Lest anyone think this has become Ashley's site, I thought I'd chime in here with a few comments. So far, we've been really pleased with the way things are going. One thing that happened, though, is something worth warning other first-time home buyers about. I mentioned the "deck issue" earlier, and I thought I'd expand on this.

When we saw the Aspen show home, it had many upgrades that we loved. I remember seeing a list of upgrades on the show home, but I didn't happen to memorize it. :-) Being a walkout floor plan, the main floor is a good 10+ feet above ground level. There's a door in the kitchen which leads to the deck, and it seemed somehow illogical to have the deck be "optional", but it turns out it was! Not knowing this was my fault for not remembering the extras sheet on the show home, but here's what tricked me: when we were looking at our spec sheet (which detailed 400+ items in the house, what they were made of, exact measurements, etc.) I saw that the deck was listed, and it said "if required". Being a two story with a door going out into thin air, I thought a deck would certainly be "required". And since it was listed on our spec sheet, I thought it was part of the house package we were getting for the base price.

But as I learned later on, just because it was the ONLY option listed on the spec sheet, that didn't mean it was included. Apparently, if no deck was added as an option, they would reverse the door and put the handle on the outside, effectively making it a "dummy door". This all came as a bit of a shock to us when we realized that if we wanted a deck, it was an additional $2300! When I asked Bay West about why it was the only option on the spec sheet, the answer I received was that it was an error and shouldn't have been listed there. Fair enough, mistakes happen, but from a consumer's point of view it's a rude surprise when you have to shell out some serious cash for something you were expecting to be included!

Bottom line: when you're looking at a show home, make sure you understand what's an option and what's standard. When you get your spec sheet for the home, go over it in detail and ensure nothing on it is optional. Don't trust that your salesperson will know everything and tell you about it!