Pages

Friday, April 15, 2011

Which Model to pick ...

Megan & I researched the floor-plans on Ryan Homes website. Those offered in our community were the Sorrento, Pisa, Sienna, Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples and Rome. The one lot that could accommodate the Rome had previously been sold. We ruled out Sorrento, Pisa & Sienna right off the bat, the Milan & Naples seemed to be nice but higher than we wanted to push our budget. I had in the back of my head that the base price didn't include any upgrades, and I was sure we would add as we went along. There was just something off about the Venice floor-plan, so it was between the Florance & Milan.

Our salesman presented us with a Luxury package for the Florence model which had just about every bell & whistle including finished basement, granite counters, morning room etc. The pricing was right. We were impressed with the options included. Since the on-site model is under construction, there wasn't anything for him to show us. Our salesman recommended that we visit the Florence & Milan about a 1/2 hour away, both at different communities. We skipped the Milan, headed straight for the Florence. Overall we were impressed and were thinking about going ahead with things. That night, I called my parents and asked them to check out the Florence model. The next day, Megan & I headed back up to Richland Greene to talk options. In the middle of a conversation, I get a phone call from my parents. They visited the Florence and were just 'ok' about it. On their own, they headed over to the Milan. They told us straight up that the Milan was leaps and bounds a superior floor-plan. So Megan & I hopped in the car and checked out the Milan model.

I have to give credit where credit is due, my parents were right. The Milan is impressive. Very open floor-plan, has a living, dining & family room as well as 2 walk-in closets, giant bedrooms and upstairs laundry. The house is big enough that we didn't need to add the morning room (as we were going to with the Florence). Ironically, the price of the Milan without the morning room was pretty close to the fully loaded version of the Florence. We were still getting a finished basement, granite counters, tile bathrooms & hardwood in the living & dining rooms etc. Also, looking back, our salesman never pushed us one way or the other. I was expecting him to push us towards the more expensive house with a crazy amount of options. He never did that, he simply said, "Let's build the house the way you want it" and let us make decisions. He also gave us a lot of practical advice from his experience living in a Ryan home.

So that's how Megan & I decided on the Milan.

8 comments:

  1. I'm building a Milan too!! We just love it!! Congrats!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome...Welcome...Welcome - How have you managed to stay in hiding from our Ryan Homes eFamily...leave it to Noey to find you. So now that we all know you are lurking around I would like you to know we are all here to share in your experience. Feel free to ask questions, share ideas, and discuss problems that might come up. Hopefully you have been lurking around and reading the blogs...there is a TON of information and ideas in them...don't be shy...share the fun!!! And finally, thank you for sharing your experience with the rest of us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi,

    My wife and I are currently building the venice model. Can I ask what you meant when you said the vinice floor plan seemed off?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. When my wife and I were choosing, there were only Florence & Milan models to see in person. Even those we had to drive well out of our way to visit. Our opinions of the other floor-plans had to be based only on the drawings. This was 3 years ago, so I went back to take a look at the Venice floor-plan to see why I said that.

      I believe my wife didn't care for the stairs being separated, although I kinda like that. Looking at the floor-plan, I think the major turn off was no formal dining room. And the dining area shown on the plan looks like it's part of the family room. My parents house has this concept but it's separated by a half-wall. In the Milan the Kitchen/Family room are divided by a breakfast bar.

      The upstairs looks fine, although I'm noticing there is only owners closet. Never would have thought I'd have my own closet separate from my wife's stuff (for now).

      We might have though differently about the Venice had we walked in one, the floor-plans don't always do them justice.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. yea we had to drive all the way to williamstown nj to see a venice model, when are new home is going to be in quakertown. I dont mind the separated stairs at all, its actually pretty nice with the landing in the middle, and the window by the landing, with the hanging light. As far as the dining room being party of the family room, this isnt ture at all, atleast not if you get the morning room and gourment island like we are. And even if you didnt get the morning room, then the florence is no different then the venice is that requard, as the florence also has the dining room in same spot as venice, but kitchen is bigger in venice then florence, and whole house is an extra 300 sq feet, that is why we chose the venice over the forence.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We just went through this process in the last week. The Venice seemed to be 90% perfect with the morning room.. but we hated the front room being so open to the front door. The front room is where we send the kids. What we loved about the Milan is being able to turn the front room into a study and closing off the dining room a little.
    The plans are a little screwy since it labels an area in the Venice as a dining area but it is totally not.
    Another thing we liked about the Milan is that the morning room was closed off a little. In the Venice it is all totally open.

    ReplyDelete