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Is there anyone out there who has experience with Stone Ridge or the local area Lennar homes (North Carolina)? We are considering buying a home there and would appreciate hearing anyone's opinions about the neighborhood, the builder, and the homes themselves. The price for the square footage seems almost too good to be true for new construction in North Raleigh...
Thanks
Heather
We looked at Thornrose in Wake Forest but ended up buying in the subdivision next to it. (Dansforth by Centex.)
They seemed quite nice in Thornrose, though, but we found a house with the type of lot/floorplan we wanted at Dansforth. The prices are about the same in each subdivision when you compare like-to-like features. So my point is if you think Thornrose is good price per square foot then Dansforth and several others in that area could work for you, too.
We just bought a home in Stone Ridge and LOVE it. I live in a Centex home in the Dallas area now. It's nice...fine quality, but they are very adamant about what they will or won't do. We visited a few Centex s/ds in the Raleigh area (one very near Stone Ridge) but just couldn't live w/o simple things like drawers in the bathrooms (which they said they won't do, no matter how much we offer to pay them). They also wouldn't budge on the popcorn ceilings which drive me crazy in my current home.
Anyways, we saw literally dozens of subdivisions while we were there over a week, and we fell in love with Stone Ridge.
An interesting thing about Lennar is there big marketing tag which is TDH (tickled, delighted, happy). It sounds dumb, but this is the very first encounter where I felt that the site reps went to bat for my wife & I for something that was very important to her. She desperately wanted the floorplan to be a certain way (garage on a specific side) and a couple weeks after we signed the contract & our earnest $ was cashed she decided she couldn't live w/ it b/c it was opposite of what she wants. Long story short, the reps got a change approved by corporate to switch the direction for us. It may not seem like a big deal, but this was a HUGE deal to my wife and it went a long way in making me feel like the reps and corporate decision-makers actually listened and changed a pre-made decision because of our request.
Look up their marketing strategy w/ TDH...sounds funny, but I think they are more focused on service and customer satisfaction nowadays than some other builders.
Thank you for your input about Lennar and Stone Ridge. Right now we are just worried about the fact that apparently the neighborhood is surrounded by trailer parks. We are in love with the floorplan and the price and are wondering if it's too good to be true due to the location of Stone Ridge. For some reason the exact same floorplan is MUCH more expensive in other neighborhoods more towards Wake Forest. Should we worry about this? We are relocating from North Dakota but Raleigh is "home" - though we haven't lived in Raleigh for about 7 years.
Honestly, the trailer parks nearby made us think twice as well. But, it honestly doesn't concern me that much (and we have little ones). I've checked crime reports, and the zip code that includes this s/d has a lower crime rate than where we currently live (Dallas area suburbs) and seems to have a lower rate than most other zip codes in the Raleigh area. Granted, this pocket w/in the zip may be tough...I'm not sure. I would contact the Raleigh PD and get a crime report and see if you're comfortable w/ the latest data they have.
Another thought we have is that the trailer parks aren't going to be there for much longer probably. When the land is re-assessed, property values may prevent some of the residents from being able to afford their trailers. Now that is just a projection of mine not based on anything but my own experiences and guesses, but I thought I'd share.
I also love the proximity to Triangle Town Ctr -- great shopping & some good restaurants just a few mins away. I think one reason the property could be less expensive is that 540 recently connected to Buffaloe, so there wasn't a major road that way until a few months ago except for Buffaloe Rd. It also is a commute to RTP from a mileage standpoint, but it is going to take me MUCH less time to go 20 miles than it takes me to go 10 miles in Dallas-suburbia. Good luck w/ the decision...get all the facts you can to see if it makes sense for your family. And if you end up there, let me know and we'll see you at the pool
With most builders, every neighborhood is going to be different, depending on the salesperson and the builder. Now there are definately some companies that are better than others, but most people buy based on location and floorplan. So, if you find the ones that are right for you, walk the neighborhood and try to speak to people who already live there to get their personal experience.
Yes, I do realize that every neighborhood is different, and unfortunately, being that we live in North Dakota right now, I don't have the luxury of simply walking the neighborhoods to get a feeling about whether it's right for us, and that's mostly why I posted on this forum, in hopes of hearing from people who are actually there and getting their opinions just so I'll have a bit more to go on than what I see on the builder's webpage. (Of course they won't disclose all their faults! ha ha). We will be planning a house hunting trip so we can walk the neighborhoods but we are trying to narrow it down a bit before then. I think based on lots of information received from lots of people we are going to try to stick on the west side of Capital. I would still love to hear of anyone's opinions of Lennar and Stone Ridge if there's anyone out there. Thanks!!!
FYI, there was an article in the News & Oberserver here in Raleigh the other day regarding their large inventory. I am a realtor and amazingly, the next day one of the Lennar developments I have been watching for a buyer did a 25K price drop on many of their "stock" homes. You might want to check out this article and check to see if prices have changed. http://www.newsobserver.com/724/story/558261.html (broken link)
Homebuilder’s Profit Falls 73% in Slumping Housing Market
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI, March 27 (AP) — The Lennar Corporation, one of the nation’s largest home builders, said Tuesday that its quarterly profit fell 73 percent on continued softness in the housing market made worse by problems with subprime lenders.
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Yes, I do realize that every neighborhood is different, and unfortunately, being that we live in North Dakota right now, I don't have the luxury of simply walking the neighborhoods to get a feeling about whether it's right for us, and that's mostly why I posted on this forum, in hopes of hearing from people who are actually there and getting their opinions just so I'll have a bit more to go on than what I see on the builder's webpage. (Of course they won't disclose all their faults! ha ha). We will be planning a house hunting trip so we can walk the neighborhoods but we are trying to narrow it down a bit before then. I think based on lots of information received from lots of people we are going to try to stick on the west side of Capital. I would still love to hear of anyone's opinions of Lennar and Stone Ridge if there's anyone out there. Thanks!!!
Try calling the onsite agent and get some names and phone numbers of people who already live there. If they're doing a good job, they should have no problem speaking with some of the neighbors and asking them permission to either hand out their number or have you call them
I was very interested in the Stone Ridge subdivision. It was one of the first places we check out when we were there visiting. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I thought it was. The houses are great, but they are on extremely small lots, & for me I thought these huge houses just didn't look right on teeny-tiny lots. They were very close together and just didn't feel right. I also was nervous about the trailer parks on either side of it. That didn't give me warm fuzzies..Lennar builds a great house though, so I can totally see why you are interested, as I was. Just do as much research as you can, and I will say that nothing beats visiting...even if it's only for a few days. Because, that's how you will know in your gut if it's for you. I did very quickly just driving through the neighborhoods I was SURE were for me....NOT! Good luck to you all, and thanks for everyones advice! This forum is awesome!!!
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