We bought a house, check it out [post]

Artists rendition of our new house

Well, it has been a crazy 8 days. Last Saturday, January 9th, we officially started our house search.  Today, January 17th, we signed a contract to build a house.

Our initial plan was to purchase a house that was preowned.  We started the search by searching online a house listings just to see what we could get.  Our initial plan was 3-4 bedrooms and 2.5-3.5 baths.  So we found some addresses and drove around in the areas we liked to look at them.

The driving around plan didn’t work too well for us.  It was hard to get a feel of what the house was like from the outside.  While driving around we drove through Green Valley Ranch and saw that they had models to walk through.  We didn’t realize that the models that were being displayed were for new build homes.

As soon as we walked through the Green Valley Ranch models I was hooked.  The options available looked great, but it took Heidi a little longer to come around to building.  Luckily we were able to set up a time with a sales rep to go through pricing and see exactly what we were getting into with a dirt start.

We took the pricing information home, and took a few days to discuss it.  After discussing we realized that the price point of the first floor plan we like was a little more than we could handle.  So we went back to the web.  While Heidi spent time looking for other preowned homes, I went to the web and looked for more dirt start options.

I was lucky enough to find another floor plan that we both liked.  It was much smaller than the first floor plan, but it would fit our needs nicely and be a good starter house.  So we went back to the sales rep and priced out that floor plan with the options we wanted.  The price point fit much better into our budget, so we proceeded to the next step of the process.

The next step of the process was the Home Design center.  This consists of all of the interior options available to us.  We went through and got an idea of what we wanted in the new house, but had no full decisions.  So we went home and thought more about it.

Unfortunately, when we got to the sales office, our rep told us that the floor plan that we decided on was not available to have a basement.  So we went back to the drawing board and started looking at other models in the collection.  We decided on another floor plan that we liked and decided to get pricing on it.

While pricing the newest (3rd if you are counting) floor plan, our sales rep showed us a floor plan that had just become available.  As soon as we saw it, we knew it was perfect.  The starting price was within our budget, as well as all of our (not very many) structural upgrades.

The newest, and best, floor plan was perfect.  The Francisco as it is called, is 2200 square feet.  Comes with a 2 car garage, 3 beds, 2.5 baths and an upstairs bonus room.  It also comes with a partially finished basement.  The floor plan will fit us perfectly for now, and give us the ability to expand in the future.

Though no longer a starter house, this house will fit our needs now and give us plenty of room to grow.  It also stays within our budget (though on the high side) and give us a fantastic house.

We will be keeping up track of the progress of the build here on this site, as well as with pictures on our MobileMe photo gallery. Wish us luck!