John Wieland Homes (Atlanta, Peachtree City, Fayetteville: new home, established neighborhood, buying)

[pomartini]

Is it worth buying a new home of his or an older one? The two areas we have considered in PTC have a new development and an older development. The elem. school in the new development is not "ranked" (about 5th on the list in comparison to Fayette County schools) as high as the older development but what I keep hearing is that his homes and developments are bound to bring a great ROI as well as bring positive influences to the schools in the catchment areas. Any thoughts? I obviously want to make the best investment.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by pomartini

Is it worth buying a new home of his or an older one?

We bought an older (built 1987) Wieland home in July 2005, and we love it! Both of us wanted to live in an established neighborhood with trees, and we liked the fact that the older houses were on larger .3-to-.5 acre wooded lots (many of the newer Wieland homes are absolutely wonderful but they get packed in like sardines with very few mature trees).

Of course, with older homes there are always potential issues (in our case, the home still has polybutylene water pipes in places, and the original siding used has some care issues so we need to keep it painted), and of course the roof and furnace are older, but it's been a wonderful place to live so far, and we love the neightborhood we're in as well.

[scgraham]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

We bought an older (built 1987) Wieland home in July 2005, and we love it! Both of us wanted to live in an established neighborhood with trees, and we liked the fact that the older houses were on larger .3-to-.5 acre wooded lots (many of the newer Wieland homes are absolutely wonderful but they get packed in like sardines with very few mature trees).

Of course, with older homes there are always potential issues (in our case, the home still has polybutylene water pipes in places, and the original siding used has some care issues so we need to keep it painted), and of course the roof and furnace are older, but it's been a wonderful place to live so far, and we love the neightborhood we're in as well.

When you open your coat-closet door, do you have the "John Wieland Logo"?

Seriously, there are concerns with polybutylene plumbing during those years. If the main pipe to the street hasn't burst, it is just a matter of time. Overall, however, JWH builds a solid home to be proud of.

The key to buying any new home is leveling the playing field to maximize your purchase. This entails having a firm grasp of the many pitfalls to avoid.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by pomartini

Is it worth buying a new home of his or an older one? The two areas we have considered in PTC have a new development and an older development. The elem. school in the new development is not "ranked" (about 5th on the list in comparison to Fayette County schools) as high as the older development but what I keep hearing is that his homes and developments are bound to bring a great ROI as well as bring positive influences to the schools in the catchment areas. Any thoughts? I obviously want to make the best investment.

Go with the home you like. All of the Peachtree City elementary schools are good. I wouldn't be wise to not purchase the home you like, based on a simple school ranking. I recommend visiting the elementary school (is it Peachtree City Elementary?) and seeing it for yourself. You will probably be happy with what you see.

Never judge schools by rankings alone.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by pomartini

Is it worth buying a new home of his or an older one? The two areas we have considered in PTC have a new development and an older development. The elem. school in the new development is not "ranked" (about 5th on the list in comparison to Fayette County schools) as high as the older development but what I keep hearing is that his homes and developments are bound to bring a great ROI as well as bring positive influences to the schools in the catchment areas. Any thoughts? I obviously want to make the best investment.

Moreover, they just redistricted all of the elementary schools in Fayette County (because they are opening two new elementary schools in the county). The new boundaries will go into effect during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. There will be major changes in the elementary school zones in Peachtree City.

Check out the Fayette County Schools website.

Fayette County Public Schools | Fayetteville, Georgia | Where Excellence Counts!

Go to the "School Information" heading, and then "School Boundary Maps."

[runnergrl]

John Wieland has always been my favorite in the Atlanta area. We have had friends that have had JW homes...plus we bought one that was about 8 yrs old. It is a nice product and the communities are nice too. Just make sure, you always chat with neighbors to address any concerns. His neighborhoods always age well too. Good, classic traditional home.

[Nightmare Home]

Be warned! I don't understand how Wieland deserves such a stellar reputation. We purchased a 8 year old Wieland home three years ago. We feel like we live in a 50yr+ old home. Since purchasing, we've had to replace most of the windows on the house at $10K+ (apparentely the entire neighborhood has had issues, and tried to file a class action suite awhile back), our garage door buckled and collapsed (also happened others in the n'hood), and our pipes running to the city sewage system need to be dug up and replaced, as they were not properly laid to begin with ($20K in sewage damage to our home and for replacing all the pipes). Our next door neighbors had the entire left had side of their home sink, and had to spend $10K to have deep reinforcements put in! When we called Wieland to discuss the faulty construction, we were treated rudely and basically told "too bad". . Wieland doesn't stand by their homes...and while you may have a good experience on the front end with a new home...be warned! You could be up to you eyeballs with faulty construction issues within the next decade.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Nightmare Home

Be warned! I don't understand how Wieland deserves such a stellar reputation.

Experiences apparently vary tremendously. See my comments above (which I'd forgotten I'd made earlier).

Your experience is one reason I tend to be fond of older homes and cars. I figure that I would much rather let someone else break expensive things in for me, and I can take them over once they've been proven worthy.

FWIW, though, I'm sorry you've had issues.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by scgraham

When you open your coat-closet door, do you have the "John Wieland Logo"?

Yup. Little brass plate. 1987.