One Loudoun Home Buying Part 3

If you have read my previous two installments regarding my experience in purchasing a home from Miller and Smith in One Loudoun then you probably think it is a complete nightmare. Well I can inform you that for the most part it has been, but Lisa and I have tried to stay positive.

Once we signed the contract on the house, we were required to put down an earnest money deposit like everyone else. We gave our check to the sales rep and went home to begin the process of finalizing all of our options on the house. A couple of days later, the sales rep called and said that the bank wouldn't accept our check because I had written 2012 on it instead of 2013. Oops! My wife went by the same day and dropped off a new check with the correct date.

Approximately 5-7 days later I was checking my bank account online and there was an overdraft charge and two large checks deposited on the same day. After telling us the bank wouldn't cash our one check, Miller and Smith went and deposited both of them and caused us to receive an overdraft. I immediately notified the sales rep who was extremely sorry and said they will cut us a check and Fedex it to us for the overdraft charge. He was also generous and gave us a 100.00 gift certificate to Clyde's for our troubles.

The next couple of weeks we spent going thru the huge list of options and trying our best to stay under budget. Let me tell you that it is so tempting to just put everything in, but the costs are high on some of the items. We chose to focus on the items that are structural and harder to change (ie. kitchen and bathroom). We upgraded to all hardwoods on the main level, chose to go with basic carpet in the bedrooms and basement, but upgraded to the best pad, upgraded kitchen and bathroom cabinets and upgraded countertops in bathrooms since the kitchen comes with granite as a standard option. Recessed lighting was something we recently put in our townhouse, so we decided to put it throughout the new home as well along with 6 ceiling fan outlets.

The toughest part was choosing the wiring of the home as I am not much of an electronics geek, but wanted to ensure the house was wired for the future. We chose to put 8 HDMI outlets in, the ones that you put the TV on the wall and run the wires thru the wall instead of having them hang down. My favorite options were the whole house audio system and the home theatre setup in the basement. All-in-all it was a pretty good experience for Lisa and I as we pretty much agreed on everything. Needless to say the cost of our house went up substantially, but we only went $11,000 over budget. We have signed the final paperwork and it looks like they will start building shortly, so stay tuned!

My next installment will be on why I feel it is important for builders to educate individuals on there processes and procedures prior to starting the purchase process.

This blog is just about my experience in purchasing a home from Miller and Smith and it is not the opinion of Ashburn Patch or anyone else.