Wooooooooooot!!! I found the near perfect place, on a scale of 1 to 100 it is a 98. Only thing missing is a full bath and guest bedroom on the main level, but everything else is perfect. Not only is the feature list perfect so are the details that this builder has put into his product. Everything has a perfectly finished look to it, nothing appears "good enough" but instead it all comes across as "just right" which is amazing. The builder isn't one of the mass producers of houses like many in Northern Virginia and instead makes his spec homes appear to be custom. Even though we didn't choose the options, the builder chose extremely well... extremely well.
The house is first come first serve; so there are no bidding wars like we've been having here in Fairfax that had been driving me crazy for the last month of looking. We've told the builder we want it and we write the contract for it tomorrow, hopefully by tomorrow afternoon they'll have accepted the contract and we'll close sometime in May and be moved in by the start of June. The builder said there should be no problem in my getting the house. My realtor was amazed at how agreeable and easy to work with they were.
If you click on the picture above you follow the link to my gallery where I have MANY pictures of the house, 112 of them so far. Unfortunately my cable modem upload speeds here are dismal (hope I can actually get broadband out there at the new house) so all the pictures aren't uploaded as I'm writing this, but they should all be there in an hour or so.
A few details about the house are:
Georgian Style Colonial with brick front w/columned front portico
3200 square feet (finished) on above grade levels
(Will probably finish another 1000 sq. ft. in the basement in the future)
1/3 of an acre lot (roughly 100x150 feet)
Left side of lot is at creek with trees
Back side of lot is Senseny Road but has tall dirt birm, we'll plant trees this year
4 Bedrooms on 2nd floor
3 Full baths on 2nd floor
Laundry on 2nd floor
Hardwoods throughout all of main level and center of 2nd floor
Carpet in 4 bedrooms
Cermamic tile in all bathrooms and laundry
Living/Dining/Family/Morning/Kitchen on main level
Back covered porch
Black with blue/gold/silver/etc. vein granite countertops
Cherry (I think they are Cherry at least) 42" cabinets
Built-in desk and cabinets in morning room
Dual wall ovens
Perfectly flat (no elements) cooktop
Built-in microwave
Gas fireplace in family room
Wonderful front/back sets of steps up stairwell
Two story foyer
Wainscoting around formal rooms
Huge garage with work area space
Ceiling fans on back porch, family room, and master bedroom
Master bath has whirlpool jets, separate shower stall, sun lamps
Walk-in closets in all but guest bedroom
Guest bedroom has private full bath
Bedrooms 3 & 4 share a commode and tub and each have own sink/vanity
Basement is studded out but left unfinished for future movie and rec rooms
... so much more ...
There is soooooo much attention to detail it is amazing that this is NOT a custom home. I'm so excited and so very happy that all looks good for me to FINALLY have a house on the way. Yay, no more competing with people around Fairfax.
Oh! Forgot to say where it is... it is Winchester, VA. It is 35 miles from work and I expect the morning commute will take me between 45 minutes and an hour. It is 52 miles from where I currently live and takes a little less than an hour without traffic. There are mountains on both sides of Winchester though the eastern ones are more hills than mountains. The Shenandoah River is nearby as are several parks, Shenandoah National Forest and various trails.
The builder is Manning and Ross who has been building homes in the Northern Shenandoah Valley since 1992.