In the beginning...

Late in 2012, Cyndy and I decided that we'd had quite enough of jam-packed subdivision life.  We loved our home, but the tiny lot stressed us out.  So we began to look for a new home on a large piece of land (large to us city kids being at least an acre).  After looking hither tither and yon, we ended up finding the perfect lot a mere 7 minutes from the old home.  It's a development named The Pavilion, which was marketed at it's 2005 launch as exclusive luxo estates featuring $900,000+ homes.  The 64-acre package took shape back then: roads were paved, sidewalks and landscaping installed, streets named and posted, and 24 lots marked off.  However, no ground was broken before the bubble burst.  In the wake of the real estate meltdown, the development sat dormant until 2012, when a national homebuilder entered into a deal to build homes on 16 of the lots.  Local custom builders retained the other 8 lots.  So, when our search led us to The Pavilion, we began discussing the idea of building a custom home on one of these big beautiful lots.  After some back & forth, we received a quote from R. Morgan Homes for a fantastic farmhouse plan on Lot #3, a 1.74 acre parcel, that was eminently affordable and representing a terrific value.  We proceeded to sign a Letter of Intent in May, in order to secure the lot while we finalized the details of the plan.  We went under Residential Build Contract in early July.  Recently (early August), we banded a bunch of trees for saving...even though the mandatory tree save areas are enormous.  We love trees!
The attached pics are of the development, and I will be uploading additional images of the "raw" land.  In the weeks to come, I will post pics of the lot after clearing and grading, and of course, during actual construction.  Exciting times!!