We finally closed and got the keys this past Friday!!! I still remember a day around 6 months ago when we went to Ryan Homes just to get some info about the models, the joy of picking our own colors and designs, and the excitement that had built up every time we went to check on the building process and saw how it went from dirt to a home. Time flies so fast. We went to the house after closing, took a deep breath and spent quite a bit of time in there to absorb the fact that this beautiful house is finally ours. After 5 years of living in an apartment, we will finally have a place that truly feels like "home", our first home together!

Now, I'm going to talk about the bad part of the closing day. This is all about how bad NVR service was. If you don't want to read the long story, our lessons learned (the hard way) from dealing with NVR Mortgage are the followings:

1. Expect requests for your employment information and bank statements every month since you turn in the loan application.
2. Expect them to ask you for the same information again and again.
3. Expect document requests at the last minute.
4. Expect to receive NO loan servicing and to do the work for them.
5. DON'T expect to settle your mortgage on time or even on the scheduled day. Information requests will continue to be sent to you on that day.

Below is our story of a settlement nightmare. There are 2 things that gave us a lot of frustration that day.

• We scheduled for the closing meeting at 10 AM at an NVR office 2 hours away from our apartment. That morning we found out that Matthew Tang (NVR Loan Officer) emailed to ask for my husband's employment verification the previous day at 2 PM (he could verify mine but had trouble with my husband's). Seriously?? Sending out document request at the last minute like this? We ended up rushing to my husband's company to get the document since he doesn't have access to it anywhere else. After sending Matt what he needed, we headed to the meeting but when we were half way there the guy emailed us again stating that the document was password-protected and he couldn't open it (why didn't he open it when we were still at my husband's office?). We didn't know there was a password to open the document so we had to return to my husband's office to find out what the password was. The password was sent and the guy called the 3rd time to ask for my husband's salary, which is ridiculous because (1) we had been sending him our pay-stubs since we started the mortgage process 4 months ago so I don't understand why he couldn't figure out the info on his own, and (2) this request came after the 10 AM scheduled time had passed (!) All of this could have been completed weeks ago!!! We got a call from another loan officer who informed us that they would have to reschedule our meeting for 4 PM. Ok, fine; now you can continue for the second part of the story.
• Before the email from Matt about the document being password-protected, we didn't know if we could even close because we couldn't reach Matt to verify whether or not NVR had had all of the documents they needed for settlement, so we called Rachel Fello who is the Settlement Processor of NVR. She seemed to be surprised about the situation and stated that she had not received the needed information from the lender (which is also NVR), yet she did nothing to try obtain the information before the settlement while we were already on the road. Also, on our way there to the rescheduled 4 PM meeting, Rachel called and said they had not seen the down payment deposited into their account, which is weird because we transferred the fund the day before. She asked us to verify with our bank; we had to drive around looking for the closest branch, found one and was told by the bank that NVR's account had received the fund the day before. We called Rachel and let her know; she said she couldn't see the fund because we used teller transfer instead of wire transfer. Shouldn't she have seen the fund in NVR's account as soon as it went to the account regardless of how it was transferred? Even if she didn't see it, shouldn't she have checked with NVR accounting department first before asking us to go around and verify it for her? Whatever excuse she told us, I just couldn't believe what I experienced. It was settlement day and it is her job to make sure everything was ready before the scheduled time at 10 AM; and loan processor and settlement processor under the same company were supposed to communicate with each other to pass over the documents. That is called loan servicing! The reality is we the customers had to run around doing the work for them.

The statement "you get what you paid for" is definitely applicable to NVR Mortgage. They give you $10,00 - $15,000 closing-cost help but they don't provide you the service you should get. Although if we had to choose again we would still go with them because we needed this help, my advice is if $10,00 - $15,000 is not that important to you, you should go for a better lender. I wish we were more aware of NVR's poor service so that at least we would know what we got ourselves into. 

​Inspection:
I probably didn't mention before that we've been using inspection services from Pro-Spex and we highly recommend them if you need independent inspection services in the DC, MD, VA areas. They did an excellent job analyzing every detail of the construction as well as explaining things to us during the inspection. We purchased the new-construction package which includes 3 inspections (foundation, pre-drywall, and pre-walk-thru) and will use their service again for the 1-year inspection before the warranty on the home expires.
In this final inspection, we found many things that need to be fixed and spots that need to be re-painted and marked them with blue tape (painter tape). Most of them are minor due to sloppiness but there are a few major mistakes but still fixable. I won't go to the details since it is expected no matter what builder you buy houses from. Just remember to pay close attention to the property before you get the house and during the first year.

Final walk-thru:
The PM first talked about warranty and all information we might need when we move in. Then he walked us around the house to explain how all of the systems work (the heater/cooler, the fire place, gas range, etc ...). We found 2 spots in the basement that were leaking from underneath the powder room which is a major problem. It has been scheduled to be fixed before we close and we will have a re-walk-thru on the closing day. These was a leak at the same area before during the construction but they fixed it. It has made us very worried finding issues like this even before we close, although they usually happen because Ryan Homes hire different contractors with different level of workmanship quality. It is almost like having a smooth process without issues while building a home depending on your luck! The good thing is that they offer 2-year warranty which covers all of the problem caused by poor workmanship. We also added some more blue tape on spots we missed during the home inspection.

*Update on the leak (7/14/2017): It turned out the the leaks were from a loose connection of the water pipe to the fridge so it wasn't a big problem.

I wish we had a lot of cash on hand to load up the place with furniture and decorations, but we don't so here are some photos of our completed empty house which will stay empty for a while.

The good news is today the mortgage rate has dropped and NVR mortgage rate has gone down from 4.375% to 4.125% for our particular loan (- 25 bps). We looked at the survey of mortgage experts on Bankrate and the result was that 58% of the experts thought the rate would go lower during the upcoming week while the remaining 42% thought the rate would stay the same. However, we had only an hour to decide whether to lock the rate or not so we didn't really have time to study the expected direction of mortgage rate further (both my husband and I were at work). We thought this rate was already pretty good plus the current uncertainty related to political matters so we just decided to just lock the rate. We definitely don't want to risk the rate going back up again.
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It finally came, the time for us and the PM to sit down and go through all of the options we'd made as well as any questions we had. Unfortunately, none of our requests to make changes during the construction was accepted. Below are the answers we got during the meeting. There are some questions we didn't ask since they are either not important or already mentioned as he went through our options.

Exterior/Outdoors

• What is the actual square footage of the house?
  • 3,500 sf with the morning room, the finished basement, and the media room added.
• What’s going on with landscaping? In terms of where trees/bushes/mulch will be relative to the house? Can we plant cherry blossom & apple trees?
  • There will be something planted (I can't remember what type) and we can plant whatever we want but were recommended to check with the HOA.
• Are we getting grass or sod? Who’s responsible for quality control in terms of making sure it’s all seeded or sodded?
  • Sod, and the PM has the responsibility.
• How many septic fields? Are any of these shared?
  • None. Our bathrooms will be connected to a public one somewhere else.
• How many sump pumps?
  • One.
• Will we have concrete walkway? (Front door,  side walk)
  • Yes.
• Are gutter guards included?
  • No. They don't think it's necessary since there's no tall tree near the house.
• If we want to change the paint color of the front door later, do we need to ask for approval from someone (and who)?
  • The HOA.

Structural

• Can we buy a wall-mounted range hood and have it installed in place of the microwave?
  • No, but the vent underneath the microwave is strong enough, plus the fact that whatever sucked out won't be circulated back to the house.
• Will the fireplace be on the side? Will we have any window near it? (We don't want any near it.) Can the fireplace stone hearth be at floor-level or just a few inches above the floor? (We saw a fireplace stone hearth in one of the models and it was too high for our liking.)
  • The fireplace will be on the side and there's no window next to it; however the stone hearth can't be at floor level or lowered.
• Can we buy a different shower head (with an extra hand-held shower head) and have it installed in place of the one came with the house?
  • No.
• Are window screens required/provided?
  • They are provided.
• What is done to protect the framing and the foundation from rain while the house is being built? What concerns or potential issues do you usually have while building homes (regarding bad weather and other factors)?
  • There is nothing to protect the farming and the foundation from a rain but they build it quickly enough that there won't be any problem. The only thing that can cause delays is the utility company that might not work according to the PM's schedule; but he said not to worry because he had a good relationship with the local utility company.

Interior 

• Can we have the walls painted in light gray (the paint will be provided by us)?
  • No.
• Can we buy our own cabinet handles?
  • No.
• Can we change the shelves in the master bedroom closet to fit a vanity and a mirror in?
  • The shelves can be taken off the wall pretty easily so we would be able to do it ourselves.
• Is there a door to the toilet room? (We saw it as an option in some models.)
  • Yes.
• Is the door to the media room in the basement a french door? If it is, can we have it installed so that we will pull instead of push from outside?
  • He didn't have the answer to this answer and said he would get back to us later.

HVAC

• How many condenser units? Will we be able to control the temperature in different zones?
  • One and no, we won't be able to do so.
• Will we use propane or natural gas? If propane, will the tank be filled 100% when the house is delivered to us. Do we have to use certain propane company?
  • Natural gas.

Electrical Matters 

• What type of lights and where will they be installed throughout the house? Basement? Deck lighting? Garage lighting? Front door?
  • Recessed lights in the basement, kitchen, walk-in closets and front door; chandelier in the dining room; ceiling fans with light or rough-in in the bedrooms, the living room, the family room, and the morning room; LED ceiling lights above the bathtub in the master bathroom and in the mudroom; wall lamps in the bathrooms (above the mirrors); 2 outdoor wall lamps next to the garage and 1 above other doors leading to outside.
• Do we have outlets in the master bedroom closets? If not, can we have them added?
  • No and no because it's against the code :( . I was hopping to put my vanity table with a Hollywood mirror in the closet but now I have to find a way around.
• Will our circuit breaker box be labeled for us? If not, will there be an electrical plan that we can use to label it ourselves?
  • Yes, it is labeled.

Schedule

• What’s our build timeline from the moment you break ground? Can we have it printed?
  • Things change every minute so they don't have a clear schedule but I did find Ryan Homes' general schedule that is not applied to any specific model and added to my Timeline. What we know now is they plan to start the construction on 04/10/2017 and finish mid to end of July. This is half a month to a month later than previously anticipated by the SP (6/30/2017). Our rent will end on July 31 so I hope we could close before that in order to have time for the moving.

Other

• Who will have keys to our home?
  • During the construction - the PM, after we close - we have one set and our mortgage lender have another set.
• What are the measurements from floor to ceiling?
  • Basement and second floor: 8 feet; main floor: 9 feet.
• Can we get a breakdown of the warranties?
  • All they have is what's already available online (Here).

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So it has finally come - the pre-construction meeting! Although we don't know the exact date yet, the SR said she would call us in a few days to set up the appointment with the PR. We are just waiting for all of the docs regarding our options to get in Ryan Homes system. Our last day to make changes is March 5 but the guy from Guardian is taking a long time to send  the needed docs to Ryan Homes. In the mean time, we have been gathering all questions we want to ask before the actual meeting. Below is our question list:

Exterior/Outdoors

• What is the actual square footage of the house and the whole property? Is there a drawing/diagram for us to look at?
• What are covered by RH and for how long? (pipes, siding, roof, foundation, etc.)
• What’s going on with landscaping? In terms of where trees/bushes/mulch will be relative to the house? Can we plant cherry blossom & apple trees? Does RH cover damages caused by erosion?
• Are we getting grass or sod? Who’s responsible for quality control in terms of making sure it’s all seeded or sodded?
• How far back into the tree line does our property extend?
• How many septic fields? Are any of these shared?
• How many sump pumps? How often do we have to check to make sure they're still working? How do we verify that?
• Will we have concrete walkway? (Front door,  side walk)
• Are gutter guards included?
• If we want to change the paint color of the front door later, do we need to ask for approval from someone (and who)?

Structural

• Can we buy a wall-mounted range hood and have it installed in place of the microwave?
• Will the fireplace be on the side? Will we have any window near it? (We don't want any near it.) Can the fireplace stone hearth be at floor-level or just a few inches above the floor? (We saw a fireplace stone hearth in one of the models and it was too high for our liking.)
• Can we buy a different shower head (with an extra hand-held shower head) and have it installed in place of the one came with the house?
• Are window screens required/provided?
• What causes floor creaking noise? What can be done to avoid? I.e., Extra support in high traffic areas?
• What type of insulation is provided (bare minimum) Is there a way to add extra insulation or soundproofing in certain areas? For instance, around bathrooms and laundry room? What is the cost if we want extra insulation?
• What is done to protect the framing and the foundation from rain while the house is being built? What concerns or potential issues do you usually have while building homes (regarding bad weather and other factors)?

Interior 

• Can we have the walls painted in light gray (the paint will be provided by us)?
• Can we buy our own cabinet handles?
• Can we change the shelves in the master bedroom closet to fit a vanity and a mirror in?
• Is there a door to the toilet room? (We saw it as an option in some models.)
• Will there be a door from the main floor to the basement?
• Is the door to the media room in the basement a french door? If it is, can we have it installed so that we will pull instead of push from outside?

HVAC

• How many condenser units? What’s the model/rating? Will we be able to control the temperature in different zones?
• Will we use propane or natural gas? If propane, will the tank be filled 100% when the house is delivered to us. Do we have to use certain propane company?

Electrical Matters 

• What type of lights and where will they be installed throughout the house? Basement? Deck lighting? Garage lighting? Front door?
• Can we use dimmers? 
• Do we have outlets in the master bedroom closets? If not, can we have them added?
• Will our circuit breaker box be labeled for us? If not, will there be an electrical plan that we can use to label it ourselves?

Schedule

• What’s our build timeline from the moment you break ground? Can we have it printed?
• When can we have our independent inspector come in? Do we have to inform you or fill out any form/document to have them come in?

Other

• Who will have keys to our home?
• How often will you be on site and personally supervising the sub-contractors?
• What are the measurements from floor to ceiling?
• Can we get a breakdown of the warranties?

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