The Process

I started this blog to document our experience building with Ryan. I wanted to be able to have a "keepsake", as you might call it, of our first home. Since it's creation, it's evolved as a way to keep my family and friends informed, and now to hopefully help prospective and new builders just like us!

Ok, so you've decided to build with Ryan. First, congratulations! It's a huge decision, and one you won't regret!If you haven't already, visit communities and the model homes. If there is a floor plan in particular you'd like to see, the sales rep can either direct you to where a model is, or possibly take you through one that is currently being built.

Next, comes the purchase agreement and selection process. The purchase agreement puts you "under contract". Your sales rep will start a file with all your paper work, change orders, upgrades, etc. Ask for a master selection sheet specific to your floor plan. This will detail out what upgrades are available and show you the cost. You'll comb through this numerous times in the next 30 days before you sign the waiver and can't make any more changes.

Stalk people's blogs. It will be helpful! A lot of people like to post pictures. You'll get to see lots of different color combinations, decorating styles, and additional add ons you may not have thought of.

Remember, your sales rep is there to help you through everything. If you have questions, just ask. There is some negotiating room when it comes to options. However, it does depend on their manager, what specials they're running, and how in demand the community is. It never hurts to ask!

Within the first week after you sign your purchase agreement, you'll meet with your loan officer. Try to gather as many of the documents as you can prior to this meeting. It will help speed up the pre-approval process. (By the way, IF Ryan is offering incentives, you have to use their mortgage company to get them.) You'll also sign a lot more paperwork and go over interest rates, how points work, the terms of the loan, etc. Nothing will be set, but we'll cover that later.

You'll be contacted by your flooring and Guardian (or technologies) rep. If you can, having a color scheme in mind helps when it comes to flooring. Also, knowing what your daily needs are for durability purposes, and your budget. Your flooring rep will offer you several options to help meet what you want in your price range, as well as the pros and cons of the products.

After all that, now you wait. When you receive your loan pre-approval, you'll schedule your pre-construction meeting, at which you'll meet your project manager (PM) and discuss all your selections, break ground date and tentative close date. They will also be the one to take over from there on out, so you'll be contacting him/her with any questions.

Usually about 4 weeks in, you'll have a whole shell! Next will be all the heart and lungs of the house-HVAC, plumbing, electrical, but before you'll have a Pre-Drywall meeting. This is where you get to go through the home with your PM and inspect their work. At this time, you'll also get your set close date!

Then comes all the fun stuff-everything you picked out! This is the majority of the pictures you'll be most interested in when navigating through people's blogs.

Ok, so once you're 30-60 days out from your close date, you can lock in your interest rate. You'll also have a better idea of how much you'll owe or get back at closing.Everything else after should be downhill. They'll finish up all the last minute stuff, you'll do a Pre-Settlement walk through for a final inspection, and then closing! Closing takes about 30 minutes of signing your name over and over, then you get your keys!

The whole process is going to seem like it takes forever, but it will go by fast! Take pictures of everything! You'll want them later when you start to second guess yourself about everything! Not to mention, they're a nice little reminder of how awesome it feels to be building your OWN home :)