Siding and Tile and Carpet, Oh my!

Conrad and I spent the morning at our much anticipated “Design Center” appointment. When you build a new house, you get to pick out all of the fun stuff that comes along with it. Of course, this is where they gouge you. “Sure you bought a new house for a couple hundred thou, but if you want toilets with that..it’s gonna cost ya!”

Before we found our house, we were looking at homes in one area and LOVED them, the base price was okay, and we thought we could probably afford it. When we sat down to talk to the sales lady, she eventually informed us that the LAND that you build the house on, in the subdivision, doesn’t come with the house, that will cost you another 100k. Well….what if I just want the house?? Obviously, we moved on, in our search.

Actually, our builder is much more than fair. One of the deals that they were offering, because of the SLOW real estate market, was a large sum in upgrades, options, and financing. This sum allowed us to (almost) go crazy at the Design Center and pretty much create the house of our dreams. Of course, I came armed with a spreadsheet and calculated numbers. I was expecting some unpleasant surprises, but mostly just got pleasant ones.

Maple Plank Hardwood
So if I were to walk you virtually through our future home, you would see vaulted ceilings, dark dark maple plank hardwood floors, antique white kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, tons of recessed lighting, burber carpeting, gas fireplace, a nice deck out back, a Jacuzzi tub (yeah for me!), and stainless steel appliances. We feel like we made some good choices, but are still waiting on a couple of items that we really wanted, like hardwood in the dining room and a vented hood over the oven. ..indian cooking REALLY requires one of these!

Now the downside: Our house still has not sold. What this means is that all of these fabulous options we just got will go down the drain if we don’t sell our house. I’m sure the builder plans this lovely design center experience in order to make your new home irresistible. I must have it!. I think we felt like that at the beginning. Now, I think we are okay with whatever. Either way, I think we’ll be okay!