Harmony Reserve Vs Greystone Estates (Cary, Weldon: houses, neighborhoods, buying)

[crifever]

HAPPY 4th Everyone!

We looked at the two Cary neighborhoods recently: Harmony Reserve by Pulte and Greystone Estates by MI Homes and are trying to decide on which route to pursue. Both seem to have what we need ~3500sqft for ~450k.

Would appreciate it if fellow forum members can shed some light on which one has better quality homes, longer term appreciation, resale value, etc

Also about schooling, we elementary school for Greystone is Mills Park and for Harmony Reserve its Turner Creek. Which one is better?

[Janecj]

Originally Posted by crifever

HAPPY 4th Everyone!

We looked at the two Cary neighborhoods recently: Harmony Reserve by Pulte and Greystone Estates by MI Homes and are trying to decide on which route to pursue. Both seem to have what we need ~3500sqft for ~450k.

Would appreciate it if fellow forum members can shed some light on which one has better quality homes, longer term appreciation, resale value, etc

Also about schooling, we elementary school for Greystone is Mills Park and for Harmony Reserve its Turner Creek. Which one is better?

I personally like Greystone better. Like the builder, the location and I think they are doing some pretty good incentives right now.

[VickiR]

M/I was giving 9% to 10% off base price last week. Actually, it was 6% to 7% off base price and another 3% in closing costs. Not sure what they are offering today.

Vicki

[crifever]

How do the schools compare? Mills Park and Turner Creek?

[des1rees]

Originally Posted by VickiR

M/I was giving 9% to 10% off base price last week. Actually, it was 6% to 7% off base price and another 3% in closing costs. Not sure what they are offering today.

Vicki

I think these promotions are not applicable for homes in the Greystone Estates section...just for Gables and the town homes.

D

[MikeNC29]

M/I Homes is an Energy Star builder and Pulte is not. M/I pays a premium to have an independent 3rd party inspect and test their homes and because of that their homes receive a 5% discount from Progress and a $.05/therm discount on their gas bill. The discounts and the fact you know you are getting an energy efficient home would be enough for me to go with M/I.

Mike

[des1rees]

Originally Posted by MikeNC29

M/I Homes is an Energy Star builder and Pulte is not. M/I pays a premium to have an independent 3rd party inspect and test their homes and because of that their homes receive a 5% discount from Progress and a $.05/therm discount on their gas bill. The discounts and the fact you know you are getting an energy efficient home would be enough for me to go with M/I.

Mike

I agree with Mike. Our first home was with M/I and we are now building another one at the Greystone Estates...their reputation, quality and our own personal experience definitely helped us decide. We had looked at the Harmony Reserve homes, did not really like the plans...and of course, Pulte has their open special reputation. Besides the prices for M/I are so much more reasonable. We had looked at the Orleans estate sections for Weldon Ridge, and any upgrades for them was very expensive, easily driving up the final cost of the house.

[mhuzzell]

I grew up on Turner Creek Road back when it was rural and beautiful. When I returned recently to visit family in the area, I was absolutely livid at the way it has been "developed". They tore down some beautiful forests to build those awful ticky-tacky houses, and the building runoff has irreparably damaged the wetlands and water systems downstream to the north of the development -- including a decades-long garden investment by one of the older residents, and most likely doing some damage to Jordan Lake, which is the eventual reservoir into which all the water on that side of the ridge flows.

FYI, there *used* to be a pair of bald eagles nesting in the marsh (right on the edge of the above-mentioned forest garden, what he calls his 'arboretum'), but goodness knows if they're still there after all that wanton destruction! Or what happened to the beavers or all the other swamp and marsh animals that lived down there... an ecologist report has said that the damage is beyond repair.

I would encourage absolutely everyone to refrain from buying houses in the 'Harmony' development. Then again, I don't know anything about the Greystone ones, so for all I know they have just as much blood on their hands.

[sls76]

Pulte may not be energy star, but as the former owner of a Pulte home in Cary (built in 2006) we had really low energy bills. As far as Pulte's reputation, I would personally worry about that more in the below $300k market than in the price range the OP is looking at. I don't think you can go wrong with either of those elementary schools. Personally I prefer the Harmony location, but that may just be because I knew that area better.