Signing on the Dotted Line

Going, going, going...Sold!

Home Sweet (Future) Home

Actually, that was a really oversimplification of the process that led to us signing on our house. Let me backtrack a little.

When Adam and I visited the community, we loved it. We were still a little unsure about the area and price point though so we decided to sit on it and do a little more research before we moved forward.

In a weird coincidence, about two weeks after our first visit, Adam's company hired a new sales territory manager in North Carolina who just happened to work for Ryan Homes in Northern Virginia.  She was extremely familiar with the Potomac Shores community and highly recommended it as something we consider based on our needs and goals as home buyers.

One of the things we learned from her is the importance of having a realtor who can look out for your interests and highlight items that we as home buyer novices might be likely to miss.  Based on her feedback, we were encouraged to reach out to Patty Blackwelder of Twins Selling Real Estate. 

We gave Patty a call on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 to get a sense of how she could be helpful to us and what the latest and greatest was with Potomac Shores . She mentioned that we could get the greatest bang for our buck if we were open to opportunities that might arise and required quick action, like lots where funding fell through or the last remaining lot in a neighborhood.

We hadn't really given those kinds of opportunities much thought, but put in the back of our minds as something to consider going forward.

Fast forward 48 hours and the Ryan Homes sales team sends out an email on a Friday afternoon for a new Venice home construction lot whose buyer's funding fell through. 

The "Lot"

Because it was the last to-be-built home on one of the major streets of the Fairways Cove neighborhood, they were throwing in a number of enticing incentives, including upgraded level 2 cabinets and granite counter tops, kitchen backsplash, extended gourmet island, finished basement and bathroom, 10x20 deck, stained hardwood stairs, master bedroom tray ceiling, and more.

All in all the incentives were worth nearly 50k!

We knew this opportunity wouldn't last long and so we immediately called up our new trusty realtor Patty Blackwelder to get her thoughts.   She let us know that this was a fantastic opportunity that we should consider, but also flagged that it would go fast so we needed to move if this was of interest.  

Despite the incentives, because this was a floorplan that we originally shied away from, I still needed a little convincing. Patty was great and sent some photos of a house currently in construction within minutes so that I could visualize how it would look once completed.

I figured it was worth a try so Adam drove directly to Potomac Shores from a work appointment out in Fredericksburg and I hopped on the VRE for the first time to make my way out there. We toured the lot, walked through the floor plan and went home to sleep on it.

Map of our neighborhood and new home location.

The next day we visited Potomac Shores and the rest was history. We officially signed our contract!

Choosing Potomac Shores

Why leave D.C.? Well, my husband Adam and I have been here awhile, almost ten years to be exact. 

We originally moved here as part of a nine-month fellowship right out of college and somehow just ended up staying here all these years later. I guess you can say the city really grew on us.

After a few years of dating, we finally got married this past November during a lovely week-long celebration out in Cancun.  With the wedding planning out of the way (no one else tells you how time consuming that will end up being), we finally had some time to start thinking about the future and potentially buying a home.

Over the course of our time here, we've lived all over the city, including Colombia Heights, Petworth, Navy Yard and Southwest Waterfront, which is where we currently live right now next to the Washington Nationals ballpark. I always thought I'd be a D.C. lifer, but the cost of living/buying there made us realize that it was probably time for a change.

We looked briefly at homes in areas like Fairfax, Annandale, Burke and Silver Spring, but quickly realized that our money wouldn't go as far as we'd like in those cities so we expanded our search perimeter a bit.  

Adam was actually the first one to come across the Potomac Shores community through a Facebook advertisement.  He really loved the Americana vibe and the beautiful tidewater architecture. I'm sure golf course, high-end gym and sprawling sports fields didn't hurt either.

A view of the homes in one of the original Potomac Shores neighborhoods.

When we originally decided to visit the community for the first time on Sunday, March 5, 2017, I really only did it to humor Adam. I thought there was no way that Potomac Shores would offer enough for me to want to leave the city for the suburbs, but I figured at least this way we could cross it off our list. Boy was I wrong.

The minute we started looking at floor plans and the amenities offered, I knew we were looking at something special. The idea of a having a new construction home built to our specifications with the added benefit of new schools, club amenities, nature trails and a planned VRE station and town center was too interesting to discount immediately. 

Potomac Shores really felt like a community you could grow into and where we could build the kind of life we always envisioned .  We were intrigued at the possibility to say the least, but not quite ready to sign on the dotted line when we left that day.