Down the Rabbit Hole

I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Where to begin! I’ve never blogged before, but reading other home building blogs has been incredibly helpful, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’ll probably include way more details than necessary, but hey, this is for my records as much as sharing this process and helping others.

Let’s begin with some background. I should first note that neither my husband, Chris, nor I ever wanted to build in a development. We always thought the houses look too similar, the lots are too close together, and HOAs are too controlling. It’s rather surprising then that we have decided to take on the venture. So, after purchasing our first home at a very reasonable price in an excellent area from my mother, we decided that 6 years here is enough and we, as real adults, can buy a home that truly feels like our own. Sounds dumb to give up an 1120 ft² home in an excellent neighborhood and location, but what are you going to do? We began this process in a whirlwind. 

Step one was selling our current home. A friend of mine recommended her realtor with high praise. I can’t say enough how wonderful Bella Hart is and how easy she made this process. If you are in the Dayton, Ohio area, consider using Bella Realty. On July 3, we met Bella and expected her to look around our house and provide a list of things we should update or repair before listing; however, she said our house was list ready (after decluttering a bit) and wanted to set up a professional photographer the next week. We were stunned. This moved our expected timeline up significantly, but Chris and I took it in stride. We purged our house of everything we could live without, changed the kitchen sink faucet (we had already purchased it), installed a new garbage disposal, and cleaned every crevice, corner, and nook.

During this time, we looked for a new (to us) house that contained all the things we wanted within our budget: open floorplan, less than twenty years old, basement, decent yard (preferably fenced), and an owner’s suite. The market is moving incredibly quickly right now, and anytime we found a house we wanted to visit, it would change to “pending” before we could even tell our realtor. Through exasperating about this at work, I learned one of the students in my office is building a house with her boyfriend (Thanks, Lindsey!). I thought, if they’re building, perhaps my husband and I could too.

They chose the Allegheny, but Chris and I are old (I say jokingly), so we found the Pisa Torre. The ranch floor plan and photos looked amazing! There are several developments near our current location, but since it’s just us, we let local taxes select our area. Bella contacted Ryan Homes on our behalf on July 6, and we met Sherrie, the Sales Rep (SR), on the 7^th.

Now, you do not need a realtor to build with Ryan Homes, but I recommend it if you are not familiar with the industry of buying/selling/building houses. Bella provided excellent advice and asked questions I did not think of on my own, and that’s saying something. I had so many questions and took so many notes, Sherrie asked if I was a secret shopper for Ryan Homes!

The model we visited was the Aviano, another ranch style home, but the cost to build it is significantly higher for only about 150 more square feet.  It was difficult to picture the home we wanted in a different model, but I had compared room sizes so we could space out the approximate sizes.

After visiting the development, viewing the model home, and weighing the benefits of building, we fell in love with the idea. There were only three basement lots left to choose from, all with premiums (one wider lot and two on a cul-de-sac). Our SR was selling the benefits of a cul-de-sac as Chris was more interested in this, but I was more drawn by the appeal of a wider lot. I hate the idea of looking out a side window and being able to see a neighbor’s house a mere few feet away. Being unsure of which is better, I deferred to my realtor who agreed the wider lot was the better option. To be clear, the standard lot width in our community is ~50 ft wide. Ours is ~70 ft wide.

Now, remember we’re responsible adults, right? Even though we spent 2.5 hours walking the model home and speaking with the SR, we wanted to take some time to think through the process and commitment required to building a house. What if ours didn’t sell quickly? What if we don’t get enough to put the down payment we’d like to? What if they do a shitty job building the new house? What if, what if?

Well, Ryan Homes pretty much took the overthinking out of the equation and needed a decision the next day with a check to “hold” the lot for us. We spent the evening talking through what we learned and reviewing the numerous notes I took. To be perfectly honest, I was on board. I wanted it. Chris was more level headed and helped us process everything.

In the end, obviously, we went back and placed a hold on the lot. We were pre-qualified for our home with our initial selected upgrades (I’ll talk more about those later). While we were excited to build a new house, this whole process was dependent on selling our current home.

Making the final call on building pushed us to list our house the following Wednesday, July 11. Bella worked with her team to produce a phenomenal listing with professional and drone photographs and a video tour that immediately began drawing attention. We had five showings on Thursday, four more on Saturday, and an open house on Sunday. By Sunday night, we accepted an offer. To say that we would not have sold the house without Bella is an understatement. She truly is an artist in realty.

We just closed on the sale of our house on Monday, August 20 to a wonderful buyer. Chris and I packed, donated, sold, or trashed the contents of our home and moved in with my mother. Now, we’re waiting for our house to be built! 

Here's pictures of our pets for the long post.