Dream home!

This past Wednesday, Jim and I signed the paperwork on our dream home!!! We have loved the neighborhood of Marley Park every since we first drove through it a year ago. We would've loved to move right then and there, but it wasn't the right time. Jim bought our current home with that $8,000 tax incentive that was offered a few years ago, and with that came with the stipulation that we have to live in our home for at least 3 years or we would have to pay back that money back. So we decided to just wait it out, with our goal of moving to Marley Park this year. I can't believe it's actually happening! All that time spent at work feels like it's finally paying off. :) A couple good friends of ours referred us to Jeanie Cutting, who is now our real estate agent. She is amazing! Jim and I's plan was to meet with a realtor in January to figure out what would be best- selling or renting out our home, and when we could start looking for our forever home. After weighing the pros and cons, we decided that we will sell our home (it's not on the market yet, we will probably list it in the next 1-2 months) and buy a new build home (less fees for us and more incentives to buy new). We've been looking at new and used homes in MP every since last year, but it felt so official when we went into the sales office with our realtor last week to look. :) We found a home that fit what we were looking for, but the problem was that there were only 2 lots available that that model could be on, both were kinda undesirable (backs up to a major road and the other in the fringes of MP), and the front of the house (elevation) was not the one we wanted. Otherwise, the sales agent said they would be opening more lots, but she didn't know if it'd be 1 month or 6 months from now and there were many people already interested in the 20 or so lots available (we know a couple currently waiting for another section to open up) and the price for the same home would increase. :/ We went home that day feeling pretty disappointed and on my way to work that night I prayed that if we're meant to be in Marley Park that God would make a way for it to happen. At the same time, Jeanie gave us access to all the MLS listings available in MP. There was a spec home of the house model we wanted, but I didn't like any of the finishes that were sampled in the picture. But then I had Jim email Jeanie just in case they were still in the beginning phases and hadn't ordered any of the finishes yet. The next day we found out that the only thing that was ordered and couldn't be changed were the cabinets (not my favorite- maple cabinets with 'nutmeg' stain. In my dream home I always envisioned white or cream colored cabinets, but we have the next 20+ years to change it if I end up not liking what was already picked lol)  but everything else was perfect... the floor plan (there were 3 different variations of the same home model and it had the 4th bedroom we wanted), right house elevation (with the stone facade in the front! yay!) and perfect location (there is a park across the street from us and no neighbors behind us). I knew it was our forever home instantly! Now just to make it happen... I definitely don't want to be house poor and we were hoping on the sale of our current home for the down payment of our MP home. Thankfully, Jeanie is an expert and found us a potentially awesome loan that would work out for us. It stinks we couldn't buy our new home contingent on if/when our home sells (MP does not offer that), but I just have to have faith it'll all work out. The alternative would've been wait for our current home to sell, then move temporarily into an apartment until we could move into our new home. Moving twice would've been a pain and the home prices in MP are increasing at a higher rate than they are in our neighborhood, so this really is the best option for us. So ANYWAY, about our new home! It is a spec home, meaning the builder has already started building it before they had a buyer. I think we got in at a perfect time, so we can still pick out most of our finishes! Our appointment with the home design studio is next Thursday! Good thing I already have finishes, fixtures and materials in mind! But since we know this is the home we'll be in long term, a know things like this can wait if we can't afford them now. About our future home... it is a single-family detached home, 1 story, 2200 sq ft, 4 bed 3 bath plus den (which we will use as the office). It has an open floor plan (kitchen, dining and family room is one big open space). It is perfect! I am soooooo excited. Good size with room to grow our family. :) Here is it's current phase of construction:

 

And this is what it will end up looking like: (same color scheme as the model home, the floor plan is just reversed)