picking an Iris - advise?

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Old 05-28-2012, 07:42 AM
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My lovely wife and I purchased a spec Iris that had all the expansions. I would recommend getting as many expansions as they will allow. I don't know how many expansions they allow now. We love our big (huge) two car with Golf Cart garage, our bigger family room, bigger front bedroom, and larger Lanai.

My wife has allergies so we replaced the 'builder basic' carpet with hardwood in the Family Room, breakfast room, bedrooms and hallways. If we had it to do again I'd replace the tile in the kitchen with the hardwood flooring as well (we may still do so later on). If you want to do that it might be cheaper to have them install the lowest grade carpet and then have someone like Lumber liquidators (they did our floors and did a very nice job) install the hardwood. I think it is worth it not only because of the allergy issues (dust mites, mold, mildew, etc) but also because I don't particularly like carpet, it seems to get dirty pretty quickly and you really can't get it clean.

Take the upgrades on the refrigerator and dishwasher, epsecially the dishwasher. We have the 'standard' dishwasher it's okay but very noisy and doesn't clean as well as I'd like. Most likely that is on my wife's 'hit' list for replacement fairly soon.

if you're like us, we expect this to be the last home we live in, so we took the upgrades we could.
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Old 05-28-2012, 08:10 AM
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I bought the Whirlpool gold appliance package. What a mistake!!! Nothing but problems.
Not only in my house. I spoke to several neighbors and all have some kind of problems with the Whirlpool appliances. My problems were, damaged glass cook top on stove, controle panel on dishwasher, and numerous service calls on refrigerator. When I spoke with the repairman he said he has the least problems with LG. if I would have the opertunety again I would buy my own appliances.

The under counter lights are over priced. I bought the molding from the cabinet shop that installed the cabinets, and had a choice of moldings, and installed LED lights at a fraction of the cost.
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Old 05-28-2012, 03:37 PM
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I still have the dishwasher and micro that came with the house and they work fine.
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Old 05-28-2012, 03:54 PM
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Probably shouldn't tell U this. We started with an Iris and ended up with the Lily. After close look we liked the Lily better. A little larger living area in the Lily----we expanded the master by 2 ft. and the Lanai by 6 ft 4"---and added 2 ft. to the golf cart garage of our Lily. Thats all to the house & garage as far as size. The rest you can always change without too much problem. Corian in our kitchen---double rack closets----and the like is mostly personal taste. We are on the 7th hole of Fort Walton.
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Old 05-28-2012, 04:47 PM
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Anyone recall the credit $$ offered if you opt out?
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Old 05-28-2012, 06:04 PM
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You pay for your appliance packages I believe as part of your total cost of the house, so no credit if you opt out. It's just a matter of what package you order. I am not a particular fan of Whirlpool, so I did opt out of the washer and dryer. I am thinking of just ordering all the appliances myself but am wondering at the same time if it is really cost effective. Would I get a better deal thru the builder? I would much prefer Samsung or LG or Bosch... Is it true you must at least take the microwave? I had not heard that. I am confused
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Old 05-28-2012, 06:55 PM
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We opted out of all appliances but you must take the microwave because it is vented and they can't close unless it is complete.
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Old 05-28-2012, 06:57 PM
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And you didn't get any credit?
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Old 05-28-2012, 07:31 PM
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Appliances are not included I think. You pay for the package you choose and it gets rolled into the cost of the house. So no credit...but other than the micro, at least I know I can choose my own! Probably at a premium though
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Old 05-28-2012, 07:42 PM
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In reviewing the floor plans they all have: Refrigerator, Range, Microwave
Over Range, and Dishwasher included.

Washer dryer not.
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Old 05-28-2012, 07:59 PM
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I stand corrected! Just looked at my paperwork. I had an upgrade on my appliances which is where I messed up!! I would guess they would have to credit you the price of the base appliance package? Good observation !! Who knows if this is correct?
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Old 05-28-2012, 08:44 PM
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Yes, they credit you whatever is the basic package. I have no idea what that amount was.
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Old 05-29-2012, 04:35 PM
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We took the appliance package for our Iris only because we were told by others if something goes wrong you call the Warranty Dept and someone comes out right away to fix your appliance. If you buy your own appliances except for the microwave you would have to take out a warranty and that can cost up to $500 for a 3 to 5 yr period. If someone goes wrong then you have to wait for a tech to come out for a service call and that can take up to a week before anyone comes out. At least for the first year all appliances are covered by The Villages. We went out and bought a washer and dryer through Sears over the Memorial weekend. I must have mentioned on another post that we took out one of our windows in the nook and left in the slider and small window Someone mentioned not to do that but each person has their own opinion about something. I was browsing through the other models over the weekend to see if we could find similar models that did not have the window on the side of the house. I found two models like that and it looks fine. We also took out the 2 side windows in the master bedrooms as we needed wall space. The Begonia has only the two back windows and that also looks fine. I believe with all our upgrades in our Iris our taxes will be about $2500 a yr. Our friends own a Begonia and have similar upgrades like us. Their taxes are $2500. I like the idea of having that extra room off the laundry room. We plan on putting more cabinets in on the one wall and the other a computer desk in due time. We also had the Villages install pull ou shelves in our kitchen cabinets for tops and bottoms. We had the Villages move the dining room light over closer to the wall about 12 inches. I felt the table was sticking out in the pathway and chairs could be closer to the back wall. When they display the dining area with the table and chairs they pick out the biggest oversized set they can find. My husband added extra outlets throughout the house and a towel rack inside the toilet area.
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Old 05-29-2012, 05:24 PM
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I haven't had my design team meeting yet, but want to see what all the options are. I would prefer to purchase my own appliances, and by using an AmEx card, my manufacturer's warranty is doubled. I believe you sign up for this with AmEx, which I did some years ago. Not sure if I would have to
pay a service call, but I would guess not if it's still warranted! I want to have all my options in place before I make any decisions! I did state I wanted the blinds, but after reading so many posts, I may opt out of that one too! So many decisions! One thing I am certain about is to extend my garage and lanai, and take any bump outs I can! I am also changing the kitchen to add the wine rack and extra cabinet, and the small wall to the right of the sink. That will also afford the ability to add a cabinet over the counter. Does anyone know if pendant lights are an option?
Sorry about any misspellings! I lost my spellcheck option with the new format!
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Old 05-29-2012, 05:31 PM
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I'm thinking of opting out of the appliances also once I find out the credit applied, it should be $1500-2000, if so my wife and I would rather shop.

I think almost all manufacturers give a reasonable warrentee, but all I read online says the cost of extending same is not a good investment????

The pendant lights can be done later if they go in the spot as the current fixture.

Spell check works in the new format.
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