I'll take what's behind lot #1 please

Lot # 1 is officially on hold for us.

We called Jennifer, our sales rep, this weekend to discuss what was going on with lot 4 (the wooded one) and lot 1.  Lot 4 was still potentially under contract, so we told her to put a hold on #1 for us.  We want to be fully informed as we move forward, so we had her print out a copy of the contract so we could read it at home, and so our lawyer could take a look at it.

Yes, we know its a standard contract.  But its written to cover Ryan Homes' and the developer's asses; not ours.  I know that thousands of people sign them each year, but we are risk adverse and I want to understand everything I'm getting into before signing it, and forking over a ton of cash.

Dropping by to pick up the contract also gave us a chance to see the house again.  Each time I see the house I'm reassured that it feels like the right choice.  It is a bit big, but every time I see it, it almost seems smaller!  I'm just trying to justify it in my head, I guess.  We were seriously looking at the Venice model too, but the Ravenna is going to work so much better for us.

I got to take my mom over to the lot yesterday to show her where it was and the other lots we were looking at.  I'm 35 years old and my very own person, but its still nice to have mom say I'm making a good choice.  She even took a video of the lot.  Yes, that's right.  A video.  It has no people, just a panorama of the front yard and the street and the stormwater pond.  Moms are silly like that.  Maybe if you are lucky, I will figure out how to post it here!

Goldilocks and the Three Lots

BF just compared our lot hunt to the fairy tale Goldilocks.  I always thought she was a little high maintenance and ridiculous, but now I'm realizing... I am her!

We have narrowed our lot choices to three:  lot 4, lot 3 and lot 1.  Lot 4 may come available on Saturday, or it could be locked down, so we are feeling pressure to make our choice.  So here comes Goldilocks...

Lot 4 is too loud.  Lot 3 is too exposed.  Lot 1 has too many neighbors.  Which one is going to be just right for my mid-afternoon nap?

I really thought it was lot 4 - its wooded on the one side, faces the stormwater area and would only have one neighbor on the south side.  We did find out that the neighbor has chosen to install an outdoor speaker system, which we aren't so keen on.  It is really close to a road and the railroad tracks, and the lot is a weird shape that makes the very back of the yard pretty useless.  I spent about five minutes today trespassing on the lot trying to visualize what it would be like to sit in my morning room or back deck, listening to the birds.  And the motorcycles.  And Billy Joel blaring from the speakers next door.  And, I wasn't in love, though I still love trees.

Then I went across the street to lot 3, which is flat and devoid of any vegetation and surrounded on 2 sides by a dry detention basin.  I've been around the block long enough to know that these basins can be fine, but you get a bankrupt or feuding homeowner's association and the pond stops being maintained, and then you either get a nice nature area, or water in your basement, or both.  In addition, the house is totally exposed.  People driving have a clear view of the front, the side and the back of the house.  No privacy at all - at least until trees get planted.

Lot 1 is the furthest lot from the railroad and main road.  There is an existing house to one side that is meticulously maintained and a hedgerow on the other side - beyond the hedgerow are houses with really big backyards.  And old people.  Old people are usually pretty quiet.  There would be a new house behind it eventually too, but the backyard could eventually be secluded.

After pouting and pushing and expressing our interest in lot 4 to our sales rep sixteen million times, we might be leaning towards lot 1.  Its the safest bet, the most usable space, the quietest and has a really cool street address.

All this thinking, as my neighbors next door are having a raucous party that is literally shaking my walls, and as the train rolls by.  The difference in the two neighborhoods is striking, and while I like where we live now, any of the three lots is going to give us more privacy and more quiet.  I'm sure whatever we decide will be a good decision, because its going to be much better than where I am now!

Thanks to you guys who posted comments the other day - I really appreciate the input and thoughts, and am a bit aggravated that Blogger shut down and lost them!  But, invaluable advice nevertheless. 

Lot Lines

I drove directly to the development today after work to time it; its about forty-five minutes from door to door.  Except I don't know where the second door is going to be.  Or if there will be a second door.  BF and I spent about a half an hour on site looking at each lot (there are only a few) and weighing the pros and cons of each one.  We don't really like any of them particularly (more of that story to come) - how do you choose between three or four options when you are indifferent?  Several of the lots back up to an older part of town, that is close to a major road.  The road noise was louder than we would have thought possible, but more of a consideration is what might happen in a few years to the tiny railroad crossing hamlet of houses that look like they've outlived their useful life?  If a Wawa or Royal Farms goes up right behind a house we've mortgaged ourselves to the bone for, we are going to be pretty unhappy.  So, what to do?

Its tough to get excited about spending 300k+ and moving when the available lots aren't exactly perfect in every way (not that I could even tell you what exactly perfect in every way is!)

There was one lot that we loved - it was wooded on one side and sort of secluded, but we over thought it.  The woods are privately owned and not protected open space, so the owner could do whatever he wanted to property that I know we would eventually feel was ours.  Plus, it was very close to the railroad tracks - within 500 feet.  The train doesn't run often, but it runs at night and I'm a light sleeper.  I know Ryan homes are supposed to be air-tight, but I don't know how sound proof they are.  So, while we were considering all of these things, another buyer started the contract process on it.  We simply waited too long.

Its the story of my life.

So, how did you make your lot decisions, not knowing who would be next to you, what their house would look like and whether they would think that planting plastic tulips in their yard counted as gardening (true story)?