Monday, June 25, 2012

Contingency, Schmidgency!

I feel like my 5 year old daughter looks, when she is told she can't have some super sparkly spectacular toy. We have passed the two month mark, on the sale of our existing home, and we haven't had any offers.  Since we haven't sold our house yet, we have to flip our building contract to a contingent contract.  So sad.

The development only has around 3 lots left, and moving to a contingency means Ryan Homes could sell our lot.  Well, I suppose it isn't technically our lot, but it is the lot we chose and it is where we envisioned our fabulous home sitting...with our daughter and two dogs running around the backyard!  I know things could still work out, but patience is not one of my finer virtues.  With our daughter starting Kindergarten in the Fall, it would have been nice to be able to enroll her this summer, so she could start the same time as the other kids.  Now, she will probably have to attend our current district and then switch to a new school district during the year.

Our financing is SO close, that if we switched to a Sienna or Pisa, we could move forward.  The Florence just tipped the scales, and it is too much to combine with our current mortgage.  So we sit and wait for our home to sell (and then if any lots remain we can build our Florence) or we could opt for a smaller, less expensive model and move forward now!

We are a family of 3 (plus 2 dogs) and won't be having any more kids; therefore we don't require a lot of square footage for daily life.  I do enjoy entertaining and really want a space where I can host family holidays.  Our Florence is about 2000sq/ft, the Sienna is 1680sq/ft, and the Pisa is 1406sq/ft ranch style home.  Also keep in mind, we gain another 100sq/ft or more, by adding a morning room to the Sienna or Pisa.  They all have a finished basement, 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, but only the Florence and Sienna have an additional 1/2 bath.  

I would love feedback, especially regarding contingencies, a five year old switching districts mid-school year, or any of the 3 models we are considering!  Please and Thank You!

12 comments:

  1. We are just finishing building the Florence(http://ringshouse.blogspot.com/). They also offered the other 2 models in our community. As far as the choice goes, I would not settle. I would wait and build the house I WANT. I think you would wind up regretting it later in life. And remember, the square footages are gross square feet(so sq ft w/o all the cabinets, islands, bath tubs, sinks, etc). So after all that stuff is in the actual living space is a bit less. I can tell you from experience with the Florence, I dont think you would want to go much smaller. We are a family of 4, the boys are 11 and 6 years old and it will be perfect. So with your dogs and people, I think thats the way to go. As far as the shool issue goes, that is really only something you can judge. Trust your feeling. Obviously it would be much less disruptive to the child to stay in the same class for the entire year. Escpecially with it being your daughters kindergarten year. Its a bit of an adjustment for the child. She will quickly form friendships and bonds with her classmates, and to have to do that all over with a new school midway through the year, I would imagine would be tough. Again, she will just be getting accustomed to her new environment, and just getting comfortable with the people she has bonded with. If it were my child, I would at least wait to transition to a new school until next year, so that she gets the entire kindergarten year completed in a stable environment. Just my 2 sense and again, only you can make the right decision for your family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *Corrections upon proof reading(I was typing too fast, lol)
      1. School not shool
      2. 2 cents (lol, I guess it could be my 2 sense)

      Delete
  2. We also did a contingency. And there were not that many lots left (5-6?) in our development. And no other with the possibility of a walkout basement. It took us about 7 weeks to get our old house sold and finally allow us to move forward with our build. It was excruciating, mostly because I am not at all patient and have a lot of problem remaining hopeful. That said, RH left the "hold" sticker on our lot while we were under contingency. And I do think the sticker discouraged people from the lot. I also felt like our SRs were on our side and really wanted us in that lot. I did not feel like they were actively trying to sell our lot. We were told if someone was ready to truly purchase on our lot, we would be given the option to move to another lot. Luckily it didn't happen. Don't lose hope. Fingers crossed that the current house sells super quickly! (And get a St. Joseph statue. Can't hurt.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is her husband...haha I work at St. Joseph hospital as a nurse!!! Does that help?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I probably wouldn't switch models either. It might be enough space with the other models but it might be tight and then you'd wish you waited it out. Would they let you write a "letter of intent" that you'd be willing to rent out your current house if it doesn't sell in time? Maybe they'd let that tip the scale so you'd be approved. We aren't planning on selling our current home (renting it out because we'd lose a lot to sell now) so our debt/income ratios were pretty tight too. Thankfully somehow we were approved. As for schooling, I plan on homeschooling our son this year-could you homeschool in the beginning of the year so your daughter will not have to go to the current district school? Also wanted to say I like your flooring choices (we chose a lot of the same things!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would stick with the model you really want! You'll never retreat having too much room. Well, maybe not never, but you know what I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wouldn't switch models! I love the house I chose more than the lot! If you compromise now, you may end up regretting it later. Then you would have to start all over by selling your house and building or buying a new one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Meegs, I agree with the masses! Do not settle for less than what your heart desires. We moved into a RH townhouse some years ago and built a house with only a select few lots to choose from too. We wanted a walk out and 12' extension but they only had a 4' extension. Each time we went to visit a neighbor with the 12' extension, we left feeling slighted because we settled for less. As for your daughter, children at this age are so resilient, they bounce back and are very flexible. It takes them no time to make friends and adapt to their surroundings. If it were an older child, like a teenager, who anticipates graduating with its peers, it would definitely change the dynamics. When we had to move from our current home while my son was in high school, he caught public transportation so he could graduate with his peers. Stick with your Florence and as advised write a letter of intent with ways you can reduce your front and back debt to income ratio. There are so many options to choose from. We just need to ask. Ask them what do they need from you to be where you need to be with your numbers and be willing to make the adjustments. Research your options and negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. I refuse to accept "no" as the answer. We are making the adjustments with our loan process and it does work. Good Luck!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would not compromise on the house. I think you would end up regretting it later. Have you had much activity on your house? We had to go with a contingency because we wanted to sell our house before starting to build. Since there was a change in sales reps, when someone else wanted the lot we were contingent on, there was no relationship there to steer that person away from our lot. So, we lost out on our lot. Ryan was great about it though, and offered us another lot and waived the lot premium. We thought for sure our house would sell this spring, so we worked with our loan officer to lift our contingency. Things were tight, but we were approved with both houses. One of her suggestions had been to rent out the house, which would give us enough income to push us over the debt ratio guidelines.
    If someone comes in and wants your lot, you do have 72 hours to let them know if you are able to lift the contingency. I would do the work now to find out how you can do that so that you are able should the need arise. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am in the same boat is you. We just hit our 2 month mark on our house and have a contingency also. There are also 3 lots left in the community and two of them have no yard. The lot we have a hold on has a nice yard so I am very afraid we will lose that to a non-contigent person after our 45 hold is up. We just need an offer NOW! My daugher is starting first grade and she really wants to stay in the same school. But if this lot does not work - we would not choose one of the others without a yard - so we would have to start our home search over. And that could mean a new school and would have to pull her out. I hate the thought of that! So I know what you are feeling about your daughter starting Kindergarten. We actually live in a Sienna now and are building with Ryan again - this time the Pisa model. We want a ranch and with the bump-outs the sq footage is a bit more than the Sienna we have now. Plus the basement in a ranch is AMAZING and doubles the total sq footage of the home. We are a family of 4 and the sq footage works well. We just did not want stairs anymore! :) So if you consider going to another model other than the Florence - you would not be making a poor choice. But the Florence is a great model! Good luck with your decision. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I apologize for my typos and bad grammar. I have a two year old on my lap and did not proof it before I posted it. lol :)

      Delete
  10. Curious minds want to know, what did you end up doing?

    ReplyDelete