Exterior Pictures of Kitts Creek in Morrisville (Cary: townhouse, buy)

[misswarmweather]

Has anyone been inside these homes? What are the kitchens like? Granite, etc? Bathrooms? All wood floors or carpet? Just curious. Also, how far realistically is this n'hood from d.t. Cary and d.t. Raleigh?

[Tracy_Santrock]

Originally Posted by misswarmweather

Has anyone been inside these homes? What are the kitchens like? Granite, etc? Bathrooms? All wood floors or carpet? Just curious. Also, how far realistically is this n'hood from d.t. Cary and d.t. Raleigh?

I have been in the homes for each of the sections that have been built.

This neighborhood is on the border of Morrisville/Cary and very close to the Airport. About 5-10m to the Airport and 15m from downtown Raleigh. I-540 goes right between this neighborhood and the K. Hovanian neighborhood next door. The lot sizes are small but a lot of folks find this attractive.

The builder Experience One bought out a favorite local builder Sunstar Homes many years back. Their trademark is open floor plans, tall cielings, and reasonable prices.

Upgrades are extra but granite countertops, hardwood floors, and other amenities are available. There are several sections to this neighborhood-Estate Homes, Cottages, Bungalows, Towhomes, ..........but not all are under construction. The Bungalows just became available for pre-sale in March and start at $330k.

Here is the link (broken link) for your reference.

[viggiaro]

Hi

I posted this some time ago to someone else on another thread. I read most of the replies in this thread and felt compeled to re-post here. I am NY'er relocating to RTP area for my job...so here goes....

After checking out every single development in the triangle, and I mean every one, we went back to Kittscreek and wrote a contract this past weekend (back in January).

I checked the Bulilders 100 list http://www.builderonline.com/content/builder100 (broken link) and went through all of them checking if they did the Southern States and hitting their websites for Cary and Morrisville, NC. I visited so many places that I should get an honorary brokers license. I am relo'ing down to RPT in August for my job. Family size is...Wife, 2 kids (twins 13yrs old) and a dog.

I originally said no to Kittscreek because the homesites appeared to be very close to each other. The house quality, standard features, and amenities cannot be beat by any other builder. The Neo Traditional styling was a bit new to us, but, in the end, we picked a beautiful Georgian Colonial. It was the lots that concerned us.

We looked everywhere, and in our price range, ~450K, all the builders lots were in the 8500-10000sqft range (1 acre is about 43,000 sqft, and not atainable if you want to be close to RTP). Walk through Providence Place, Weldon Ridge, Estates at Olde Carpenter, Harmony, Blackstone, etc... all are .25 - .3 acres. Same as Kittscreek.

Then there are the planes...and I mean PLANES OVERHEAD. We were going to do a contract with Toll Brothers for the Olde Carpenter Estates homes. We visited the models in Raliegh, and loved it. Dream home for my wife. Then we went to the site in Cary. They may as well have named the development "RDU Final Approach Blvd!" You could read the sidewalls on the tires of the landing gear (i am exaggerating, but, trust me not that much!)

Then there is Providence Place. We had a lot reserverd and plan all picked out. Nice homes, but again, planes overhead close enough and loud enough to make us think about spending all that money to hear and see planes all day. The houses were more expensive, but, that wasnt really the deciding factor. The 'makeup' of the community was also a concern. (when i cancelled the meeting with the sales guy telling him i went with Kittscreek, he was definetly annoyed).

Then there is Weldon Ridge...A few less plane, but still loud..and further away from RTP than Kittscreek. Prices were higher, homes are nice, but, further away. My wife will be driving one of my sons to pvt school in Raliegh, and the added distance from Weldon Ridge was another negative.

After it was all said and done, we went back to Kittscreek, a bit reluctantly becuase we wanted the Toll Brothers, Providence Place, or Weldon Ridge to really work for us. They didn't so we finally ruled them out in our minds. Once I sat down with the builders, not just the sales team (who are very professional and not pushy), and went through everything, I was more comfortable with the neo-traditional designs.. I also googled neo traditional on the web, and found lots of stuff that made me comfy as well. Belive me, there is NO builder who can sweet-talk me when it comes to spending my hard earned money. My concern was a resale concern. I was wrong. Resales are higher in these types of communities. Check it out for yourself. Go figure! DO the research. Google is a great tool. Spend the time. You will see some planes (i think someone posted a pic with a plane in the background) but, you will not hear them as much. Honestly. Spend 1 hour sitting in their parking lot. Then go to the other builders sites and do the same. Judge for yourself.

Kittscreek lot sizes are a drop smaller, but they just opened up a new section that I went to contract on. If you work with their sales team, they will bust their butts to get you a lot that will meet your needs. I am coming from .75 acres in NY, so nothing will ever replace that, but, we are happy with the lot (pick a corner lot, or a lot that backs up to a smaller home on a std lot, etc.. you can work it out).

If you usit down and work with the builders, you can get some customizations that are not part of the std upgrades (albeit you may have to pay for them, but the house prices are less expensive to start) that will make the home a 'home'.

We started our journey back in September '06. On Jan 21 '07 we wrote a contract. In the end, it was the smartest move..in all aspects...financial, quality, location, and networking (i am in technolgoy and there are more cisco, ibm, netapp, and other IT execs buying in kittscreek as well as many other professionals...just think if you want to make a job change..sit by the pool and start chatting with the person next to you..odds are they are your peers and you cant beat that with a stick!)

It worked for me, and I was the hardest sell. Typical synical NY'er. Just go into their sales office and ask them who was there hardest person to satisfy. They will tell you.

If it worked for me, trust me, it can work for you. We did the plan 8+. Keep an open mind and look at the financial aspects of the transaction. Keep it a business transaction. Take the emotion out of it. Once you do that, you will have a great house, on a nice lot, in a terrific neighborhood, with MONEY LEFT TO SPARE!

We will miss the deli's, pizza, italian food, sushi (although i did find a good sushi place in Raleigh.. An), chineese food, and bagels. Other than that, I think i can get used to good ole southern cooking.

(I am from NY, so if anyone wants to flame me..bring it on. I have been flamed by the best. Better yet, let all the internet tough guys who want to flame meet me at the pool in august. I just love meeting internet tough guys....usually about 5' and 135lbs..LOL )

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

No flame here! Great post! Lots of good info. Good luck with the closing!

[j1mmyRTP]

Great posts everyone!

My wife and I have been in the area for 5 years, renting apartments, and forever thinking about our 'Dream Home'. We looked at every community from Wake Forest to Fuquay-Varina; from Pittsboro to Creedmor. The futher out from RTP we got, bigger homes with bigger yards became available in our price range, but the commute would obviously get longer. We doubted that we were ever going to find that happy medium. Until we saw Kitts Creek! And, it wasn't a happy medium, it was exactly what we were looking for. The home are big, beautiful, and priced very well for everything that is included (Harwood, Granite, Marble, Berber/plush all standard). The community is friendly, and it offers a great opportunity for our 3 children to play with many other children their same age. Plus, its 3.5 miles from where I work - Huge Bonus!

The Martha Stewart homes are equally as close, but they just did not make us say 'WOW!' when we toured them. Kitts Creek has the WOW factor.

We're now building a Neo-Classical Village home that should be ready around the first of next year. I feel very lucky that my first home will be my dream home.

Thanks Kitts Creek!

[Petunia16]

I am SO excited to visit these houses in a few weeks!!! I am a HUGE Disney fan and I've been to Celebration and can see the similarities and love it (but really don't want to live in Florida). I was thrilled to see the other pictures showing fences in the back yards. Although, the fences aren't as cute as the house.

Can anyone tell me... do they offer a more "picket white fence" option? Black wrought iron isn't horrible, but when I think suburbia, I think white picket fence Someone mentioned that the fronts were cute, but the backs were not... like movie set facades. Very noticeable or slightly? We have a big dog and the thought of putting her on an electric fence is out of the question. I guess I could contact them directly, what a concept!

I'm very interested in speaking with the Kitts Creek builders to get a bigger lot... thanks so much for the info viggiaro. My husband will be telecommuting to LA for his programming job but we want to be near RTP, just in case he needs to get a new job. And the information on the resale value was great too, thank you.

I may post all our pictures from our scouting trip to Raleigh and start my own blog about our move, start to finish, if we do decide to move. I've been getting so many questions from friends and customers about moving to NC, it's amazing how much buzz there is here. People are starting to really want out of Southern California for so many reasons (800 sq ft houses selling for $500K might be an issue?). To see such beautiful, unusual looking homes with a low price tag (compared to socal or even parts of arizona or nevada) is such a breath of fresh air, even if they are close together, I'm sold! We are looking for a home and possible retail business location. (And possibly some rental properties, too) This is our first time out, I'm really hoping it's a great trip (unfortunately, we are coming smack-dab in the middle of July)!

I'm so glad I found this forum! So much great info AND pics! Thank you!!!!

[MrsSteel]

Petunia, we LOVE photos around here! They are one of the most helpful tools we have to offer. When you get home, definitely start up a new thread & post all of the pictures from your trip. Can't wait to see them!

[Mikeheel]

Kitts Creek is my favorite development in Morrisville. The houses look cool, IMO (other than the one that looks like a home for the Wicked Witch of the West; that one just cracks me up).

My wife and I looked there some months back when we were just starting to think about buying. An issue for me was that all the houses they were selling at the time have rear driveways and rear garages. I'm not sure if they have opened different options now, but I got the impression they were not going to. Anyway, for us, that killed most of the backyard, which we need for our dogs.

Jax & Ginger stay inside, but they are active and needed space to run. The lots are already small, and with the driveway eating half the backyard, we just couldn't make it work.

But, for folks for whom that is not an issue, I think Kitts Creek is great.

It sits just beside the Durham Co border (barely inside Wake). You are just a couple of minutes from I-40, RTP, or 540. The homes are reasonably nice inside, but not what I'd view as extraordinary. The noise from the planes is relatively minimal compared to other parts of Morrisville.

The school system should be excellent.

Mike

[blondsmurf]

My husband and I currently live in Morrisville in a townhouse and are looking to upgrade to a Kitts Creek home. We toured the models a few days ago and really like the unique style. In answer to a previous poster, the sales guy told us that the fences you see are the only ones allowed in the community, I assume to keep the exteriors somewhat similar.

I've read a few posts mentioning resale value for these new urbanism type homes. Can anyone lend your opinion? We've lived in this area for a year now and seen the growth in housing, but are concerned that with the small lot size/unique community they won't appreciate in value as much.

Thanks!

[Jeninfla1964]

That blue, lanendar, and yellow color scheme might seem "out there" to most of us, but that is a "new" Victorian style house and very fitting for the style. I think the entire neighborhood is great!