Pre-Construction Meeting

We had our pre-construction meeting yesterday. We met our project manager, Mike, and went over our selections, the building process, and what to expect. They break ground January 14th and our settlement date is April 14th. Mike answered all of our questions:

If we buy ceiling fans, will you install them? No. They are pretty adamant about this.
Can you move the garage light switch inside the house? Sure. He explained they simply flip the switch box. 

Add outlet in tray ceiling? Sure. $75 fee. 

Exterior colors? Silver mist siding, maroon shutters, and black, leaded glass front door. This is planned per community (HOA guidelines).

Will garage have a window? Yes, plus garage door will have windows as well. 

Can we get a beveled edge on the Formica? Not sure. Will check and get back to us. 

Mike seemed pretty knowledgeable. However, he did inform us that this is one of his first builds with Ryan Homes since he left a few years ago and recently came back. He told us he would contact us every Friday with updates on the building process. We told him we would probably be stopping by verrrrrrry often since we live 5 minutes away. He said that was fine as long as we are with him or Jenny. 

All of the people we have encountered so far with Ryan Homes have been wonderful! I'm so excited to finally start the building process!

Now to the bad. Still no word from NVR. We have contacted our LO several times since before Christmas and have not had a reply. It has been over 30 days and it's strange to start the building process without our loan secured. Our SR said she contacted her manager and he contacted NVR. He told her there is are no "red flags" so we should be fine. I just wish someone would give us an OFFICIAL OK. Oh well. The waiting game continues....

Final, final change order and new loan... Maybe

We met with Jenny, our SR, to make one final change order (probably final but who knows!). After much deliberation in my own mind, I decided to nix the granite in the kitchen. Although I love the look of granite, I felt uneasy about selecting the color from a small swatch. I couldn't really picture what the kitchen would look like. I decided we would instead get Formica and replace it within the year. My persuasive self talked the bf into it pretty easily.  Apparently,  it will also be much cheaper to get an outside company to put in in. We don't have that much counter space so I'm thinking this is the best decision... cheaper and I can pick out the entire slab.

So instead, we added a tray ceiling in the master (special request), under cabinet lighting, and 2 more ceiling fan rough-ins. I thought it was more important to get structural things now... Right? Anyway, we chose "Jamocha Granite" Formica. I want to ask our PM if we can get a beveled edge but I think it just comes square. Hopefully there won't be a seam line because that's sooooo 80s.

Good news is our pre-construction meeting is scheduled for December 29th! I'm extremely excited to finally be starting the building process. Building should begin the second or third week in January and delivery in April. Hopefully this winter won't hold up the process too much.

We still have not been approved by NVR. It's been over a month. I contacted our loan officer yesterday and she informed me that she thinks we should now use a conventional loan instead of USDA. My first question- "Don't you need 20% down?" Actually no! It's 5% down and the funding fee goes from 4.5% (USDA) to 3% (Conventional). Cool. Also, PMI will drop off after 2 years. I didn't know with a USDA loan that PMI NEVER goes away so this seems like a good option. We are going to meet with her after the holiday so hopefully she will have some good news.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays blog readers!!!... If anyone is reading my blog.

Waiting game

Not much news to report. We submitted our paperwork to NVR and are just waiting on our preapproval. Our SR said it can take anywhere from a few days to months. Hopefully it won't be much longer.

In other news, our SR has sold a bunch of houses lately, including the last Calvert on our block. So, building should start mid- January. Hopefully we will have our preapproval letter by then.

It's very hard to get excited about building a new house when you haven't been approved for a mortgage yet. Everyone keeps telling us, "Your ratios look good!... You should be approved!" But what if we don't get approved? Do we lose out on the incentives that we get for use of the NVR mortgage? Maybe I should talk to our SR or maybe I'm freaking out over nothing. I guess only time will tell... But I want it now!