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They are building a brand new school INSIDE the brightleaf development on land donated by the master developers. I have checked out the GIS maps and "Durham Public Schools" already owns a piece of (currently wooded) property in-between Brightleaf and Sharron Rd. . The new school is also mentioned in a slideshow on the Durham Public School website as being open as soon as fall of 2008.
I think I read somewhere that the school in Brightleaf will be a magnet school, but I'm not sure if that was accurate. Regardless, we home school; so this is not quite as big a factor for us. Of course, we might not always home school, and school districts affect resale values. I still think this neighborhood will do very well.
We eliminated the Sierra late last night. It just wasn't worth 30-40k more than the other two to us.
So, we'll try to see a Maricopa and a Bel Aire tomorrow and make a decision at that point. Looks like we could be very happy with either.
The jump up to the Bel Aire seems pretty significant with the bonus upstairs, more walking room in the kitchen, bigger study w closet, and more wall space in the family room Have fun house shopping!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeheel
I think I read somewhere that the school in Brightleaf will be a magnet school, but I'm not sure if that was accurate. Regardless, we home school; so this is not quite as big a factor for us. Of course, we might not always home school, and school districts affect resale values. I still think this neighborhood will do very well.
We eliminated the Sierra late last night. It just wasn't worth 30-40k more than the other two to us.
So, we'll try to see a Maricopa and a Bel Aire tomorrow and make a decision at that point. Looks like we could be very happy with either.
We'd acutally make a few modifications to each plan. In the end, they both end up right at 4000 square feet (seems a lot larger than we originally targeted, but that seems to be where we end up).
With the Bel Aire - We'd extend the garage and the bonus room. This buys us storage room in the garage and a nice workout room / home theater in the bonus. We'd also had a full bath downstairs in case a parent ever had to move in with us (then, we'd convert the study to a bedroom). The other nice thing about the Bel Aire is that we could have a useful mudroom for the dogs.
With the Maricopa - We'd add the sunroom and additional decking, and we'd have a rec room put in over the family room. The rec room would give us the exercise room / home theater room in this plan, too. The garage already has an extended storage area.
Your point about wall space in the Bel Aire is very good and may end up being a key point for us. I'll have a better feel for it after we walk though one, though.
Thanks for taking the time to look at them and giving me some feedback. That was really nice and very helpful.
We'd acutally make a few modifications to each plan. In the end, they both end up right at 4000 square feet (seems a lot larger than we originally targeted, but that seems to be where we end up).
With the Bel Aire - We'd extend the garage and the bonus room. This buys us storage room in the garage and a nice workout room / home theater in the bonus. We'd also had a full bath downstairs in case a parent ever had to move in with us (then, we'd convert the study to a bedroom). The other nice thing about the Bel Aire is that we could have a useful mudroom for the dogs.
With the Maricopa - We'd add the sunroom and additional decking, and we'd have a rec room put in over the family room. The rec room would give us the exercise room / home theater room in this plan, too. The garage already has an extended storage area.
Your point about wall space in the Bel Aire is very good and may end up being a key point for us. I'll have a better feel for it after we walk though one, though.
Thanks for taking the time to look at them and giving me some feedback. That was really nice and very helpful.
Mike
My pleasure, let us know how the walkthrough goes \\
I miss having an extra full bath (we just went from 3 1/2 to 2 1/2) for when guests come. Our poor guests have to share with four boys
Oh and about the wall space in the family room...ours has really difficult walls - one is open, one has a huge fireplace, one has a staircase side, and one has three windows, and our furniture is sitting in weird spots 2 months after we moved in b/c we STILL can't figure out a decent way to arrange it and be able to put in the tv.
Great pics! We too are considering a purchase in this community. What would the commute to Duke be? We're arriving in Durham on Monday (from Los Angeles). Rented an apt. for the short term but I really liked this community while we were visiting. We look at the Drees home. Apparently they are also very energy efficient. Hardwoods and all of the other things you mentioned as well Good luck and let me know about the Duke commute if you have time!
The commute to Duke would not be bad. It should be 10 min to one side of campus and about 15-20 min to the hospital.
Drees also looks nice. The lots they have right now are about .20 acres. But they are also just now starting to put roads in for their next section, which should have lots that are .25 acres and will be directly across from the pool & tennis courts.
We decided this afternoon on the Bel Aire model with Shea. Looks like it will be a great house. We'll sign the contracts tomorrow.
We've never had a house built before, so this will be an interesting (hopefully mostly in a good way) experience.
So far, the only thing with Shea that has disappointed me is they will not negotiate their price if you don't have a realtor (they also don't negotiate the price if you have a realtor, but the realtor gets 2.5%). I had thought they'd be willing to negotiate at least 2% off the house if they didn't have to pay a buyers realtor. I'd be happier, and they'd come out ahead. But they won't do it.
So, my aunt (who is a licensed broker) is acting as our agent, and she directed that her 2.5% fee be credited back to us at closing. I had even explained in advance this would be our course if Shea didn't negotiate, but they still made me jump through the hoops.
They weren't in any way unprofessional or discourteous about it, so please don't get me wrong. I would have just preferred a simple reduction rather than having to have my aunt involved. Not everyone has that luxery.
Anyway, that will save me over 12k by the time all is said and done. Not bad, despite the extra hoops.
We are putting the deposit down on our lot and going with the Georgetown. We got a basement lot, which I didn't really want, but was a must do in order to be on the lake...oh well, should help with re-sale...at least that's what they say We didn't make it to the Shea homes because we really liked the lake area. Coming from LA the prices are so low to us, I just hope the house will be worth it if/when we try to unload it down the road.
We'll see!
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For what it is worth . . .
school
Have fun house shopping!
