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Located just west of Downtown Portland, Lennar’s newest community Quatama Park is now pre-selling new townhomes at pre-model pricing. Quatama Park offers prospective buyers two distinctive homes to choose from with prices starting from the $200,000’s.
“We are so excited for this new attached townhome community which plans to celebrate a grand opening this fall,” said Marketing Manager for Lennar Portland Sia Howe. “This community is a great opportunity to buy new in this area at a great price!”
With two distinctive floorplans to choose from, these homes range in size between approximately 1,407 to 1,572 square feet of living space. Quatama park is set in a great location near to Lexington Park, Sutherland Meadows Park and Seminole Park along the Bronson Park, offering a great opportunity for families to get outdoors. Additionally, Quatama Park is only two miles away from Beaverton Creek, where residents can enjoy some fun in the sun while the weather’s still warm.
Residence One is a three-story attached townhome that provides three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms atop approximately 1,572 square feet. Enter on the main floor to the one-bay garage or foyer and take the stairs to the second level where you’ll find the main living space. An open concept layout features the living room, dining room and kitchen with wraparound counter for added space seamlessly interconnecting. All three bedrooms are on the third story, where the master bedroom comes complete with a walk-in closet and private bathroom.
Residence Two is another three-story attached town home that provides two master bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms atop approximately 1,407 square feet. Enter through the foyer or one bay garage on the first level to the main living, open-concept space. On the third level are dual master suites.
Thanks to Lennar’s Everything’s Included® program, Quatama Park residents will enjoy upscale features at no added cost. Among these are hardwood flooring throughout the main living area, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances programmable thermostats, air conditioning, tankless water heaters and so much more.
For more information on this community or to sign up for the interest list visit Quatama Park online.
With hundreds of communities nationwide and homes designed for first-time, move-up and luxury homebuyers, Lennar has grown to become one of the nation’s leading and most respected homebuilders and proudly remains steadfast in their commitment toward quality, value and integrity. Lennar has a longstanding history of building exceptional homes in only the most well planned and desirable locations throughout the country.
School is back in session—busier days and most likely less hours to accomplish everything you’d hope to. Balancing a clean home and happy children can be difficult, but with a few back to school organization tips, it can help lift some stress off during the school year!
Before shoes pile up at the door and school supplies end up in different odds and ends of your home, learn 4 ways you can help stay organized this school year.
Homework station
Creating a homework station in your home, where your children can complete their homework and leave their school supplies, is a great way to stay organized for the year. By creating a designated place for their homework, it can help them not only complete their work, but also allows for their school work to (hopefully) stay in one place!
School lunch schedule/calendar
Consider putting together a lunch schedule each week for your kids. This lets you and your kids both know what the plan is for lunch each day, whether they will be buying lunch at school or taking food from home.
This will help cut out any of those “I forgot my lunch at home” days, that include you frantically trying to drop off lunch at school for your kids before work. If you’re looking for a little lunch inspiration, check out these no-sandwich lunch box ideas for your kids!
Download this free school lunch planner from Living Well Mom, to get a head start on your weekly lunch organization!
Source: Life as Mama
Backpack hooks
A mud room or entrance near the garage is a perfect place to hang up a few hooks for your children’s backpacks and create a home for your kids shoes. That way, as your children are heading out the door in the morning to catch their bus or ride to school, they can easily grab their backpack and shoes as they go. This will hopefully help create less of a mess in other areas of your home by keeping their school bags and shoes all in one place.
Via Just a Girl
Outfit Schedules
For some this could seem like a stretch, but it is definitely an idea worth trying in your home. Depending on the age of your kids, you may end up choosing their outfits for them or you might have your children choose their own wardrobe. Either way, take the time to prepare their outfits the night before each school day. This helps to eliminate them running late for school or trying to rummage through the dirty laundry to find something to wear.
Find out more back to school organization ideas on Pinterest!
If you’re a first time home buyer, you may be unsure if homeowners insurance is a necessity when buying a home or how much it costs. While you may not want to add onto your new home bill, it’s worth the extra expense when you realize all the future costs it can protect you from. Also, your mortgage lender is likely to require that your new home be insured. This recent Realtor.com article by Margaret Heidenry explains what factors go into the cost of your homeowners insurance.
Age and condition of your home
This includes everything from a house’s roof to its pipes, heating system, and electrical wiring. For instance, the lead and galvanized pipes found in older homes “result in higher premiums as they are more prone to cracks or leaks than the copper and plastic piping used in newer homes,” says Paul Boudreau, insurance broker at Rowat Insurance.
Price to rebuild per square foot
Since homeowners insurance claims often require rebuilding whatever part of your home succumbed to fire, flooding, or other disaster, most insurance policies factor in the price per square foot to rebuild in your area based on current construction rates. While the national average is $95.51 per square foot, the overall cost of policies can differ drastically.
It’s important for your agent to do a reconstruction cost estimate to ensure “the proper rating for building materials,” says Jason Pesch, owner of a local insurance agency in Scottsdale, AZ. While most policies pay replacement cost (the cost to rebuild a home), some pay only the depreciated current value for the whole house.
Probability of insurance claims in your area
“If your home is located in an area prone to tornadoes or forest fires, you’re going to have a higher premium due to a greater risk of damage,” says insurance expert Michael Senderovich. In other words, the more known risk there is to your home, the stiffer the premium.
For example, the annual cost of insuring a home in Louisiana is $1,722—the nation’s highest due to the claims filed after Hurricane Katrina. (The state with the lowest price: Idaho, averaging just $534.)
Since every standard policy excludes coverage for natural disasters like earthquake and flood, be sure to check with your agent to see if you need the extra coverage. Note that the cost of those add-ons could easily exceed the price of your homeowners policy.
Your credit score, age, and other personal info
You—yes you—also factor into how much you’ll ultimately pay in homeowners insurance. According to Erin Wenzel, account manager at Michigan’s Provision Insurance Group, everything from your credit score, marital status, age, level of education attained, and frequency of claims submitted on prior insurance policies will increase or decrease your rate. (Hint: A higher credit score and few or no claims usually result in a lower rate.)
[Read the full article here]
Has your outdoor decor been languishing from the summer heat? Well, get ready! Fall is just around the corner, and that means a whole new season for lounging on the porch. Cooler weather and changing leaves aren’t the only new arrivals for autumn—fall brings a slew of backyard designs that will make you extra excited for hot cider and nights around the fire pit.
The Rise of the Outdoor Couch
Get ready to kiss those hard benches and plastic chairs goodbye. Patio furniture is finally showing its softer side, and that means sofas and couches complete with plush pillows and cushions that are just perfect for lounging the day away with a good book. Sectionals are ideal, since they can be organized around a firepit or table to make outdoor socializing easier. Teak or concrete pieces with clean lines allow you to focus on the experience, without a ton of flourishes crowding your eyeline.
Kicking the Hose
Perhaps the one positive side effect of California’s water crisis is that it has made many of us more conscious about the amount we drain off the tap. That new water wisdom has instigated some important shifts in gardening: namely, it’s made succulents the plant du jour. Pint-sized succulent gardens pressed into rough-hewn wooden boxes are popular, and really capture the rustic Laurel Canyon flair so in favor at the moment. In warmer areas, they also make great companions to hardscaped walkways and patios. In colder climates, try hardier specimens like yucca, agave, and hens and chicks.
Via The Garden Glove
Pocket Bars
Nothing is more annoying than having to stop short in the middle of an engaging conversation so you can head back into the kitchen to refill your glass. Miniature pocket bars were created to solve this problem—without the space commitment of a full-sized outdoor bar. If you’re especially short on space, a fold-down murphy bar is a perfect solution—and it will keep your liquor collection protected in between cocktail hours.
Via Home Design Etc
Bohemian-Inspired Hammock Chairs
In the same vein as the outdoor couch, hanging hammock chairs have been popping up on porches everywhere this summer, giving outdoor spaces an easy, casual feel with an eccentric, hippie chic twist. In fact, some homeowners have taken this idea to the extreme and are hanging suspended day beds that offer serious comfort—and the potential to spend a night sleeping under the stars.
Via Trendir
Stenciled Flooring
Concrete is a hot material in flooring right now, and for good reason. It’s more sustainable than wood and has a certain industrial flavor that makes it feel super modern. Stencils and stains are the perfect way to personalize concrete floors—in particular, many homeowners are partial to looping floral patterns that give surfaces a cool Eastern feel. Diecast stencil cuts and broadcast color hardener can make the whole process a lot simpler than you’d think, too. In fact, you can even use the same technique on a wooden floor—it’s oh-so shabby-chic.
About the writer
Erin Vaughan is a blogger, gardener and aspiring homeowner. She currently resides in Austin, TX where she writes full time for Modernize.com, with the goal of empowering homeowners with the expert guidance and educational tools they need to take on big home projects with confidence.
Sacramento, Calif. – September 2016 – Take advantage of great savings now through Labor day at any of Lennar’s Greater Sacramento communities! With reduced prices at Lennar’s Carrington at WestPark, Summit View at Blackstone and Marisol at Fiddyment Farm communities, home shoppers have the chance to save this weekend with Lennar offering up to $30,000 off their quick move-in homes.*
“We are offering some great deals on beautiful homes this weekend only,” said Laura Kilgore, Director of Marketing. “Come on out and celebrate Labor Day with us for a chance to save some serious money on the home of your dreams!”
At Lennar’s Carrington at WestPark community, located in Roseville, The Brighton plan on homesite 46 offers a reduced price this weekend only! This spacious single story home offers approximately 2,658 square feet of living space that features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a den and a three bay garage for added storage space. With Lennar’s Labor Day weekend savings, this home is now priced at $475,000.
Set in El Dorado Hills, Summit View at Blackstone also offers great savings on dream homes this weekend only. Set in a luxury community, Plan 3415 gives plenty of living space with approximately 3,415 square feet atop a large homesite. This gorgeous two-story home includes four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a three-car tandem garage, a gorgeous California room, super spacious open great room, upstairs bonus room and huge master suite with retreat. For this weekend only, this home is priced at $692,437.
In Roseville, Marisol at Fiddyment Farm is also offering great savings. The Carlyle plan is a great family-friendly home that provides 3,105 square feet of living space that includes five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a loft and a three-bay garage. For this weekend, this home is priced at $521,386.
Every Lennar home comes filled with the features homebuyers want and need, all at no additional cost thanks to their Everything’s Included® program. Unlike other builders, homebuyers won’t have to pay extra for items such as granite or quartz countertops, stainless steel appliance packages, solar equipped homes and so much more.
For a full list of these communities and directions, please visit www.lennar.com/sacramento.
With hundreds of Communities nationwide and homes designed for first-time, move-up and luxury homebuyers, Lennar has grown to become one of the nation’s leading and most respected homebuilders. Lennar has a longstanding history of building homes of enduring quality in only the most well planned and desirable locations throughout the country.
*Offer available on select homes as determined by Lennar, for purchase agreements written by 9/5/16 and closing must occur no later than 9/30/16. Offers, incentives and seller contributions are subject to certain terms, conditions and restrictions, which may include the use of designated lenders and closing agents. Certain incentives could affect the loan amount. Offer good for a limited time only. Lennar reserves the right to change or withdraw any offer at any time. Price is subject to change without notice.
According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales increased in July up to the highest reading in over a decade. This recent Housing Wire article by Kelsey Ramírez, highlights the details of this report.
“The index in the West last month was the highest in over three years largely because of stronger labor market conditions,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.
“If homebuilding increases in the region to tame price growth and alleviate the ongoing affordability concerns, the healthy rate of job gains should support more sales,” Yun said.
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 1.3% to 111.3 in July, representing the second highest point this year. It is up from a downwardly revised 109.9 in June, and up 1.4% from last year’s 109.8.
An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be analyzed. Coincidentally, 2001 was the first of four consecutive record years for existing-home sales.
“Amidst tight inventory conditions that have lingered the entire summer, contract activity last month was able to pick up at least modestly in a majority of areas,” Yun said. “More home shoppers having success is good news for the housing market heading into the fall, but buyers still have few choices and little time before deciding to make an offer on a home available for sale.”
“There’s little doubt there’d be more sales activity right now if there were more affordable listings on the market,” he said.
Residential construction data shows that the size and costs of new homes moved downward over the past year, the report said. This is an early indication that homebuilders are beginning to shift away from building larger, more expensive homes in order to focus on properties in the middle and lower price ranges.
[Read the full article: Pending home sales hit second highest point in a decade]
Whether you have kids or not, it’s a good idea to consider the school districts in the area you are looking to move. Buying a home near a good school district can have a variety of benefits for both you and your home. While it doesn’t have to be your number one priority during the home buying process, it should still be an important factor to consider during your home search.
The Future
Think about your future—will you have kids? Is your new home going to be permanent or temporary? Is this a “starter” home or “forever” home? This can help you decide whether the school district will be a deciding factor in your home buying search.
If you are planning to have children someday, it’s important to think about what school districts are located near your soon-to-be home. When you do plan to have kids, you’ll be happy that you picked a home in a school district that helps ensure a good education for your kids. This also allows you to avoid the hassle of having to move again in order to find the right home in the right school district for your children to attend.
In order to find the right school district in your area, you can use online resources to help you during the decision process and narrow down your home search.
School finder & comparison websites:
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/
Better for resale
If the home that your buying is only temporary, whether it’s your “starter” home or you simply plan to move again in the near future, living near a good school could be a smart choice. Being located in a good school district may have an impact on the value of your home.
According to Trulia, “Homes in good school districts tend to sell faster than homes in lower-quality school districts. And during tougher economic times that trigger declines in home values, homes in better school districts usually hold their value more than homes in lower-quality school districts.”
It’s important to think about the resale value on your home, even before you make the purchase. You never know when you will be downsizing, upsizing, or will need to move for your job. Knowing that your home could have a better chance of selling in the future is one less worry down the road.
Protection from market’s ups and downs
With the housing market always fluctuating from year to year, it’s never certain how well your home will keep its value. Fortunately, choosing a home in a good school district might help protect you from the market’s ups and downs.
Fox Business says, “Markets turn faster and harder these days, as evidenced by the past credit and housing crisis and the recent upswing in sales. Buying in a strong school district can help protect your home’s value in a declining market. It’s basically more of a “safer bet.”
Buying in a good school district might be a “risk” you should be willing to take, especially with the continually changing housing market. It’s important to consider how much school districts affect real estate prices. While you could end up paying more initially, it might pay off more than you think when it comes to selling your home.
Choose what makes sense for you
While there can be a variety of pros and cons to buying a home in a good school district, it ultimately comes down to what is most important to you and what matters most when buying your home. It’s important though, to think about other factors outside of just the home itself when making your decision. Keep in mind what your future looks like, and what plans you have as a homeowner.
Want to find out other important features you should consider when shopping for a new home?
Check out these recent articles on Lennar.com to help you narrow down your home buying search.
Neighborhood features to consider
Front yard features to consider
Simi Valley, Calif. – September 2016 – Lennar’s masterplanned community The Woodlands has two high-end neighborhoods of new homes offering spacious homes set in location just outside of Los Angeles. For a limited time, they are offering plantation shutters on their quick move-in homes in both the Silver Oak and Arbor Heights neighborhoods.
“We have seen so many families find their perfect fit in one of our homes at The Woodlands,” said Tara Conklin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Lennar Inland Los Angeles. “We’ve paired our most popular floorplans with this great location which has resulted in great value for all of our homebuyers.”
At Silver Oak, the Residence One plan is available as a quick move-in home. Priced starting from the low $800,000’s, this single-story home offers a great floorplan with fantastic design details. Enter in through the courtyard onto the porch, and walk in through the entry way into the main living area of the home — an open great room that effortlessly connects with the dining room and gourmet kitchen, wrapping around the back patio. The master bedroom also gives access to the back patio and includes a huge master bathroom with split vanities, a garden tub, separate shower, water closet and two walk-in closets with built-in shoe racks.
In total, this home provides approximately 2,535 square feet of living space. This single-story home includes three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and a two-bay garage. The kitchen comes with a huge central island for added storage space and great features at no added cost through Lennar’s Everything’s Included® program.
Arbor Heights has a few floorplans of move-in ready homes available. The Residence One, Three and Four plans provide both single- and two-story options for homebuyers. Priced starting from the low $700,000’s, these homes range in size between approximately 2,014 and 3,244 square feet of living space, up to five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Similar to the Silver Oak homes, you’ll find great design details within this neighborhood from mud rooms, large walk-in pantries, huge kitchen islands, supersized lofts, dual walk-in closets in the master bedrooms and so much more.
Thanks to Everything’s Included, residents at Lennar’s The Woodlands will enjoy slab granite kitchen countertops, stainless steel appliances, homes that are solar equipped, tankless water heaters and so much more.
A place to call home, The Woodlands is a great family-friendly community that pairs great homes with a location near various outdoor recreation opportunities. Within this masterplan, which spans approximately 1,595 acres, more than 90 percent is preserved as open space that connects to a future 5-acre passive neighborhood park with a playground, tot lot, volleyball courts, basketball court, plenty of open space with picnic facilities and shade structures throughout.
For more information on this community please visit http://www.lennar.com/new-homes/california/los-angeles/simi-valley/the-woodlands
With hundreds of communities nationwide and homes designed for first-time, move-up and luxury homebuyers, Lennar has grown to become one of the nation’s leading and most respected homebuilders and proudly remains steadfast in their commitment toward quality, value and integrity. Lennar has a longstanding history of building exceptional homes in only the most well planned and desirable locations throughout the country.
India Currents recently released an article identifying Lennar as a the premier choice for Indian foreign homebuyers. Lennar Corporation, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, is well positioned to meet the needs of international buyers as their real estate destination. Find out why foreign buyers are choosing Lennar homes in this recent Indian Currents article.
Since its founding in 1954, Lennar has proven to be an ideal option for foreign and American buyers alike, building and selling homes for hundreds of thousands of families. Known for their commitment to Quality, Value and Integrity, Lennar currently operates in nineteen states around the United States.
It is for this experience in homebuilding, and commitment to building excellent homes in thriving high-tech and high-finance cities, that Indians are flocking to Lennar homes. In cities like San Jose, California; Dallas/Forth Worth, Texas; or the DC Metro area in Virginia, with top-notch school districts and no shortage of easily accessible entertainment and activities, all the promises of the American Dream can be fulfilled.
Lennar’s ever-growing Indian home owner base is not exclusively people relocating for work, as a fair amount are newlyweds, whose India-based parents gift them a lovely home to begin marital life or individuals purchasing investment properties and an array of other reasons.
As Lennar continues to build luxurious, modern homes, ideally located in prime markets and school districts; Indians will continue to flock to those communities. Whether they are relocating from India to the US for work, newlyweds in search of a new first home or India-based individuals in search of the perfect investment property; it seems that there isn’t a better US-based developer more qualified to help them navigate the home-buying process than Lennar.
Visit www.lennar.com to see all that Lennar has to offer. You may also wish to check out www.lennarindia.com, to learn a bit more about Lennar’s commitment to real estate professionals seeking to work with Lennar.
[Read the full article here]
