Monday, October 1, 2012

Wish list

I wonder how many of us who have chosen to build with Ryan Homes consider the homes they are currently building to be the ONE.  You know the forever house, the one you will grow old in.  For me and hubby, we are leaning towards a "no".  We have our reasons and a lot of it does not have anything to do with RH (It's not you, it's me...).  We have a wish list of what we would want in our dream house and they include:

  1. A more modern design.  When we started our house hunt,  we really wanted a house with a modern design sensibility.  But existing homes and new home construction in Delaware are more built on traditional lines, especially those who are in developments.  Yes, I know we could have done what we have wanted if we built outside a development and with a custom home builder but our kids are really young, we wanted them to have playmates close by so we chose to be in a development.  In my mind though, our next home will be built by them.
  2. A bigger lot area.  Our current lot size is just a hair over 1/4 acre.  Nuff said.
  3. Solar panels on the roof.  Solar panels are not allowed under current HOA rules.
  4. Vegetable garden.  Vegetable plots are also not allowed under current HOA rules.  But hey, maybe I can incorporate herbs and some vegetables in the landscaping.
  5. Rain water and grey water collecting system.  This is something we will definitely explore once we settle in the house.
I'm not saying that we regret our decision building with RH.  So far, our experience with them has been positive.  And I'm hoping that it will stay that way.

12 comments:

  1. When we were looking, the first two neighborhoods that we considered had pretty strict HOAs. Both of them regulated what your fence could be made of and how high, but the second one also told you how many hanging plants you could have on your porch! Talk about nit-picky! Luckily the lot itself nixed that particular neighborhood before I had to put my foot down with my husband (we would have lost part of our morning room - not all, just part!). Our current neighborhood is extremely lenient, and I specifically asked about three things before we signed: fences, vegetable gardens, and play structures. Nothing in the HOA docs said I couldn't have them, and the HOA rep didn't think there'd be a problem, so if there ends up being a problem there will be a BIG problem! lol I didn't think about rain water collection, but if I can put up a fence I don't see why anyone would care. Something to consider!

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    1. Oh, and we've joked about this being our forever home, and who cares about resale because it's our kids who'll have to worry about that, etc etc...but I can't say that I wouldn't be just as happy moving somewhere else after the kids are grown, either. Lot size and different design might play into that decision.

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    2. We didn't know how strict the HOA rules were. If we did, that would have been a deal breaker. But by the time we knew about the rules, we were quite invested in the home building process already and we just didn't have the energy to house hunt again. One of things we were a little ticked off, was that sheds weren't allowed too. So, for us, we would not be able to park both our cars in the garage. If we knew that, we would have at least chosen a floor plan that would have a 3 car garage option. The Verona here only has a two car garage option. Oh well.

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  2. This will most likely not be our forever home. I am not a 'neighborhood' person. I need my space and my peace. I don't want to be rude or snotty, but no I do not want to sit around with your clique and watch a fire burn every Saturday night, no matter how many times you invite me. It's not my cup of tea. I want to live someplace where I can open my windows and not hear my big mouth neighbor inside his house shouting all day. I miss my old neighborhood full of senior citizens. :) Any HOA at all will be a deal-breaker for me in a forever home.

    Also, there are quite a few things we would like to do differently - live and learn.

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  3. This will not be our forever home. We intend it to be our home for the next 10-15 years. Once the kids start moving out, we will probably look for more land and a smaller house. However, with having kids, we really wanted a neighborhood.

    We made sure to examine the HOA docs before settling on a neighborhood. I really liked one until we found out the fence regulations (had to come straight off the back of the house and not out the sides to the edge of the lot) and no sheds. As much as I loved the house we would have built there, those were deal breakers. Our HOA here is not very restrictive regarding the things that we want to do.

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    1. Children do play a large role in the decision making process. I hope we will be able to stay in the house we're building until the kids finish high school. We have moved a lot the past few years due to hubby's career and luckily our kids haven't really been affected by this as they are really young still. We're hoping to give them some stability with this.

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  4. Honestly, before I discovered the ROME, my dream home was a home with the grandiosity of an estate home. I have seen so many model homes that I absolutely fell in love with and would have loved to have been able to build; but I kept thinking to myself about a few things I did not want to deal with such as having to keep up a very large yard, having to pay more in utilities for just two people, having to keep a large home clean (these sort of things). Both my husband and I are empty nesters and our children are grown which allows us to travel a lot. I am a traveler and love it. So I wanted to have a decent size home for us and family to visit and the opportunity to maintain our lifestyle plus follow my other dream to build a home aboard in Costa Rica. AND, AND, AND.. I AM DONE WITH MOVING FROM PLACE TO PLACE IN THE US! I wanted a home that we could be satisfied with and there were so many RH homes to choose from but the ROME gave us the ability to customize it based on our needs and it offered more square footage for your buck. The only thing I would add to the ROME for my wish list is a larger master bathroom and larger mud room. With the customizations in hindsight, I could have turned the study into a walk-in closet for coats and closed off the living room for my study. Currently, I am installing a coat closet system in the garage which we will insulate as much as possible because I want to keep a shoeless home and prefer the garage to be the location to drop shoes and coats since the mud room is small.

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    1. Is RH going to install the coat closet system for you? Are you going to do that after you move in?

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    2. California Closets are installing our system after we move into our home. They have a host of others that install like easy closets closet stretchers closets by design etc etc I just prefer Calofornia Closets because we used them in the past and I like their work.

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  5. My ryan home will be the house that I raise my son in, create family memories and enjoy until my husband and I retire. Then we are off to a condo on the beach in FL. If all goes according to plan, we will be able to buy the condo in about 7-8 years.

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  6. I guess no one really gets everything in life they want is how I try to look at it, we certainly didn't get everything we wanted either, Hubby gave up his dream of a 3 car garage, side entry and more yard and cement driveway and completely flat lot...our kids are older and I am not looking forward to so many kids in our neighborhood...I raised my little ones, so we will see how I do with that...gesh did I just say that out loud?

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