Ohh Ryan Homes .. Why don't you double check things before you say them??

So yesterday, my boyfriend got an email from our SR with some "corrections" to things she has told us in the past. As many of you know, we have had this happen to us before with Ryan Homes. They told us one thing and then they were like whoops, we were wrong. The biggest one was when they told us our house would fit on our first choice lot but then, last minute, they discovered they were wrong. It caused a bunch of crap that was just annoying and frustrating and ended up delaying us for a month. In the end, we ended up switching lots and getting some stuff for free, so it worked out, and we moved on. So when my boyfriend told me he had some bad news about a couple of things I was like ugh .. here we go again.

They're not HUGE issues but still irritating.

One thing we negotiated for was our deck. They told us we could build a Trex material deck and that they would pay for half and we would pay for the other half. Well, our SR just told us, welllll we know we said it was Trex, but it's not. It's a generic composite material brand. I'm not against generic stuff, because in a lot in instances it is exactly the same, but there are a good amount of "cheap" composites out there that fade and age really poorly. We researched Trex before we agreed to their "deal" ... we know nothing about this generic brand. If it ends up looking like crap in 5 years then what? We either deal with it or tear it down and build something of quality. So stupid. We do have it IN WRITING that the deck is Trex so we'll be doing some negotiating.

The second thing we were told incorrectly was about fencing. As I have mentioned before, we really need a fence with our two dogs. We have huskies and they can pretty much jump anything under 6 feet tall. When we were told, by our SR, that the community was allowing 6 foot privacy fences we were officially sold on the community. Well, the HOA got back to us and apparently, until about a month ago, they weren't allowing fencing AT ALL. Apparently, one of my future neighbors found out about this and caused some serious havoc and eventually they caved (Thank you future neighbor, whoever you are!!!). They are now allowing privacy fencing BUT it can only be 4 ft high .. We were going to get a dog door so our dogs could go outside while we were at work, but now we can't because I won't feel comfortable about them being safe and not jumping over the fence while we're gone.

I don't understand why Ryan Homes just tells people things without double checking them. To say we're getting Trex when we aren't is just stupid. To tell us we can definitely have a 6 ft privacy fence when the community didn't even allow them previously is even more stupid!

In the end though, we think this should give us some negotiation power. I highly doubt they'll use Trex material for our deck but I think we can get a couple of things added for free to make up for the fact that we're paying for a lower quality deck than we were told. Pendant lighting and some crown molding??? We'll see!

 

I'm sad, mad, dissapointed, confused, and frustrated (to name a few)

So as I mentioned in my last post, we were told that the Palermo is too wide to fit on the lot we chose. Just as a reminder, we were told it would fit on that lot, we signed contracts for that house and lot, and then while they were staking out our home on the lot they realized .. "Whoops .. this doesn't fit here."

Anyways, after speaking with our SR (aka, my boyfriend spoke to her, because I'm a lunatic) we found out a few things.

1. Our current lot has a "drain easement" in it. This is something we were NEVER told about even after voicing concern about all of their draining systems for the community (our community is right by a Canal). This drain easement makes our building restrictions line a lot narrower so only two of the homes they offer will fit on it (The Milan and the Venice). This drain easement, that they conveniently didn't tell us about, can also cause really bad flooding if it breaks or something goes wrong with it (Cool, right?!). We also would not be able to build anything over it so we couldn't put our fence over it so essentially it would make our yard a lot smaller. Also, if something were to go wrong with it they can come in and dig up our yard to access it and fix it. Sounds great ...

2. One option we have is moving our home to a new lot. Only two lots will fit our Palermo. One of them is on the other side of the street so it will back up to other homes in the development .. Basically, this is not an option. We don't want to go from our gorgeous lot backed up to protected preserves to a lot backed up to someone else's house. The other option is a lot that is on the same side of the road as our current lot but it's right by the road and it doesn't back up to the preserves (it backs up to some bushes and the backyard of a house that isn't in our community).

3. A second option we have is to pick a new home model that will fit on our lot (we don't even know if we want our lot anymore since it has that drain easement) or another lot near our current lot (not as nice as our lot but better than the other two). Since, all of their lots are too small for most of the houses they offer they are going to add some options to the list (duh!), so they're going to let us know what those are soon. The one good thing is that our SR asked if we had any models in mind .. we asked her to look into the Naples and the Shakespeare .. we'll see if they fit on the lot or if she thinks they "fit" in the community.

4. Ryan Homes really does not seem to care that they made a mistake and really inconvenienced us. The first time we spoke to our SR about being compensated somehow for this huge inconvenience (and crushed dream) they offered to generously (*sarcasm*) give us back our money for the premium price of our lot ("thanks for giving us money back for something we're not getting .. I guess."), not charge us the premium on the new lot (Wow .. $2500 .. thanks) and give us a discount for walkout stairs from our basement. They normally charge over $6000 but they are willing to only charge us $4000 ... out of the goodness of their heart .... We don't even want a giant staircase in the back (Our current lot comes with a walk-out basement but the new lot they want us to take does not. I guess this is their way to compensate for that ..).

5. We were told we could not get a two-toned siding(Shake siding and regular siding are different colors). We have been getting up at 5:00AM, before work, the last couple days to go check out all these lots they want us to take. On these trips we saw that the model home (a Rome) now has it's siding up .. and guess what? That house has two different color siding ... They could have just made a mistake (and I understand that people make mistakes) but it's just the cherry on top of everything else.

I don't really want to settle for a lot or a house I don't like. I'm kind of hoping that they offer a new home that we like but the downside of that is that we have to COMPLETELY start over and everything will probably be delayed to the end of the year .. Plus, my boyfriend just doesn't want to go through all of those choices and upgrade lists all over again, and I can't blame him for that.

We really don't know what to do. Are we making a huge mistake with building with Ryan Homes? They're now only offering us a few thousand dollars as compensation which in my opinion is a joke. If they want us to settle for a lot we don't really like, they will need to make up for this mistake big time .. Decisions. Decisions .. I can't handle it!