Will they or won't they build a house?
We gave the builder one more chance to be reasonable. We asked to have the price increase on the model reduced to the price that it was last fall when we wanted to build. They said "no" and we walked. We put a bid in on the house that we went down to see and the first bid was accepted. The seller would not do a contingency sale so we had to prove that we could get a blanket loan. That is now secured and our next steps are to get that house inspected and to get this house on the market. The former will happen Friday, April 11 the latter on or around April 9. I have a lot to do before then, but I am now seeing results. I am trying very hard to be thoughtful with reguards to what I keep. This is a lot of sorting and getting rid of stuff. We keep listing things on Craig's list and I may start listing things on ebay.
Here is the house that we are buying:
Monday, March 31, 2014
Well, its official, the Andersons will not be building a house. We put an offer in on the house, it was accepted and we have gotten all of the financing details worked out and got our lot hold check back. It got to where I just could not trust the builder about anything. When we wanted the floor in a finished basement room put in linoleum instead of carpeting, which is included in the price of finishing, and we were told that it would be $1,800.00 EXTRA. We had thought that there would be a credit, not a charge like that.
I took down my post on Drees Homes facebook page because we were told that it would go a long way toward them giving us some price concession. Well it didn't, maybe I should put the post back up.
We will not have the back yard that I had hoped for, but for what we are saving we can plant a lot of trees. I have looked at the satilite view of the house and it looks as if the neighbors are attempting the same thing that I wwant to do. We will expand the patio then plant trees and other things to create a screen. I am also going to look into planting more evergreens on the property line.
Here is the house that we are buying: http://www.cbws.com/property/details/203670/MLS-1392490/6281-Thicketlake-Ln-Hamilton-Township-OH-45039.aspx
Come by for a visit at some point.
I took down my post on Drees Homes facebook page because we were told that it would go a long way toward them giving us some price concession. Well it didn't, maybe I should put the post back up.
We will not have the back yard that I had hoped for, but for what we are saving we can plant a lot of trees. I have looked at the satilite view of the house and it looks as if the neighbors are attempting the same thing that I wwant to do. We will expand the patio then plant trees and other things to create a screen. I am also going to look into planting more evergreens on the property line.
Here is the house that we are buying: http://www.cbws.com/property/details/203670/MLS-1392490/6281-Thicketlake-Ln-Hamilton-Township-OH-45039.aspx
Come by for a visit at some point.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Waiting, waiting, waiting this waiting game is getting old. We have still not heard back from the builder. I guess that they are not that interested in building for us. The sales lady was off March 6 - 10, she worked Tuesday and Wednesday and is off on Thursday and Friday. The earliest that we would hear is tomorrow.
We have been getting other home listings and I am starting to seriously look at them. I have to decide which is more important to live in a 55+ community or to have a home that backs to woods. There is one house that has a community pool and club house, but it is pretty far out. I also has a very small lot.
In the mean time I will just keep cleaning and getting rid of stuff. Right now I am watching a show called "The Unsellables." It reminds me of what to keep in mind when selling. The April 11 date is coming up fast. I guess that I am going to have to stop my work and just clean/sort/clear out.
We have been getting other home listings and I am starting to seriously look at them. I have to decide which is more important to live in a 55+ community or to have a home that backs to woods. There is one house that has a community pool and club house, but it is pretty far out. I also has a very small lot.
In the mean time I will just keep cleaning and getting rid of stuff. Right now I am watching a show called "The Unsellables." It reminds me of what to keep in mind when selling. The April 11 date is coming up fast. I guess that I am going to have to stop my work and just clean/sort/clear out.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." Plans are a great thing to make and even better if they actually happen. It is beginning to look as if our plan for a custom built house backing to woods/ravine and river beyond is just not going to happen.
Yesterday Rob and I got in the minivan and drove down to Cincinnati to look at a house with Denise, our ever patient real estate agent and Douglas. The house has a lot of great features. The basement is about twice the size of our basement and half of it is finished. I would have a great room for sewing with room for a nice sewing machine table, my cutting table and fabric storage, oh yeah and a futon. There is a full bath in the basment. The main room has a sliding glass door and window with enough room for my floor looms and most of the yarn storage. There is another finished room that does not have a window. The guys decided that this would make a great media room. OK, fine, but one floor loom might migrate into there and there might be a little yarn storage. There is a train room, yes, you read that correctly, a train room. There is a huge plywood platform with a train track on it with scenery painted on one wall. Douglas suggested that this would be a good holiday/food storage room. There is another unfinished room that the owner used for what looks like wood working. Then ther is another large unfinished room with a laundry tub. This would be for the dyeing/silk screen area. There are built in sturdy shelves and room for my table and a washer/dryer. We would have to have the washer/dryer hook up installed. OK, so why am I not jumping up and down. I had set in my mind that walkout to the woods. There are a could of trees in the back, but there are also neighbors not woods. I am wondering what landscaping could be done to make some sort of zen garden retreat.
Upstairs is pretty good. The front door is ho hum, but Rob assures me that he has budgeted to replace with a nice door. You walk in the front door and it opens to different areas. To the right is the laundry/mud room. Washer/dryer included and a few built ins. I have other ideas for those built ins. Just have to see what is possible. Then you can go into the dining room, which is not directly connected to the kitchen, but is an extension of the living room. We would be able to extend the dining room table into the living room. The living room windows go out to the covered deck. The owner has huge shades installed on the west side of the deck to block the sun. I suppose that those might come in handy. It looks as if there was one on the northside that blew down, there are a bunch of little broken slats ont he grass. There is a family room, which is something that we were going to eliminate. It isn't a large family room and Douglas was trying to figure out if he could mount the TV over the fireplace. The kitchen and family room are in one large area so instead of an eat in kitchen we would extend the family room into that area. The family room is carpeted and the kitchen has hardwood, which unfortunately is narrrow. I do love our wide plank. The kitchen cabinets are nothing that I would choose, I like simple clean lines. There is a huge island with a granite top and the overhang is large enough that you cna sit at it comfortably. The owner has two tables in the eating area. Not sure why. The eating area has a little bay window, which I think would make a great spot for a window seat. We will have to see on that one.
The rest of the countertops in the kitchen are white Corrian with an integrated sink. At one point that was the bomb, now I just want to bomb it. Oh yeah, and the sink is one of those with the little sink on one side. Not sure how long I can listen to "someone" bitch about that. The question is do we go with a quartz countertop that coordinates with the granite or get the whole thing replaced? The cabinets are very tall. I will need a stepstool to reach the top two shelves. There is an appliance garage, but pretty sure that I cannot get the Kitchenaide mixer in there. I found where I can have one of the lift shelves installed. I forgot to check to see if there is an outlet on the island. The pantry is disapoointing. It isn't a walk in, but maybe we can cut back on the amount of food that we keep on hand. The pantry would be a good spot to keep a skinny stepstool like I have for shows. There is an electric stove. Anyone have any idea how much it costs to have a gas line run? At least now I would not be limited to Whirlpool.
The office is right off of the kitchen. There are glass French doors leading to the office which has built in shelves and is painted RED! The guys measured and figured that they could put the desk into a U formation and it would fit. Not sure right now where the bookcase would go. The guest bath is OK, gold trim - ugh, dated, but is nice. The guest room is painted a sage green. Will have to see how the current comforter goes with that. I suppose that since we bought that in 1999 we could maybe get a new one. There is plenty of room for the queen bed, dresser and two side tables. Nice spot for company.
The master suite is very nice. Two walk-in closets which have wire shelves in and we would change that. The bedroom itself has enough room for our furniture, but two wall mounted lights would have to go. The bath has a corner tub and it fits my requirements of I can get my knees and shoulders under water at the same time. The shower has the dreaded gold trim and Rob would have to duck to get into it. There isn't a build in stool, but there is a little stool in there. We will have to look into how much it would cost to install a glass shower. I don't remember if there are two sinks in there. Not a huge deal, but would be nice.
There is a screened porch off of the family room with a deck beyond. Neither are large. I am not sure if we could get our current table and chairs would fit there. On the patio below there is a natural gas grill. We would rather have the grill upstairs. Douglas doesn't think that it would be a major issue to bring the gas line up to the deck. We can't really extend the deck because there is a great tree right there. The patio is just standard. I looked at a neighbor's house. they have the same configuration and have added the stairs down and have extended the patio. Something to consider.
So basically what is holding me back is the location of the house. The deck does face west and doesn't face trees.
We are going to wait to see what Drees Homes will do for us, hoping that this can be used as leverage. If they don't come down we will buy this house. Rob wants them to go back to the previous price on the base model and to come down on a couple of the DCR's (customer design review) in order for us to go with building. Um, maybe we should ask for a unicorn in the backyard. This is just not going to happen. I need to come to grips with the fact that I will not have my dream house, but I can make any house a home. I have to admit that I am tired of Drees jerking us around. Denise explained that ususally when people build they don't question prices. I guess that we are just cheap.
Stay tuned.
Yesterday Rob and I got in the minivan and drove down to Cincinnati to look at a house with Denise, our ever patient real estate agent and Douglas. The house has a lot of great features. The basement is about twice the size of our basement and half of it is finished. I would have a great room for sewing with room for a nice sewing machine table, my cutting table and fabric storage, oh yeah and a futon. There is a full bath in the basment. The main room has a sliding glass door and window with enough room for my floor looms and most of the yarn storage. There is another finished room that does not have a window. The guys decided that this would make a great media room. OK, fine, but one floor loom might migrate into there and there might be a little yarn storage. There is a train room, yes, you read that correctly, a train room. There is a huge plywood platform with a train track on it with scenery painted on one wall. Douglas suggested that this would be a good holiday/food storage room. There is another unfinished room that the owner used for what looks like wood working. Then ther is another large unfinished room with a laundry tub. This would be for the dyeing/silk screen area. There are built in sturdy shelves and room for my table and a washer/dryer. We would have to have the washer/dryer hook up installed. OK, so why am I not jumping up and down. I had set in my mind that walkout to the woods. There are a could of trees in the back, but there are also neighbors not woods. I am wondering what landscaping could be done to make some sort of zen garden retreat.
Upstairs is pretty good. The front door is ho hum, but Rob assures me that he has budgeted to replace with a nice door. You walk in the front door and it opens to different areas. To the right is the laundry/mud room. Washer/dryer included and a few built ins. I have other ideas for those built ins. Just have to see what is possible. Then you can go into the dining room, which is not directly connected to the kitchen, but is an extension of the living room. We would be able to extend the dining room table into the living room. The living room windows go out to the covered deck. The owner has huge shades installed on the west side of the deck to block the sun. I suppose that those might come in handy. It looks as if there was one on the northside that blew down, there are a bunch of little broken slats ont he grass. There is a family room, which is something that we were going to eliminate. It isn't a large family room and Douglas was trying to figure out if he could mount the TV over the fireplace. The kitchen and family room are in one large area so instead of an eat in kitchen we would extend the family room into that area. The family room is carpeted and the kitchen has hardwood, which unfortunately is narrrow. I do love our wide plank. The kitchen cabinets are nothing that I would choose, I like simple clean lines. There is a huge island with a granite top and the overhang is large enough that you cna sit at it comfortably. The owner has two tables in the eating area. Not sure why. The eating area has a little bay window, which I think would make a great spot for a window seat. We will have to see on that one.
The rest of the countertops in the kitchen are white Corrian with an integrated sink. At one point that was the bomb, now I just want to bomb it. Oh yeah, and the sink is one of those with the little sink on one side. Not sure how long I can listen to "someone" bitch about that. The question is do we go with a quartz countertop that coordinates with the granite or get the whole thing replaced? The cabinets are very tall. I will need a stepstool to reach the top two shelves. There is an appliance garage, but pretty sure that I cannot get the Kitchenaide mixer in there. I found where I can have one of the lift shelves installed. I forgot to check to see if there is an outlet on the island. The pantry is disapoointing. It isn't a walk in, but maybe we can cut back on the amount of food that we keep on hand. The pantry would be a good spot to keep a skinny stepstool like I have for shows. There is an electric stove. Anyone have any idea how much it costs to have a gas line run? At least now I would not be limited to Whirlpool.
The office is right off of the kitchen. There are glass French doors leading to the office which has built in shelves and is painted RED! The guys measured and figured that they could put the desk into a U formation and it would fit. Not sure right now where the bookcase would go. The guest bath is OK, gold trim - ugh, dated, but is nice. The guest room is painted a sage green. Will have to see how the current comforter goes with that. I suppose that since we bought that in 1999 we could maybe get a new one. There is plenty of room for the queen bed, dresser and two side tables. Nice spot for company.
The master suite is very nice. Two walk-in closets which have wire shelves in and we would change that. The bedroom itself has enough room for our furniture, but two wall mounted lights would have to go. The bath has a corner tub and it fits my requirements of I can get my knees and shoulders under water at the same time. The shower has the dreaded gold trim and Rob would have to duck to get into it. There isn't a build in stool, but there is a little stool in there. We will have to look into how much it would cost to install a glass shower. I don't remember if there are two sinks in there. Not a huge deal, but would be nice.
There is a screened porch off of the family room with a deck beyond. Neither are large. I am not sure if we could get our current table and chairs would fit there. On the patio below there is a natural gas grill. We would rather have the grill upstairs. Douglas doesn't think that it would be a major issue to bring the gas line up to the deck. We can't really extend the deck because there is a great tree right there. The patio is just standard. I looked at a neighbor's house. they have the same configuration and have added the stairs down and have extended the patio. Something to consider.
So basically what is holding me back is the location of the house. The deck does face west and doesn't face trees.
We are going to wait to see what Drees Homes will do for us, hoping that this can be used as leverage. If they don't come down we will buy this house. Rob wants them to go back to the previous price on the base model and to come down on a couple of the DCR's (customer design review) in order for us to go with building. Um, maybe we should ask for a unicorn in the backyard. This is just not going to happen. I need to come to grips with the fact that I will not have my dream house, but I can make any house a home. I have to admit that I am tired of Drees jerking us around. Denise explained that ususally when people build they don't question prices. I guess that we are just cheap.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
"Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies."
We sent back more questions and the request for some clarification on the pricing. We knew that the sales lady would be gone March 6 - 9, which worked out fine because I would be tied up judging a synchro meet for that time frame. We got no answers before Mary left and will get answers Monday at the earliest.
Last Wednesday we go one of our auto emails for listings in the area that we are looking. Whoa! One on Thicket Lake Lane, not the one that we saw last spring. There was only one picture on the site, not impressive. The lot backs to another lot and we couldn't tell if there was a deck or a patio.
Denise went to the house for us and took little videos of each area. The kitchen cabinets are darker than I would like and have a raised trim. Somehow I don't think that I would find the deep drawers that I wanted in the house that we were building. The screened porch and the deck are smaller than we would like. The basement has a lot of area that is finished. There is a laundry tub down there, but it is in an unfinished area and there are no windows. I could make it work, I have worse here.
The part that I will be the most unhappy about is the location. When we looked at the other house on Thicket Lake they had a swing under the deck. I sat in that swing, looked at the woods and felt such peace. This is what I wanted in our new house. The lot that we selected backs to woods and the woods lead down to the Little Miami River. Now I have to decide how much this is worth. Is it worth almost $60,000.00?
We had decided to look at this house March 22. This way we could look at the house and hopefully sit down with someone from Drees Homes about our choices. Well now Robert wants to act on this house as quickly as possible. We are driving down on Tuesday to look at the house and then see what we have decided. We could use this as leverage against Drees and this does give us another choice for a new house.
To be continued....
We sent back more questions and the request for some clarification on the pricing. We knew that the sales lady would be gone March 6 - 9, which worked out fine because I would be tied up judging a synchro meet for that time frame. We got no answers before Mary left and will get answers Monday at the earliest.
Last Wednesday we go one of our auto emails for listings in the area that we are looking. Whoa! One on Thicket Lake Lane, not the one that we saw last spring. There was only one picture on the site, not impressive. The lot backs to another lot and we couldn't tell if there was a deck or a patio.
Denise went to the house for us and took little videos of each area. The kitchen cabinets are darker than I would like and have a raised trim. Somehow I don't think that I would find the deep drawers that I wanted in the house that we were building. The screened porch and the deck are smaller than we would like. The basement has a lot of area that is finished. There is a laundry tub down there, but it is in an unfinished area and there are no windows. I could make it work, I have worse here.
The part that I will be the most unhappy about is the location. When we looked at the other house on Thicket Lake they had a swing under the deck. I sat in that swing, looked at the woods and felt such peace. This is what I wanted in our new house. The lot that we selected backs to woods and the woods lead down to the Little Miami River. Now I have to decide how much this is worth. Is it worth almost $60,000.00?
We had decided to look at this house March 22. This way we could look at the house and hopefully sit down with someone from Drees Homes about our choices. Well now Robert wants to act on this house as quickly as possible. We are driving down on Tuesday to look at the house and then see what we have decided. We could use this as leverage against Drees and this does give us another choice for a new house.
To be continued....
Monday, March 3, 2014
"You can keep what you have or choose what is behind door #2." Well, its not quite that bad, we kind of know what is behind door #2, we just don't always know the price.
When we started this we were told that the kitchen came with an electric stove in either white or black. If you wanted gas there was an upgrade and they did offer a "gourmet" package of a gas stove top with a double oven. I currently have a double oven and I love it. I figured that if they had these packages you would think that they have set models and set prices. When it came down to the preliminary pricing we asked about the gas stove. Mary turned to me and said that she needed a model number. Ummmm, uh huh. Where are the packages? If I had known that we had to come up with a model number I would have been researching this. Denise, the ever patient, every prepared real estate agent had her IPad with her and she quickly got me to the Whirlpool site and I chose one. We were told at that time that there would be a $400.00 upcharge for this. OK. After I got home I reasearched a little more and chose one that was another $400.00, but our upcharge went up $800.00. The current explanation is that they come with a one year warrantee and Drees has to build that into the price. Ummmmm, an appliance comes with a warrantee. Our plan to have them put in the gas line and we get our own stove won't work. They said that the county inspector and the appraiser would not pass a house that doesn't have a stove. Damn, it sounded like a good plan.
The tub is another issue. If this is a big time builder why don't they offer a 6' jetted tub? They told us to go to the website for their plumbing supplier. Don't go to the showroom for the plumbing supplier, that causes problem. I tried and tried to find what tubs this place carried. Robert tried and finally broke the code. I sent the link to Douglas and asked him to see if he could find what tubs they carry. It took him 5 minutes to find this, how does the average person do this. Or do "they" hope that if they make it tough we will give up and go with their standard tub. I got five manufacturers of whirpool tubs to look at, none of which have prices. Is this how most builders do this? And like the stove we cannot have them rough it in and we get the tub installed.
I may ask my contractor what has to be done to concrete so that vinyl can be laid. I want to see how much this prep actually costs.
Denise is trying to get some answers for us and we are really hoping that she comes up with something. She is going to be so glad to see us move in. I am trying to not be a pain, but I have so many questions. She is being very patient with us.
Cincinnati had another storm, another couple of days delay on the lots being finished. The asphalt plant doesn't open until mid March so there is time.
When we started this we were told that the kitchen came with an electric stove in either white or black. If you wanted gas there was an upgrade and they did offer a "gourmet" package of a gas stove top with a double oven. I currently have a double oven and I love it. I figured that if they had these packages you would think that they have set models and set prices. When it came down to the preliminary pricing we asked about the gas stove. Mary turned to me and said that she needed a model number. Ummmm, uh huh. Where are the packages? If I had known that we had to come up with a model number I would have been researching this. Denise, the ever patient, every prepared real estate agent had her IPad with her and she quickly got me to the Whirlpool site and I chose one. We were told at that time that there would be a $400.00 upcharge for this. OK. After I got home I reasearched a little more and chose one that was another $400.00, but our upcharge went up $800.00. The current explanation is that they come with a one year warrantee and Drees has to build that into the price. Ummmmm, an appliance comes with a warrantee. Our plan to have them put in the gas line and we get our own stove won't work. They said that the county inspector and the appraiser would not pass a house that doesn't have a stove. Damn, it sounded like a good plan.
The tub is another issue. If this is a big time builder why don't they offer a 6' jetted tub? They told us to go to the website for their plumbing supplier. Don't go to the showroom for the plumbing supplier, that causes problem. I tried and tried to find what tubs this place carried. Robert tried and finally broke the code. I sent the link to Douglas and asked him to see if he could find what tubs they carry. It took him 5 minutes to find this, how does the average person do this. Or do "they" hope that if they make it tough we will give up and go with their standard tub. I got five manufacturers of whirpool tubs to look at, none of which have prices. Is this how most builders do this? And like the stove we cannot have them rough it in and we get the tub installed.
I may ask my contractor what has to be done to concrete so that vinyl can be laid. I want to see how much this prep actually costs.
Denise is trying to get some answers for us and we are really hoping that she comes up with something. She is going to be so glad to see us move in. I am trying to not be a pain, but I have so many questions. She is being very patient with us.
Cincinnati had another storm, another couple of days delay on the lots being finished. The asphalt plant doesn't open until mid March so there is time.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. We are the great and powerful Drees Homes, you will obey and bend to our will. You will accept our prices without question."
We sent a list of questions off to the sales lady and her reply was less than enlightening. We are asking why some things are costing what they are costing. Her reply is either "you don't understand," oh I don't know why don't you try to help me understand, or she says that she has nothing to do with the pricing.
Seriously do we look like we just fell off of the turnip truck?
The 12' X 16' room comes with grade 1 carpeting. We want vinyl in there, this is the room in which I will do my dyeing and silk screen. Carpeting would be ruined in two months. Putting vinyl in there costs $1,800.00 or slightly over $80.00/ square yard. According to Mary vinyl costs more than carpeting and they have to prep the concrete. Uh huh. Not that I am believing this, but by the way where is the credit for the carpeting?
Mary also cannot tell us why the stove costs what it costs. Come on, make it up.
We are still getting nowhere on the whirlpool tub. If I get a 5' one I cannot get my entire body in at once. A 5' one might work for someone who is 5'. The more that I think about it the more I want a 6' and I want the water jet with heater. I know that it is more to maintain, but why go half way.
I am truly wondering if the pricing people at Drees are using a dart board to come up with prices.
We sent a list of questions off to the sales lady and her reply was less than enlightening. We are asking why some things are costing what they are costing. Her reply is either "you don't understand," oh I don't know why don't you try to help me understand, or she says that she has nothing to do with the pricing.
Seriously do we look like we just fell off of the turnip truck?
The 12' X 16' room comes with grade 1 carpeting. We want vinyl in there, this is the room in which I will do my dyeing and silk screen. Carpeting would be ruined in two months. Putting vinyl in there costs $1,800.00 or slightly over $80.00/ square yard. According to Mary vinyl costs more than carpeting and they have to prep the concrete. Uh huh. Not that I am believing this, but by the way where is the credit for the carpeting?
Mary also cannot tell us why the stove costs what it costs. Come on, make it up.
We are still getting nowhere on the whirlpool tub. If I get a 5' one I cannot get my entire body in at once. A 5' one might work for someone who is 5'. The more that I think about it the more I want a 6' and I want the water jet with heater. I know that it is more to maintain, but why go half way.
I am truly wondering if the pricing people at Drees are using a dart board to come up with prices.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
So much happening and yet nothing happening. We are getting down to the nitty gritty on things. We are going with the Oak Park front door. I finally realized why I wanted that door so much, I mean besides loving the Frank Lloyd Wright style. In this deveopement you have to use one of their approved doors. Most people choose the standard door, no glass, fan glass on the top or have panes. Your choices are navy, forest green, red, maybe brown and/or black or white. When you drive through the developement everyone has one of these doors. You have to have the approved grarage door, everyone has the same. You get a choice of one of four types of brick or one choice of stone and one of four shades of taupe. Your house looks like everyone's. "Little Houses on the Hillside" keeps going through my mind. I wanted something that seperates our house from the rest. Since we are going for the door we will be passing on the storm door. That is something that we can put in at a later date probably for less than $700.00 that they are charging. The funny thing is that when we said that we wanted the storm door that they had in the model they wanted a number, we told them to go downstairs. Now this is a really nice storm door, very heavy and has a screen that we can put in, but I am sure that we can find one just as nice.
We are trying to finalize pricing, which is harder than I thought that it would be. We had asked for a washer/dryer hook up in the basement - $870.00. OK, how much would it be if we we got just a washer hook up - $900.00, ummmmm, huh? We found a lower end whirlpool tub, it was $1,200.00 delivered from Lowes, and they keep telling us that they can get good prices on anything because they buy so much. To put that tub in would cost $3,500.00. Why does it cost that much? We were told that we chose an expensive one. They send us to a website to make our choices and this website just sends us to the different companies' websites. There are no prices on these websites. I thought that maybe I could go with a 5' tub. Today we went to a showroom and I climbed into one and it was the right length, I can get my knees and my shoulders into it. Well, it was a 72" X 42". Back to the fight on this. If we have to we will tell them to put in the rough in for the tub, give us a credit for the tub and don't put in the closet. We will install the tub, well hire someone to install a tub and put shelves in. We also asked about a bench in the shower. $800.00, ouch. We asked why it costs so much. I have the feeling that despite being told that anything can be custom, custom costs. Anytime that you vary from the plan you pay.
We finally got the price of the microwave price to the correct point. They were telling us that it was $400.00 to upgrade to a stainless microwave. We showed that a microwave is included with the house and what the MSRP was on that microwave what the price of the microwave that we want. Oh, suddenly the credit appeared. We have not asked where the credit for the vent hood went.
We have chosen two different gas stoves, just have to see what their price is on them. They got one model number wrong so we didn't get a quote on that. They gave us a quote on the other one, but charged us the full cost plus the cost of the gas line. There was no credit for the base model. Sigh, another one. If we have to we will tell them to give us a credit and not put a stove in, we will get our own.
We wanted a door moved in the basment and that cost $700.00. I think that we will probably go with the original plan.
We are screening in the porch and adding the optional outdoor living space. I asked and was told that there was a screen door included leading out to the outdoor living space. We got the CDR and the door was $200.00, um, how do you get out there if there is no door.
We asked to get a quote for the outdoor living space and the steps leading to the ground and have it built out of composite. $10,000.00. Ouch. We are now asking how much of that is the steps out of composite and how much is the deck. I suppose that the steps could be something like the storm door, we could add that later.
Now the best was $1,800.00 to put linoleum instead of carpet in a 12' X 16' room. Unless this stuff costs $84.00 a square yard I think that there is a mistake. Also if there is supposed to be carpeting in there and carpeting costs more than linoleum shouldn't we be getting a credit?
At this point Robert is talking about walking away if they don't come down on a few things and/or explain the high cost. I hate to give up that lot, but we can't be jerked around. I keep saying that you can change anything about a house but where it is located. Well unless you are in a planned community.
If we can come to an agreement they could start to dig in mid April. That would have it doen mid to late August. If only it was that easy.
We are trying to finalize pricing, which is harder than I thought that it would be. We had asked for a washer/dryer hook up in the basement - $870.00. OK, how much would it be if we we got just a washer hook up - $900.00, ummmmm, huh? We found a lower end whirlpool tub, it was $1,200.00 delivered from Lowes, and they keep telling us that they can get good prices on anything because they buy so much. To put that tub in would cost $3,500.00. Why does it cost that much? We were told that we chose an expensive one. They send us to a website to make our choices and this website just sends us to the different companies' websites. There are no prices on these websites. I thought that maybe I could go with a 5' tub. Today we went to a showroom and I climbed into one and it was the right length, I can get my knees and my shoulders into it. Well, it was a 72" X 42". Back to the fight on this. If we have to we will tell them to put in the rough in for the tub, give us a credit for the tub and don't put in the closet. We will install the tub, well hire someone to install a tub and put shelves in. We also asked about a bench in the shower. $800.00, ouch. We asked why it costs so much. I have the feeling that despite being told that anything can be custom, custom costs. Anytime that you vary from the plan you pay.
We finally got the price of the microwave price to the correct point. They were telling us that it was $400.00 to upgrade to a stainless microwave. We showed that a microwave is included with the house and what the MSRP was on that microwave what the price of the microwave that we want. Oh, suddenly the credit appeared. We have not asked where the credit for the vent hood went.
We have chosen two different gas stoves, just have to see what their price is on them. They got one model number wrong so we didn't get a quote on that. They gave us a quote on the other one, but charged us the full cost plus the cost of the gas line. There was no credit for the base model. Sigh, another one. If we have to we will tell them to give us a credit and not put a stove in, we will get our own.
We wanted a door moved in the basment and that cost $700.00. I think that we will probably go with the original plan.
We are screening in the porch and adding the optional outdoor living space. I asked and was told that there was a screen door included leading out to the outdoor living space. We got the CDR and the door was $200.00, um, how do you get out there if there is no door.
We asked to get a quote for the outdoor living space and the steps leading to the ground and have it built out of composite. $10,000.00. Ouch. We are now asking how much of that is the steps out of composite and how much is the deck. I suppose that the steps could be something like the storm door, we could add that later.
Now the best was $1,800.00 to put linoleum instead of carpet in a 12' X 16' room. Unless this stuff costs $84.00 a square yard I think that there is a mistake. Also if there is supposed to be carpeting in there and carpeting costs more than linoleum shouldn't we be getting a credit?
At this point Robert is talking about walking away if they don't come down on a few things and/or explain the high cost. I hate to give up that lot, but we can't be jerked around. I keep saying that you can change anything about a house but where it is located. Well unless you are in a planned community.
If we can come to an agreement they could start to dig in mid April. That would have it doen mid to late August. If only it was that easy.
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