The New Year's Eve Rush

Once we got back to DC and were enjoying our first few days off before the new year, we did some more thinking and decided that we had to have the option of a home office, since I was going to be working remotely.  We also wanted a 4th bedroom.  It was then that we realized that the only floor plan that would work for us was the Milan by Ryan Homes.  

First Floor:

Second Floor:

Basement:

So I googled around and found that there was a Milan model home available for us to look at within 30 miles of where we lived.  

As soon as we walked in, we knew this was the house for us.  

A link to the model we looked at is here.  

Cue the scramble to get paperwork done because Ryan Homes had a December special that we could get a free finished basement* if we signed an agreement to build by the end of the month, which we were able to do.  How's that for a New Year's Eve party???  

FYI the initial contract you sign with Ryan Homes is just an agreement to build A home with them in a specific community. You still have a couple of weeks to finalize the lot, the actual house plan, and other structural decisions.

*Note: Ryan Homes is only going to finish the main basement area for us.  There is an optional exercise room and a media room that will remain unfinished, but we will do them ourselves in a few years.  The main basement area is still quite large.

And here we go ....

My husband and I currently live in the DC area and have been talking about moving back to Ohio to be near my family.  As we made plans to do so, we started the discussion of whether to buy an existing house or to build a new one.  We knew the cost of living was cheaper in Ohio, so the idea of building seemed possible.

While in Ohio for Christmas with my family, we decided to drive around and take a look at some locations and builder models.  We looked in two areas and drove through a number of communities.

We toured a Ryan Homes model, a Fischer Homes model and a Fischer Homes spec home that was ready for purchase immediately.  We had intended to look at more, but ran out of time.