This is the house we are thinking of buying..advice wanted.

[Galahad]

I had to go back and look at it! That same house would be less than $200k here in Houston!

Same here. Makes me glad I live here in the great corn flats. Looks like a great house though. Centex builds around here and I've only heard good things about them.

We just started looking at "snow bird" houses in FL and we're having a bit of sticker shock. The house we sold in the Tampa area 3 years ago for less than $200,000 recently sold for $380,000. Wow!

 

[tw1nsmom]

Actually, in the model we are getting you enter from the garage into the room off of the kitchen..it is a sort of mud room...It would be a transition area from the garage to the kitchen.

That was another bonus to us about the added room.

Then it sounds perfect to me!

 

[JayCT]

First of all let me say it is a beautiful home and I am sure you will be very happy with it. I do have a thing about open front entrances and the placement of the bedrooms though . Bedroom 2 must walk across an open foyer to get to the bathroom. I do not like that. Also, I agree about the need for a mud room. A good place to hang coats, leave shoes and boots, etc. The back room you are planning is great and may be even better than a mudroom though.

Having the powder room in the middle of the first floor may be a problem. Ask about insulating it to keep noise to a minimum. Same thing with the laundry room and upstairs baths. I hate that I can hear noise from the bathroom in the next room.

I would consider upgrading the hot water tank size. Not certain how big yours will be, but it rarely big enough even in custom homes. Also consider having pipes wrapped to reduce noise. Also am not crazy about solid vinyl windows. Look closely at them to see if they of good quality. I would also think about adding trim to the house. Crown molding and window trim are big around here, but seem to be less important out west. Best wishes on the new home and keep us informed onits progress. Jay

 

[FreshTressa]

Thanks Jay!!

Bedroom 2 is going to be an office...so DH and I would probably use the master bath to potty.

The room will be big enough to be a mudroom and craft room...I imagine it will wind up being a "catch-all" kind of room that is hidden from the rest of downstairs...you know, hurry and pick stuff up and toss it in that room before company comes over.

Good point about the bathroom being unsoundproof...it is not very private. That might be disturbing to guests.

I'm looking through other home plans. I'm having trouble finding anything else I like.

 

[ZachnElli]

This house looks very similar to the ones in our new neighborhood (closing is suppose to be Friday now). Our house is 600 sq ft bigger and 300K less!

 

[noodles]

Fresh Tressa,

Your moving up to our area. We live in Canyon Park too! I really like the house. I like the kitchen being open to the family room, and a craft area off the kitchen sounds really nice! Is the house in the Northshore School District?

Noodles

 

[FreshTressa]

By the time I get the extra two rooms, it will hit 3,400 square feet and be about 20k more (stupid lot premium).

And howdy neighbor!! Yes it is in the northshore school district...I have heard it is good.

The school looks crowded...lots of portable, but has higher test scores than our current school.

 

[noodles]

Northshore has great schools! I dont know how familiar you are with this area (not too far from Redmond) but if you have any questions just let me know!

 

[FreshTressa]

It is funny, I have lived here pretty much my whole life, and have even lived in Lynnwood...

But I Bothell is one area where I have NEVER really explored, except maybe country village.

It will be fun to get to know new restaurants and stuff...any recs?

The house won't be built until september...and I'm not completely sold on it..there are some others I like too.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I had to go back and look at it! That same house would be less than $200k here in Houston!

Now I'm totally depressed... We moved from Houston over 14 years ago. What's happened to the housing values in that time? I know they'd gone up in the couple years before we'd left and then gone down, but have no idea in the last 12 or so years.

 

[noodles]

The Maltby Cafe is over by you and they have the best breakfasts. I will have to think about what else is in the area!

 

[Mishetta]

I took the virtual tour (just love looking at homes) & I loved it. I especially like the kitchen granite countertop since it's the same that we have! It was interesting seeing that countertop with those cabinets since we have white cabinets.

Overall, I just love the house. You're doing a great thing getting opinions because sometimes there are things that you don't think of. If something can be changed, then do it if it's something you can't do later on. Housing prices seem to be about comparable to the Detroit area suburbs.

Good luck! Building a new home can be very exciting, as well as very stressful. Also, keep checking on the house as it's being built. (No matter where you end up building.) There were several 'mistakes' that I stopped by coming over every day while the workers were here.

 

[binny]

Good golly little Maple Grove has really grown up hasnt it?

My best friend lived there when I was in HS.



Every time I go back Im amazed at the difference. My brother is in Fall City and that even amazes me.

Oh well.


Am I the only who cant the link to work to go directly to the house? Can you tell me the name of the plan? I really want to see LOL

 

[Nicolepa]

ROFL...that house is in the CHEAP area!!!

That house in my current neighborhood would be close to a million.


Most of the things people pointed out are there....

1) I think I'd like an upstairs washer. I spend most of my time in the office, which will be one of the upstairs bedrooms. Right now it is in my garage and I am up down up down carrying clothes. The upstairs laundry. I see what you mean if you spent more time downstairs though. Good idea about installing a drain.

Are you sure it would only be a million. LOL! I'm on the Sammamish Plateau and the house 2 blocks away just went up for 1.6 million. (We live on the "poor" side of the street, relatively speeking of course!)

As for the laundry room. I LOVE having mine upstairs. I'm pretty sure the drain is needed to meet code. We have the only floor plan w/an upstairs laundry and everyone is jealous. They love the fact that I can have piles of laundry and still entertain and no one would know. Plus there is no dragging loads of laundry up/down the stairs all day.

 

[FreshTressa]

Yah...we live in Bridle Trails....it is a pretty pricy area.

And the name of the plan is "the Remington" lol.

My DH keeps making fun of the name of the city, calling it "Brothell"

 

[golfgal]

The first thing that turned me off was "Centex". Maybe they are better where you are but in our area, Centex is a build them as fast as you can type builder. Their quality just isn't there for what you pay for the houses. We looked at some Centex models in the town we are moving to and the first thing I noticed about them is that their garages are REALLY small. Even the 3 car option is small, the garage door openings were low, too. so if you have a taller SUV, it would just barely clear the bottom of the door.

We were talking with the rep in the model and were asking about making changes and everything I asked about couldn't be done OR it would cost a HUGE amount of money-I wanted to have a full wall vs a half wall in one room-it would have cost $10,000 for about 4 more sheets of sheetrock.

Another thing I noticed was that the stairways and doorways are really narrow (at least in the ones we looked at). I would give this careful consideration.

 

[KAMLEM]

Are these Centex homes manufactured homes??

 

[binny]

There it is! For some reason, last night all I was getting was the main Centex page.

Looks good, I love the Utility room!

 

[eyeoreismyhero]

Count me in on the sticker shock. You could have that home in my neighborhood for around $190,000 - $200,000.

As another poster stated Centex makes me a little leary. They built a community in the adjoining town and there were several lawsuits against them for shoddy construction. Things such as decks falling apart after 6 months. Drywall falling off the wall, leaky roofs, etc.... It's not suprising as fast as they built these homes (4-5 months).

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Now I'm totally depressed... We moved from Houston over 14 years ago. What's happened to the housing values in that time? I know they'd gone up in the couple years before we'd left and then gone down, but have no idea in the last 12 or so years.

Ours our increasing at a very low, albeit steady rate. Mine didn't increase at all the past two years, but before that I think it was 5%.

Plus that, Houston has always had one of the best housing markets in the US. That's why big corporations set up shop here. We have Exxon, Continental, etc. We did have Enron!