December 2, 2018

NVR Updates

One thing I have neglected to write about in this blog is our experience with NVR beyond the initial steps. Both our Loan Officer (LO) and our Loan Processor (LP) have been great to work with. Despite our good experience, Chris and I were tentative to blindly proceed with the Ryan Homes parent company lender. We began talking and proceeded to meet with a local credit union concerning mortgage loans after our pre-construction meeting on Sept. 12. This was a good choice, because the loan officer we spoke with at the credit union was able to explain some things about the process that were unclear before. This is not to say that our NVR LO didn’t try, but rather the process is extremely overwhelming and speaking with an outside individual helped clear things up.

November 29, 2018

Big Changes Inside and Out

After our pre-drywall meeting on Oct. 25, we received our usual update from our PM. He shared that the house passed all inspections (we knew this because all inspections must be passed before the pre-drywall meeting), and insulation began. In the photos below, you can see the drywall laying in the house. This was being delivered when we met with our PM.

November 18, 2018

Pre-Drywall Meeting

Inspections were completed at the beginning of week 5 of construction, and we were ready for our pre-drywall meeting by Thursday, Oct. 25. This was an opportunity to meet with our PM and discuss any questions or concerns we have so far in the process. We walked through the house and looked at every detail we could. Below are a handful of photos I took along the way.

November 15, 2018

And There's a House!

Ok, this is just ridiculous now… Going all the way back to the second week of October (one month ago!), the house was just basement walls. Since then, a lot of things have happened. When others have written that this process moves quickly, they were not kidding.

October 8, 2018

Rain, Mud, and Construction


Alright, here’s another entry of catching up.

Right after excavation on September 20, we received some rain, but this didn’t really delay things. Our foundation footings were poured before we visited the site on the 25th. I’ve read other Ryan Home builders comment that looking at the footings makes the house seem smaller than it actually is. Because it was so muddy, we didn’t walk around the space, so here’s a nice shot from the front.

October 5, 2018

Random Observations and Groundbreaking!

While waiting on Ryan Homes to catch up on finishing houses close to ours so they could move the red dumpsters, we visited the lot and saw that construction had begun on the space behind our house.

Here’s an original view:

October 1, 2018

Waiting and Pre-Construction


I’ve fallen behind already with posting the current happenings with our house. Let’s jump right back into it…When others have written about “hurry up and waiting” during this portion of building a house with Ryan Homes, they weren’t kidding. The first few weeks are a whirlwind of activity and decision making that the next few are a snail’s pace of nothing.