Starting Our Home Building Journey-Here we go!

Welcome back to our second post about our home building journey. If you missed the first one, you can read it here. In this post, we are going to dive into selecting what home we wanted to build and the contract signing process. We initially met with Jess, Director of Sales and Marketing, and our Realtor, Alex Kuznia, to discuss the type of house we wanted to build and where.

Floor Plan

Nate and I knew we wanted to build a two-story home with space to grow. We discussed this with Jess as Thomsen Homes has several two-story homes in our price range. This was right before the fall parade, so we were able to walk through the two two-story model homes that we were considering. We walked through the new Thomsen 2161 floor plan and fell in love. We loved the fact that there is a main floor office because I work from home, 4 bedrooms upstairs and room to grow with an unfinished basement. I already had ideas running through my head on how we could make this home our own.

Location

After we decided on building the 2161 two-story, we decided on a lot. Nate and I both agreed that we wanted to stay in the same location that we currently live in (West Fargo) because we love the school district, the ponds and parks that are nearby and lots of walking trails. The developer just added an ice skating rink and a huge park, which we can’t wait to use! We also love the fact that we don’t have any apartments located nearby, just residential homes. Nate and I were excited about the new Wilds 11^th addition because it was close to our current home and they had lots that either backed up to a pond, trees or the West Fargo diversion so there were plenty of good options to choose from. Ultimately, we picked a lot that had a large backyard that backed up to the diversion, with a pond view from the front of the home.

Contract

After deciding on a house plan and lot, Nate and I talked with Jess and reviewed pricing. We went over a list of everything we knew we wanted to add to the home (such as upgrading from 8’ ceilings to 9’ ceilings, adding an air exchanger, changing the kitchen island to a square island, etc.). Having a list before signing the contract was really beneficial to us as  Jess was able to provide some relative ideas of pricing and allowances that we felt comfortable with and from that point, we signed a contract. Because we wanted to build in a new development, the development wasn’t buildable for about a month and a half after we signed our contract, which felt like forever in my opinion. After singing our contract, Shirley, a designer at Thomsen, contacted us to set up our first design meeting, which is when the fun started. Stay tuned for next time as I discuss our design meetings in further detail.