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| Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
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| PROSPECTIVE RESIDENTS VIEW FIRST MOUNTAIN HOUSE HOMES |
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A winding line of squirming children and hopeful homebuyers poured out of the first model homes in Mountain House on Saturday morning.
The opening was a preview for those who have been anxiously awaiting the homes in the new town west of Tracy. Thousands of people had filled out a home shopper registration form on the development’s Website, and those people were invited to see the Serenade series of homes this weekend.
Hundreds trooped through the halls and peered into bedrooms that still smelled of fresh paint. The foundations for the houses were poured just nine weeks ago, and interior designs were finished in two days.
Manteca residents Jennifer and Chris Hunt both work in Livermore and are looking to cut down the commute. Plus, they are already thinking about schools for their 6-month-old daughter, Taryn. The couple has been getting email updates about the development for months and is pretty sure it’s the right community for them, Jennifer Hunt said. The competition was obviously stiff, but they didn’t let it faze them.
“If we can do it, we can do it. If we can’t, we can’t,” Jennifer Hunt said.
To even be in the running to buy the first release of 19 homes, shoppers have to register before Wednesday and be present Saturday when the builder, Lennar Homes, randomly assigns a priority registration number, said director of sales Alison Herman. Anyone who is chosen has to be pre-qualified for a loan through a specific mortgage company, with no contingencies — like having to sell another home first. Buyers will have to produce a down payment of about $12,000 at that time.
Anyone who does not get the first houses or decides to pass because of a model preference will keep their place in the virtual line when the next set of Serenade homes is for sale, she said. The entire process will begin again for the other sets of homes.
Aimee Nunes of Manteca said she had hoped the strict financing requirements would weed out a lot of people, but from the looks of the crowd, that wasn’t the case.
The prices, which range from $339, 950 to $409,950 are pretty high, she said, but the move would cut her commute to the Bay Area in half.
“The reduced commute carries a heavy price tag,” she said.
Steve Parenti was one of the few house hunters without a small child in tow Saturday. He
said he lives in the Bay Area and was looking for a less crowded place to call home. He said
the homes will probably be a good investment, because the prices will go up as the community
fills in.
“For the money,” he said, “I think it’s a pretty good deal.”
The Mountain House homes come with the most popular upgrade included in the base price. The Everything Included® program puts a washer and dryer, refrigerator, Corian counters and maple cabinets in every home, Herman said. Nunes said that having all the appliances will help, because she plans to rent out her current home when she moves. The prices are a little high, but “it seems to be worth it,” she said.
The four models in the Serenade series of homes are three and four bedrooms in 1,800 to 2,380 square feet. Most of the models have a porch, two-car garage, a master suite with large bathroom and kitchens with appliances included.
The second set of houses available in a few weeks will be the Liberty homes. Liberty homes have three to five bedrooms, and two- and three-car garages. The four floor plans range from about 2,000 to 2,860 square feet.
The current development is all in Wicklund Village, which includes a range of housing varieties centered around a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school and five-acre park. Eight more neighborhoods will come along in the 2,500 acres master planned by developer Trimark Communities. Another 700 acres are planned for commercial development.
Other possibilities in the area include 750 acres of parkland, a marina into the Delta, golf course, library and town center. Right now, paved streets curve through blocks of imagined homes. The school is just a frame and dirt lots surround the scattered model homes in different stages of building. |
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