SR, his Manager, and Figuring the lots out
So I am backing up a bit here because I feel there is some information I didn't share before in regards to our Ryan experience thus far.
Our sales rep is a really nice guy and in all honesty for the most part I think he is trying to sell homes but he also cares about his clients. Well that lucky duck in our first thirty days of asking question after question and holding out for a price point we were comfortable with, well he went on vacation.
While he was gone the Sales Manager for Northeast Ohio came in one day and we happened to come in that day also to discuss our issues with what was offered. We posed our price point we were comfortable with and she came back to us with the idea of buying down our rate to keep our payment the same, at no point did we say we were trying to make a monthly payment so that frustrated us both (used car sales tactics to me).
We were looking at an incentive lot too that the manager could not understand why we did not like. I tried time after time to to explain to her I literally could hop the depth of my backyard based on the silt fence they had put up to indicate a wetland area. (let me note I understand no lots in todays market are going to be huge unless you live out in the country) On to her redeeming qualities here, she went out with me, my wife, and the other two Ryan representatives that day to the lot to measure out where a home (The Florence would sit on the lot). It's extremely hard to imagine a home on these ungraded lots particularly harder on this street where there is a silt fence at the back of all the lots. After going out and measuring the lot and numbers generally not matching up all around, she apologized and said that she would meet with the Project Manager to further clear up where they grade to and knock out other details I asked, such as does Ryan nail or screw in subfloors (which they actually do both).
On to the SR, he was very apologetic that we had wasted some time with her, but he did thank us for pointing out to her how difficult it was to explain to people how those lots worked based on the silt fences. He went above and beyond in my opinion, he got the topography map with the proposed house on it and we went out and flagged where the home would fall so we could easily see it. He then found out from the Project Manager that the home would be graded 20 feet from all edges and after I requested he put it in writing so we would feel more comfortable. BTW if you want to see a particular model of a house and how it would fall on a lot they have transparencies they can lay right over the topography map (have them do this on all lots you like if there is more than one). Also walk the lots so you can see if there are drain covers, lights, electrical boxes, or fire hydrants especially if they are all the same price...
TIPS
Anyways I thought this should be shared as I
found out things such as we would have a yard drain, they have to grade up to 20 ft around home, they have to grade to a point where the city/county will allow, there is a storm sewer that runs on the front of all these lots and although we will have a cap it will fall in our driveway (oh well we lose concrete..), it was very helpful to know about the topography maps that they can place transparencies on, and lastly always deals with the SR instead of their boss if you can. Also if you are police or fire let them know, we got a hometown heroes discount it wasn't huge but I appreciate Ryan homes doing that also again worth asking.
Guardian Meeting
We met with Guardian yesterday (5/4) at the model in Timber Ridge. Joe was the Sales rep, he was on time, very nice/personable and did not pressure us at all. First Joe informed us that they would do all low voltage wiring (not outlets I was confused) and then he told us what we got standard which of course is not much… 2 coax and one phone (CAT5) line. We placed the coax and phone outlets and he asked if there was anything else we were interested in. As i did not want to waste time I had researched, my wife and I had talked about what we wanted, which was simply an extra coax so we would have coax in our living room, bedroom, and loft. The extra Coax was $100 for anyone wondering, honestly I expect that in the next 5 years everything will go mostly wireless so I'm not too worried. Anyways Joe asked if we wanted any info on Security systems, home vacuum, surround sound, whole home audio, or intercom, we declined and he was apologetic that we had to come out for that simple of an appointment. In total the appointment lasted about 30 minutes, like I said my wife and I had already talked and we will focus most upgrades on Rite Rug such as the 8 lb pad (Tomorrow).
Anyways enough of my rambling, hope some of this helps others!
