house shopping update
So last week I was in touch with a mortgage broker and I sent in an application to be pre-approved for a mortgage with CIBC. Both went just fine – CIBC pre-approved us and is sending a certificate in the mail, and the mortgage broker told us we would be able to still look for a house in the size/price range we want, even though right now my income is a little less because I’m on car accident insurance coverage instead of a full salary. So I can hopefully stop feeling like I need to rush myself back to work before I’m ready, we can still build our “dream home” with what we have right now.
So today we took a look at Chapman Mills, and the area is just perfect. 6 mins drive away from the new RCMP HQ, but only 25 mins from the old one (33 if you don’t take the highway, a bit more with traffic, of course). Great neighbourhood and wow is it ever growing fast! There’s a school right up the road from the little area where lots are currently available but it’s a Catholic elementary. There’s another one close by as well but it hasn’t been built yet. So we’re not sure where Harmony will be for grade 6. However, we do know where she will likely be for grades 7 all the way up to 12!! A brand new middle school/high school (OCDSB’s first serving that range of students)! Which will be a 4 mins drive away. Also near lots of great shopping and parks and things like that.
Looking at the models was really busy with the kids (omg they were awful, I’m glad the windows were all much to pretty to break by throwing small children through!), but we made it through the 5 single-family homes within our general range of what we were looking for. We saw the Fraser but it was definitely too small. The Chelsea 4 was next and was very nice and a much more comfortable size. We saw the MacPherson, which we knew we weren’t a fan of because of the layout of the bedrooms.
Then we got to see our top choice, the Sutherland, and the layout was just as fantastic in person as it was in the floor plans. And they had this neat little extra window you could cut through the wall between the hall and the kitchen so you can see the front hall and doors right from the kitchen, very neat. The kids ran up and down the stairs while Paul and I sat in the living room comparing the floor plans to the real thing. Very nice feel to it, it really felt comfortable but also spacious. The family room was very open concept with the kitchen, but those two areas were separated from the rest of the house in a way that made it feel like a “just the family” relaxed area. The floor plans had shown a regular closet in the laundry room / mud room, but the model home had the upgrade of a little built-in with cupboards and hooks and storage nooks, perfect for kids!
Then, while we were there, we went to check out the last house in that row, the Westminster.
It wasn’t on our original list because I’d thought it would be too expensive, but when the mortgage broker told us what % interest rate we would be able to get, it drifted into the realm of “do-able” for us. It’s only a bit bigger than the Sutherland, and very similar from the outside. On the inside though, the layout is quite different… On the main floor, it has a curved staircase, an open concept combined living room / dining room space (instead of two distinct rooms), a smaller laundry room closet, a larger family room, larger kitchen, larger breakfast nook, smaller kitchen island, and a neat corner kitchen pantry. Oh and the front doors are one regular size and one tiny instead of two regular size ones. Upstairs, the hallway is a bit smaller and it doesn’t have the cool computer nook, but each room is bigger as a result. One thing that bothers me a bit about the Westminster is that the kid’s rooms aren’t as “equal” (in the Sutherland, they can both have raised ceilings by the window but in the Westminster, only Harmony’s would). But the master bedroom did have this nice “cutout” space with windows that you could do maybe a little love-seat or chaise-lounge in that space so it’s kind of retreat-ish. Overall, I would say it felt a little more “fancy/dressy” than the Sutherland.
So next it was time to check out the lot map. Overall, there were 31 lots available in the current release. OK but then 9 were marked specially and we were told we would only be able to build “Luxe” Series homes on them (which are on the “look but don’t touch” list!). And then we started to get into the restrictions about which lots we could build a Sutherland or Westminster on and the pool of available lots got smaller. And then we found out the closing dates for some of the lots and it was September 2009!! Yikes, a little late for us as we’d wanted to move in before the school year started. (who knew it could take 14 months to build a new home? Wish I’d started shopping in the spring!)
So it looks like we are left with 4 options (we may call back tomorrow and annoy them with a few “are you sure?” and “what about this lot?” questions though because it was a bit hectic with the kids running around so maybe we missed some other way of working things):
1. & 2. We can build the Sutherland on either of these 2 lots, but we won’t be able to move in until Sept 17, 2009. They are on a busier street though (which would be great for giving directions, not as great for traffic/kids playing out front/etc.) and are close to an intersection so harder to park.
3. They’ve already started building a Westminster on a lot next to a corner lot. We’d have to pick “elevation C” layout, but we would get a $10,000 design centre bonus. And since it’s already started, it would be ready earlier (March 2009). It’s also on the busy street, though.
4. There’s a really nicely located lot on a quiet crescent (near the row of lots that will only take Luxe Series homes) but we wouldn’t be allowed to build a Sutherland on it, we would have to build a Westminster. But since it’s already prepared for a Westminster, it would be ready April 2009.
After pouring over floor plans and lists and scanning over Google maps, etc. ever since finding out these options, I’m strongly leaning towards option 4. The street is perfect – it’s a crescent so no one needs to drive through there other than the neighbours and their guests, great for the kids and their bikes. Yet, it’s right around the corner from a street that connects to a major road, which Paul could take right to Woodroofe to get to work. And being a house next to all those bigger homes will better increase the property value of our home (as opposed to being a bigger house next to smaller homes like we would be on the busier street).
So which factor wins out? Layout/design of the actual house or it’s location within the neighbourhood? Well, since we spend more time inside the house than out and like to have good “flow” to a house, maybe going with the better layout should be the priority. But in the long term, when it comes to location as well as our own growth and need for space, should we grab the slightly bigger home in the more tucked-away spot?
I wish we could’ve built the Sutherland on that crescent, that would be the best of both worlds! Maybe tomorrow we can call them up and go over a few lots with them one at a time to make sure they didn’t miss anything!
Whatever we end up with, I’m more than convinced that building a new home for next summer is really the way to go for us! As much as there are stressful parts and tough decisions, it’s exciting too to be able to put it all together like this. Like wedding planning and pregnancy, it’s a milestone worth the wait!!! 
July 19 2008 09:47 pm | family and future / dreams / goals and hill to haven and life as a mom
July 20th, 2008 at 11:31 am
There’s so much to consider!
We learned on our house search that you sell a house for about 10,000 less if it’s on a busy street…. maybe different in your ottawa market, but something we would never had thought of.
July 20th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
@ Emma, wow that definitely adds one more reason to getting that “quiet crescent” home then!
It’s crazy how many little details there are to consider, for now and even for 25 years down the road!!!
What kind of place are you getting in Hunt Club? We looked at building new there but it was too far off our “travel path” and crazy expensive.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:24 am
wrong emma
So in saying that, I would ask around if it is such a high difference for a busy vs quiet street. I gave you the comox difference, ottawa is probably different
Totally with you on the details. We have to move in a couple of yrs so we shopped the market to find a house to sell… lol, if that makes any sense at all!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:24 am
@ Emma, oops sorry! E1 and E2 like Bananas in Pajamas might work well.
And yes that actually does make sense! lol For us I’m hoping to stay there a reeeeeeeally long time so it means a different set of factors! If I knew we were just staying a few years, I would be making different decisions for sure!