Virtual Walk Throughs and Crunching Numbers

While Mark crunched the numbers, we began to look at virtual tours online.  We looked for everything that we could possibly find out there.  First, we started with Ryan's official site.  We knew that the home for their virtual tour was the model and it would be outfitted with all the bells and whistles.  This is the same as watching one of those car adds that shows all of the fancy gadgets and leather seats and a low purchase price.  Then, the fast talking guy says that the price only applies to the factory model and what just made your mouth water was the luxury model.  That luxury price is no where near what we quoted in the ad.  Think again!  Well, the same applies here.  All of those stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, high end carpeting, and wood floors are all going to cost extra.  See your dealer for details, right?

Venice Model Home Tour

Venice Model Interactive Floor Plan

So, we looked elsewhere and we found good home walk-through videos thanks to the fine folks who upload videos to YouTube.

Interesting, but it did not really give us the feel for the home.  As Mark crunched the numbers, he told us that the nearest model was a little over an hour away.  Visiting a decorated model in person would have to wait.  In the meantime, we thought we would have to settle for the shaky cam realtor videos and the picture galleries from the official site.  This would have to suffice for now.

Then, Mark came back with the numbers and we were very, very pleasantly surprised.  This was more like it!  The numbers appeared to work.  It looked like we were going to get a great deal for our money and we would be very happy with the end product.  However, before we signed anything we wanted to look at a house in person.  It is one thing to look at videos on YouTube and virtual tours, but we needed to see it firsthand.  

Mark to the rescue again!  Traveling to that decorated model meant that it would have to wait until a weekend where we were free of commitments.  Between a full time mom, a full time working husband, and two active children it would be difficult to make that trip during anything but a weekend.  This is when Mark informed us that there were two Venice homes in a different community that were nearing completion.  He told us that he could get us into those homes to take a look around and get a feel for the house before we make any big decisions.  Great!