Can You Imagine It?
Our bigReflection’s Village project continues to move forward in Richfield. Today, we back filled one home and lumber is coming tomorrow to begin pounding nails at about noonish. The very last time we can tweak a project is the day before it begins the rough carpentry stage and , as with anyone who is seeking to do their best, we tweaked this one up to the very end. We were working on some final things today.
The 2 story home we are building at Reflection’s Village is our super-popular Dream 2000, also known as our “Rent Buster“. It is indeed a special home when it comes to a mix of low price($199,000 starting price including any $60,000 lot, located about anywhere in Southeast Wisconsin. After building this home so many times, I wanted to bring a fresh approach to the design by adding something new on every floor.
The basement has a nice walk-out patio door(not a part of the $199,000 price, as are many, many other options we are adding which bring this package up to about $379,000with a $115,000 lot) and we are adding a basement bedroom and bathroom along with a raised seating platform for the theatre area. We are adding transom windows above most of the second floor doors for passing sunlight through the upper floors. We are also adding a huge pantry expansion which will have a long 9 foot food prep counter in it, a sink, and even a small freezer in it. Lastly, we are adding a big side porch of about 11 by 20 feet which is covered by a trellis arrangement. We are installing devices to allow us to keep the patio doors open and not get bugs into the home AND keeps the air-conditioning IN the home as well.
When folks see the normal version of this Dream 2000(we have one in Milwaukee and one in Jackson), we commonly get surprised faces from the many details we have put into the home. The home does not look as inexpensive as you may first think. This past weekend, we had someone who wanted to see this home but wanted to first peek at one we had under constructionin Ixonia. I told them they could take a peek but that the drywall was just being finished. They seemed happy to take a peek perhaps thinking they could see past the bare drywall. After they saw the home, they were just not excited about the home. A few days later, they became convinced to meet one of our staffers at the finished version we had in Jackson. The effect(so I am told by that staffer) was dramatically different. They were so glad they took the time to See the finished version.
Taking this example into account, I was reminded of just how emmotionsneed to play the key role in any home purchase. I have said before that homes are usually sold in the first 30 seconds after someone first sees the home and the rest of the time before the actual contract is spent in justifying and hammering out the details. In my example, both homes were pretty much the same homes but one was not decorated or carpeted, the other was. We had taken a few neutral colors such as tans and browns and splashed these colors onto a few walls to accent the rooms. We had the doors in place and the wood flooring and cabinets installed. The home was not furnished but the impact that a few walls of color and the home beign ”finished” was more than you might imagine in delivering an emotional impact.
Most of us want to think we can judge a home by seeing how the home is layed out and how big the rooms are and don’t need the razzel-dazzel. Most shoppers think they can look at a floor plan and decide whether it is suitable for them. If you think you are the kind of person who can judge a home by just seeing a printed lay out or where the walls are, try it for yourself. You can start by seeing the floorplan of our Dream 2000 on our website. Then, go to our map and locate the Ixonia subdivision where we had last year’s Parade Of Homes. Try to see what impact these two homes(a ranch and a 2-story Rent Buster) have , then go to see for yourself these homes the slightly more finished stage(still no furnishings) in Jackson or Milwaukee. You might be surprised to see the big difference and may not even think these are the same homes. We are open this Thursday night from 6 to 8 and open this weekend from 12 to 4. Remember, this weekend is the last weekend for the MBA Spring Tour Of Homes. Get more detail at mbaonline.org and by clicking-on our homepage Spring Tour link.
Blessings,
Tom Hignite
