which is only 5 days away.

As I was not able to make the pre-drywall meeting, this was the first time I have talked to the PM in person since the pre-construction meeting.  I have watched a lot of HGTV since then.  A lot.  I have an addiction, a serious one.  So, I told the PM about my problem and he walked through the house knowing I've seen too many episodes of Property Brothers.  He pointed out areas and explained why it happened on Flip or Flop, but it wouldn't happen in this house.   Fantastic customer service, really.

Instead of the cabinets I feared, we have the standard rack above the washer and dryer.  We decided to ask if the height was ok given the pedestals we bought, and the PM agreed we should raise the rack.   I'm not convinced that we will need that space, but I would rather have the rack there than not, we could always remove it.

Also, our sales rep told us to add a ceiling fan rough-in for our covered patio in the back.  We noticed it wasn't added so we brought that to our PM's attention.  He took us out there and asked the most important question...exactly how big of a fan did we intend to put there?  There may be room for a beanie hat there, but nothing more!   So we moved that rough-in inside to the living room.  We may never use it, but at least there is a possibility to use it there!

So while I don't love to repeat things that happened on other blogs, I also recognize that when multiple sources say the same things it reinforces it to others too.   The experience we have had with Ryan Homes is nothing like I read on other blogs during my research.  Before we signed, I was a little hesitant given what I read but I noticed what Potomac Shores Living noticed;  all of the blogs that had the most negative reviews came from another region of the country.   That sold me.  I do have a friend who did decide against Ryan Homes because of the reviews that are out there, and I told her to go back and see the locations and realize that not all regions were created equal.  I'm going to refer anyone who wants a more in-depth discussion to Potomac Shores Living, but I have been very impressed so far with working with them.

Following on that, I will say we came prepared with a lot of items we wanted fixed, and they got them prior to our meeting.  So many I was shocked, and impressed with how detail oriented they are. They clearly have a lot of pride this community!

Ok, now it's time for pictures!

Our Kitchen! We are very pleased with how this came out.

This is an older picture of our fireplace...in the excitement I forgot to take one today!

The wet bar!   We cannot wait to customize this!

The Future

When I began this blog, I was inspired by the countless number of Ryan Home blogs, and specifically by Potomac Shores Living.  Potomac Shores Living was the first blog I could find about building in Potomac Shores specifically, and was immensely helpful as we embarked on this endeavor.

That said, I am hoping to continue blogging in the future, with my inspiration being a blog about my current neighborhood, JDLand.   We currently live by the Washington Nationals Stadium, and when I first moved here, there were many promises of development that disappeared with the housing crash. My friends and eventual neighbors (they were building an EYA townhouse in the neighborhood when I moved) recommended I check out JDLand.   I loved her photojournalism aspect that she had been working on for years, as well as the updates on development.  The blog had great neighborhood conversations in the comments, which tended to be a little more development focused as opposed to the google group (I hope PS has something similar) we had which functioned more like a massive HOA meeting.  

Now JDLand is amazing and takes a ton of time to keep up so whatever I do in this space will have to be on a smaller scale.  I'm also a horrible photographer, but maybe I'll get better as I practice!  I do hope to post about life in PS after move in and as the development progresses.  If any of my new neighbors are lurking here will go on some walks with me to scope things out!

On your mark...get ready....

So we are pretty busy people and coming off a year where we took a lot of vacation days to celebrate our marriage we kind of needed to limit the amount of time we took off to move into our first home.  We figured the most efficient way to do this was to get a few appointments/deliveries done with vendors prior to our closing date, so that we could have a lot of installation done during the time off we decided to take.  In hindsight we realize this means that our home may feel like a zoo at first with people coming in and out of the house, but we hope it will be worth it!

So far, we have been very pleased working with Belfort furniture to come up with a plan to furnish the home.  They have a great deal where for a small fee they will give you a workup of your home and the furniture you can buy, and if you spend over a certain amount, your fee is refunded.  We get our presentation a few days before closing so I will update this post with our review of that!

We also decided to splurge on blinds early, and we chose Next Day Blinds for the idea that they have a lifetime guarantee that we have heard great things about the quality!