Laurie and I recently purchased a property via Ryan Homes for a Winterbrook single-level model in Willowsford, VA. We looked for information over the web during the early days of decision-making and really didn't find all that much. So, I thought I'd create this blog to document our experience for the benefit of friends and other future home-buyers who are considering a Ryan home.
To start, we found the process of pricing out a lot and model to be very easy. There were ample model and partially constructed homes available to look at to see what we would be purchasing. The Ryan team was friendly, supportive, and patient.We looked at a similar home in a different neighborhood and that was really helpful.
For the neighborhood, we chose to build a home in the Willowsford development (http://www.willowsford.com/) We really loved the standards and spaciousness of the 4,000 acre development, which sports hiking trails, a campground, lots of wooded areas, and even it's own working farm! The amenities - two large pool complexes, a nicely outfitted exercise room, a lake for kayaking and more also really got our attention. We enjoy both road and mountain biking and the proximity to great rides in the country was also a factor.
Our biggest issue was lot size. We wanted to get a home with some space, but many of the lots available for main-level living homes were just too small. We have two awesome dogs and want them to have a back yard to run around in. Ultimately, we found a lot with Ryan that was barely acceptable from a lot size point of view, and had a nice common area in front as well as thick woods behind. So we were in.
Here's the lot:
And here it is with a little snow just before they started building, kinda nice, eh?
For the model, we really liked the Winterbrook for a few reasons, even though it's a little smaller than its big brother, the Somerset View. The great room/kitchen combination, with extension, dinette, and morning room, is large, has great character (not a box), and has plenty of windows. Since we see this as the area where we'll spend 90% of our non-sleeping time, this was important. The second reason is that the extra bedrooms are away from the Master bedroom, the second floor bonus bedroom/loft and full bath are also well separated from the Master, and the basement bedroom/full bath combination is also well separated from the rest of the house. This gives overnight guests plenty of privacy no where they stay. Overall, the Ryan home designs are all a little small, but we decided it would be fine.
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