Affordable housing

Pioneer Press Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:07:22 -0700
Spirit of Brandtjen Farms: Selling big homes in a shrinking market

The 15-year project, which broke ground in 2004, was supposed to give a $650 million boost to the local economy. It was supposed to build 2,100 homes and generate about 2,000 jobs. ... Finally, the builders adjusted. Cudd cut the floor space in one town home by 11 percent, dropped the 12-foot ceilings by two feet, and slashed the price by $100,000. Schmidt Construction dropped the price of a four-bedroom home by $60,000, to $474,000. Tradition even brought in new builders - and challenged them to redesign their houses for the brutal new market. One new builder was Hartman Homes of Hudson, Wis. At a meeting in October, the sales staff and home designers dissected Hartman's homes, piece by piece, to find the right features for the right price. "Buyers want three bedrooms, two stories and a three-car garage, maybe double-deep. They like high ceilings in the great room," Gergen said. He applauded Hartman's clever touches that weren't costly - such as the appliance pantry, or the river rock in a shower floor. He warned them against "creeping elegance." That's a tendency among builders to cram in luxury features that buyers won't pay for - such as heated floors in the basement of a $450,000 home. Don't underestimate the mudroom, Gergen said. "The mud room is the linchpin for the whole house," he said. "If that fails, the house fails." By listening to buyers, he said, builders can learn what trade-offs to make - such as slightly smaller rooms for a two-story fireplace in a great room. Hartman homes came with about $20,000 in extras, including wider trim, solid three-panel doors, a $2,600 appliance allowance and a cedar front porch. ... Instead of working with someone else's floor plan, the couple created their own. They shrank the size of some rooms, then saved $18,000 by choosing a cheaper lot - which allowed them to have a catwalk over the entryway, and a two-story stone fireplace in the great room.

[[keywords: LandUse;PropertyTax;Metro;]]