Arriving: Ryan Homes Washington Trace

10/21/2012 Our Visit to Ryan Homes Washington Trace

Ryan Homes Washington Trace Link

 



On one of the Sunday excursions with our realtor, Jodi, we had stopped by Ryan Homes at Washington Trace to have a look.   At this time, they had opened a new phase consisting of 20 lots, so our timing was almost perfect.  What caught our attention was a promotion that for $299,999 you could get the development's "House of the Month"--a Yorkshire B that was comfortably loaded on a designated lot that wasn't all that bad.  When we first heard of the promotion, we weren't too invested in the idea but the flyer of the House of the Month kept reminding us that there was value here and we could get a comfortably equipped home for a very decent price--at least compared to their competition.  With no committments and still in a "looking around" mode, we did stew on coming back for about a week.  After all, if we are to build, we are going to have to make a decision and lock in soon for timely closing in late Spring of next year.

11/06/2012 Our First Pricing Visit with Kelly

In preparation for the 6th, we called our realtor, Jodi to arrange a pricing apppointment with Kelly, the Ryan Sales Representative at Washington Trace.  As the 6th arrived, we wanted a Yorkshire B that was outfitted almost identical to the subdivision's "House of the Month".  When things came in cheaper than the target price, we thought about adding things that would make the house comfortable and options that our lifestyle wouldn't have to wait for me to build.   

One thing that slows down the pricing process is our precious little ones.  They wanted to be in the conversation and their interruptions contributed a stop/start to the process, even though Jodi and Kelly were more than gracious.   Jodi, a mother of two herself, brought out a portable DVD player and her smart phone and kept them occupied while we pored through the initial options and explored pricing.   The result was pretty good for the first round of talks and we decided that another one is due as soon as we contemplate the house features that matter to us

Ryan Homes Yorkshire Elevation D

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How we arrived at pricing the Yorkshire really started at the introduction of the"Home of the Month". We looked over the floor plan and it was pretty decent and Feng Shui correct.  In addition, we now had a pricing baseline on what was considered value packed.   From there, we adjust the specifications to what we liked with a baseline in view.

The new phase of lots were actually quite good.  Out of the 20+ lots in the new phase, none of them were sloped and were relatively flat.  Since I am a pseudo believer in Feng Shui, picking out a lot tapped into some of my dabbling knowledge of Feng Shui and started with a West facing lot.  In the Chinese/Feng Shui school of thought, numerology plays a part in choosing a site.   Lot 16 had no premium price but Lot 11 did, both had auspicious numbers and we deemed them an ideal place to place a home.  We found out later that to have enough land for a three car garage, you had to get a lot with a price premium so we opted for a two car garage without the lot premium.   Practicality told us to go with Lot 16 and a two car front entry garage. 

Jodi inquired for us to see if there were existing Yorkshires, complete or incomplete that we could walk through so that we could better visualize the spacing and dimensions.   As luck would have it, all of them have closed in Dayton in Cincinnati and the only way we could see one is if an owner would be graceful enough to let us in their home for a viewing.   Kelly went right to work to see if she could accommodate this important request.

At the conclusion of the first pricing meeting, we told Kelly that we would review the pricing and come back to her with a list of additional items to price.  We were looking forward to the next round of pricing--this is where the cost of the house becomes more realistic.



The Road Leading to Ryan

Our Rental: Ryan Home Halifax

 

So with a little fast-forward to late June.  Amy, the kids, and all of our stuff are now in Dayton and we are living in a Ryan Homes Halifax!   This is a 1700 sq ft house that really gives us a very comfortable place to live and seems just right.  Too bad that this house was a recovered forclosure and the landlords are a bunch of unresponsive a***s--else we'd think about staying here for awhile.  It's their loss not mine.  

Whereas the house was decent, we weren't too impressed by the no-fence community and the weirdness of the neighbor next door (on the left side of the pic).   On the flip side, I did like the Kettering area.  Nicely appointed but the schools did not rank high enough to be considered.   Also, the dreams of being by a super Wal-Mart quickly became all to real due to its location between beautiful Kettering and not-so-beautiful Moraine.

So, on our shopping list we were looking at Beavercreek, Centerville, and Springboro.   Oakwood was eliminated off our list due to the fact that our only choices for housing were overpriced and room was at a premium over there.   Though it had the area's best schools, it also had the highest property taxes.   I wasn't too keen on paying a premium for a house that would constantly need upkeep.

During my rental housing search this year, we came accross a township called Washington Township.  I regretted not renting there for I loved the sprawling houses with lots of land and the stately feel of the neighborhoods.  This was attached to the Centerville School District--one of the better schools in the area and best of all, no city taxes.  We will quickly find out that this omission catches up with us later in the form of other taxes!  These virtues led us to place it into consideration as the finalist of our ideal neighborhoods in the Dayton area.  

So here we are in the summer, with the family all in tow, we spent our weekends just looking around and talking to builders in Springboro, Beavercreek, and Washington Township.  We did do open houses for pre-existing homes as well.   Our plan was to acquaint ourselves with these neighborhoods and we would either contract to build in Nov/Dec for a new home or Feb/Mar for a pre-existing home.  Whatever it was, it would be better than our former living arrangement in Alexandria.

In late October, we had enlisted the help of a very knowledgeable real estate agent named Jodi of Real Living Realty.   I had met Jodi at an open house in Springboro last March and we had stayed in touch.   I thought that her demeanor and customer service outlook would prove to be a good match in finding our future home--turns out, I was right.  

We had spent a couple of weekends with Jodi, visiting builders and looking at their wares.   After some soul searching and really asking ourselves what we really want, we decided to go with Ryan because they offered the best house and the most amenities for the money.

I had seen some bad press of Ryan Homes and that led me hesitate approaching them.  What was more, the Ryan Homes Halifax that we were living in exhibited some bad fit and finish.   We had talked to several acquaintances including Jodi about their Ryan Homes experience and they were, for the most part positive.   Based on this, we concluded that Ryan is a good builder, and if we watch them closely, they are going to be a GREAT BUILDER to us.

Because we liked Washington Township, OH, we were considering both of the Ryan Homes subdivisions at Normandy Green and Washington Trace down the road.   We eliminated Normandy Green due to the fact that they were within earshot of I-675--a possible detriment should we find ourselves selling the home one day.  We ended our search at a beautiful master-planned community called Washington Trace--still a stone's throw from work. 

This is where, our Ryan Homes story begins!