Stone Crest Subdivision in Madison (Oxford, Centre: fit in, foreclosure, condo)

[AKMom]

Can anyone give me any details about the Stone Crest Phase II subdivision in Madison? From what I can tell online it looks to have some fairly newer homes with new construction sprinkled in?

Some of the styles of the new construction didn't seem to "fit in" with the exitsting homes, but I could be wrong. It looked like there were some nice ranch homes and then bigger 2 story craftsman style homes (Adams Home) around? Which happens to be a house we like, but not interested if the neighborhood has huge variety house ages, styles and builders!

Thanks!

[LCTMadison]

Same builder (Adams Homes), he has been building that subdivision for several years. He has just introduced a newer two story product, where most of the existings were ranches (he did have a couple of two story plan prior, but mostly ranches were built). Building has slowed there somewhat over the last year, but this year it has quickly recovered, and lots are being snatched up and there are a ton under contract.
Right now the newer homes are selling at a much more accelerated pace than the existing, mainly because the resales are having to undercut the builder, which is hard to do. The only lots that are left there, that are not currently under contract or have a spec being built is against County Line Road, which are the least desirable lots.
There is also a two story foreclosure over there that I showed before it foreclosed, and it was in pretty good condition (it was vacant at the time, so I don't think the owner went in and trashed it before the official foreclosure).
We have a resale rancher under contract there, and that seller is actually building a bigger two story in the neighborhood, which speaks volumes about the neighborhood. They don't want to leave it, they just need a bigger home.

[Mawoods]

Another perspective - We like homes that are different. Shows more custom and not cookie cutter.
That is one reason I don't care for Woodand homes for example - they all look the same and not much individuality in the neighborhoods. I am sure they are nice enough but it is nice in our opinion to have different looks and personality in a neighborhood.

[MadHaus]

I have a relative who had a ranch-style house built in Stone Crest about two years ago. It's a great starter home and really could do very well for the long run with some eventual upgrades. Certain concessions were being given then that made the house more appealing than just six months earlier, but I understand that even more "options" are now standard.

The RE agents here can surely correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that Breland (or another builder) has also built some of the newer houses along with Adams. Either way, it's been nice to see that the reaction to the economy was not to drop the size and quality of the houses as has happened in some other neighborhoods.

Even though a resale would take a hit right now, I think that within two years values will have recovered. It's a very convenient location and I look forward to seeing the retail center near Publix rebound. We enjoy going to the Japanese restaurant nearby when we visit, and it's nice to have that Publix so handy, too.

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Mawoods

Another perspective - We like homes that are different. Shows more custom and not cookie cutter.
That is one reason I don't care for Woodand homes for example - they all look the same and not much individuality in the neighborhoods. I am sure they are nice enough but it is nice in our opinion to have different looks and personality in a neighborhood.

You may be right in other neighborhoods, but have you visited Stone Crest? Those two-story are so out-of-place in that tiny neighborhood. Giants and dwarves. Minimal and young landscape (due to newness) doesn't help the first impression either. But it's the 80x130 lots that kill it. A big (tall) house on a tiny lot is not architecturally pleasing to the eye. Multiply that few times in a tract S/D and it won't matter "custom or cookie cutter", it's not pretty.
Let me tell you my reaction: I drive around "hmm, pretty, nice, cozy" and then the 2-story just hits me in the face.

ANY S/D that was planned with a ruler and straight, parallel and perpendicular lines (rectangular lots) will apear cookie cutter even if they plop "custom" homes in there. Even the cookie-cutter have 5 models to choose from. I doubt that throwing 10 customs in a 50 cookie-cutter bunch will make any difference in terms of "individuality".

Just my 2 aesthetics cents.

P.S and crossed SCrest off my list too. I LOVE the floor plans (inside), and it suits my sqft needs best, but the curb appeal was a deal-killer for ME. And that ditch going through.

[AKMom]

Originally Posted by friday13

You may be right in other neighborhoods, but have you visited Stone Crest? Those two-story are so out-of-place in that tiny neighborhood. Giants and dwarves. Minimal and young landscape (due to newness) doesn't help the first impression either. But it's the 80x130 lots that kill it. A big (tall) house on a tiny lot is not architecturally pleasing to the eye. Multiply that few times in a tract S/D and it won't matter "custom or cookie cutter", it's not pretty.
Let me tell you my reaction: I drive around "hmm, pretty, nice, cozy" and then the 2-story just hits me in the face.

That is exactly what I was thinking! I don't mind so much if the bigger homes are sorta in one area of the subdivision, but when you have them plopped randomly around the neighborhood It seemed strange to me. That is what you try to avoid here in AK. Great established area with nice homes and then you have a few sprinkled in single wide mobile homes that have there own use car lot out front! I know its a completly different extreme, but I am big on the neighborhood looking cohesive, dont mind the cookie cutter, but single story ranchs with random 3000+ sq ft craftsmans style homes throughout seemed......odd. I want to fall in love with the neighborhood, as well as the home.
So far, I love the home and have concerns about the overall look of the neighborhood.

I am glad to hear that the neighborhood is thriving though! We are not crossing it off the list just yet, I know the best thing to do is to see it for ourselves! Only 2 more weeks and we get to do that! In the meantime, thanks for all your input!

Thanks all for your input!

[Elizabeth_G]

Originally Posted by MadHaus

I have a relative who had a ranch-style house built in Stone Crest about two years ago. It's a great starter home and really could do very well for the long run with some eventual upgrades. Certain concessions were being given then that made the house more appealing than just six months earlier, but I understand that even more "options" are now standard.

The RE agents here can surely correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that Breland (or another builder) has also built some of the newer houses along with Adams. Either way, it's been nice to see that the reaction to the economy was not to drop the size and quality of the houses as has happened in some other neighborhoods.

Even though a resale would take a hit right now, I think that within two years values will have recovered. It's a very convenient location and I look forward to seeing the retail center near Publix rebound. We enjoy going to the Japanese restaurant nearby when we visit, and it's nice to have that Publix so handy, too.

You are right! Breland has a couple of lots in Stonecrest that they are building on.

[Engineer64]

What are some starter home neighborhoods or ones that have homes under 175k?

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Engineer64

What are some starter home neighborhoods or ones that have homes under 175k?

Where? In Madison, they are the new cookie-cutter farthest from CRP (where the farmland was cheaper to aquire), Zierdt, County Line, these are cheaper because of the "assembly-line construction style", small lot, cheap material to come under the threshold for "starter home" (Colinwood Estates, Ashbury, some in Stone Crest, maybe Buckingham ) . OR the older (>20 yrs) and smaller closer to CRP (South of Madison Pike/East of Hughes=Stavemill, Crestview, along Mill Rd., Browns Ferry, Rickwood Village, north and South of Eastview/west of Slaughter); . These are cheaper because they're small 1500-1800 sft and oftentimes outdated. This is for SFH.

And there's of course the patio/condo type-with the exception of Madison Villas, and maybe Shamrock, the rest should fit the price range (Creekwood, Liberty Dr., Breckenridge, Madison Town Centre).



PS>> I assumed starter < $175k too. with a starter under $175k in Madison there's always something "wrong" with it: too far, too old, too small, in the flightpath, close to RR tracks. even the starter are more expensive in Madison than Hsv due to "ALL good schools" effect.

[LCTMadison]

In Madison? Probably the best selling right now are Stone Crest and Ashbury. Park Meadow is an established neighborhood that has homes under $175k, as is Windsor Park. There are also neighborhoods like Colinwood (off Gillespe), Oxford, Bradford Farms, Buckingham, and Homestead which are going to have (typically) brick ranchers and some two stories (esp. in Oxford). Then there are the older neighborhoods like Stavemill, Forrest Hill, Crestview Estates, ect. That is just some, there are more. Long Meadow Estates is also a "lesser known" neighborhood that is zoned into Madison City but is out in E Limestone and has nice homes in that price range.
That is just in Madison, I could spend hours on Monrovia, Harvest, E Limestone, ect ect.