Hello Farmland

November 2012

Andrew and I have been house hunting for 2 years, and have waffled between new construction and existing homes. We love the character and quirkiness of existing properties and the convenience of “move in ready” new construction. After looking at existing properties, the amount of renovation required to make any of those houses suit our needs would cost just as much as building a new home. Since neither of us care to be living in a renovation zone with a newborn, new construction was the right choice for us.

We found an adorable new development in rural western Chester County PA, being built by Ryan Homes. The model we picked was the Savoy – a farm house looking piece of adorableness. 4 bedrooms, living room, dining room, family room & kitchen, basement, 2 car detached garage, large yard, and 2 1/2 bathrooms.

Going from an 800sqft 2BR house to this means I’ll definitely need more towels and area rugs. Because the lots were selling, and we wanted our siding and color choices (because in this neighborhood you can’t match your neighbor), we started the process with our deposit over Thanksgiving on a corner lot.

We waited around until after the new year to hear of any progress, which we assumed was delayed because of the holidays. We were a little bummed to hear we were going to have to pay an additional $9,800 to stay on that corner lot for “unforeseen costs associated with that lot.”

A few weeks later, we found out that we really got bumped out of the corner lot because we didn’t upgrade enough on the house. So, the next option was the lot right next door, and I was happy to get some upgraded cabinets in the bathrooms and kitchen for the inconvenience.