"We're building a HOUSE"

Hi!  We are Luke and Ashleigh...we are a young(ish) couple who have been married for 10 years.  We have 2 kiddos, with one more (surprise blessing) on the way.  Well, that little surprise blessing helped us make the decision to transition from a town home to a single family home now instead of later.  Well, relatively now...we have decided to buy new construction with Ryan Homes meaning we will do a lot of the leg work now and move into our home when they are finished.  Right now they are projecting a move in date sometime in May.  This also happens to be my due date month.  Now that I type that, maybe we're crazy!

Well, after a few months of research and investigation, we have finally decided to officially take the plunge. We picked a Venice model in Northern Virginia.  For us, the decision of which model to pick was fairly easy.  Our neighborhood only had one lot left where you could build the Florence (smallest and least expensive base price).  That lot did not appeal to us at all due to the size (or lack there of) and position amongst other lots.  So, that meant the Florence was out.

Next up was the debate between the Venice (3000sqft) and the Rome (3600spft).  We both really liked each model.  Our neighborhood sales office is situated inside a Rome model.  The model is beautiful, but has some space that we don't see ourselves utilizing (formal living room, formal dining room, etc.)  Of course the finishes were beautiful, but I shudder to think about what the "as is" price would be!  

But, our neighborhood didn't have a Venice to walk through.  We both felt like we needed to walk around and actually see and feel the layout of a Venice before we made an official decision.  This meant we took a weekend morning and drove about 30 minutes to another community where Ryan Homes was building the same models.  We walked through the Venice and instantly loved it.  

There was no formal dining room (a plus for us, but completely personal preference).  Our taxes are decently high in Northern Virginia, so we really wanted to make sure that we are going to use the space we pay taxes on ;)  Of course each location and community have different base prices.  Interestingly, the Venice we walked through (30 minutes away) had a base price of nearly $100K more than our neighborhood.  As a Realtor, I am used to seeing these fluctuations, but I will be honest and say that the $100K spread surprised me!  So now that we have decided what to do, what's next?!  We hope you join us on our journey!     -Ashleigh