Some background:
I own 164 lots around a golf course called The Lakes At Sleepy Ridge. It is a beautiful course with a new clubhouse that rivals any in the State. Several years ago we were selling the lots at around $225/lot for .25-.30 of an acre. Then came the worst real estate collapse in the past 30 years.
We have lowered the prices of the lots and have put several under contract but the banks are pulling the financing for lot loans before our buyers can close. So the strategy has to change.
The Concept:
Create a ultra modern starter home with a green influence that can be priced at or around $250,000. Hope that the masses will pay the same amount for high style and green design as they will for a medicore starter home. So here is what we have done: These units are 2000 finished sq/feet with four bedrooms and two and a half baths. There is also a 1000 sq/ft unfinished basement. They are priced at $250,000. It will be the Ikea of homes. All furnished with cool Ikea interiors.
Love it or Hate it? As always be brutaly honest and let me know. Will this work in Utah? Will people ebrace the design in large numbers? Do you believe the style will bring people in? In this price range is the reality that no one cares and they just want the best bang for the dollar? Would you buy this home on the golf course at Sleepy Ridge? Post and let me know.
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11 comments:
As a realtor, I know the square footage and design for the price it's going to draw people with style in. Great idea. Smart concept. Exciting!
love it, do it!!
This is awesome Brandt. I've been waiting for someone to develop cool, affordable homes in Utah. If I only have to drive past one less annoying community of ugly starter homes you'll have done a great job.
The designs look great, and I predict you'll hit a home run with this. Well done.
Is the community gated? I know Utah is safe, but that would be a good selling point. Is there a park? skate park? basketball courts?(I have never seen a community that has a skatepark in it, why not be different) I think you could forfeit a couple lots and create fun for the entire family. You can buy pre-fab ramps that are weather proof for relatively cheap. The golf course is neat, but not all kids golf, and they can't golf without their parents. What about hiring a security guard who drives around the neighborhood with an orange flashing light, paid for by the association fee's ? My community in Vegas does it. It sounds basic, but it's a good feeling to see the security truck making his rounds. Just something to think about...I think you are on the right track.
You want brutality, here it comes. I think the homes are rather ugly. I think that if you are not careful they could easily become an eyesore and become the "something" homes. I don't believe the Utah mentality is prepared to take in a post-modern design. I don't think most people while imagining their first home imagine a post-modern design.
Sign us up! These look great!
Not sure how these designs can be placed in the same category as other "Post Modern" buildings, but I'm definitely a fan of seeing more contemporary homes being built in Utah. It saddens me at the fact that a large majority of that community would frown upon a contemporary movement. I would love to learn more about how these starter homes would qualify to have the word "green" printed on any marketing material.
If you want honesty, than all I can say is these are going to look cheap and ruin Sleepy Ridge. It doesn't fit with the original design of the course, and definitely doesn't fit with the current homes surrounding the course. Please, please don't do this to what could be a wonderful community!!
I think you should develop the Daybreak of UT county - 20% of the new homes bought in SL Co. are in Daybreak. Your designs, while cool, are too progressive for Utah - ahead of their time - There needs to be a UT County development that steps away from the blah, 'cookie cutter' nasty dirt colored homes, to a more vibrant 'eastern' looking home. No more stucco, no more brown...just clean, simple, vibrant, classy, quality homes that have character for under $250. UT needs forward thinkers like you - but I think these designs are ahead of the market.
I personally love these homes. My husband and I are currently looking to buy our first home and are very drawn to your idea. The location is awesome and the homes are gorgeous. I think that there are many of us in Utah ready and waiting for modern/green homes.
How many different plans will there be available to choose from? What are the "green" features? What are the basics of the house and what upgrades are available? I'd love to see more detailed information about this project soon.
I love the idea of more modern/contemporary homes in Utah as well. But Contemporary and track housing are hard for me to put in the same sentence. I think what makes contemporary/ uber modern homes so cool, is that they are each so different from all others . If you could sell off the lots and require the owners to build with a certain asthetic like many other communities in and out of Utah, but let each owwner come up with their own design, I think you would have something. I guess it is hard to do all that with for only $250,000. But it would be great to see a new look in Utah county, and I think you would get a ton of action on it, especially at that price point.
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