I realize that life has ups and downs, but come on, please let me off of this roller coaster. We got the plat map on Wednesday and found out that the lot premiums were not $25,000.00 as we had previously been told but were $35,000 - $45,000.00. Ouch, we looked at the map and decided which one we wanted. On Friday we went to the Drees Design Center. We had an appointment, but understood that we would not have someone working with us. We understood that. We got there at 10:00 and no one greeted us, but there were workmen going in and out. After about 10 minutes someone came out and we explained why we were there. Again sitting there for another 10 minutes. They called Mary, again. We were told that they were changing over the kitchen area and we would not be making our choices from the Merilat cabinets, but from Aristocraft instead. Now, did anyone think to mention this when we called? Nooo, too hard. We spent some time there looking at carpet and tile, but we had no idea what level different things were. After lunch we went off to look at the lots. There were stakes in different places but we had a hard time telling for sure which one was which. We decid:ed that we wanted 229 instead of 230. We looked at design choices in the model and could find some of what we wanted but made other choices just in case. The woman working there that day had a couple who were scheduled to be there, but she was able to spend a little time with us. We chose which bathroom fixtures we wanted and they were $830.00 extra, wow, for some faucets etc? She kept saying "but you do get 50% off." Yes up to $20,000.00 since they are offering $40,000.00 in improvements for $20,000.00. We looked at the map with her then went back out to the lots. I had the compass ap on my phone and we realized that 230 was the lot that we wanted. We did stop at the model home and asked her to ask Mary to bring boots for Sunday. We know which lot we want, just are not sure of the number. We came back on Sunday with Douglas and Denise. Off we went through the lots with Mary, a map and a compass. Yeah, she still wasn't sure. Denise asked her if she could go with Mary and someone from corporate through the lots. She would facetime me on her IPad and decide. Now came the fun part, we went over prices. Some were not too bad and some were quite shocking. The stairs from the deck down $1,050.00 when we had been told that it would be $3,000.00. We knew that we would be paying more for stainless appliances, but they were charging $350.00 EXTRA for a stainless steel microwave. We got the "you don't understand the over the stove microwaves cost a lot." Yeah, we know, we put one in a couple of years ago. $400.00 extra for the stove. I went on line and found that it was $50.00 more to go from standard to stainless. Uh huh. Douglas looked at the costs and said that he would show the plans and the list of prices for finishing the basement to his father-in-law who works in construction and would see what he thought about the prices. We would have to figure out the financing, but maybe that would work. When we got to the bottom line we discovered that the cost of the base home had not gone up 2%, but had gone up 9%. The website listed the lower price there must be a mistake in the program. Mary said that she would check into it. Denise then broached the subject of negotiations. She pointed out that we have been more than patient we wanted to start building last fall, the base had gone up 2% and the lot had gone up $15,000.00. Mary said that her boss said no negotiations on a custom built house. I went away feeling great dispair. We went over the price list again and changed a few things and sent the list off to Mary. We got an email later from Mary. She said that she would submit out list for review and would be getting back to us. She added the ominous line "I spoke with Denise today about a few things, she said she was going to be talking to you soon." Well that just warmed my heart. Denise called later and I mentioned this to her. She kind of laughed and said "oh good she made me the bad guy." Uh oh. Yeah the higher price was correct the website said that prices are not guaranteed. Mary asked her boss about coming down in price for us he said absolutly no way. Or at least that is what she says he said. At this point I just don't know if I can trust her or anyone connected to Drees. This house is now going to be $32,000.00 more than we had planned before we change or upgrade anything. Robert kind of lost it at this point and said that the Melbourne was now off of the table. Mary suggested that we look at lesser models. We have asked for base pricing on all of them. At this point I just kind of lost it. We don't know what we are going to do. I looked at Del Webb homes, but the closest to Cincinnati is in Indianapolis. I will take some time to look at Older Active Adult communities in Northern Kentucky, which is not ideal. We are considering selling here then renting down there until something breaks. Maybe a house in HMB will come available or maybe someone will build a new community. We are also going to ask Denise if homes have gone up that much in the area. We got the base price for one house and it is higher than what is listed online. Have they really raised the prices that much or are they ripping us off. We appeared too eager. Can I climb back under my blanket?