Looking to build a house w Alabama Heritage builder. (Memphis: real estate, buying a home)

[aliska21]

Has anyone purchase the house with them or built one? How was your experience ?
There is also Stoneridge homes i think they owned by the same guy, anyone know price range and how well the houses are built?

[LCTMadison]

I have sold several AL Heritage Homes this year...clients both built and bought completed specs. They build a great house and are great to work with.
Stoneridge and AL Heritage are both Jim Wright....with AL Heritage he is in partnership with Colin Pearson (Pearson Homes).
Jim has gone from his traditional crawlspace plans this year to a slab on grade product. The product has sold better, as it costs less and is a better value for buyers. He is still putting some great amenities in them, but the standard carpet he uses is cheap (I would upgrade) and he does not put gutters on the house unless you put that in the contract. His lighting package allowance also is a pittance....you need to at least double it (he only guve $0.50 a square foot) or you will be paying for your lighting out of your pocket.
Over all, he builds a good house and has a very good reputation in the area.

Price ranges in Hermitage range in the mid $200k and up, Stoneridge is going to start in the mid $200k. Windstone will start in the high $200k.

[Pirat_cat]

Amen about the lighting allowance. We bought a house from them in October (started building in June I think). It has some small problems (like noticing the weather stripping on the back door sucks once it started to get cold) but overall we feel we got a good house and got a good deal on it too.

[Mawoods]

Just a question for real estate agents out there: How can gutters NOT be considered essential to a house? I can't believe they are extra!!

[tammie2]

Originally Posted by Mawoods

Just a question for real estate agents out there: How can gutters NOT be considered essential to a house? I can't believe they are extra!!

I don't understand how they are essential, honestly.

If you have a basement they would be necessary to keep the water away from the house causing basement leaks. But for this same reason they are detrimental in certain areas. I actually had mine removed from our house in TX because they were rotting the trim underneath them due to the humidity and they kept the ground next to the house too dry, they eventually would have caused a foundation issue. We had great overhangs that took care of walking in and out of the house, so that wasn't an issue.

So while I love my gutters, I don't see that they are essential in all areas, especially an area that has mainly slab homes.

[ionlife]

Do NOT BUY NEW HERE. BUYER BEWARE...

[Mistybader]

I have just bought an Alabama Heritage house in Hidden Lake which is connected to Hampton Ridge and when we moved in we immediately found a leak with 1 hour of unloading our stuff in the storage attack space. After talking to neighbors we have found out that everyone on our street and at least one on the street behind us and one on the street in front of us have had major roof problems. If you buy a pre-exsisiting ALabama Heritage house have the roofed looked at by a professional roofer and don't go on what the inspector says. Even if you buy a new house from them I would have the roof checked out before you close on it.

[jkratze1]

Originally Posted by tammie2

I don't understand how they are essential, honestly.

If you have a basement they would be necessary to keep the water away from the house causing basement leaks. But for this same reason they are detrimental in certain areas. I actually had mine removed from our house in TX because they were rotting the trim underneath them due to the humidity and they kept the ground next to the house too dry, they eventually would have caused a foundation issue. We had great overhangs that took care of walking in and out of the house, so that wasn't an issue.

So while I love my gutters, I don't see that they are essential in all areas, especially an area that has mainly slab homes.

Seems strange to me that they would not be standard on new builds. I agree with you about houses with basements should have gutters, but I lived in Memphis, TN for many years and gutters were always standard and they have slab homes there.

[tammie2]

Originally Posted by jkratze1

I lived in Memphis, TN for many years and gutters were always standard and they have slab homes there.

They become standard because people *think* they need them and think they should be standard. Seriously, if you are buying a home and builder A doesn't provide gutters and builder B says "build with us, we provide gutters" it furthers the notion that you need gutters and therefore the feeling that builder B is the right choice. Soon builder A catches on and BINGO, homes in that area come standard with gutters.

They are also nice for keeping rain off of your head as you walk out of your door and look nicer in a hard rain. Other than that, I see virtually no need in certain areas with certain types of homes-unless you are flood prone and the house wasn't graded properly, which is a different matter entirely and really has nothing to do with gutters other than as an after the fact cheap fix.

[djmaxwell]

Originally Posted by ionlife

Do NOT BUY NEW HERE. BUYER BEWARE...

We bought new here and are quite happy, as are a lot of people. You don't represent everybody, probably not even a small minority.