Our Hole Has Been Dug!

 Last Thursday they dug out our basement!  We didn't think they would dig last week because it was so cold.  I had 2 days off due to the negative degree weather!  We took  my parents and father-in-law on Saturday to see the progress.  We go to meet one of our neighbors!  He seems super nice! It is crazy how the weather changed so much in one week.  Now it is 60 and rainy so we will see how much gets done this week...

Our sign and our hole

Meeting our new neighbor

David, Dad and the dozer!

Breaking Ground!

We met with our project manager on Monday and went over every detail of our house.  When I say every detail I mean EVERY detail, down to where each outlet will be and every light switch will be.  Our PM is very detail oriented which makes me so excited because I trust he will make sure our house is built to our expectations!  So we decided we would visit the lot so I could "dig the first dig"  and get some photos before they start the real digging.  I also thought I would go through the options and upgrades we chose.

Model: Sienna Elevation L-Cottage Style with Brick, Irish Thistle, Sandy Tan (board and batten), white trim, Sugar Creek brick, Black Fox door

Kitchen: Autumn Mahogany (floor), Fairfield Honey Oak(cabinets-we will be painting them white) Stainless appliances, built in OTR microwave, smooth top electric range, Labrador Granite (counter top color), recessed lighting

Flooring: Autumn Mahogany throughout the lower level and Sahara Buff throughout the upstairs, Initiator in the upstairs bathrooms and laundry room

Other Upgrades: Morning Room, fireplace, outlet and cable upgrade so that it is hidden behind the TV which will be mounted above the fireplace, bronze handles and fixtures, soaking tub in the master bath, we also upgraded the padding for the carpet upstairs, ceiling lights in all bedrooms

Now it feels real!

My husband and I started looking for homes in October.  At first it was just for fun to see what we might want come August when our lease was up.  As we began looking it became clear that now was the time to buy because of the super low interest rates and prices on homes.  We found a super realtor who showed us many homes and gave us a lot of information and advice to consider while choosing our first home.  The house I fell in love with was on the high end of our budget and sold shortly after we saw it.  We also decided that we wanted to move to a different city than we were currently living that had a better school district for when we have babies:-)  When we first started looking we met with another builder but thought building was out of our price range.  After looking in other cities we found that building with Ryan was our best bet financially as well as for getting all of the extras that we wanted.  We looked at the floor plans and decided that the Sienna was the best layout for what we want and was a great size for our starter home.  Our sales rep was awesome and picked out all kinds of extras she thought we would want while keeping us under our budget. (She did this just from a paper that my husband filled out)  She was dead on.  Got my soaking tub! Morning Room, stainless appliances, upgrades carpet and floors, upgraded lighting, gorgeous elevation, etc.  We walked lots and found the perfect one.  there is a part of a mound behind us then a lightly traveled road and a walking trail...no one directly behind us! Ever!  We had our meeting with our project manager on Monday and he said they will start digging next week (Wednesday or Thursday)!  It finally feels real now that the loan stuff is finished and the building is about to begin!  As long as we don't have any extreme weather we are looking at getting the keys April 8th!  However in Ohio the weather can be 60 one day and a blizzard the next!  I will go without snow days( I teach kindergarten) this year if it means my house is finished on time!!