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Designing for All Seasons: Creating Outdoor Spaces You Can Use Year-Round

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 14:56:48 GMT

When it comes to outdoor spaces, we often think of them as seasonal—perfect for summer barbecues, fall gatherings, or springtime relaxation. But what if you could create an outdoor retreat that’s comfortable and inviting no matter the time of year? Designing for all seasons ensures your outdoor space isn’t just a seasonal luxury but an area you can enjoy year-round.

Here are some essential tips for designing versatile outdoor spaces that are perfect in any weather:

1.Plan for Shelter and Shade
Creating an outdoor space that can be used year-round requires considering protection from the elements. For those hot summer days or chilly winter nights, incorporating shelters like pergolas, gazebos, or even retractable awnings ensures you're prepared. A simple covered patio or deck can shield you from rain or sun, extending the usability of your outdoor area.

2. Incorporate Heating and Cooling Options
Comfort is key in any outdoor space, and that means having solutions for both hot and cold weather. Here’s how you can do it:

Heating: For colder months, outdoor heaters, fire pits, and fireplaces are perfect for staying warm. They also add ambiance and provide a cozy atmosphere for gatherings.

Cooling: On those hot summer days, ceiling fans, misting systems, or portable coolers can help you stay cool and comfortable outdoors.

3. Choose Durable, Weather-Resistant Materials

When selecting furniture, structures, and flooring, durability is paramount. Choose materials that can withstand changing weather conditions:

Furniture : Opt for all-weather wicker, aluminum, or teak for a long-lasting finish that resists the elements.

Decking: Composite materials or pressure-treated wood are great choices for decks and patios since they’re resistant to moisture, sun damage, and rot.

4. Seamlessly Transition Between Indoor and Outdoor
The best outdoor spaces often feel like an extension of your home. Creating a seamless flow between your indoor and outdoor living areas will make the transition effortless. Using complementary design elements—such as similar color schemes, furniture styles, or flooring—creates a cohesive look that ties everything together.

5. Lighting for Ambiance and Functionality
Good lighting can make your outdoor space feel inviting and functional, no matter the time of day or year. Ambient lighting, such as string lights, lanterns, or landscape lighting, adds a cozy atmosphere to evening gatherings. Task lighting around outdoor kitchens, seating areas, or pathways ensures safety and usability, even after the sun sets.

6. Versatile Furniture and Accessories
In a space meant for year-round use, versatility is key. Choose furniture that’s adaptable to different seasons and activities:

Modular seating can be rearranged depending on the size of your group or the type of event.

Weather-resistant fabrics for cushions and pillows ensure they stay fresh and functional through varying weather conditions.

7. Year-Round Landscaping
The right landscaping will add beauty and interest throughout the seasons. While flowering plants and shrubs can create stunning color in spring and summer, be sure to include evergreen trees and shrubs that provide year-round greenery. Layering your garden with a mix of seasonal blooms, evergreen plants, and decorative grasses ensures that there’s always something to enjoy.

8. Plan for Year-Round Activities
Your outdoor space should be designed for all kinds of activities, whether it’s a warm weather get-together or a cozy winter evening by the fire. Plan areas for:

Fire features: Fire pits and fireplaces can create warmth and act as a gathering focal point during cooler months.

Shaded areas: Shade structures, like umbrellas or retractable awnings, allow you to relax outdoors when it’s hot without worrying about sun exposure.

Designing an outdoor space that can be used all year round is not only practical but can also enhance your home’s value and livability. By considering the right materials, incorporating seasonal elements, and thinking about how you'll use the space throughout the year, you can create a welcoming and functional area that’s always ready for your next outdoor adventure—no matter the season.

John Houston Homes: Building Dreams in Grandview, Texas

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 22:46:36 GMT

When it comes to finding the perfect home in Grandview, Texas, John Houston Homes stands out as a trusted name synonymous with quality, craftsmanship, and customer satisfaction. As a premier home builder in the area, we take pride in our commitment to creating exceptional living spaces tailored to meet the unique needs of every homeowner.

A Glimpse Into Grandview, Texas

Nestled in Johnson County, Grandview, Texas, is a charming and vibrant community known for its small-town appeal and welcoming atmosphere. With a population that values tradition and community spirit, Grandview offers the perfect blend of rural tranquility and modern convenience. Its highly rated schools, local shops, and annual events like the Antique Alley Texas festival make it an attractive destination for families and individuals looking to lay down roots.

Grandview’s proximity to larger cities like Fort Worth and Dallas allows residents to enjoy a peaceful lifestyle while still having easy access to urban amenities. Whether you’re drawn to the area’s rich history, scenic landscapes, or tight-knit community, Grandview is a place where you can truly feel at home.

A Variety of Floor Plans to Fit Your Lifestyle

At John Houston Homes, we understand that no two families are the same, which is why we offer a wide variety of thoughtfully designed floor plans. Whether you’re looking for a cozy starter home or a spacious retreat for your growing family, we have options to suit every lifestyle and preference. Each of our homes is built with meticulous attention to detail, ensuring not just a house but a place you’re proud to call home.

High-Quality Craftsmanship

Quality is at the heart of everything we do. Our team of experienced builders and designers is dedicated to delivering homes that exceed expectations. From the foundation to the finishing touches, every aspect of our construction process is executed with precision and care. This unwavering commitment to quality has earned us a reputation as the top builder of new homes in Grandview, Tx.

Personalized Service Every Step of the Way

Building a new home is a significant milestone, and we believe the process should be as seamless and enjoyable as possible. That’s why our team provides personalized service from start to finish. We work closely with you to understand your vision and preferences, ensuring your new home is a true reflection of your style and needs. From choosing the perfect floor plan to selecting finishes that match your taste, we’re with you every step of the way.

Why Choose John Houston Homes in Grandview?

Local Expertise: As a home builder rooted in Grandview, we understand the unique charm and character of the area. Our homes are designed to complement the community and provide a welcoming environment for families.
Customer Satisfaction: Your satisfaction is our priority. We’re dedicated to not just meeting but exceeding your expectations, ensuring you’re thrilled with your new home.
Commitment to Excellence: Our reputation as the top builder in Grandview is built on years of delivering outstanding homes and exceptional service.

When you choose John Houston Homes, you’re not just choosing a builder; you’re choosing a partner dedicated to making your dream home a reality. Let us help you find or build the perfect home in Grandview, Texas, where quality, craftsmanship, and community come together to create something truly special.

Discover Your Dream Home with John Houston Homes in Waco, TX

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 18:44:43 GMT

Customization, Quality, and No Construction Loan Needed

When it comes to purchasing a new home, the journey should be as exciting as the destination. At John Houston Homes in Waco, TX, we believe your home should reflect your unique personality and lifestyle. That’s why we’re committed to offering a seamless homebuying experience that combines the freedom of customization, high-quality construction, and the added convenience of not needing a construction loan.

Customize Your Dream Home

Buying a home is one of the most significant investments you’ll ever make, and it’s only natural to want it to be perfect. With John Houston Homes, you’re not limited to pre-designed floor plans and finishes.

Our design process allows you to:

Choose from a Variety of Floor Plans : Whether you need extra bedrooms, an open-concept kitchen, or a spacious office, our diverse selection of floor plans ensures you’ll find the perfect fit for your needs.
Personalize Finishes and Features : From cabinets and countertops to flooring and fixtures, our Design Studio provides an array of options to help you create a home that’s uniquely yours.
Incorporate Your Lifestyle : Need a mudroom for kids’ backpacks or a media room for movie nights? We’ll help tailor your home to match your lifestyle and preferences.

High-Quality Construction You Can Trust

We take pride in building homes that stand the test of time. At John Houston Homes, our commitment to quality craftsmanship ensures every detail of your home is constructed with care. From the foundation to the final coat of paint, we use premium materials and partner with experienced professionals to deliver a home you’ll be proud of for years to come. Our homes are designed with energy efficiency and durability in mind, providing you with long-term value and peace of mind.

No Construction Loan Required

One of the most stressful aspects of building a home can be the financing process. With John Houston Homes, there’s no need to secure a construction loan so you can focus on what matters most—bringing your dream home to life. This streamlined approach simplifies the process, saving you time and reducing upfront costs.

Waco: A Perfect Place to Grow Your Roots

Nestled in the heart of Texas, Waco offers a unique blend of small-town charm and modern amenities, making it an ideal place to settle down and build a future. Known for its friendly community, thriving local businesses, and excellent schools, Waco provides the perfect environment to grow your roots. Whether you're raising a family or looking to enjoy a vibrant lifestyle, Waco's welcoming atmosphere and abundant opportunities make it a great place to call home.

A Partner You Can Count On

From the moment you begin your journey with John Houston Homes, our team is here to guide you every step of the way. Whether it’s selecting the perfect lot, finalizing design details, or celebrating your move-in day, we’re dedicated to ensuring your experience is enjoyable and stress-free.

Start Your Journey Today

If you’re ready to build a home that’s tailored to your vision, crafted with care, and designed for your future, look no further than. Explore our communities, discover our floor plans, and take the first step toward a home that’s truly yours—with no construction loan required.

Visit our website or contact us today to learn more about how we can make your dream home a reality.

A Cozy Oasis in the Cold

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 20:25:18 GMT

Creating Your Perfect Outdoor Winter Area: A Cozy Oasis in the Cold

As the temperatures drop and snow blankets the ground, many people retreat indoors to escape the chill. But with the right planning and design, you can transform your outdoor space into a magical winter retreat. Whether you're entertaining friends or enjoying a quiet evening under the stars, a well-designed winter area can be the perfect spot to embrace the season. Here's how to build your dream outdoor winter oasis.

1. Incorporate Heat Sources

Staying warm is essential for enjoying your outdoor space in winter. Here are a few heating options to consider:

Fire Pits : A classic choice, fire pits create a central gathering point. Opt for gas-powered for convenience or wood-burning for a rustic feel.
Patio Heaters : Freestanding or mounted heaters are excellent for warming larger areas.
Outdoor Fireplaces : For a more permanent and luxurious touch, consider installing an outdoor fireplace.
Heated Flooring : Radiant heating beneath your patio can keep the ground warm and ice-free.

2. Add Comfortable Seating

Choose weather-resistant furniture with thick, plush cushions. Materials like teak, powder-coated aluminum, or all-weather wicker are ideal for winter. To keep things cozy:

Layer blankets made of fleece or wool.
Include outdoor throw pillows for additional comfort and color.

Arrange seating around your heat source to create an inviting space for conversation and relaxation.

3. Install Lighting for Ambiance

Winter evenings are long, so good lighting is crucial. Combine functional and decorative lighting to create a warm and inviting atmosphere:

String Lights : Draped across pergolas or trees, they add a festive touch.
Lanterns : Place battery-operated or candlelit lanterns around the space.
Path Lights : Illuminate walkways with solar or LED path lights for safety and style.
Uplighting : Highlight snow-covered trees or architectural features for a magical effect.

4. Embrace Winter Decor

Decorate your space to celebrate the season. Consider:

Evergreen garlands and wreaths.
Seasonal planters with pinecones, holly, and twinkling fairy lights.
Cozy accents like faux fur throws and rustic wood elements.

These touches add personality and help your outdoor area feel like an extension of your indoor decor.

5. Provide Weather Protection

To keep your winter retreat functional even in harsher weather, consider adding:

Pergolas with Drapes : Install weatherproof curtains to block wind.
Retractable Awnings : Protect against snow or rain while preserving an open feel.
Clear Vinyl Panels : Create a semi-enclosed space while maintaining visibility.

6. Entertain with Outdoor Amenities

Make your outdoor area a true winter haven with features designed for fun and relaxation:

Hot Tub : Nothing beats a soak in a steaming hot tub surrounded by snow.
Outdoor Bar : Stock it with mugs, a thermos of hot cocoa, and winter-themed mocktails.
Sound System : Play soft music or festive tunes to enhance the mood.

7. Keep Safety in Mind

Winter weather can make outdoor areas slippery and dangerous. Ensure your space is safe by:

Shoveling snow and applying ice melt regularly.
Using slip-resistant mats near walkways and seating areas.
Keeping electrical connections dry and weatherproof.

8. Capture the Moment

Finally, don't forget to savor the beauty of your outdoor winter area. Set up a camera to capture snowy evenings or invite friends and family over for memorable gatherings.

With thoughtful planning and the right elements, your outdoor space can be a magical winter retreat that you'll enjoy all season long. Whether you're sipping hot cocoa by the fire or stargazing from a cozy chair, your perfect outdoor winter area awaits!

Designing the Perfect Kitchen: Tips for Functionality and Style

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 23:00:01 GMT

Tips for Crafting a Functional and Stylish Kitchen in Your New Home

Building a new home is an exciting milestone, but settling in requires more than just unpacking boxes. One of the most important spaces to personalize is the kitchen—the heart of your home. Whether you love to cook, entertain, or simply spend time with family, your kitchen should balance both functionality and style. At John Houston Homes, we believe that a well-designed kitchen enhances your daily life. Here’s how to create a kitchen that works for you while reflecting your personal style.

1. Plan for Efficient Workflows

The kitchen is one of the busiest areas in your home, so its layout needs to be functional. A common tip for efficient kitchen design is following the "kitchen work triangle"—a design principle that ensures your stove, refrigerator, and sink are close to each other but not too close, allowing for seamless movement between these stations.

2. Choose Timeless Cabinetry

Cabinets are the foundation of your kitchen design and play a major role in its style. Opt for cabinetry that offers both durability and timeless appeal. Shaker-style cabinets, for example, have been a popular choice for their clean lines and versatility. Don’t forget to include deep drawers for pots and pans and tall cabinets for pantry storage.

3. Prioritize Smart Storage

No matter the size of your kitchen, effective storage solutions are essential to keeping clutter at bay. Use pull-out shelves, drawer organizers, and hidden cabinetry to maximize space. Consider installing a kitchen island with built-in storage or open shelving for easy access to frequently used items.

4. Incorporate High-Quality Countertops

Countertops not only set the tone for your kitchen’s aesthetics but also impact its functionality. Choose durable, low-maintenance materials like quartz or granite that can withstand daily wear and tear while adding elegance. You can also mix and match surfaces, such as a butcher block countertop on the island for added warmth and texture.

5. Invest in Good Lighting

Lighting plays a crucial role in both the ambiance and functionality of your kitchen. Task lighting under cabinets is essential for food prep, while pendant lights over the kitchen island add style and brightness. Dimmer switches can help you control the mood, from bright and functional during the day to soft and intimate in the evening.

6. Add Personal Touches for Style

Your kitchen should reflect your personality and lifestyle. Whether it's with a vibrant backsplash, a statement light fixture, or custom hardware, don’t shy away from adding elements that make the space uniquely yours. A pop of color or stylish bar stools can add both charm and comfort.

7. Think About Future Needs

While designing for current functionality is important, it’s also essential to think long-term. If you plan to grow your family, entertain more often, or even sell the home in the future, keep these needs in mind when making design decisions. A kitchen with flexible storage options, durable materials, and a neutral color palette is more likely to stand the test of time.

Conclusion

At John Houston Homes, we know that designing the perfect kitchen goes beyond aesthetics—it’s about creating a space that serves your everyday needs and aligns with your style. As you settle into your new home, take time to plan a kitchen that is both functional and beautiful, ensuring it becomes a place where memories are made for years to come.

Maximizing Garage Storage: Creative Solutions for a Clutter-Free Space

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:45:00 GMT

Innovative Ideas and Practical Tips for Organizing Every Corner

The garage is often one of the most underutilized spaces in a home, typically becoming a catch-all for everything from holiday decorations to sports equipment. As a home builder, John Houston Homes understands the importance of maximizing every inch of your home, including your garage. Here are some creative solutions to help you transform your garage into an organized, clutter-free space.

1. Assess and Declutter

Before you can maximize storage, it’s essential to evaluate what you have. Start by removing everything from the garage and sorting items into categories: keep, donate, and discard. This initial step not only gives you a clean slate but also helps you understand what storage solutions will work best for your needs.

2. Utilize Vertical Space

One of the best ways to maximize storage in your garage is to take advantage of vertical space. Consider these options:

Shelving Units: Install sturdy shelves along the walls to store boxes, tools, and other items. Adjustable shelving allows for customization as your storage needs change.
Pegboards: Hang pegboards on the walls to store tools, garden supplies, and small items. This keeps things visible and easily accessible.
Overhead Storage Racks: If you have high ceilings, consider adding overhead storage racks for seasonal items like holiday decorations or camping gear.

3. Invest in Storage Solutions

Investing in quality storage solutions can make a significant difference in how well you can organize your garage. Here are some popular options:

Storage Bins: Clear plastic bins allow you to see what’s inside while keeping items dust-free. Label each bin for easy identification.
Magnetic Strips: Use magnetic strips to hold tools and metal items. This not only saves space but also keeps your tools within arm’s reach.
Rolling Carts: A rolling cart can serve as a mobile workstation or storage for frequently used items, making it easy to move them wherever you need.

4. Create Zones

Organizing your garage into zones can help streamline your storage. Designate specific areas for different categories of items, such as:

Sports Equipment Zone: Use wall-mounted racks or bins to keep everything from bikes to balls organized.
Garden Tools Zone: Store shovels, rakes, and pots in one area, ideally close to the garage door for easy access.
Seasonal Storage Zone: Dedicate a section for seasonal items, using clear bins to keep everything sorted.

5. Incorporate Multi-Functional Furniture

Consider incorporating furniture that serves multiple purposes. For example, a sturdy workbench can provide a workspace while also offering storage underneath. This dual functionality helps keep the garage organized without sacrificing valuable space.

6. Optimize the Door Space

Don’t overlook the garage door! The inside of the garage door can be utilized for storage:

Door-Mounted Organizers: Use racks or organizers to store small tools, cleaning supplies, or even pet leashes. This keeps frequently used items at your fingertips.
Hooks for Bicycles: Install hooks on the door to hang bikes, freeing up floor space for other items.

7. Lighting and Accessibility

Good lighting is essential for any organized space. Ensure your garage is well-lit, making it easier to find and access items. Additionally, consider how accessible your storage solutions are—items you use frequently should be easy to reach, while less-used items can be stored higher up or further back.

8. Regular Maintenance

Finally, keep your garage organized with regular maintenance. Set a reminder to reassess your storage every few months. This helps ensure that your garage remains clutter-free and that you continue to make the most of your space.

Conclusion

Maximizing garage storage doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With a bit of planning, creativity, and the right storage solutions, you can transform your garage into a functional, organized space. At John Houston Homes, we believe that every part of your home should serve you well, and a well-organized garage can significantly enhance your daily life. Whether you’re a DIY enthusiast, a busy family, or simply looking to reclaim your space, these tips will help you achieve a clutter-free garage that meets your needs. Happy organizing!

Taking the Stress Out of Moving: Tips from a Home Builder

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 16:45:00 GMT

Practical Tips for Reducing Stress and Settling In with Ease

Moving into a new home is an exciting chapter in life, but it can also be one of the most stressful experiences. From packing up your old space to settling into a new one, the process can feel overwhelming. As a home builder, we’ve seen countless families navigate this journey, and we’ve compiled some effective strategies to help you take the stress out of moving.

1. Plan Ahead

One of the best ways to reduce stress is to start planning well in advance. Create a timeline that outlines key tasks, such as:

Decluttering: Go through each room and decide what to keep, donate, or toss. This not only lightens your load but also makes unpacking easier.
Packing: Start packing non-essential items weeks before the move. Label boxes clearly so you know where everything is when you arrive at your new home.

2. Hire Professionals

If your budget allows, consider hiring professional movers. They can handle the heavy lifting and logistics, allowing you to focus on other important tasks. Do your research, read reviews, and get multiple quotes to find a reliable service that fits your needs.

3. Create a Moving Binder

Stay organized by creating a moving binder. Include important documents, contact information for utility companies, moving checklists, and any contracts related to your new home. This centralized resource will help you stay on top of everything during the transition.

4. Keep Essentials Accessible

Pack a “first-night” box that includes everything you’ll need immediately upon arrival at your new home: toiletries, a change of clothes, basic kitchen supplies, and important documents. This will make your first night more comfortable and reduce the urge to dig through countless boxes.

5. Get the Kids Involved

Moving can be particularly tough on kids. Involve them in the process by giving them age-appropriate tasks, such as packing their own belongings or decorating their new room. This helps them feel included and can make the transition easier.

6. Change Your Address Early

Don’t wait until the last minute to change your address. Notify the post office, your bank, and other important contacts well in advance. This will help ensure that your mail is forwarded without interruption and that you don’t miss any important correspondence.

7. Take Breaks and Stay Positive

Moving can be physically and emotionally draining. Schedule regular breaks to recharge, and don’t forget to celebrate small victories along the way. Whether it’s finishing a room or getting everything loaded onto the moving truck, taking a moment to acknowledge your progress can keep morale high.

8. Explore Your New Neighborhood

Once you’ve settled in, take some time to explore your new community. Familiarize yourself with local shops, parks, and schools. This will help you feel more at home and can ease any anxiety about the transition.

9. Ask for Help

Don’t hesitate to lean on friends and family for support. Whether it’s packing, babysitting, or providing emotional encouragement, having a support system can make a world of difference.

10. Trust the Process

Lastly, remember that it’s normal to feel a mix of excitement and anxiety during a move. Trust the process and give yourself time to adjust. Your new home is a blank canvas, and soon enough, it will be filled with your unique touches and memories.

Conclusion

Moving doesn’t have to be a stressful experience. By planning ahead, staying organized, and seeking support, you can make the transition to your new home a smooth and enjoyable one. As home builders, we understand that a home is more than just a structure; it’s a place where memories are made. Embrace this exciting new chapter, and before you know it, you’ll feel right at home!

Essential Fall Home Maintenance Tips: Get Ready for Cooler Weather

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:45:00 GMT

Fall home maintenance in Texas

As the summer heat gives way to cooler temperatures, fall is the perfect time to prep your Texas home for the upcoming season. While winters in Texas may not be as harsh as in other parts of the country, the state's unpredictable weather patterns mean it's important to get your home ready for whatever fall and winter may bring. Below are some essential fall home maintenance tips to help you prepare your home and keep it in great shape during the cooler months.

1. Inspect Your Roof and Gutters

Texas may not experience heavy snowfall, but autumn storms and wind can still take a toll on your roof. Make sure to:

Check for missing or damaged shingles: If any are found, have them repaired to prevent leaks.
Clean the gutters: Falling leaves can clog gutters, leading to water buildup and potential roof damage. After clearing debris, ensure that downspouts are directing water away from your home’s foundation.
Look for signs of roof wear and tear: Cracks or sagging could be early warning signs of larger problems. If you're unsure about your roof’s condition, consider hiring a professional for a detailed inspection.

2. Seal Windows and Doors

With fluctuating fall temperatures, energy efficiency becomes crucial for comfort and cost savings.

Check for drafts: Gaps around windows and doors can let in cold air and let out heat, making your heating system work harder. Use weatherstripping or caulk to seal any cracks or gaps.
Install or replace door sweeps: This is an easy fix to block drafts from entering under doors.
Consider upgrading windows: If your home still has single-pane windows, it might be time to upgrade to more energy-efficient, double-pane models to keep the cold air out and the warm air in.

3. HVAC Maintenance

While Texas isn’t known for brutal winters, the weather can cool down enough to make heating essential. Fall is the ideal time to ensure your HVAC system is working efficiently.

Replace air filters: Clogged filters can reduce your system's efficiency, forcing it to work harder and increasing energy bills.
Schedule a professional HVAC tune-up: A professional can inspect your heating system for any potential issues, ensuring it’s ready for the cooler months ahead.
Test your thermostat: Make sure it’s working properly and set to your desired temperature for fall. Consider upgrading to a programmable thermostat to manage energy use efficiently.

4. Prepare Your Lawn and Garden

Fall is an excellent time to give your yard some attention before winter sets in.

Rake leaves regularly: Leaving fallen leaves on your lawn can suffocate the grass and encourage mold growth. Rake them up or use a leaf blower to keep your yard healthy.
Aerate your lawn: Aeration loosens up compacted soil and allows water and nutrients to reach the roots, preparing your grass for the cooler season.
Trim trees and shrubs: Overgrown branches can become hazardous in high winds. Trim any limbs that are too close to your home or power lines to prevent damage during storms.

5. Prepare Outdoor Plumbing

Texas is known for sudden cold snaps, so it’s best to protect outdoor plumbing early.

Disconnect and drain garden hoses: Leaving hoses connected during cold weather can cause water to freeze and back up into your pipes, potentially leading to costly damage.
Shut off outdoor faucets: If possible, shut off the water supply to outdoor faucets and cover them with insulated faucet covers to prevent freezing.
Winterize your sprinkler system: If your home has an automatic sprinkler system, make sure to winterize it before the first freeze. This can prevent costly repairs in the spring.

6. Test Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

As you prepare your home for fall, safety should always be a priority.

Check batteries: Ensure all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have fresh batteries. Test them to make sure they’re functioning correctly.
Replace old units: If your detectors are more than 10 years old, replace them to ensure they are effective in case of an emergency.

Conclusion

Fall in Texas is a time of transition, making it the perfect season to tackle home maintenance tasks before colder weather arrives. With these essential tips, you can ensure that your home stays cozy, energy-efficient, and well-protected all season long. By staying proactive, you’ll avoid potential issues and keep your home in top condition no matter what the Texas weather brings.

Cost Factors in New Home Construction

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 19:16:06 GMT

Navigate the financial landscape and ensure your dream home aligns with your vision and budget.

Building your dream home is an exciting journey, but it can also come with its fair share of questions—especially when it comes to costs. Whether you're a first-time buyer or looking to upgrade, navigating the landscape of new home construction can feel overwhelming. Luckily, with John Houston Homes, a trusted home builder in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you're in good hands. Known for our commitment to quality craftsmanship and customer satisfaction, John Houston Homes makes the process seamless, transparent, and tailored to you.

In this blog, we’ll break down what you can expect in terms of construction costs and why partnering with a reputable builder like John Houston Homes is a smart investment for your future. Let’s dive in!

Price Factors to Consider in Building a New Home

When it comes to building a new home in Texas, understanding the various price factors is crucial for making informed decisions. From land costs and materials to labor and design choices, each element can significantly influence your overall budget.

Texas boasts a diverse range of home styles and building practices, which can lead to varying expenses depending on the location and type of construction. Additionally, factors such as local building codes, permits, and the current market trends play a vital role in determining your final costs. By carefully considering these aspects, you can better navigate the financial landscape and ensure your dream home aligns with your vision and budget.

Find our guide to a new construction home in the Dallas Fort Worth area here .

Dallas Fort Worth New Construction Houses: Size & Design Considerations

The size of your home is undoubtedly going to impact its cost. Larger homes require more materials and labor, which will lead to a higher price. Complex designs are also a major factor, with unique architectural features and custom layouts incurring additional planning and construction requirements.

Going with a simpler design and a standard floor plan will help you stick to your budget more effectively. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to compromise on enjoying a beautiful, functional space. The wide range of new construction options means that you’ll have just as much, if not more, versatility as when considering existing homes .

Additional Costs for New Construction Homes: Materials and Finishes

Choosing materials and finishes for your new construction home is a pivotal step that can greatly impact the total cost of your build. From flooring and countertops to cabinets and fixtures, the selections you make can vary widely in price and quality, influencing both your budget and the overall aesthetic of your home. Some materials that you may consider upgrading from standard include:

Paint colors
Flooring
Countertops
Lighting Elements
Cabinet Hardware
Fireplace features
Stair railing

With John Houston Homes, you have the added advantage of our Design Studio , where you can explore a curated selection of high-quality materials and finishes tailored to fit various personal styles and budgets. This personalized experience not only simplifies the decision-making process but also ensures that your choices harmonize beautifully, allowing you to create a home that reflects your unique taste while managing costs effectively.

Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Energy efficiency and sustainability are among the most sought-after features for new homes. They increase new home build costs up front but are smart investments that pay off over time. Choosing modern HVAC systems, quality insulation, energy-efficient windows, and other green options can reduce your utility bills in the long run.

There are even more methods for making your home sustainable. For instance, going with recycled or otherwise green materials reduces the lifecycle impact of your property. Additionally, installations such as solar panels increase the upfront price but have a considerable long-term benefit.

Timing and Market Conditions

Market conditions play a major role in determining house prices as well. The supply and demand for materials and labor fluctuate over time and will directly impact your budget. Shortages lead to sudden spikes, which could dramatically increase your costs.

The season in which you choose to build your new home is also a factor. Building during peak times may mean higher prices due to increased seasonal demand for contractors and materials. Choosing to start your new home during the off-peak season is an easy way to save if your timeline allows for it.

Housing prices vary depending on the local market. According to the latest figures in Home Guide , as of September 2024 – in Texas – building a new home ranges from $280,000 to $900,000, not including land or site development. Construction costs are about $140 to $300 per square foot, so the size and style of your home are key in determining the total price.

Builder Reputation and Experience

Whether you’re going for a large or small home, you’ll want to work with a reputable home builder. Finding someone experienced and skilled will ensure that you get the highest value and quality.

John Houston Homes helps buyers avoid unexpected expenses through transparent pricing and high-quality construction. Experienced home builders source materials efficiently, manage projects effectively, and anticipate potential challenges.

Choosing a home builder with a solid track record means that you avoid dealing with hidden costs or low-quality work that leads to higher expenses down the line. John Houston Homes maintains strong relationships with trusted suppliers and contractors, providing further cost savings and keeping your new home build on track.

A seasoned home builder provides valuable guidance that lets you make the most of your budget. Take advantage of cost-effective alternatives without compromising on quality or style. This level of professional expertise reduces overall new home build costs while maintaining the highest standards for construction and design.

FAQ: A New Home in DFW (Pricing Considerations)

How Does the Location Affect the Cost of Building a New Home?

Location is among the most critical factors in determining new home build costs. Land prices, local regulations, and demand for housing all affect how much you pay. Building in an area with higher demand and stricter zoning can lead to you paying significantly higher prices than you would in less competitive markets.

When comparing Texas home prices, especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to new construction homes in other states, it’s clear that Texas offers a compelling value. As one of the fastest-growing metropolitan regions in the country, DFW has a robust housing market that remains relatively affordable compared to major cities like San Francisco or New York.

According to recent data from Bank Rate – while Texas housing prices are on the rise – the median price of new construction homes in Texas still ranks lower than the national average, making it an attractive option for homebuyers seeking quality without the exorbitant price tag. Builders like John Houston Homes take advantage of this favorable market, providing exceptional craftsmanship and customizable options that cater to a range of budgets. Their commitment to quality and value allows buyers to create their dream homes without breaking the bank, further solidifying Texas as a top choice for new construction in the nation.

Is a New Construction Home Cheaper Than Buying an Existing Home?

Whether new construction homes are cheaper than buying an existing home depends on several factors, including location, market conditions, and personal preferences. It’s important to weigh two critical factors when evaluating new home construction costs. Consider:

Initial Costs of New Construction Homes

Typically, new homes come with modern features, energy efficient appliances, and updated building materials, which can lead to lower maintenance costs in the early years. However, the initial purchase price can be higher than that of existing homes, especially in more desirable areas.

Initial Costs of Existing Homes

Often priced lower than new construction homes, existing homes can offer immediate savings. However, they may require renovations or repairs that can add to overall initial costs.

Long Term Savings of New Construction Homes

New homes generally include warranties on materials or workmanship, potentially reducing repair costs in the first few years. Their energy efficiency can lead to lower utility bills, providing sustainable long-term savings.

Long Term Savings of Existing Homes

Depending on their age and condition, older homes may have higher maintenance costs, especially if major systems (like HVAC, plumbing, or roofing) need updating soon after purchase.

How Do I Reduce New Home Build Price?

Reducing costs for new construction homes can be achieved through several strategies, allowing you to stay within your budget while still achieving your dream home. Here are some effective approaches:

1. Choose a Reputable Builder

Select a builder with a strong reputation for quality and efficiency. Builders like John Houston Homes often provide transparent pricing and can help you avoid unexpected expenses through their established processes.

2. Simplify the Design

Opt for a simpler floor plan and design features. More intricate designs and layouts can significantly increase construction costs. Stick to standard shapes and fewer customizations to keep expenses down.

3. Limit Customizations

While personal touches are important, excessive customization can add to your costs. Focus on essential upgrades that will provide value, such as energy-efficient windows or quality appliances, rather than decorative options.

4. Consider Material Choices

Choose cost-effective materials that still offer durability and aesthetic appeal. For example, instead of high-end granite, consider quartz or engineered stone for countertops, or laminate flooring instead of hardwood.

5. Be Smart About Upgrades

Prioritize upgrades that will increase the home’s value or energy efficiency, such as insulation or HVAC systems, while avoiding luxury features that may not offer a good return on investment.

6. Plan for Future Expansions

If you’re considering custom features or expansions, think about planning them in phases. Build the essential parts now and save the more luxurious elements for later when your budget allows.

7. Research Financing Options

Explore various financing options and incentives available for new home buyers. Some lenders may offer lower interest rates or grants for first-time buyers, which can significantly reduce overall costs.

What Are the Hidden Costs of Building a New Home?

Some potential hidden costs to think about when building a new home include permits, inspections, and landscaping. Working with a seasoned home builder like John Houston Homes ensures that these fees are fully disclosed and don’t come as unwelcome surprises.

Making the Most of Your New Home Build Cost

With so many factors to consider, finding the right options to suit your budget can seem overwhelming. Maximize the value you get from your new home build cost by working with the experts at John Houston Homes. Schedule an appointment today to discuss your new home options and find the right fit for your needs and budget.

Texas Custom Home Builder vs Production Home Builder

marketing@jhoustonhomes.com (Marketing JHouston) — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 16:26:59 GMT

Not sure what the difference is between a custom home vs. production home? Find out what you need to know to make the right choice for your move.

Purchasing a home can be an exciting adventure. With so many options on the market – including building your dream home – there’s so much to consider. You’ll face many important decisions, including purchasing an existing home or deciding on working with a trusted Texas home builder. When it comes to new construction homes there are plenty of buzz words thrown around, particularly those around custom homes. Many new homeowners and second time buyers ask: are new construction homes fully customizable?

There’s a major difference between a Texas custom home builder and production home builder. Custom homes have benefits and downfalls, and production homes may provide better options for families and individuals looking to purchase a new home. Let’s start with the basics on custom home construction vs product homes.

The Advantages of Choosing a New Home

Whether you opt for a fully custom home or a custom production home, choosing a trusted Texas home builder – like John Houston Homes – provides an unparalleled opportunity for seamless experience. Your new home will be tailored to your specific needs and preferences in ways that you simply can’t achieve with existing homes on the market.

You’ll also benefit in terms of modern construction and technology. The increased energy efficiency in new homes can save you money on your utility bills and contribute to a more sustainable environment. In the long term, these savings can add up substantially.

Purchasing a new home also often comes with a variety of warranties that can make maintenance and repairs over the coming years much more straightforward. You’ll be able to choose exactly where your home will be as well, letting you choose a Texas community with top-rated schools and other essential amenities.

John Houston Homes supplies our homeowners with plenty of options in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Explore all of our Texas new construction home communities here .

Fully Custom Homes: Designing Your Dream Home

Over 1.4 million homes are built in the U.S. each year. There are many different types of homes that you can choose from when making your next move. A fully custom home lets you choose every design element from scratch, offering complete control over layout, finish, and features. This involves working closely with an architect and builder.

The key advantage of choosing a fully custom home is the level of customization in the design. You can make sure that your new home will meet your needs perfectly. However, there are other factors to consider.

For example, a fully custom construction home often involves higher costs – sometimes from unforeseen expenses when it comes to materials, setbacks, and other large cost considerations. In addition, a fully custom home may mean a much longer construction timeline. Those purchasing a new custom home will find that they’ll need to be more involved in the process, as well.

Custom Production Homes: Efficient with Customizable Options

Production home builders are another one of the main types of home builders. What is a production builder exactly? They offer a balanced approach to home design and construction that blends the flexibility of customization with the efficiency of production building.

Production homes can be prepared for just about any type of community. You can choose from a wide selection of floor plans and design options. This offers a high level of customization for your home while staying within a predefined framework, keeping costs low and allowing for timely completion.

These semi-custom homes provide numerous opportunities for personalization as well. You can choose elements such as:

Flooring
Countertops
Lighting
Cabinetry
Paint
Roofing

These elements can all be customized to suit your unique style. Additionally, certain layout adjustments are possible. This might include adding extra rooms or extending spaces. However, the basic layout and key structural elements are fixed within the overall design you’ve chosen, which can limit some design possibilities.

Custom production homes are incredibly cost-efficient for the quality and versatility they deliver. Build timelines are accelerated, letting you move into your new home sooner. This streamlined build process is supported by expert guidance from start to finish, making it less stressful and helping ensure you find the best choices for your home.

Building With John Houston Homes: Best Home Builder in Texas

Why go with John Houston Homes when you’re choosing between a custom home vs. production home? We’re a leading builder throughout over 40 communities in Texas, from Dallas-Fort Worth and Mansfield to Waco and Temple. With years of experience delivering custom designs and quality construction to Texas families, our team can provide just what you need in a dream home.

Our comprehensive Design Studio features over 6,000 square feet of design elements to browse, allowing you to customize your home while staying within your budget and timeline. You’ll have countless options to choose from and can enjoy a seamless building process every step of the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference Between a Custom vs. Production Home?

With a custom home, you’ll have complete design freedom with everything that entails. This means greater flexibility but also longer timelines and higher budgets. A custom production home provides a middle ground with established plans that offer personalization.

How Customizable Are John Houston Homes’ Production Homes?

John Houston Homes offers a wide range of customization options to make your new home your own. Interior design choices like flooring and countertops, along with exterior elements like paint and roofing, can all be tailored to suit your specific style and needs.

What Are the Timelines for Building a Custom Production Home?

Custom production homes typically have shorter build times compared to fully custom homes. The predefined plans and streamlined build process enable John Houston Homes to deliver an exceptionally quick turnaround on your new home.

Do I Need a Construction Loan to Build With John Houston Homes?

No, you can move forward with your new home without a construction loan. Getting started with John Houston Homes is straightforward, requiring just a small deposit. This makes the financing process as simple and stress-free as possible.

Get Started on Your Custom Home Today

Does a custom home sound like the right move for you and your family? Turn to the experienced team at John Houston Homes. You can count on us to ensure your new home lives up to your dreams. Reach out today to get started!

Building Your Dream Home

marketing@jhoustonhomes.com (Marketing JHouston) — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 16:01:14 GMT

A Guide to a New Construction House

Building a new home is an exciting journey, because it gives you the freedom to start from scratch. Create your vision and the best of community living with a trusted new construction Texas homebuilder. The process in new home construction is one that involves many important decisions. From choosing the right design or layout, to understanding the building process – every step requires careful consideration. At John Houston Homes, we aim to make this journey as seamless and enjoyable as possible. If you’re aiming to make Texas living a reality, we can help transform your dream of homeownership into a welcomed reality.

Here’s a comprehensive look at things to consider when building a house and how our process ensures your new construction dream home is everything you imagined. Ready to begin your journey? Set up an appointment with our Texas new home construction team here .

Tips on Building a New House & New Home Construction in Texas

Looking for tips on building a new house? We’ve got you covered here. Building a new construction home in the heart of Texas is an exhilarating experience that blends the thrill of creation with the charm of Southern living. As you embark on this journey, you're met with wide open spaces and the vast Texas sky, which inspires a sense of boundless potential for your new construction site.

The construction process itself is a dance of coordination between architects, contractors, and suppliers, all working together. With an experienced home builder like John Houston Homes , you can focus on the outcome rather than the nitty gritty process of the build. Sometimes this part can feel daunting and stressful.

Our carefully crafted floor plans and design choices are influenced by the local climate and culture. We focus on durable materials that can withstand the heat and storms. Throughout, there's a palpable sense of pride and anticipation as your vision takes shape, culminating in a home that embodies both modern comforts and classic Texas spirit.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you move through the new construction home process:

Define Your Needs and Preferences for Your New Home Build

Before diving into the construction process, take the time to clearly define your needs and preferences. Consider your lifestyle, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you require, and any special features that are important to you, such as a home office, a spacious kitchen, or energy-efficient systems.

At John Houston Homes, we start with a detailed consultation to understand your vision. This initial meeting is crucial for tailoring your requests to zero in on a floor plan that can meet your specific needs and ensuring that your new home aligns with your personal style and aesthetic.

Our team has implemented a seamless process to help with your ideas and new home construction vision. You can tour an existing John Houston Homes online or tour a model home at our select locations . During the new home build process you also have access to our Design Studio – an interactive 6,000+ sqft location that gives you the opportunity to mix-and-match, touch-and-feel the custom options for your new home.

Custom options include:

Paint colors
Flooring
Countertops
Lighting elements
Cabinet Hardware
Fireplace mantels
Exterior stone and brick
Stair railing
And more

View our 3D Design Studio Online here >

Choosing the Right Texas Location

Location is a key factor in new construction homebuilding. Think about proximity to work, schools, and amenities, as well as the overall community atmosphere. In Texas, there are several communities, towns, and a variety of neighborhoods, each offering its own unique charm and benefits.

John Houston Homes builds in several of these sought-after communities, providing options that suit various lifestyles and preferences. We help you evaluate these locations to find the perfect spot for your new home. Our new home construction is featured in some of the most in-demand destinations in Texas in the Fort Worth-Dallas surrounding areas. Popular John Houston Homes communities include:

Our Texas home builder, in fact, offers 47 communities in the Dallas areas. We feature oversized lots and a number of amenities that come with these special Texas community areas.

Design and Floor Plans

Another aspect to keep in mind is the design and floor plan you’d like to move forward with. Choosing the right design and floor plan is essential for creating a functional and comfortable living space.

John Houston Homes offers a range of customizable floor plans to fit diverse needs. Whether you prefer an open-concept layout, a more traditional design, or something in between, our team will guide you through the selection process, providing insights and suggestions to help you make informed decisions.

Understand the Building Process

The construction process can seem daunting, but understanding each phase can make it more manageable. At John Houston Homes, we’ve streamlined the process to ensure clarity and efficiency. Here’s a brief overview:

Initial Consultation : We discuss your needs and preferences, and help you choose a floor plan and design that suits your lifestyle.
Site Selection and Design : Once your design is finalized, we assist with site selection and customization options to tailor the home to your preferences.
Construction : Our skilled team handles every aspect of construction, from groundbreaking to the final touches. We use high-quality materials and adhere to rigorous standards to ensure your home is built to last.
Regular Updates : Throughout the building process, we provide regular updates and maintain open communication to keep you informed and address any questions or concerns.
Final Walkthrough : Before you move in, we conduct a thorough walkthrough to ensure everything meets your expectations and address any final details.

Budget and Financing

It’s important to establish a clear budget and explore financing options before starting construction. At John Houston Homes, we work with you to understand your financial parameters and help you stay within budget. We also provide guidance on financing options and connect you with trusted lenders to make the process as smooth as possible.

Personal Touches

Adding personal touches to your new home can make it truly unique. From selecting finishes and fixtures to choosing paint colors and landscaping, these details reflect your style and make the space feel like home. John Houston Homes offers a range of customizable options to ensure that your home is a perfect reflection of your tastes and preferences.

Building a new home is a significant investment, and at John Houston Homes, we are dedicated to making this process as straightforward and enjoyable as possible. By focusing on your needs, providing expert guidance, and maintaining clear communication, we ensure that your dream home becomes a reality.

Hiring the Right Experts: Work with Trusted Texas Home Builder John Houston Homes

Working with a home builder for new construction homes is an intricate process that involves collaboration, clear communication, and a shared vision for the final product. John Houston Homes stands out as the best home builder in Texas due to their exceptional combination of personalized service, quality craftsmanship, and extensive local expertise.

Our commitment to understanding each client's unique needs ensures a tailored approach that seamlessly integrates individual preferences with functional design. With a reputation for delivering on time and within budget, John Houston Homes utilizes high-quality materials and innovative construction techniques to create homes that are both beautiful and durable. Our dedication to customer satisfaction and their deep-rooted knowledge of the Texas market make them a trusted home builder and new construction house partner.

If you’re ready to start your journey, contact us today to explore our available floor plans and communities in Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco. Let’s build your dream home together!

Embrace the Lifestyle: Your Home in Waxahachie, TX

Wed, 29 May 2024 19:11:13 GMT

Waxahachie is a vibrant and historic city that combines the charm of a small town with the amenities of modern living. For those considering building a home in this delightful Texan city, here are some compelling reasons why Waxahachie should be at the top of your list.

Rich Historical Heritage

Waxahachie is known for its rich historical heritage, featuring beautifully preserved Victorian homes and historic landmarks. The downtown area is a treasure trove of architectural gems and hosts the famous Ellis County Courthouse, often cited as one of the most beautiful in Texas. The town’s commitment to preserving its history provides a unique and picturesque environment for residents.

Excellent Educational Opportunities

Families with children will find Waxahachie particularly appealing due to its highly regarded school district. The Waxahachie Independent School District (WISD) offers a variety of educational programs and extracurricular activities designed to foster academic excellence and personal growth. Additionally, the presence of higher education institutions like Navarro College and Southwestern Assemblies of God University provides ample opportunities for continuing education.

Strong Sense of Community

One of the most endearing qualities of Waxahachie is its strong sense of community. Residents often describe the city as having a "small-town feel" where neighbors know each other and community events are a regular occurrence. From the annual Scarborough Renaissance Festival to the Gingerbread Trail, there’s always something happening that brings people together, fostering a sense of belonging and camaraderie.

Abundant Recreational Activities

For those who enjoy the outdoors, Waxahachie offers plenty of recreational opportunities. The city is home to several beautiful parks, such as Getzendaner Park, which features walking trails, playgrounds, and picnic areas. Lake Waxahachie provides a variety of water activities, including boating, fishing, and swimming. Sports enthusiasts can take advantage of the numerous sports complexes and golf courses in the area.

Growing Economic Opportunities

Waxahachie’s economy is on the rise, thanks in part to its strategic location and business-friendly environment. The city has attracted a diverse range of businesses, from manufacturing and logistics to retail and services. The growing industrial sector provides numerous job opportunities for residents, contributing to a robust local economy and enhancing the overall quality of life.

Affordable Living

Compared to the nearby metropolitan areas, Waxahachie offers a more affordable cost of living without compromising on quality. Housing options are varied, ranging from charming historic homes to modern custom builds, making it an attractive choice for families, young professionals, and retirees alike. Lower property taxes and utility costs add to the financial advantages of living here.

Safety and Quality of Life

Safety is a top priority for any homebuyer, and Waxahachie excels in this area. The city boasts low crime rates, thanks to the diligent efforts of local law enforcement and a close-knit community that looks out for one another. This peaceful environment, combined with excellent public services and healthcare facilities, ensures a high quality of life for residents.

Waxahachie offers a unique blend of historical charm and modern conveniences, making it an ideal place to build your dream home. With its rich heritage, excellent schools, strong community spirit, abundant recreational options, growing economy, affordable living, and high quality of life, Waxahachie stands out as a premier destination for those seeking a fulfilling and comfortable lifestyle.

Building your dream home with John Houston Homes in Waxahachie means not only investing in a quality house but also embracing a community that values tradition, education, and growth. Discover the charm of Waxahachie and see why so many are choosing to call this vibrant city home.

Discovering Waco: A Guide to Living in the Heart of Texas

Thu, 09 May 2024 19:42:57 GMT

Nestled along the banks of the Brazos River, Waco, Texas, is a city rich in history, culture, and natural beauty. Known for its friendly locals, affordable living, and a burgeoning economy, Waco has become an increasingly popular destination for those looking to settle down. But is Waco a good place to live? Let's explore some of the key factors that make this city an attractive choice for residents and those looking to build their forever home.

Cost of Living in Waco, Texas

Waco has many perks, one being the cost of living is 11% lower than the national average, according to PayScale . Other Texas cities that are similar to Waco include Driscoll, Rockwall, Lone Star and Everman. But most of these cities aren’t growing in popularity at quite the same rate.

One of the most appealing aspects of Waco is how affordable it is, in addition to being accessible to major metro areas like Dallas - Fort Worth. It’s quickly becoming an ideal location for first-time homebuyers or those looking to invest in building their own home. In fact, new home communities in the area have accelerated in recent years.

Waco Boasts a Strong Job Market

Waco's economy is booming, thanks in part to the presence of major employers such as Baylor University, Texas State Technical College, and the Providence Healthcare Network. The city is also home to a growing number of tech companies and startups, providing plenty of job opportunities for residents in a variety of industries.

The city's growing economy, anchored by industries like education, healthcare, and technology, provides a range of career options. At the same time, Waco's welcoming atmosphere and strong sense of community create a supportive environment for professionals to thrive in their careers.

Waco’s Rich Cultural Scene

Despite its relatively small size, Waco boasts a vibrant cultural scene. The city is home to several museums, including the Dr Pepper Museum, which celebrates the history of the iconic soft drink, and the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, which honors the legendary law enforcement agency. Additionally, Waco is known for its thriving arts community, with numerous galleries, theaters, and music venues showcasing local talent.

Outdoor Recreation in Waco

Outdoor enthusiasts will find plenty to love about Waco. The city is surrounded by picturesque countryside, offering ample opportunities for hiking, biking, fishing, and boating. The nearby Cameron Park is one of the largest municipal parks in Texas, featuring miles of scenic trails and stunning views of the Brazos River.

Similarly, nearby Lake Waco provides fishing, boating, and picnicking spots. Just outside the city, you can explore the limestone cliffs and caves of the Waco Mammoth National Monument or enjoy camping and wildlife viewing at Mother Neff State Park.

Family-Friendly Environment

Waco is a great place to raise a family, with top-rated schools, safe neighborhoods, and a strong sense of community. The city offers a wide range of family-friendly activities, including parks, playgrounds, and community events, ensuring that there's always something to do for residents of all ages.

Building a Home in Waco Texas

Building a home in Waco, Texas, is a fantastic idea for several reasons. First time homebuyers, relocators and even those in search of a new home are surprised to find the city offers a variety of affordable land options, allowing you to choose the perfect location for your dream home.

Waco is home to a number of reputable home builders. John Houston Homes focuses on customer relationships, looking to bring your vision to life with high-quality craftsmanship and attention to detail. Building a home also gives you the opportunity to personalize every aspect of your living space, from the layout and design to the finishes and fixtures, ensuring that your home is truly one-of-a-kind and tailored to your unique lifestyle and preferences. Additionally, Waco's strong sense of community and welcoming atmosphere make it an ideal place to put down roots and create lasting memories in your home.

Is Waco Texas a Good Place to Live?

Waco, Texas, offers a high quality of life, affordable living, and a strong sense of community, making it an attractive destination for those looking to put down roots. With its booming economy, rich cultural scene, and abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities, Waco truly has something for everyone. Whether you're a young professional looking to advance your career or a family seeking a safe and welcoming community, Waco is a city worth considering.

Choosing John Houston Homes as your Waco homebuilder, is a decision backed by a reputation for excellence and customer satisfaction. With a focus on quality craftsmanship and attention to detail, John Houston Homes has been building beautiful custom homes in the Waco area for years. Their dedication to customer service means that you can trust them to guide you through the homebuilding process with ease, ensuring that your vision for your dream home becomes a reality. Whether you're looking for a cozy starter home or a spacious family retreat, John Houston Homes offers a range of floor plans and customization options to suit your needs. With John Houston Homes, you can be confident that you're building not just a house, but a home where you'll create lasting memories for years to come.

Discover the Top 3 Reasons to Move to Grandview, TX: A Haven for Families Seeking Quality Education and More

wpryor@jhoustonhomes.com (Whitney Pryor) — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:08:12 GMT

In the vast expanse of Texas, nestled among rolling hills and lush landscapes, lies the charming town of Grandview. A community brimming with warmth and opportunity, Grandview offers a tranquil lifestyle with a focus on quality education and thriving athletic programs. For parents seeking a nurturing environment where their children can flourish, here are the top three reasons why moving to Grandview could be the best decision for your family and why the Vista Point community is a great place to live and raise a family!

1. Grandview ISD: An A-Rated School District

One of the primary concerns for any parent is ensuring their child receives an excellent education. In Grandview, parents can rest assured knowing that their children will attend schools within the Grandview Independent School District (ISD), which boasts an impressive A rating. This distinction reflects the district's commitment to academic excellence and student success. With a dedicated team of educators and staff, Grandview ISD provides a supportive learning environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive.

Beyond the accolades, what truly sets Grandview ISD apart is its focus on personalized learning and individualized attention. Unlike larger school districts where students may feel lost in the crowd, Grandview offers smaller class sizes, allowing for more meaningful interactions between students and teachers. This intimate setting fosters stronger relationships, personalized instruction, and a sense of belonging that is invaluable to a child's academic journey.

2. Small School, Big Opportunities: A 3A District with a 14:1 Student/Teacher Ratio

While some parents may be drawn to the allure of big city schools, there's something special about the close-knit community of a smaller district like Grandview ISD. As a 3A school, Grandview strikes the perfect balance between offering comprehensive academic programs and maintaining a tight-knit community atmosphere. With a student-to-teacher ratio of 14:1, students receive individualized attention that is essential for their academic growth and development.

In Grandview, every student is more than just a face in the crowd – they're part of a supportive community where their unique talents and abilities are celebrated. Whether it's participating in extracurricular activities, pursuing academic interests, or receiving personalized support, students in Grandview have access to a wealth of opportunities that set them up for success both inside and outside the classroom.

3. Thriving Athletic Programs: A Testament to Excellence

For many families, sports play a crucial role in their child's overall development. In Grandview , the athletics department is more than just a source of pride – it's a testament to the town's commitment to excellence. Ranked 85 out of 964 departments in Texas, Grandview's athletic programs have consistently demonstrated a high level of competitiveness and sportsmanship.

From football to basketball, volleyball to track and field, Grandview offers a wide range of athletic opportunities for students to explore their passions and showcase their talents. Under the guidance of dedicated coaches and mentors, student-athletes in Grandview learn invaluable life skills such as teamwork, perseverance, and leadership – qualities that will serve them well both on and off the field.

In conclusion, Grandview, TX, offers a compelling combination of academic excellence, personalized attention, and thriving athletic programs that make it an ideal destination for families seeking a smaller school with more opportunities for their children. With its strong sense of community and commitment to nurturing every student's potential, Grandview is more than just a place to live – it's a place to call home.

In conclusion, while bigger schools might offer more programs available to students, Grandview ISD offers your children an opportunity to shine in sports and academics with a smaller school that has great values and a fantastic education system.

Why Vista Point is a great community to live in

Vista Point is a charming new community in Grandview, TX, that offers homesites that are 60' wide and 120' deep. This community is zoned to exemplary schools, offers a variety of beautiful floor plans, a park for children, a dog park for your furry friends to socialize, soccer field, and trails. Enjoy the country feel of this community while still being close to stores, retail and dining!

For more information about this community, call us today at 866 485 1249

New Construction vs Existing Home: What’s the Right Move?

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 21:45:29 GMT

Is It Better to Buy a New Construction or an Existing Home?

Is it better to buy new construction or existing homes in today's market? Dallas home buyers are likely considering the choice between new build homes and resales; it’s possible you may also consider a fixer upper. What are the benefits and downsides to each, though? The housing market in Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding areas continues to grow and options are plentiful.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there has been a 1.8% increase in new construction home sales over the past 12 months. The National Association of Realtors has shared that there has been a 3.1% increase in resale home purchases. While it’s still more common for buyers to purchase resale homes, buying newly built homes has grown in popularity among Dallas-Fort Worth buyers for a range of reasons.

Here is what you need to know about the options and price ranges available for each type of home.

Major Differences Between Existing Homes and New Homes

Building your dream house is a major decision, but it can be an exciting one. There are so many myths surrounding building a new home and purchasing an existing property. We’re here to debunk a select few.

Are New Homes More Expensive Than Existing Properties?

Cost is obviously a monumental factor to consider when weighing options between building a home and buying a home. Historically, new home builds were widely considered much more expensive. However, it’s important to note that cost can be relative to various factors like:

● Personalization or custom options for a new build

● Energy efficiency

● Maintenance costs

Customizing a New Home Build

Most experienced Texas home builders should have a solid process to help homeowners discover and decide on the basic layout with various home design options. Homeowners don’t have to reinvent the wheel on deciding square footage or arrangement of kitchen. Your home builder should have examples and even house models where you can tour and experience your new home before the build is even underway.

It’s important to consider the cost options of other upgrades when going through the new home build process. A reputable home builder can help you weigh various options and provide more clarity on what certain upgrades will cost. This can mean keeping expenses to a minimum and ensuring that your new Dallas - Fort Worth home build doesn’t exceed your overall budget.

With John Houston Homes, you’re provided access to our exclusive Design Studio & Gallery. We can help walk you through the elements of your new homes while remaining cost effective and transparent about budgets. Select from elements like: paint colors, flooring, countertops, fireplace elements, exterior stone, stair railing and so much.

With an existing home purchase, you won’t have the freedom of personalizing your home as easily. While renovations can help you reinvent the layout and design of the house, overall, it may result in higher costs and even prevent it from being move-in ready.

Downside of Buying an Existing Home

The reality of a resale home likely means maintenance needs and possibly upgrades. This may depend on the year the home was built and condition it’s in when it hits the market. Unless you like to take on DIY projects, this might involve hiring professional contractors to help you get your home in good condition.

On the other hand, a newly constructed home has modern materials that haven’t suffered wear and tear damage. This gives the home more strength and durability. As a result, it may be many years until your new home needs repairs or updates.

Elements of a New Home vs Existing Home

The appearance of the home can be a factor as well. If you prefer traditional charm, a resale home could be the better option. When you’re looking for a modern architectural style and technological conveniences, you’ll feel more satisfied with a new construction. These are just a few of the more noticeable differences you should consider as you compare these options.

So is it better to buy new construction or existing homes? A deeper comparison can help you make up your mind.

Choosing Between Existing Homes and New Homes

As you ask yourself, “Should I buy new construction?” It might help to take a closer look at the differences between each option.

Pricing of Existing Homes vs. New Homes

People who compare new build vs. existing home purchases often focus on the upfront sales prices for each . Currently, a 1,600- to 1,700-square-foot new construction sells for an average of $325,000 in Texas.

Resale homes of similar size sell for $300,000. When you're considering the cost of repairs and maintenance for a resale home, however, the buyer might pay more for a home that’s just 20 or 30 years older.

Timelines to Consider

The closing process on a resale home typically takes 30 days. That timeframe is similar for newly built homes. However, if you want to customize the home during the construction, your wait could be 6 to 10 months longer.

Are New Homes the Way to Go?

Overall, is it better to buy new construction or existing home properties? Whether you choose a newly built home will depend on which issues are important to you. If you’re looking for modern conveniences, little maintenance, and a customized living space, a new construction may be the best choice in the Dallas market.

FAQs About Buying New Homes

Do New Homes Appreciate Faster Than Old Homes?

The equity and value you build up in your home will be important considerations for every buyer. Many people wonder, “Do new homes appreciate faster than old homes?” When comparing new home appreciation rates from 2017 to 2022, you can see that values rose by 7.5% annually.

In that same period, resale home values rose by 9.3% per year. While appreciation for resale homes has typically been higher, a growing interest in new construction homes is generally expected to raise appreciation values in the future.

Are New Homes Built Better Than Older Homes?

If you’re looking for strength, durability, and efficiency, modern homes offer more value for the buyer. Additionally, it’s easier to add new technology to a home during the construction process than it is to install the same equipment in a pre-existing home.

Is It More Efficient to Build a New House or to Live in an Older House?

A resale home is going to have issues with energy efficiency. Wear and tear leads to drafts throughout the home, and an older HVAC system might not have the ability to keep up with heating and cooling demands.

On the other hand, a new home with energy-efficient appliances will use less energy overall. The structure of the new home can do more to retain treated air and prevent drafts.

Is It Easier to Get a Loan for a New Home or an Existing Home?

Your ability to get a loan for either type of home purchase will depend on your credit score, debt-to-credit ratio, and your income. If you customize and build a home, you’ll need a construction loan to cover the costs associated with the building process.

Once the construction is complete, you’ll need to convert the construction loan to a traditional mortgage. This process involves additional fees that will raise your costs.

What’s the Downside to Buying an Existing Home?

There are many downsides to buying a pre-existing resale home. Although the upfront costs may be lower, you’ll likely have to make repairs throughout the home. Your maintenance costs will depend on how well the previous owner cared for the property.

Unlike a new construction, you might also need to make costly renovations if an existing home doesn’t immediately meet your family’s needs. Since the home is older and weaker, the long-term maintenance costs are usually higher for an older resale home.

Discover the Joy of a Newly Built Home Today

Schedule an appointment to visit a community or speak with a new home advisor at John Houston Homes.

Relocating to Texas: Why Remote Workers are Choosing the Lone Star State

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 02:21:55 GMT

Make no mistake about it; the workplace is evolving. Since the pandemic, we have seen many changes, including how – and where – work gets done.

Many Americans who were forced to make the move to virtual employment during the pandemic have now opted to continue the remote arrangement.

This revolutionary shift in the workplace has given employees a lot to think about. More and more people are reimagining not only how they want to work and for whom, but also where they want to live, start families, and raise kids. They are seeking to redefine their work-life balance. In many cases, the work-from-home scenario has opened up a whole new world that wasn’t as conceivable prior to the pandemic.

Why Relocating Is on the Rise

In the face of these changing workplace dynamics, other trends are emerging as well. In particular, many Americans are relocating. With the option to work virtually, making a move to a location long dreamed about is now possible. It might be a lively urban locale, a more rural setting, a seaside community, or a quiet suburban neighborhood near quality schools.

The desire to work remotely has skyrocketed in the past year. In fact, American employees report that a flexible work-from-home policy is now their most coveted workplace feature , according to new research from workplace solutions organization Kintone. These changes have meant myriad benefits not only for workers, but employers, as well.

Many companies report seeing financial savings on office space due to an increase in remote workers. Additionally, 52 percent of employers surveyed said productivity improved over the prolonged work-from-home period, according to PwC’s US Remote Work Survey - January 12, 2021.

And at the end of the day, research is continually revealing what seems logical: employees report feeling happier when working from home. The ability to work differently and think differently is ultimately redefining what “workspace” truly means as well as the ways companies manage their employees and workflow strategies.

Texas Is a Remote Work Destination

In an era that seems to suggest remote work is here to stay, employees everywhere are embracing the change. In doing so, they are expanding their horizons when it comes to searching for places to live. Month after month, Texas has been welcoming an influx of remote workers seeking a fresh take on life.

Historically, Texas has long boasted a well-traveled welcome mat with newcomers ranging from global businesses, families, college grads, international residents, and more. In fact, according to the Texas Relocation Report 2021 , more than 500,000 people relocated to the state in 2019. That marked the 7th year in a row that more than 500,000 people moved to Texas. The state, which is the second largest in the nation, has been an enduring favorite for people in search of a warmer southern climate, a friendly vibe, and fewer regulations.

Those same qualities also hold appeal for remote workers who are turning their sights toward the Lone Star State. According to an April 2021 WalletHub report , Texas ranked No. 8 in the top 10 “Best States for Remote Work.” To identify the best states for working from home, personal finance website WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions, “Work Environment” and “Living Environment.”

Their criteria highlighted metrics including households’ internet access, cybersecurity, average retail price of electricity, and access to low-priced internet plans, among other factors. The WalletHub article states that the best work-from-home conditions include low costs, reasonable comfort, and a high level of security.

Top Benefits of Moving to Texas

Over the years, Texas has consistently ranked as one of the nation’s best places to live for a variety of reasons. Here’s the quick scoop on why Texas is such a hotspot for not only remote workers, but new residents from near and far and all walks of life:

Hot real estate market – Organic growth paired with an influx of new residents has resulted in a booming housing market in Texas . The North Texas region is one of the state’s most active housing markets with construction ongoing in nearly every direction. Consider the fact that an August 2021 study by WalletHub ranked four North Texas cities among the 10 most attractive real estate markets in the United States. Frisco took the No. 1 spot, with McKinney at No. 4, Denton at No. 5, and Allen at No. 6.

Affordable homes – While Texas is heralded for its inventory of new and existing homes, it also receives accolades for its home affordability. Texas’ median home price of $247,210 is lower than the Zillow Home Value Index’s typical national home price of $293,349 and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ median home sales price of $374,900, according to an article by The Ascent . In other words, Texas homebuyers enjoy plenty of bang for their buck.

Lots of space – As the second-largest state in the nation, Texas spans an area of 268,597 square miles (or 171,902,080 acres). For reference, Texas is 1.65 times the size of California. The Lone Star State has two time zones, roughly 29 million residents, 16 interstate highways, and 45 U. S. highways. To drive across Texas, east to west, is about 773 miles and takes approximately 11 hours and 15 minutes. Driving from north to south is 805 miles and takes about 13 hours. As you might imagine, Texas’ sheer size translates into expansive land, plenty of room to breathe, and scores of glorious, Texas-sized sunsets.

Quality education – Families often report being drawn to Texas for its vast offering of educational options. Texas families can choose from traditional public schools , public charter schools , public magnet schools , private schools , online academies , homeschooling , and learning pods. And, of course, the state is home to a wealth of colleges including the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, and the University of North Texas, to name just a few.

Amenities – In a state as big as Texas, it’s a sure bet there’s a little something for everyone. From the coastal communities on Texas’ Gulf shores and the cosmopolitan flair of Dallas-Fort Worth to the historic Alamo site in San Antonio or the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, there is no shortage of things to do, see, and experience in the Lone Star State.

Looking to Buy a Home in Texas?

It’s easy to understand why Texas is a coveted location for so many. The state’s solid economy, temperate climate, and robust job market comprise a solid foundation for the Lone Star State’s long-standing appeal. The bluebonnets, Texas longhorns, sweet tea, and southern hospitality are just the icing on the cake.

** Whether you are seeking acres of land on which to build a sprawling homesite or you’re looking for a luxurious residence in a family-friendly suburban community, John Houston Homes can help make the home of your dreams a reality. Contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor at 866-734-8608 to find your new Lone Star State home today!

9 Reasons to Fall in Love with Downsizing

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 02:53:59 GMT

For years, larger homes have been all the rage. Sizing up seems to be the quintessentially American thing to do. Homeowners have loved the sprawling space, extra acreage, and fun amenities like theater rooms, home gyms, and dynamic outdoor living spaces.

But is bigger really always better? Larger homes often mean extra maintenance, expensive landscaping, and higher mortgages, utilities, and property taxes. Remember, retirees and empty nesters aren’t the only people who could benefit from less square footage. No matter how big or small your family unit is, a smaller home might be just right for your unique needs.

Read on to see why a smaller floor plan is sometimes the best option!

Boost Retirement Savings

If retirement is getting closer, trading in your larger home for a smaller one could translate into some extra cushioning for your nest egg. And who wouldn’t want that? While selling your home should not be the only avenue to funding retirement savings, it could serve as the catalyst for positive lifestyle changes that make sense for revised income levels during retirement.

Financial Rewards

Moving into a smaller home can bring a host of financial savings. Think lower mortgage, reduced utility bills, lower insurance, less maintenance costs, and more. Getting relief from financial burdens that come with owning a larger home can add up to significant bottom-line savings.

Minimize Cost While Maximizing Comfort

Moving to a smaller home does not dictate that you must sacrifice creature comforts. Quite the contrary. A smaller space can ignite your creativity for ways to incorporate furniture, simplify your lifestyle, and get the most out of all the space that you do have.

Lower Your Maintenance Stress

While endless, rolling lawns can be a beautiful thing, they are also a lot to mow, edge, water, treat, and fertilize. And while any size home always carries a fair amount of maintenance responsibilities, a smaller home will almost always require far less. Envision trading half your Saturday doing yard work for an enjoyable day trip to a nearby destination!

Declutter. Declutter. Declutter.

This may be the crown jewel of benefits that come with downsizing. Remember all those containers of old school papers, closets full of forgotten clothing, and that garage full of dusty sports equipment, extra buckets, old tools, and miscellaneous odds and ends? Living in a smaller home will force you to really examine what you need, let go of the things you don’t, and use your space more efficiently.

Discover a Healthier You

Forget about cleaning empty rooms and spending time decorating space you don’t really use. Ideally, in a smaller home, there will be a lot less to clean, and consequently less nuisances like trash, dust bunnies, and pet hair and dander. A home that can stay fresh with shorter bursts of cleaning will free you up to spend quality time with family and friends taking walks, hikes, and bike rides, enjoying coffee and conversation, or just pursuing personal interests and hobbies. You may be surprised by how much better you feel physically and mentally.

Enjoy Intentional Design

Living in a smaller home gives you the opportunity to really stand out and show personality. Create a living space, inside and out, using choice amenities and accessories that truly reflect what you’re all about. Consider incorporating design elements like crown molding, a painted front door, ceiling medallions, elegant window treatments, ornate lighting, and hardware finishes to make your smaller space shine.

Increase Your Home Options in Desired Neighborhoods

Sometimes, choosing a smaller home will afford you the opportunity to live in a choice neighborhood that might not be affordable otherwise. If you have your sights set on a stellar school district, a home with a smaller footprint may provide the pathway into a specific community while also ensuring that your property value will enjoy the ripple effects of being situated among bigger homes.

Go Green

One of the best things that comes along with downsizing is knowing that you are having a positive impact on the environment. A smaller home requires less building materials, uses less energy to heat and cool, and is often situated in a more neighborhood-oriented locale that encourages walking to nearby shopping areas, schools, and more. Additionally, smart design, strategic insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, and even solar panels can help reduce a home’s carbon footprint even more.

Final Thoughts

The truth is that “rightsizing” your home is a smart strategy for just about anyone. Think of this process as choosing a home that fits your unique needs while contributing positively to your lifestyle. When reexamining and redefining your circumstances, you may find that living smaller can have big advantages. Transitioning to a cozier home has the power to improve not only your bottom line, but your life, your health, and your relationships.

Remember that the size of a home does not automatically equate to quality, comfort, or life satisfaction. In other words, living larger won’t necessarily make you happier. But what does make you happy, according to the insightful 79-year-long “Harvard Study of Adult Development,” is people. Sometimes referred to as the “longest study on happiness,” it revealed that even more than money and fame, relationships are what keep people happy and, subsequently, healthier.

So no matter what size house you have, home truly is where the heart is.

Find the Right Home for You with John Houston Homes

**John Houston Homes offers a variety of floor plans and housing options, including single-family homes and townhomes. Contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-582-9581!**

What to Know When Building Your Perfect Backyard Pool

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 02:59:09 GMT

There is little that’s more refreshing on a steamy, hot Texas day than a crystal-clear backyard pool. Your own personal oasis, your private retreat, your tropical getaway from the day. Whether you have been in your home for years, or you are in the process of building a new home , it’s always an exciting time when you make the decision to add a little splash to your life. Think shallow tanning shelves, pink flamingo floaties, and enchanting fountains and waterfalls. How you choose to elevate your backyard living is truly only bound by your imagination … and your budget!

Read on for some information and insights to consider as you begin your pool building journey.

Do you know your zoning laws?

Before the fun can begin, you need to do the not-so-fun stuff, which includes understanding your zoning and permitting laws and regulations. Construction without a city permit is never a good idea as this can lead to hefty fines and/or legal injunction, so you must be sure to have all your ducks in a row when it comes to filing the proper paperwork.

Be sure to contact both your Homeowner’s Association (HOA) if you have one and your municipal authorities. Easements, for example, are an important consideration. Justin Bright, owner of Bright Pools LLC based in Midlothian, Texas , says it’s important to be aware of any utilities or easements on the property.

“We can encroach a building line where a house cannot,” said Bright. “But we cannot go past any easements.”

Most towns and cities require permitting fees, so it’s wise to get educated on your city’s pool-related fees, required documents, regulations, and ordinances.

Why do you want to build a pool?

This question may seem like it has an obvious answer – you want to cool off! – but beyond that, why do you really want a pool? Bright said that most of the time, family wishes and a desire to entertain typically drive this decision. He said while some clients are more active and want to play sports in a pool, others want a relaxing setting in which to hang out or lounge. Still others prefer a pool with a deep end if they have larger families or older children.

It's important to really consider why you want this pool and how you envision the role it will play in your home life. Will this pool be mostly for children? Do you want this pool to be a stunning architectural focal point? Will this space be the go-to location for family gatherings, breezy staycations , and more? Will this pool primarily be used for exercise and fitness?

The answers to these questions and more will help you guide your pool design process. Take time to fully assess your goals for this outdoor space to ensure maximum satisfaction.

What is your budget?

Choosing to build a pool is no small decision, nor is it an inexpensive one. Building an in-ground pool can range in cost from roughly $40,000 to upwards of $100,000. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to pools; if you can dream it, it can most likely be designed. Of course, materials, size, and features will factor into the price tag.

In the early stages, make a wish list for your dream pool and then reconcile that list with your real-life budget. Be sure to have a heart-to-heart with a trusted pool builder who will be able to advise on construction costs, materials and design options, and ways to keep your pool’s cost in line with your budget. Also consider how you can build to maximize resale value .

Keep in mind that, even if you cannot do everything you’d like to do all at once, it is usually more cost-effective to incorporate any necessary infrastructure during your original design phase than at a later date. So if you would like to build an outdoor kitchen or firepit in the future, put the gas lines in now.

Also, remember to include costs such as chemicals, pool equipment, ongoing maintenance, and utilities in your pool budget.

What type of pool do you want?

There are basically three types of pools: vinyl, fiberglass, and concrete (gunite). Each type comes with its own pros and cons. While vinyl and fiberglass pools can often be installed in a matter of weeks, they also have some drawbacks. Fiberglass pools, for example, offer fewer size and shape options. Vinyl pools, on the other hand, use vinyl liners that are less durable and more susceptible to damage (think tears, punctures, fading, and staining).

Concrete pools, while more expensive, offer infinite flexibility in shape, size, and design, as well as unmatched durability and strength. However, they also typically take three to six months to build by the time you factor in the design/approval process, excavation, placement of steel, plumbing, and electrical, gunite application, and the plaster finish.

At the end of the day, talk to a reputable pool builder to choose the option that best fits your unique needs, vision, and budget.

What outdoor amenities do you dream of?

Building your pool is just the beginning of creating an outdoor living environment that lets family and friends beat the heat while making cherished memories.

Make your poolscape an aesthetic centerpiece with pebble, quartz, ornate tile, and Caribbean hues. Also, consider the ways you can extend your al fresco living with popular home upgrades like an outdoor kitchen, gazebo, or soothing waterfall. You may want an entertainment system that showcases a flatscreen television, outdoor speakers, and multicolored LED lighting.

From flagstone patios, lush landscaping, and glass mosaic-tiled spas to fire pits, umbrella-shaded tables, and inviting chaise lounges, there are any number of ways to create a sensational outdoor space with thoughtful design, inspired vision, and strategic execution.

And remember, the sooner you start, the better. When all is said and done, add water and enjoy!

Build the Home of Your Dreams with John Houston

** To discuss how to build your Texas dream home and backyard, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-582-9581!**

7 Reasons You'll Be Charmed by Midlothian, Texas

Sat, 25 Feb 2023 00:56:03 GMT

If you are in the market for a new home and looking for wide open space, look no further than Midlothian, Texas. Situated in Ellis County just 26 miles south of Dallas and Fort Worth, this suburban gem sparkles quietly on the bustling North Texas landscape. With a population around 53,000 and a median household income of $103,169 within the Midlothian Independent School District (MISD), this affluent community blends cosmopolitan amenities with provincial living.

Incorporated in 1888, Midlothian still celebrates its rural heritage built on cattle farms, cotton gins, and corn production while forging into a future defined by business growth, stellar education, gorgeous homes for sale , and quality of life. The community has undergone rapid growth in the past decade fueled by a steady influx of new residents, ongoing housing, retail, commercial development, and several new school campuses. Additionally, construction on a new library and city hall are underway in Midlothian’s quaint downtown.

Businesses that call Midlothian home include Gerdau, Holcim, Applied LNG, Ash Grove, Buckley Oil, Martin Marietta, and more. Kroger arrived in 2017 and anchors the evolving Midlothian Towne Center, while Google, Methodist Midlothian Medical Center, Sunrider Manufacturing, and SunOpta are among the community’s newest corporate residents.

When it comes to the local dining scene, Midlothian delivers delectable fare thanks to hometown favorites Kim & Jenny’s, Tio Tony’s, Hibachio, and Caroline’s Cafe as well as newer eateries like Big D BBQ, Bellucci’s Italian, Tie Thai, Twisted Sisters Tap House, Adoriana Sushi & Asian Grill, Eggsquisite Cafe, and more.

Read on to learn more about how Midlothian is drawing a diverse array of residents thanks in part to its luxury homes for sale set amidst an exceptional quality of life.

Educational Excellence

As Midlothian has grown by leaps and bounds, it has remained keenly focused on its educational infrastructure. Midlothian ISD, which encompasses roughly 112 square miles and more than 11,084 students, now showcases two high schools, three middle schools, and eight elementary schools – the newest of which opened in late 2022. The district also opened doors to its new MILE (Midlothian Innovative Learning Experience) campus in the fall of 2020. This innovative educational facility provides learning environments that reflect current industry and workplace conditions in five career and technical education (CTE) pathways: culinary arts, cybersecurity, aerospace engineering, civil engineering, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, the community is home to the Midlothian Higher Education Center (MHEC) which houses three higher education institutions: Navarro College, Tarleton State University, and Texas A&M University-Commerce.

The Midlothian Higher Education Center, Source: Midlothian Economic Development

Top Safety Ratings

For families on the move, a community’s safety record is a top concern. While no community may ever be 100 percent crime-free, a low crime rate is the next best thing.

For several years in a row, Midlothian has been recognized for a crime rate that comes in well below state and national averages:

Last year, Midlothian was No. 34 on Safewise’s “Texas’s 50 Safest Cities of 2022.”
Midlothian ranked No. 23 on Alarms.org’s “Safest Cities in Texas – 2021.”
Midlothian took the No. 5 spot on BackgroundChecks.org’s “Safest Cities to Live in Texas 2019” report.

Additionally, in June 2020, Midlothian opened its newest fire station on U.S. Highway 287 and West Main Street. This state-of-the-art facility replaced the current Fire Station No. 1 on 8th Street that was built in the mid-1960s when an all-volunteer fire department served Midlothian’s population of fewer than 2,500 residents. The city has consistently invested in its police, fire, and EMS services to ensure optimal community safety.

Reduced Congestion

North Texas is one of the hottest spots in the country, and it has the population and traffic to prove it. With tremendous job opportunities, cosmopolitan amenities, and a temperate year-round climate, it is not surprising that people are flocking to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro from destinations near and far. Midlothian offers the chance to be close to all the action with the added benefit of convenient and uncongested roadways. Access the best that DFW has to offer easily and efficiently with U.S. Highways 67 and 287, which intersect in Midlothian, and the recently completed nearby 360 Tollway. Further, Midlothian is less than 30 minutes from four interstate highways, I-20, I-35E, I-35W and I-45.

Small Town Comfort

When asked, many residents report that wide open space makes up much of the charm that drew them to the community. Even though Midlothian is one of the fastest growing communities in North Texas, it still offers plenty of room to move along with a sophisticated country-chic vibe. Warm and friendly, Midlothian blends the best of small town living with proximity to big city amenities. From hometown Friday night lights and summertime movies in the park, to the 4th of July parade and fireworks show, to the Scarecrow Festival in October , Midlothian is full of year-round family fun and plenty of space to decompress from the busyness of life.

MISD multipurpose stadium, Source: Midlothian Economic Development

Wine & Arts Festival

Each year in April, Midlothian’s historic downtown comes alive with the scents of savory food, the sounds of live music, creative offerings by diverse artisans and vendors, and the opportunity to sample a variety of premier Texas wineries and craft brews. What started several years ago as a modest show has blossomed into a much-anticipated event that now draws scores of talented vendors and more than 7,000 visitors from all over Texas year after year. The festival, which lasts for one day and features a wine walk from 2 p.m. – 8 p.m., is one of the community’s most popular events and serves up a delightful day for memorable family fun, live music, shopping for unique treasures, and more.

Parks and Outdoor Family Fun

In February 2017, the first phase of Midlothian Community Park was unveiled for eager residents. The spacious park features 13 soccer and football fields of varying sizes as well as a lighted competition field outfitted for both football and soccer. A playground, concession stand, seating area, restrooms, and a one-mile walking trail were also included in the park’s first phase.

Phase 2 of the park officially opened in January 2022, which completed the development of the 105-acre multipurpose recreational complex. Park visitors enjoy amenities including a new splash pad and playground, sports courts (think basketball, tennis, pickleball, wall ball, roller hockey, etc.), sand volleyball courts, baseball fields, a fishing lake, amphitheater, additional walking trails, and more space to simply enjoy the outdoors. Since its opening, the park’s Art Pierard Memorial Amphitheater has hosted a summer concert series that is free and open to the public.

Special events and fun family moments enveloped in fresh breezes have helped make Midlothian Community Park one of the city’s most beloved havens for recreation.

Midlothian Community Park, Source: Midlothian Economic Development

Dream Homes for Sale

Take a drive around Midlothian and be amazed by all the stunning residential construction and new homes for sale. In every direction, master-planned communities are taking shape full of beautiful homes featuring top-notch construction, superior craftsmanship, and splendid amenities. Whether you are looking for a lock-and-leave gated community, a neighborhood with community pools and parks, or a home surrounded by treed acreage, Midlothian offers a little something for everyone. Community spirit is alive and well in Midlothian’s numerous subdivisions, many of which host neighborhood gatherings, trick-or-treat events, and other social functions. In fact, chances are good that your dream home in Midlothian, Texas is just a click away!

Dove Creek Home, Source: John Houston Homes

We are a Premier Local Home Builder in Midlothian

If you are considering a move to the DFW area, John Houston Homes is ready to help you find or build your dream home in Midlothian. Hayes Crossing , Wind Ridge, Bridgewater, Dove Creek, Wickliffe Manor, The Arbors, and Brandi Ridge are just a few of the community’s incredible subdivisions featuring John Houston Homes.

We invite you to contact a New Home Advisor today at 866 582 9581 and see Midlothian for yourself up close and personal!

Destination Home: Easy Ways to Create a Resort Feel At Home

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 08:10:05 GMT

While it’s always fun to get away, it can be even more relaxing, enjoyable, and considerably less expensive to make memories at home. As the centerpiece of your family, your home should be a sanctuary: a comfortable, engaging retreat from life’s daily stress. There are an infinite number of ways to maximize your home environment – ranging from something small and simple to sensational renovations or additions.

Whether you’ve been in your home for one year or ten, it’s always fun to change things up a bit. Sometimes even the smallest change of scenery can provide a surprisingly dramatic punch. Consider these relatively easy and budget-friendly ways to switch up your surroundings and infuse your home with staycation spirit!

Dress Up Your Home's Interior

Chic Curtains – If you feel desperate for a new look, consider changing your curtains. While it may sound like a simple change, replacing dark, heavy drapery with sheer, lightweight fabrics in island-inspired hues, tropical prints, or natural themes can instantly update your space. Window dressings can set the tone of a room while also imparting texture, interest, and dimension. Prepare to be pleasantly impressed by the power of this home staple!

The Right Rug – Whether plush, shaggy, flatweave, braided, or knotted, a rug can totally tie a room together while at the same time imparting a contemporary, traditional, or transitional feel. Additionally, a rug can not only help define space, but it can also help with noise reduction on hard flooring. Don’t underestimate how much a rug can transform spaces in your house!

Alluring Accents – The start of summer is the perfect time to declutter your home, rearrange your furniture, redefine your living space, and spruce it up with a few resort-inspired accents! Think colorful pillows and throws, festive beach-themed tableware, coastal artwork, and even tropical plants such as an Amazon Elephant’s Ear or Monstera. Making your home feel like a personalized paradise doesn’t have to be complicated.

Bring the Outdoors In

Exotic Elements – Lavish spas and hotels derive much of their luxe resort feel from earthy materials such as mixed wood and natural fibers. Consider incorporating reclaimed or repurposed furniture, bamboo or rattan furnishings, and accessories with natural, organic textures.

Fans and Lighting – Create a cool breeze that is not only relaxing, but aesthetically pleasing and energy efficient as well, with an ornate ceiling fan that summons all things tropical. Enhance your room’s lighting while evoking seaside charm with ceiling fans that feature fern leaf, oval palm, or other botanical-inspired blades in a variety of styles and colors.

Tranquil Fountains – Nothing says “resort” quite like the soothing sound of trickling water. It’s easy to add this dash of serenity to your home with an indoor fountain. Decorative wall fountains create a special oasis that is at once eye-catching, elegant, and luxurious. However, free-standing floor water fountains and smaller tabletop fountains can also lend positive energy and a sense of calm to your home.

Add Relaxing, Fun Details

Light Linens – While most of us may not have ocean views outside our windows, there’s nothing that says we can’t make home feel like a hotel. When you want to channel a vacation state of mind, replace your usual sheets with crisp, white linens. Make sure your bed is made with plumped pillows and cushy duvets. Douse your room in daylight, infuse the space with sea mist diffusers, and toss in some tropical-themed accents for good measure. You could even add a glass carafe of water to your nightstand.

Bath Bliss – We tend to spend a fair amount of time in the bathroom, so why not make it even more relaxing and soothing? Take your bath to a resort-style level with a fresh coat of light paint, ornate lighting, and elegant, framed mirrors. Top things off with a mix of greenery, a bathtub caddy, and fragrant candles. Don’t forget a new set of fluffy towels and luxurious bath gels to complete your at-home spa experience.

Al Fresco Fun – After refreshing your home’s interior with a vacation vibe, consider what can be done to continue the theme in your outdoor space. While a sparkling pool and spa are perennial favorites for a backyard oasis, there are plenty of more affordable ways to enhance your at-home sanctuary. Add a fire pit to create the perfect spot for s’mores and fireside chats. Bring Palm Springs style to your patio with classic Adirondack chairs, a wicker chaise lounge set, and scalloped umbrellas. When the sun goes down, set the scene with bistro string lights, whimsical fairy lights, or mini lantern string lights.

Final Thoughts On Setting Up a Home Staycation

I f you are landlocked, craving salty breezes, and travel plans are on hold, creating a vacation mentality at home can translate into an even more enjoyable atmosphere for family and friends to hang out, relax, and recharge. At the end of the day, home is truly where the heart is, so why not make every day a special staycation?

** To discuss ways to add resort-style flair and other upgrades to your home, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-806-1762!**

Popular Home Upgrades: Increase Your Home’s Value with Smart Design

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 06:26:05 GMT

Designing your new home will be one of the most fun, exciting, and rewarding things you will ever do. Taking your home from a mere idea to a personal treasure will be a journey unlike any other. While the experience will be an adventure, it may also seem overwhelming at times, and you will have countless decisions to make – big and small. Many of those decisions will revolve around what upgrades to incorporate into your new home.

Fortunately, when you build a home with John Houston Homes, part of your build process will involve an appointment at the John Houston Homes Design Studio, our custom home design center.

“Instead of just a couple hours, you will have nearly a full day to browse John Houston Homes’ 6,000-square-foot design studio, where you can explore textures, colors, and looks of diverse materials and products, and work with a design studio consultant to make selections customized to your personal preferences,” says Lara Bailey, manager of the John Houston Homes Design Studio.

While John Houston Homes’ finishes are already high-quality products to begin with, you may decide to upgrade some materials and products in your home. There is no doubt that exceptional materials and quality upgrades can greatly enhance your enjoyment, as well as the value, of your home. Here are some upgrades currently popular with not only John Houston Homes clients in North Texas, but also homeowners across the nation:

Structural Home Upgrades

Three-Car Garage: If you own more than two cars, would like extra driveway space, or could simply use some additional storage space, a three-car garage is a wise investment. It could also prove a huge asset to your home’s future resale value!

A Game Room or Media Room: Having versatile space for a dedicated home theater or a media room can be a nice addition if you think your family will spend time gaming, watching movies, or simply enjoying TV. This extra room allows for an immersive experience with dazzling visuals, sensational sound, and much more.

Extending Patio Space: While increasing the square footage of your patio space will add to your total homebuilding cost, it will also add to your overall home enjoyment. Especially here in North Texas, where a milder climate allows plenty of outdoor living opportunities. It’s definitely more efficient to upgrade your patio size during homebuilding, and it is sure to enhance your long-term home value!

Extra Powder Bath: Most homeowners would agree that extra bathroom space is a good thing. The building process is the perfect time to add that extra half or full bath in your home for guests, kids, or simply convenience.

Additional upgrades to consider:

Dining nook for kitchen
Reading nook in master bedroom
Cabinets or countertop in utility room

Home Design Upgrades

Countertops: Countertops are historically one of the first go-to upgrades homebuyers consider during the building process. Many homeowners want to upgrade from granite to quartz, according to Lara Bailey. She says white, cool greys, and warm greys are popular choices for design studio clients. The kitchen is a smart space for upgrades because extra spending here often translates into a good return on investment in the future.

Flooring: It wasn’t that long ago that homeowners did not want to even entertain the thought of vinyl flooring. But luxury vinyl flooring has become quite popular thanks to its durability, aesthetic appeal, and comfort. Lara says her current customers often prefer luxury vinyl planks over engineered wood flooring due to its lifespan, myriad color and finishes, and ease of care.

Glass Front Door: The front door of your home is an integral component of your home’s total look. A beautiful glass front door not only looks elegant, but helps establish the feeling for the rest of the home. An impressive entryway will elevate your home’s curb appeal.

Tile: Incorporating patterned tile in kitchens and baths allows for creative design expression and distinctive style. “Tile upgrades might include sleek subway tiles or textured surfaces that are wavy, pillowed, embossed, or debossed,” says Bailey. This is also a smart upgrade to do during the building process, rather than later down the road. You will save a lot of time, energy, and money overall.

Farmhouse Sinks: Thanks to the influence of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ popular makeover program “Fixer Upper,” farmhouse sinks have increased in popularity the past several years. They continue to be a favored selection when it comes to new home upgrades. Homeowners love the classic look and timeless appeal of this coveted kitchen feature.

A Mud Bench for Storage: Incorporating a mini mudroom closet or a mudroom bench into your home is one of the most budget-friendly upgrades you can make. Talk about getting a bang for your buck! This little gem will be worth its weight in gold when it comes to organizing your family’s daily gear, hiding clutter, and creating smart storage space.

Additional home upgrades to consider:

Tile or faux stone on fireplace floor to ceiling
Decorative wood vent hoods
High-quality trim such as shiplap or ceiling beams
Barn doors into study

Tips to improve your custom homebuilding process

Consider how you will live in and use your space
Plan as much as possible before building starts
Keep energy efficiency in mind
Remember that good communication is essential
Enjoy the process! The end result will be amazing

Visit the John Houston Homes Design Studio

To learn more about the John Houston Homes Design Studio or to discuss how you can elevate your new home’s interior or exterior style, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-599-5317!

Build Your Home to Maximize Resale Value

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 03:41:08 GMT

When building a new home, selling it is likely the last thing on your mind. But it’s something to consider – especially if you know this home may not be your forever home. Much of this will depend on your current stage of life. Are you a newly married couple? A family with younger or older children? An empty nester? Is this home a real estate investment or do you envision building a foundation for a future to come full of quiet evenings at home, grilling out with family and friends, or simply enjoying life’s simple pleasures around a living room fireplace?

There are many things to take into consideration, but the truth is that most people will likely sell their house at some point down the road. Whether you plan to stay in your home for five, 10, or even 25 years, one thing is a given: things change. You might be in your home far longer than you ever envisioned or need to move due to a new job or outgrowing your living space! In fact, according to the United States Census Bureau, the average person in America will move as many as 11.7 times in their life.

That said, when the day comes that you are ready to plant a “for sale” sign in your yard, having done some things up front on your house could save you money in the long run and increase your home’s appeal to prospective buyers. No matter what, it’s best to strike a balance between what you want and what could make your home more marketable in the future. Don’t get too caught up doing upgrades or architectural changes based only on how the house might sell down the road. This house will be where you live, sleep, raise kids, and so much more. Your house is for you and your family, but there are many ways to enhance its long-term value during your building process. Below are a few design strategies to consider.

Create More Space

Game Room: If you just can’t decide if you want that game room or media room upstairs, but you think you might in the future, you would be wise to go ahead and add it into your plans now. Making major structural changes during the homebuilding phase is much more cost effective than adding it in later. Not to mention, it might not even be possible to make some of those dramatic changes later down the line.

Patios: Extending or adding to your outdoor patio space is often a good idea. Enhancing your outdoor living might include an outdoor kitchen or a cozy seating area. This can be especially beneficial in states like Texas where al fresco environments can be enjoyed nearly year-round.

Three-Car Garage: If you are debating whether you want a two- or three-car, rest assured that spending extra for more car space will not only be advantageous for your family, but also will most certainly help you attract future buyers. That extra garage comes in handy for teen drivers, storage space, and even additional driveway space for guest parking.

Maximize Bathroom Space: When you are building your home, this is the time to seriously consider how many bathrooms you need. As with other structural elements that may require additional square footage, this will be much more cost-effective when done up front during building. Expanding your powder bath into a full bath or adding an additional bathroom to your home will prove convenient for your household as well as helpful to future resale value.

Elevate Curb Appeal

Windows: Do not underestimate the value of quality windows when you are building your home. Investing in energy-efficient windows will not only increase your family’s comfort by ensuring enhanced insulation, but you will also save money on energy costs. Additionally, expansive windows will fill your home with natural light and add to your home’s exterior aesthetics.

Landscaping: You know the saying: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Your landscaping is a big part of the first impression that your home will impart to a prospective buyer. As you build your home, give thoughtful consideration to your landscaping decisions. Industry experts contend that landscape expenditures can result in a significant return on investment when it comes time to sell. Pay attention to your lawn, walkways, shrubs and trees, lighting, and irrigation systems.

Elevation: While your home’s interior will command much of your attention, the exterior of your home is a powerful component to your home’s overall appeal. From craftsman or mediterranean to farmhouse or mid-century modern, your home’s exterior will be an extension of your architectural vision. Talk with your builder to discuss options on how brick, stone, vinyl siding, trim, and paint can be used to take your home from ordinary to extraordinary.

Incorporate Smart Upgrades

Appliances: First and foremost, your kitchen appliances should cater to your family’s unique needs. Investing in high-quality appliances, if your budget will allow, should deliver improved functionality for your family, and could prove beneficial to future home resale value. In particular, be sure to evaluate the energy efficiency of the appliances you choose.

Bathrooms: From the shower tile to the tub surround and flooring material to paint colors, your home’s baths can really make a splash. Most would agree that a home can never have too many bathrooms. Think useful space for kids and guests, or a spa-inspired retreat for the end of your workday. Designed with form and function in mind, your home’s baths offer an opportunity to use details and elements that showcase your personal style balanced with creative design. When building your home, you might consider turning a powder bath into a full bath, incorporating spacious windows, or using pocket doors to maximize space.

Kitchen: As the heart of every home, your kitchen should be functional, welcoming, and stylish. It’s where you start your day, feed your family, and spend a great deal of time. There are so many ways to visually make an impact in your kitchen with eye-catching countertops, backsplashes, stylish cabinetry, and attractive flooring. Enhance your kitchen’s functionality with specialty organizers, creative storage options, and efficient space design. A gas stove top would be another key kitchen element to consider.

Insulation: Remember to carefully evaluate your insulation options with your builder when constructing your home. While it may be hidden away behind walls, ceilings, and attic space, insulation has the power to take your home’s comfort to another level. Under a blazing sun or in the face of winter winds, the proper insulation will ensure that your home is air-tight, temperate, and energy efficient. Insulation can also help reduce noise in your home. Be sure to explore options for spray foam insulation, radiant barrier for the attic, and reflective and foundation insulation to enhance your home’s indoor environment as well as its appeal to future buyers.

Home Building with You in Mind

At the end of the day, you are building a dream home for you and your family. Your home should ultimately be everything you hoped for – and then some. That said, when building with an eye toward future marketability, be cautious with trendy designs and focus on smart, classic upgrades that will stand the test of time while meeting your family’s lifestyle needs. After all, your new home will be so much more than four walls and a roof … it’s where your story begins.

To discuss how to enhance your new home’s future resale value, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-251-0910!

Home Warranty Basics and Benefits with John Houston Homes

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:13:24 GMT

An Overview of Our Home Warranty Coverage

When it comes to moving into your newly built Texas home , having peace of mind about its functionality is essential. You should feel confident that the home’s structure is solid, the electrical and plumbing systems are operational and compliant, and that HVAC systems, appliances, and other home elements will last for as long as possible.

Your home builder’s warranty will be an important factor for your peace of mind. That’s because the warranty will help you negotiate repairs should you be faced with any serious structural or mechanical problems that need to be addressed.

At John Houston Homes, we are proud to offer clients our 1-2-10 Express Limited Home Warranty. Below is a brief look at the basics of what our warranty covers. Please refer to our complete Express Limited Home Warranty information for full details.

1-Year Workmanship Warranty

This warranty covers the builder’s obligation to the buyer for workmanship, and materials. Items covered under this warranty will include roofs, countertops, backsplashes, fireplaces, irrigation systems, flooring, garage door openers, and more.

During this first year, other items that are covered include light switches, plumbing fixtures, outlets, fencing (gate function and fence post installation), and masonry (cracks greater than 1/8th of an inch).

2-Year Systems Warranty

This backs the builder’s warranty on defects in the wiring, piping, and ductwork in the electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilation, and mechanical systems behind the wall.

To maximize the benefits of this warranty, we advise new homeowners to set up electronic equipment, sound systems, and televisions in living rooms, media rooms, and elsewhere in the house sooner than later during the first two years of homeownership. This will help you find potential issues such as unintentionally cut or damaged wires while you are still covered.

10-Year Structural Warranty

This warranty lasts for 10 years after your closing and will cover major structural defects that pertain to the framing or foundation of the home. This would include foundation issues, walls and partitions, floor framing systems, headers, beams, girders, and lintels (e.g., beams placed across openings and archways).

An example of something that would likely be covered would be a crack in the foundation in which separation greater than 1/8th of an inch would be evident. This warranty would not cover “flatwork,” or poured concrete that is not a part of the home’s foundation. It is important to note that the 10-year structural warranty is backed by the product manufacturer, as opposed to the home builder.

10-Year HVAC Parts & Labor Warranty

In conjunction with your HVAC standard warranty of 2 year labor and 5 year parts, there is a guaranteed additional 5 year parts warranty. Your new system will be covered for manufacturer parts and materials for 10 years from the closing date.

Top Home Maintenance Tips for New Homeowners

While warranties can be a great asset to new homeowners, it’s important to remember that appropriate maintenance measures must be taken by homeowners to ensure compliance with warranty guidelines and stipulations.

Here are a few tips that will ensure you are covering your bases:

Change your HVAC filters regularly.
Replace the batteries of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors at least twice a year (perhaps during daylight savings).
Water your foundation. Keep it moist but not saturated.
If you make any major changes to your property, hire a licensed and insured professional.
Keep pests at bay with preventative pest control service.
When cleaning floors, spray cleaner on a cloth (rather than directly on the floor) to minimize potential damage to flooring material due to cleaning product being inadvertently left on flooring.
Clean gutters at least twice a year.
Be sure to prune trees and shrubs located close to the house.
Schedule regular (seasonal), professional tune-ups on your air conditioner and furnace.
Flush your water heater annually to remove sediment.

Regular home maintenance is crucial to the health, efficiency, and longevity of your home. It will not only save you money in the long run, but it will also help ensure that you will get the most from your warranty, should the need arise.

Remember that major changes to your property, such as installing an in-ground pool, putting up extensive seasonal decorations on your roof, or adding solar screens, could negate your warranty coverage.

It’s best to talk with your builder before making any significant changes to your property to see how it might impact your warranty coverage.

A Quick Home Warranty Q&A

Q: Is the Express Limited Home Warranty transferable?

A: Yes. The Express Limited Home Warranty is fully transferable to subsequent homeowners without any additional paperwork or assignment.

Q: Is the Express Limited Home Warranty a type of insurance?

A: No. It is important to understand that the Express Limited Home Warranty is not insurance, an indemnity contract, nor a service or maintenance agreement. Think of it like this: homeowners insurance is designed to cover unexpected things such as smoke, theft, fallen trees, or storms that might lead to damage, whereas a warranty covers costs and repairs associated with somewhat expected events such as the aging and eventual breakdown of appliances and systems.

Q: What is typically excluded from a homebuilder’s warranty?

A: Typical exclusions might include damage to your home resulting from:

Abuse, misuse, or neglect to provide maintenance
Deterioration of materials used in construction within an expected level
Damage sustained due to people hired to work on your property
Damage caused by outside vandals or by natural disasters
Home items, such as appliances, which are covered by a warranty from the manufacturer

Q: Can I submit a warranty request online?

A: Yes. You may file a claim online through the warranty portal or you may call John Houston Homes’ warranty support team.

John Houston Homes Is Here For You

Home warranties are excellent tools when it comes to protecting your property and curbing costs of repairs and other unforeseen expenses. John Houston Homes is pleased to offer a comprehensive home warranty program to our clients here in the Dallas, Forth Worth, and Waco areas , and we are always happy to provide information and answer questions . Our goal is to build not only lasting relationships with our clients, but also enduring homes that will serve our families for years to come.

**All information in this article was accurate at time of posting. Information and offers are subject to change. See a John Houston Homes Sales Manager or representative for most recent and accurate information.**

Homes for Sale in Midlothian, Texas: Why Hayes Crossing Is a Neighborhood to Watch

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 07:01:40 GMT

If you are envisioning a new home in a community that pairs small town Texas charm with proximity to cosmopolitan amenities, then be sure to include Midlothian, Texas, on your short list of considerations.

Located 30 minutes south of Dallas-Fort Worth in the southern portion of the DFW metro, homes in Midlothian offer a departure from the North Texas norm thanks to minimal traffic congestion, upscale semi-rural living, and luxurious development options.

The Economic Boom of Midlothian, TX

Before we get to Hayes Crossing, it’s important to understand why so many people are looking for houses in Midlothian in the first place.

Character and Charm: Once defined by cotton, cattle, and rail in its earliest days, Midlothian has evolved into a hub of activity spurred by a thriving industrial base and a solid educational system while retaining its friendly character and provincial charm.

Quality of Life: Existing and new residents often cite Midlothian’s available land, convenient proximity to area shopping, dining, and entertainment amenities, and the community’s school district as key highlights of its quality of life.

Residential Development: One of the greatest indicators of Midlothian’s success is the astounding population growth the city has experienced in the past 15 years. Thanks to a booming housing market, Midlothian has rapidly developed in recent years into an upscale bedroom community with a unique lifestyle that is drawing new residents from near and far.

Business Development: With a population nearing 40,000, the new Methodist Midlothian Medical Center , Midlothian Towne Crossing anchored by Kroger, and expanding list of corporate residents – including Google – are a testament to the community’s exciting evolution.

Midlothian’s School System and Family Living

The high education and income levels of Midlothian’s population, coupled with a top-notch learning environment, make this community an increasingly popular choice for growing families.

Growing School District: Spanning 112 square miles, Midlothian ISD is ranked as one of the fastest growing school districts in Texas. With just over 11,000 students across eight elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools, MISD represents a tight-knit and supportive network of parents, teachers, staff, businesses, and individuals. MISD is also currently in the process of making plans for future schools to accommodate the growing community.

High Curriculum Standards: The district’s education system adheres to high curriculum standards that encompass innovative technologies and progressive instruction to ensure comprehensive educational achievement on multiple levels.

College Preparation: Additionally, MISD’s two high schools offer comprehensive career and college planning for students through career and technology endorsements as well as with pre-AP, AP, and dual credit courses.

Career and Technical Preparation: In recent years, the district unveiled its Midlothian Innovative Learning Experience (MILE) campus, a state-of-the-art educational facility that provides flexible learning space that reflects current industry and workplace environments. The MILE houses five career and technical education (CTE) pathways: culinary arts, cybersecurity, aerospace engineering, civil engineering, and entrepreneurship. Programs at the MILE give students an opportunity to utilize industry-standard equipment and professional practices in specific career paths.

Supportive Staff: The MILE’s comprehensive educational experience is enhanced by its highly qualified, passionate teaching staff as well as regular mentoring and curriculum support from professionals in correlating industries. The center complements students’ learning experience provided at their home campus, Midlothian High School or Heritage High School.

Midlothian Homes For Sale in Hayes Crossing

Home building is increasing across Midlothian, with subdivisions fit for every situation and budget. John Houston Homes is excited to offer an array of new homes for sale throughout Midlothian, including in one of the city’s newest subdivisions, Hayes Crossing , where homes start in the $500s.

Convenient Location: Located on the northeast side of Midlothian near Walnut Grove Middle School and Heritage High School, this idyllic housing community delivers convenient proximity to quality schools, chic shopping and dining destinations, and easy access to U.S. Highways 287 and 67.

Great Home and Lot Features: This quaint community, currently in phase one of development, features quarter-acre lots averaging 85’ wide by 130’ deep. Many lots feature side entry two- to three-car garages, further enhancing curb appeal . In addition, spacious backyards with privacy fencing ensure plenty of room for a pool or other outdoor living amenities.

Customization: Hayes Crossing offers homeowners the opportunity to select from several John Houston floor plans and elevations to secure a meticulously designed new residence. Homebuyers may also utilize John Houston’s exterior visualizer tool, 3D home tours , and 6,000-square-foot Design Center to create a Midlothian home truly tailored to personal needs, style, and vision.

Community Amenities: Families with houses in Hayes Crossing will enjoy Midlothian’s 14 parks that span everything from sports fields to dog parks and garden plazas to historic sites. The city's signature community park was completed in 2021 and includes 105 acres of sports fields, walkable paths, a splash pad, amphitheater, and other features for residents to enjoy.

John Houston Homes Is Building in Hayes Crossing and Beyond

With its downtown special events, holiday festivities, firework displays, parades, and more, Midlothian continues to establish itself as a family-oriented community that celebrates yesterday’s charm while embracing tomorrow’s momentum. It offers residents room to roam, panoramic sunsets, and starlit night skies fused with desirable neighborhoods, a thriving economy, and an education system that empowers students with the tools and skills to succeed tomorrow.

John Houston Homes is proud to be a home builder in Midlothian, Texas and to help families find the place of their dreams in special DFW communities like Hayes Crossing.

To learn more about purchasing a new home in Midlothian, contact a John Houston Homes Advisor today at 866-217-9069!

7 Benefits of Virtual Home Tours

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 20:30:00 GMT

A New Era of Homebuying

It’s nearly impossible to remember what the process of finding a new home was like a couple decades ago. That’s because technology has taken the homebuying process to previously unimagined levels.

Gone are the days of searching newspaper classified ads for property listings, driving around in search of for sale signs, or sitting down with a real estate agent to spell out the amenities you dreamed of. Certainly, you can still visit with a real estate agent to discuss your ideal home, but today’s technology grants access to an impressive amount of research you can also do on your own.

At one time, only real estate agents had access to home listings. Eager homebuyers poured over printouts of listings provided by their real estate agent, deciding by a single image which homes to go see. But in our modern era, searching for real estate means infinite possibilities thanks to digital connectivity, real-time data, and sophisticated online tools and resources.

Perhaps one of the best concepts to emerge in the world of real estate has been the virtual tour. What began in the ‘90s as simply a string of static photos showing a home’s interior has evolved into an immersive experience that can virtually transport homebuyers into countless homes with just a few scrolls. There are few things as fun as exploring a home up close and personal through your screen of choice – no matter the distance between you and the home.

Key Benefits of Touring Homes Online

Save Time and Money: One of the top benefits of using virtual home tours comes in the form of time and money savings. No need to take an afternoon off work or rearrange your entire schedule to connect with the home of your dreams. Checking out a home virtually also saves gas, which in turn saves money, and is a plus for the environment. Win-win!

Convenient Home Shopping Online: It doesn’t get much easier than searching for a new home from your own home. Or your car. Or a doctor’s office. Or while you’re waiting to get your oil changed. Or the school pick-up line. You get the picture. Thanks to 360-degree and 3D technology in our digital world, you can literally “visit” a home on the market anytime, anywhere. No matter where you are.

Take Your Time: Not only does a virtual tour allow you to see a home whenever you want, but it also allows you to take as much time as you want. Inspect every room from corner to corner without pressure. Visit the home as many times as you want to evaluate if it is the right fit for your family. It’s like having a private open house available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Global Connectivity: Whether you are searching for property in your city, within your state, across the nation, or elsewhere in the world, having access to the internet means you have countless listings at your fingertips. Narrow your home search using criteria spanning location, square footage, and school proximity to the number of bathrooms, bedrooms, amenities, and more.

Visualize Your Home: Having access to a virtual home tour grants you the time and flexibility to really absorb all that a home has to offer. It also affords the chance to visualize what you would do with the space; how you would arrange furniture, how you might decorate it, and, ultimately, to carefully consider how the home would fit your unique needs.

Virtual Tours are Fun: Quite simply, a 360-degree or 3D virtual house tour can help take the stress and guesswork out of your home search. No need to drive from location to location only to be disappointed when you see a home in person. Instead, enjoy the versatile palette of possibilities from the comfort of your couch to determine what homes would be the best candidates for an in-person visit.

A Personalized Experience: When purchasing a new home, it’s best to be as informed as possible. A virtual tour offers the opportunity to search key home features you’re interested in, sift through prospective homes, and enjoy a realistic sense of what a home offers by exploring floor plans from a birds-eye view, touring a home floor by floor for a simulated walkthrough.

Discover John Houston's Virtual Home Tours

Interactive, engaging, affordable, uncomplicated, and convenient. These are just some of the reasons that 97% of all buyers searched for new homes online in 2021, according to industry data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) . And as one might expect, that number climbed to 98% and 99% respectively with Gen Xers and Millennials.

At John Houston Homes, we are proud to offer an array of virtual home tours for your home-browsing convenience. Visit our website to get instant access to more than 30 of our 3D floor plans as well as our luxurious 3D model home tours. Take a virtual walk through our homes, zoom in on the details, and measure space in any room. We also offer an exterior visualizer tool to bring your home vision to life. See what a new home’s exterior would look like with varying brick, stone, trim, and color options.

While today’s technological advancements are truly extraordinary, nothing takes the place of a personal touch. That’s why we are on standby and happy to assist any way we can during your homebuying journey.

To learn more about purchasing a new home, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-217-9069!

What to Expect When Buying a New Home in North Central Texas

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 20:45:00 GMT

Most people would agree that the housing market has taken buyers, sellers, agents, and lenders on a wild ride the past couple of years. Over that time, low interest rates and buyer demand set the stage for intense bidding wars, relentless competition, soaring home prices, and inventory shortages. Now, the scene is shifting once more due to rising mortgage rates, supply chain challenges, and inflation concerns, and has left many people wondering: is this really a good time to buy?

Read on for some expert insights and answers to common homebuilding questions often asked here at John Houston Homes.

Insights on Building a New Construction or Buying a Home For Sale

Q: Are home lots available? Yes! First things first, you need a residential lot if you plan to build a home from the ground up. While John Houston Homes is not building on land owned by prospective homebuyers at this time, we do have available lots in select communities. Our lots are offered on a first come, first served basis and are not on a waiting list, nor are they selected by lottery. Our expert teams are available to assist with selecting lots and floorplans at contract for your new construction.

Q: Can I build my own house? Absolutely! While we are not currently building on land owned by prospective homebuyers, it is possible to build a home from the ground up on available lots in select John Houston communities. If you dream of designing your home’s colors, textures, amenities, finishes, and more, our experienced teams can help you every step of the way. Visit our communities online to learn more.

Q: Do you have new homes for sale? Yes! We have a wide array of designer inventory homes across North and Central Texas under various stages of development. All our communities, many of which are master-planned, offer a sophisticated style of living. For more than 15 years, John Houston has been building high-quality homes in elegant architectural styles and floor plans for a range of needs and budgets.

Q: What is a John Houston designer inventory home? To help expedite homebuyers’ move into a new home, John Houston offers designer inventory homes in an array of beautiful communities. For homebuyers, this translates to a fast-tracked new home experience. John Houston’s inventory homes showcase superb attention to detail and designer touches that incorporate the latest trends, looks, and products while ensuring classic and timeless appeal. You can search our designer inventory homes on our website.

Q: What might impact my build timeline? This is a loaded question with many variables. But, in general, weather is one of the biggest factors that could impact build time. The homebuilding process tends to move more quickly in the hot, dry summer months, while rain and colder temperatures can slow things up in fall and winter months. Additionally, nearly every industry has been hit with global supply chain issues, and the homebuilding industry is no exception. From lumber and brick to resins and microchips, supply chain challenges can impact everything from the home’s exterior to flooring and appliances.

Q: What are current build times for a John Houston new home? Historically, build times have been about 7 months from signing to completion. Under current market conditions, construction might take anywhere from 9 to 12 months. That said, timelines are starting to get a bit shorter, and we expect build times to improve in the future as buyer demand continues to slow down. Rest assured, we will keep you apprised of any delays throughout the homebuilding process.

Q: What is the John Houston Design Studio? Located across from John Houston headquarters in Red Oak, Texas, our interactive 6,000-square-foot design studio lets homebuyers explore fresh possibilities in home design, style, and functionality. When building a new home from the ground up with John Houston, homebuyers can enjoy a one-stop-shop opportunity to peruse everything from paint colors, carpet, wood, tile, and stone choices to lighting elements, cabinet hardware, plumbing fixtures, stair railing and spindles. Additionally, homebuyers can use our online Exterior Visualizer Tool to explore computer-generated renderings of exterior colors, materials, and designs.

Q: In what regions are you building? John Houston homes can currently be found across the North Texas Dallas-Fort Worth area and Central Texas region. We offer homes for sale in Waxahachie, Midlothian, Ferris, Arlington, Mansfield, Fort Worth, Burleson, Temple, and Waco.

Q: Are there any financing incentives available? Yes. At John Houston Homes, we want to ensure that our clients can get into a new home as affordably as possible. We offer flexible financing options, as well as incentives that could go toward closing costs, buying down interest rates, or home upgrades when possible. Above all, we want to make sure your home buying experience is positive and cost-effective.

Q: What if I’m worried about interest rates? First, remember that the lowest rate may not always translate into the best loan for you. While it seems counterintuitive, interest rates are only part of the equation when buying a new home. Additionally, when you purchase a home under construction, you can often take advantage of an interest rate buy-down and lock in today. You might also consider a community situated a little further out that is more affordable and offers an opportunity for greater equity gains as the area builds up. Our mission as a home builder is to help you carefully evaluate all your options to figure out the best financial solution for your situation. Above all, remember that nothing has to be permanent. If you don’t love your interest rate or the terms of your loan down the road, you can always refinance.

We Are More than a Home Builder

John Houston Homes is here to listen, discuss, educate, and be your partner during the entire home buying process. We pride ourselves on communicating with our clients and strive for transparency every step of the way. Your “right time” to buy a home for sale in North Central Texas will not be the same as anyone else’s. Your decision is a personal one driven by your season of life, financial situation, and personal needs.

Just know that John Houston Homes is ready to welcome you home…whenever the time is right for you! And we are always happy to help answer any questions.

Talk to a John Houston new home advisor today to start your homebuilding journey by calling 866-244-3875!

Tips for Winterizing Your Texas Home

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 22:09:03 GMT

Preparing for Winter in Texas

Many may think that “winterizing your home” and “Texas” don’t belong in the same sentence. However, those who persevered through the Great Texas Freeze of 2021 know otherwise.

During that year’s historic second week of February, more than 4 million Texans lost power over 5 days as temperatures plummeted to icy record lows. Winter watches and warnings blanketed the Lone Star State for 8 days, 23 hours, and 23 minutes beginning on Thursday, February 11th, according to the National Weather Service.

On Valentine’s Day 2021, TV screens, computer monitors, and phone screens were lit up with images of Texas in solid pink, indicating that every inch of the state was under a winter storm warning.

In the days that followed, families shivered, pipes froze, businesses closed, store shelves sat empty, and structures of all types suffered severe damage from the winter grip. Texas saw everything from snow, sleet, to dangerously cold conditions.

That storm was proof of Mother Nature’s fickle spirit. While the state eventually thawed, the winter storm of 2021 will serve as a cautionary tale for every Texas winter to come.

Read on for home winterizing tips to keep your family safe and warm should Old Man Winter come knocking.

Outside Winter Home Preparation

Clean the Gutters – Gutters and drains blocked by leaves, twigs, and other debris can hinder drainage resulting in leakage, ice dams, and possibly structural damage.

Get the Chimney Inspected – When cold temperatures set in, a fireplace offers cozy firelight and comfort. But safe preparation is essential. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), annual inspections provide early detection of problems that could cause fires, carbon monoxide poisoning, or structural deterioration.

Remove Hoses – Disconnect all outdoor hoses and drain as much water as possible from them. Store the hoses in a garage, basement, or other warmer site to help prevent damage to hoses.

Cover Faucets – Often referred to as the faucet or spigot, your home’s hose bibb is susceptible to freezing during cold temperatures. Before freezing temperatures hit, be sure to cover and insulate all outdoor faucets to help keep any water in the pipes from freezing.

Reduce Watering Cycles – “Reduce your watering cycles on your irrigation systems,” advises Jaie Barnett, customer service manager with John Houston Homes. “If your irrigation system shut-off is above ground, please be sure to shut off the water supply to the system to help prevent freezing and bursting.”

Inside Winter Home Preparation

Let It Drip – Ruptured pipes can cause catastrophic water damage. Give your pipes a fighting chance against frigid temps by leaving your indoor faucets dripping. That slight trickle of water helps prevent water and pipes from freezing, especially in exterior walls.

Open Cabinet Doors – Open the cabinet doors beneath your kitchen and bathroom sinks to help circulate warm air around the pipes. Pay special attention to plumbing fixtures and pipes located in exterior walls.

Reverse Fans – Did you know your angled fan blades can make a big difference in your home’s ambiance? While spinning your fan blades counterclockwise during the summer helps cool you, reversing the blades during winter will help warm you and save energy. This is because warm air rises, and the clockwise motion of fan blades will help pull cooler air upwards while forcing warm air downward. Change your fan blade direction with a simple flip of a switch on your fan base or remote control.

Seal Up Cracks and Crevices – Keep cold, outdoor air from seeping into your warm home by sealing up doors and windows with weatherstripping and sealants. Caulking may also be used around drafty baseboards and crown molding. Keeping cold air out will not only keep you warmer, but it will minimize your energy costs, as well.

Change Furnace Filters – Improve airflow and reduce energy costs by changing your air filters before your furnace is put to work. Dirty air filters will dramatically reduce furnace efficiency. Help your furnace achieve optimal performance by changing out the filters every two to three months. Remember to clean your furnace and air vents as well.

Tune Up Your Furnace – The best way to be sure your furnace is ready for a chilly winter is to schedule a tune-up with a trusted HVAC professional. Regular maintenance will improve efficiency, help detect potential problems, and ensure that any repairs are promptly addressed.

Additional Tips for Winterizing Your Home

Connect with Neighbors – “If traveling during the holiday season, be sure to let a neighbor know just in case there is a freeze alert. That way, they can check your home and notify you should a freeze break occur and water is pouring out,” advises John Houston Homes’ Barnett.

Maintain Detectors – Be sure to test carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. The U.S. Fire Administration recommends testing smoke alarms at least once a month using the test button, replacing batteries at least once a year, and replacing the entire smoke alarm every 10 years. If the alarm chirps to warn the battery is low, replace the battery right away.

Prepare for the Unexpected – It’s always a good idea to keep dry firewood in your garage and extra food in the pantry in the event of an extended power outage. An emergency kit complete with flashlights, a radio, batteries, and other supplies is also helpful.

Know Your Valves – Take advantage of good weather to get familiar with your property’s main water valve location. Also, make sure family members know where individual shut-off valves are for water heaters, dishwashers, sinks, and toilets. Knowing where your shut-off valves are can save you from thousands of dollars in damage. Consider placing a tag near shut-off valves for easy identification.

Want more information?

Contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-734-9085 !

Rising Mortgage Interest Rates - Why You Should Still Consider Purchasing

wpryor@jhoustonhomes.com (Whitney Pryor) — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 18:51:12 GMT

To Buy or Not To Buy A Home...That Is The Question

Buying a home is one of the biggest and most important decisions you will ever make. It’s also likely the most expensive purchase you’ll ever make. It stands to reason that a lot of research, consideration, and emotion will shape this decision.

While you might be tempted to wait for the quintessential “right time” to buy a home, it can be hard to truly define when exactly that is. There will always be variables such as your unique needs, living demands, existing and new home inventory , mortgage interest rates, and more.

Currently – and with good reason – conversations abound regarding rising interest rates and whether it’s a good idea to purchase a home at this time.

But here’s the thing: life goes on whether interest rates rise or fall. People get married and divorced, children come along, high school grads go off to college, employment situations change, and before you know it, retirement looms on the distant horizon. In other words, life is a dynamic force that is perpetually in motion and always moving forward. The only thing we know for certain is that there is no recapturing yesterday. So if you’re questioning whether you should put in an offer on that special house, we have some tips and advice to bear in mind when evaluating your decision.

Read on for a fresh perspective on buying a home during this robust and ever-changing real estate market.

The silver lining of current interest rates

While eyes are rolling and heads are shaking at the current state of mortgage loan interest rates, one positive does shine from the situation. The past couple of years have seen homebuyers coming out in droves. However, the current rise in interest rates has slowed the pace of eager buyers a bit. This could translate into fewer prospective buyers, and ultimately, less competition for the house that you have your eye on.

You can always refinance later

While your new home could be your forever home, there’s nothing written in stone saying that it has to be. If you do decide to stay for years to come, and you are not happy with your interest rate, refinancing to a different rate or loan in the future is always an option. “Just make sure to keep your credit on track,” advised Danny Tutt, branch manager for Red Oak, Texas-based Trinity Oaks Mortgage. Above all, Tutt said to remember that a home purchase or loan does not have to be permanent.

The lowest rate does not always equal the best loan

It may seem counterintuitive, but Trinity Oaks’ Tutt said that sometimes the lowest rate does not always translate into the best loan for a buyer. He said sometimes it makes better financial sense to take a slightly higher rate with a lower down payment and reducing other debt. The buyer could then take the money saved and apply it to the principal of the loan and pay it off years earlier or invest it elsewhere. “There is not necessarily a right or wrong way, it is what is right for you,” said Tutt. “We like to present options and let the customer determine that for themselves.”

Don’t underestimate home value appreciation

If you are renting an apartment or home and are considering buying, remember this: even though interest rates are a bit higher at this time, you will be making a solid investment with a home purchase. Instead of essentially giving your money to someone else through rent, you will be making payments toward a tangible brick-and-mortar investment that should earn a profit if you decide to sell down the road. You will also enjoy tax benefits that come with homeownership. Interest rates have fluctuated to some degree for decades, but, historically, home values generally appreciate over time. On the flip side, rents are likely to continue climbing, as well. Where would you rather put your money?

Dallas - Fort Worth housing market still strong

Recent headlines are raising eyebrows with talk of mortgage interest rates approaching 6 percent, reduced home inventory, and rising labor costs and home prices, but take a deep breath before panicking too much. It’s essential to keep in mind that local and regional housing statistics do not necessarily reflect national market data. Just because the housing market is one way in Chicago, it does not mean that Dallas, Kansas City, or Atlanta is the seeing the exact same trends. North Texas is undeniably a hot real estate market which is why there is a continuous influx of residents moving in from other states. That’s resounding proof of this region’s appeal to homebuyers.

Programs for buyers

Sometimes, a buyer doesn’t really have the luxury of waiting to see if interest rates will come down before buying a home. A job change or family situation might dictate a move now . The good news is that while mortgage rates may not be the lowest they’ve ever been, there are myriad programs available to first-time buyers and seasoned homebuyers, as well. For example, John Houston Homes is currently offering a promotion that features below-market interest rates through late summer to homebuyers. The most important thing you can do is get financially educated to elevate your purchasing power and score more bang for your buck.

Mortgage questions? Call for a consultation

It should go without saying that the right mortgage lender will be worth his or her weight in gold. This means finding someone who listens to your needs, can patiently explain real estate and mortgage complexities, and whose knowledge will enhance your homebuying experience. “I always tell people to meet with a mortgage lender to consult, problem-solve creatively, and discuss options,” said Tutt. “Then I tell my clients to speak with their parents, CPA, or financial advisor – someone who has a vested interest in them.” Partnering with an experienced real estate agent and knowledgeable lender can mean the difference between a good homebuying experience and a great one. Interested in a free consultation to have your questions answered? You can call Trinity Oaks Mortgage at 866.429.5010

Closing Thoughts

At the end of the day, your home purchase should be defined by so much more than an interest rate. And the truth is, the best time to buy a house is when you can afford to.

“Don’t not get a home you love because interest rates are causing your payment to be $100 more a month,” said Trinity Oaks’ Tutt. “Your home is your life – your neighbors, your kids’ schools, where you sleep, and where you eat dinner with your family. If you can get into the market, then get in there.”

To learn more about purchasing a new home, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-217-9069

Tips On Tuesday: Get Connected with John Houston Custom Homes

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 15:28:35 GMT

Tips On Tuesday: Get Connected with John Houston Custom Homes

We are a connected society, aren't we? Today we don't even need to leave the comfort of our homes to know what's going on in the world around us. But while we are "connected" on some level, it's difficult to label that connection as personal. At John Houston Homes, building lifelong relationships isn't just an idea, it's a way of life. We strive to do that with every possible connection we make. That means that through every avenue, including the sometimes seemingly impersonal use of social media, we want to make that connection personal. Personal is what makes John Houston Homes who we are.

Here are some tips on the many ways that you can connect with us. Through the sharing of our story and the stories of our valued homeowners, we strive to keep a close connection with our ever growing communities.

1. Have a Question? Ask Lauren!

There is nothing more discouraging as an interested home buyer, than not knowing where to start. Better yet, there is nothing more frustrating than having the questions and having to go on an endless search to find the answers. At John Houston Homes, we have an Online Sales Team dedicated to answering your questions, directing you to the home or community that's right for you and ensuring you have the most accurate information available. Simply call 866-646-6008 and be connected with our sales team now. We are standing by, ready to help you build your story, your way.

2. Meet Our Sales Team
We have communities throughout North Texas and the Waco area with seasoned sales professionals ready to help you with your home buying needs. Visit our current list of communities and model homes and set up an appointment today to visit with them one on one. They will be happy to discuss with you our available homes and home plans to help get you started and can direct you to our in house lender also available to help you with any of your financing needs.

3. Meet Our Happy Homeowners

As we've said many times before, we want to build more than just your home. These homeowners testimonies will share their experience with John Houston Homes and how we helped to build their story. Check it out and get to know the faces behind John Houston Homes happy homeowners.

4. Social MediaStay on top of our Models of the Month, Happy Homeowners, popular floor plans, Open Houses, latest 3D Home Tours and so much more! Like us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , YouTube and Pinterest to see what's new and what's going on in and around your community! We enjoy interacting with our customers and community through these sites and look forward to being apart of your hashtags. #jhhappyhomeowner #buildyourstorywithus #buildinglifelongrelationships.

5. Check Out Our NEW Blog, The Story
If you are reading this, WELCOME! We are happy to now also be featuring a John Houston Homes Blog . Subscribe today to receive our Tips on Tuesdays and Feature Fridays every week. Here you will find design tips for your home, ways to sell your home faster, add value to your current home, check out all that's going on at John Houston Homes and so much more! Have something you'd like to see posted? Leave us a comment...we'd love to hear your ideas!

4 Ways to Make Your Home Feel New Again

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 15:15:50 GMT

4 Ways to Make Your Home Feel New Again

You know that song that no one knows the words or meaning to that plays at the strike of midnight on New Years Eve? You may kind of know what I'm talking about, "Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?" Everyone sort of hums the tune and then goes about celebrating because, it's just, tradition. This year it got me thinking, why do we half sing this and what does it even mean!?

Auld Lang Syne just so happens to be the name of that old Scottish tune that we attribute to the farewell of an old year and in a nut shell, it means out with the old. When we get rid of the old, we can usher in the new and new is so much fun!

This time of year we start to focus on a new healthier self, a renewed commitment to managing our finances, maybe a new job. The list can go on and on but we often resolve to do so much new in the New Year that the shininess of these new ideas wear off by about February. However, here are some things that you can do to your home that can make a new lasting impression that lasts well throughout this coming year.

1. Pretend Your Moving

This first step may have you clicking right out of this blog post, but hear me out. I don't know about you but when I am moving, the last thing that I want to do is move unnecessary items. I like to go through and throw out or donate all the stuff I haven't used or needed in a while and the beginning of a new year is the perfect time to do just that. An easy way to accomplish this is to create 3 main piles labeled sell, trash or donate. You'd be surprised at the amount of money in unwanted or unused items you have laying around your house. You would also be surprised at how useful those same items may be when donated to others. There is of course the benefit of a tax write off for donations as well. Going through and shredding old documents or scanning them into your computer can free up a lot of space in your home.

An uncluttered home can feel new again just by spending one weekend in this new year doing these few tasks.

2. Purchase New House Plants

There are many studies out that attribute indoor plants to better health and morale. In this new year if you have resolved to be healthier and happier well, here's to killing two birds with one stone. In my previous post, Easy Ways to Winterize Your Home , I spoke of the benefits of adding humidity to the inside of your home by purchasing a humidifier. Well, plants can add humidity to the air as well so again, two birds...man this second step is really knocking it out of the park! Here is the last thing and we will move on. Plants can rid the air of toxins such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and ammonia to name a few and that in and of itself is a great reason to go out this weekend and load up on some indoor plants.

3. Add A Fresh Coat of Paint

Nothing can freshen up a room and make it feel more new than a fresh coat of paint. Since you are already going to be at your local hardware store purchasing your indoor plants (see step #2), add this inexpensive project to your list as well. Cool tones such as whites and greys are still projected to be the carry over trend from 2015 with splashes of bright accents. Some of the hottest color combos can be found here . This project is sure to brighten up your home and create a sense of new that is sure to last through 2016.

4. Rearrange Your Furniture

This is my favorite tip because it can have the biggest effect on the appearance of your home and it's totally free! A Psychology Today article states, "Inner and outer harmony happen when pieces are placed in a way that makes sense to you." Yes, this article was written completely on the importance of moving furniture! That sense of newness in your home can be achieved just by relocating your sofa. Try it out!

If at the end of reading this, with the tune of Auld Lang Syne still fresh in your mind, you decide that you want to take the whole out with the old to another level and go straight for a new home this is the perfect time to do that as well. I mean your homes appeal just went way up by completing the last few tasks! In all seriousness, buying or building a new home has never been easier with John Houston Custom Homes. We have a wide array of inventory homes throughout North Texas and a sales team ready to match you with your dream home. We can build on your lot or build your home in one of our many beautiful communities as well. We would love to help build Your Story ...a story that extends well beyond this coming year.

Happy New Year to you and yours and blessings in the coming year from John Houston Custom Homes.

S2 Ep18_Building a Home in the Current Market (Jason Dodson & Danielle Depot)

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 06:54:38 GMT

S2 Ep18_Building a Home in the Current Market (Jason Dodson & Danielle Depot)

Whether you are currently building a new home or looking to start that process soon, we know you have questions! Build timelines in the current market is a hot topic, so we bring you today's episode to make sure our listeners stay informed and in the loop. You'll hear from our guests Danielle Depot and Jason Dodson, Regional Vice Presidents of Sales and Construction, who join us to demystify the big questions around build time - "How long will it take to build my house?", "What things impact the build timeline?", "What's with all the delays?" and "Why are other homes being built quicker than mine? "

S2 Ep18_Building a Home in the Current Market (Jason Dodson & Danielle Depot).mp3

Intro: [00:00:03] Welcome Home, a podcast brought to you by John Houston Homes. Join hosts, Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor, as they walk you through the exciting adventure of your home buying and building journey.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Welcome Home Podcast. I've got Chelsi here with me. Today we've got some special guests that we've talked to in the past and are super excited to have back on to talk about some more construction related stuff. Chelsi, who do we have on today?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:37] Hey, we have got Daniel Depot and Jason Dodson on the show today. Both of them are Regional Vice Presidents of Sales and Construction. They're a wealth of knowledge on many, many subjects, but today we're focusing on build times in the current market. A very, very common question homebuilders are asking or people wanting to build homes are asking, is how long is it going to take to build a new house? That question has been a little harder to answer in the past year. Today we're going to talk about why that has been so hard to answer, what kinds of things impact that timeline, when the home finishes or delays and answer all of those questions. Welcome to the show, Danielle and Jason.

Danielle Depot: [00:01:23] Thank you, glad to be here!

Jason Dodson: [00:01:25] Yeah, thanks for having us.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:26] We talk to them on a daily basis, in person and weekly. We were like, "we got to get you guys on the show to talk about this topic that we're always talking about every week." I think just so many people want to know. There are things that I learn every week. "Oh, I had no idea that that would affect it." I think this will be great for our listeners today.

Danielle Depot: [00:01:44] Yeah, you nailed it Chelsi. Like you said, it is a loaded question and we get asked that question all the time on a daily basis. How long is it going to take to build my house? Typically, what we tell customers right now is it's going to take about eight to nine months for the entire process, and that could be plus or minus. You have to take it all with a grain of salt right now with all the things going on in our industry. When we say that, it takes into account the time it takes to execute your contract, go through our starts process, go through our permitting process and even during that starts process, there's a lot of different variables. It depends on what city you're building in. If you're building in the county, we can go a lot faster and not have to go through all the permitting process with some of the different municipalities that take a long time. For plan design, if we're making any kind of changes you would be going to the design center, so there are different things that can add up to take a little bit longer. Like I said, if you're buying in the county, we can go a little bit faster. It really just depends where you're buying, how many options you're adding to your home, things that you're changing that really affect the construction process when it comes to the actual construction of your home. Again, it depends on the size of the home, where we're building, how many custom features go into the house, et cetera. It depends on what your trade resources are in that particular area. If you're closer into the city, you may have a bigger trade base and more trades to pull from that are available. As you move further out into rural areas, there may be less trades to pull from, so it just really depends. There are a lot of different factors.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:22] Even time of year, right? It depends on the time of year that you're building to with weather.

Jason Dodson: [00:03:26] Yeah, kind of a good rule of thumb is in that timeline she gave, the first two months is for the the starts team and the contract. We're getting permits. During that time, you're not going to see a whole lot going on or you're actually going to see nothing going on out on the lot because everything's going on in the background. After that happens, we have those permits and everything, the next six to seven months is going to be that build time that you're going to see. The two main factors in there is it in a neighborhood where they are smaller lots or is it out on the acre lots. Typically, the acre lot houses that a little bit longer. There's a little bit more stuff going on in those and that's why those would be more closer to that seven months on the build times.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:01] Mm hmm.

Danielle Depot: [00:04:01] Yeah, and really it depends on the time of year too, because weather can play a huge factor. If you're building in the Summer months, typically, we get a lot of bright, sunshiny days, and we could build a lot faster. When you get into the Winter months- October, November, December, it starts to rain a lot. It's colder and it takes a lot longer for things to dry out, so that can really hold us up as well.h

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:22] I think that's good for people to know, that when you drive by and see dirt and a sign, that doesn't mean at that point, we could be eight to nine months out. It's maybe still being developed at that point. We put signage up pretty early, sometimes just saying, "hey, we're coming soon". That's good to know, especially on those more rural areas where you see this huge piece of land with a bunch of dirt moving and signs, that we may not be that close just yet.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:47] Yeah, even for are coming soon communities, we might have signage out, but the developers still working on that development. They have to deal with some of the same factors that we do, right? They have to deal with weather and rain, so it can take nine months to a year to have a piece of land developed where we can actually come in and build on it too.

Jason Dodson: [00:05:08] Yeah, a lot of times you'll see out in the new neighborhoods, we'll actually put signage out. The streets will be paved and that may be 60 to 90 days before the developer actually gets what's called substantial completion in the subdivision. That substantial completion is what, we as a builder, are waiting on. That's our starting line for us to to be able to move forward and get going.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:29] All of those things just in a normal market, normal homebuilding industry, those are the things that factor into the timeline. What have we seen or what are some reasons we've seen some of those things take longer in the past year?

Jason Dodson: [00:05:43] I think a lot of it is, some of the main ones that have affected us that probably people don't know or see about and some of the things you do hear about. Everybody's aware of the lumber in the news and what's going on with it. A lot of it is supply and demand. Lumber, for instance, it was supply and demand there. Lumber prices skyrocketed. It was really hard to get certain things. As we spoke with customers on houses, they would inquire about how come my house is not moving as fast as the one next door, for instance. With that, some of the answers that we gave was, "your house is a two story." There are things like LVL's, which is engineered wood. Basically, it's glued together. That glue that's made, that resin that it's put together with, it wasn't to be had for a little while. There was a lot of that stuff that was on shortage. If your house needed LVL's, I joists and those types of things, it would take a lot longer than maybe one down the street that was a single story, that didn't have those things in it. Those were things that customers didn't know or could see. You don't see those things in the news, but they affected us greatly.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:49] This little thing, right?

Jason Dodson: [00:06:50] Absolutely.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:52] The things I think we hear ever, like the microchips and that caused a shortage of cars, but what they're not talking about is the fact that it caused a shortage of appliances. We had homes that had to wait on for appliances, right?

Danielle Depot: [00:07:06] Appliances, you name it. We've had lumber, like Jason mentioned. Brick is a big deal. Brick has been really in short supply. We're talking about waiting 16 to 20 weeks just from when you order your brick. Imagine this, you've gone to the design center right after you contract. As you're waiting for your house to get built, typically, we would have brick delivered when we're pouring a slab, just so we have it there on site and it's ready. Sometimes we're not getting it for almost 20 weeks, which is almost five months. I mean, you can almost build a house that quickly if everything goes according to plan and according to schedule. You can only go so far on a house on the interior until you have brick. You can brick the exterior, get the yard in, set your AC compressors and be able to acclimate the inside to do all your flooring and that kind of stuff. We'll go as far as we can on the outside, but the brick has been a major, major issue for us. There's just only so many suppliers and brick takes a while to manufacture. A part of the bricking issue is the trucking industry. You've heard that the trucking industry is affecting everybody, not just home building materials, but materials in general across the U.S. It's just the lack of truckers out there has been a big deal, and that's what is really affecting the brick.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:26] We can do what we can on our end to try to to shorten that time, right? If we know brick is taking that long, we can order it as soon as we have that information but, we still are dealing with delays even doing that.

Jason Dodson: [00:08:42] A few things that we actually did to try to take care of our customers better was, we started not waiting until the customer went to the design center to pick their brick. One of our design center designers would call the customer up front before they even came in and they would do brick selections with them ,still doing that, actually. We would order it before the customer actually came in for their design center appointment, just so we could get a jumpstart on that. That's something internally that we try to do to take care of our customers, as best as we can, to get that brick on site, so that they're not waiting. We're not waiting to get it built on their house, but they're not waiting and asking questions of why is my house slowed down?

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:17] Yeah, the alternative really is either they wait for their home to be built, deal with the delay or they would have to re select a brick they might not not like as much, right? We still have to do that, but if we're changing our processes to help alleviate that with our customers. I think that says a lot about that Second Mile Service, that we're willing to go to to try to make our customers happy.

Jason Dodson: [00:09:41] Absolutely.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:09:43] I had no idea about the truckers, that's kind of new news to me. That kind of speaks into just the labor shortage in general, in the workforce all over. Are we seeing some labor shortages on our subcontractors?

Danielle Depot: [00:09:57] Absolutely.

Jason Dodson: [00:09:58] Everywhere.

Danielle Depot: [00:09:59] Yeah, the labor force has been hit hard. It's been an ongoing issue since the market crash and the come back after 2008, the labor force has never come back completely. We're starting to get up to those record highs again of how many houses are started in the DFW area. That labor market has just never come back completely, so there's just a shortage of all those skilled laborers. I'm talking about Brick Masons, Framers, Sheetrock Crews and Concrete People. It's tough everywhere and there's only so much to go around. Every builder and everybody out there is just super busy. There's just only so much supply to go around right now.

Jason Dodson: [00:10:42] For the builders, it's tough. We actually use a scheduling software called Hyphen. It schedules the entire house out, but they're specifically scheduling for a window around where they're at right now. If that labor trade doesn't show up that morning, a lot of times the builders don't know until the day of when they don't show. Then they've got to reschedule their entire schedule for that house after that. Right now, it's this game of playing reschedule every single day for these builders. It's a lot more work for them than it's been in the past.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:12] Keeping the train on the tracks.

Jason Dodson: [00:11:13] Yes, for sure.

Danielle Depot: [00:11:13] Yeah, I'm telling our guys, you've got to be living in your Hyphen schedules because things are changing daily. They're changing hourly. If you think a trade is showing up this afternoon and they no-show, you've got to get back into your Hyphen schedule and reset the entire schedule. That's really been tough on our guys, right now. We're working through it. We're finding new and innovative, creative ways to work around the schedule. Sometimes, we may not do things exactly in order as you would think that would happen, but we're just working around things right now. We are trying to deliver our houses with excellence and on time the best that we can.

Jason Dodson: [00:11:56] I think one thing to do is ,you need to look at the trade side of things to to make sure you fully understand everything. They're dealing with material shortages, not enough workers, COVID and everything that they're dealing with on that. A lot of times, they don't know until that day that they can't show up. They didn't get the material, somebody got sick or whatever the case may be. On their side of it, it's life also. We're all just living life together. We're trying to do a great job building a house for our customers. They're trying to do a great job of supplying their trade to us as part of that house to get it built, but sometimes it just doesn't work out like anybody intends it to.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:35] Right.

Danielle Depot: [00:12:36] You just hit on something, Jason, talking about how COVID has directly impacted us and the supply chain. Think about these factories like a window factory, for instance. We've had our window company, they've been struck with COVID outbreaks multiple times, and they're shutting down their assembly lines and their their plants for several days at a time. That has a huge, huge impact on our whole industry when those assembly plants shut down.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:00] Yeah, for sure, because that one, I'm sure, is indoors in a factory, so they've got all sorts of compliance things that they've got to do to keep that from happening.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:09] Then we had the crazy freeze and then all the rain this year, too. We've just had a heck of a year with all these things going on.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:17] We thought this year was going to be better, right?

Jason Dodson: [00:13:21] We were all ready to get out of 2020 and move on to the new year. This year has brought its season of challenges, as well. Snowmageddon was something that we didn't know what was coming and we hadn't experienced something like that before to that extent. It hit everybody pretty hard.

Danielle Depot: [00:13:43] It really did, but we got through it. We are going to persevere and get through it. That did throw a wrench in our productivity for a little bit, but we're back.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:54] Everyone knows about the lumber increases, but you don't understand sometimes the effect that that can have, not just on prices and availability, but also you think of theft, like that's a real thing that happens. When I think of theft, I think of someone stealing money or cars. I definitely don't think of someone taking a 2 by 4 and throwing it in the back of their truck, but that's a real thing and it's happened. We've had to kind of adjust on that. Also, how we deliver the lumber, how that is scheduled out and delivered. If it happens, the delays that come with that, so that's also another thing that we've had to deal with, as far as, things that take time and kind of mess with our schedules.

Jason Dodson: [00:14:44] Yeah, in talking before, we talked a little bit about the I Joists, the LDL's, that composite - the woods that are manufactured. If you think about it, OSB, which is the decking that we use on the houses, on the roofs, it's a composite as well. It's an engineered wood product. It shot up from, probably three years ago, you could get it for $12 a sheet. I remember not too long ago it was $7 a sheet. You could go to Home Depot and buy it. Well, that shot up to $56 a sheet. A typical house will take anywhere from 175 to 200 sheets. You're talking about, $10,000 to $12,000 decking packages that get dropped out in front of the house because a lot of times we can't access the back of the house in the neighborhoods. It's sitting on the curb, $10,000. That stuff was like gold. It was very easy for somebody to pull up and take that material. If it's that hard to get and somebody takes it, that second time around wasn't very easy for us to get that material back out on the job site. As we're talking about things that affected us, we had materials stolen off of job sites, not just once, sometimes twice before we ever got to deck the house. We are trying to do a better job or not a better job, but trying to be a little bit more precise about when we do those deliveries, so we're not leaving it sitting out there for long periods of time. A lot of times we would still get it stolen, even though we were taking precautions to not let that happen. People are in the neighborhoods and they're watching. Thieves do a very good job at what they do. It made us step up our game and try to figure out how we can keep them from stealing it. We put up cameras in the neighborhoods. We actually had a task force with the police departments in the cities. They would do drive arounds in the neighborhoods. Danielle, I and the other builders, we all had text threads. We were watching out for each other. There were things going on in the background and we actually caught quite a few people stealing that stuff. We limited that down as much as possible, but it was still affecting us greatly.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:45] That's crazy, just things you never think of.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:48] Right, something that all these years you could have delivered and never would have to think twice about. Then all of a sudden, this crazy shift in the market and we kind of just having to rethink everything.

Danielle Depot: [00:16:57] You know when you see OSB for sale on Facebook Marketplace, that there's a problem.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:02] Yeah!

Jason Dodson: [00:17:03] For sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:05] We might need to be on the lookout for it and scoop some up.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:08] Start bringing it to the Pawn Shop.

Jason Dodson: [00:17:10] We'll get you on camera.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:13] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:15] Sometimes I hear the question come up, because I get to office with Whitney, and people ask things. I get to hear all the fun questions like, "I started building my house at the same time as this guy down the street. His is way ahead of mine. Why is it moving faster?" What are some things that affect that, or why do we see that happening sometimes?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:37] I think a lot of it has to do with different selections that go into a home. You might pick a particular tile that takes 10 weeks to order and your neighbor picks something that only takes a week to order. A lot of it has to do with the individual selections that go into the home. I think Jason mentioned earlier, there's a big difference between building a one story and a two story and that availability for product, especially the issues we've had with engineered wood product having to wait, which those two stories take a lot of those materials. That has a major impact on it. The size- one or two story and specific selections, those are the things that make the huge impact.

Jason Dodson: [00:18:18] We saw this with window packages and the vendor that we were getting those from. Sometimes we would get window packages for certain houses and even though they might have been ordered around the same time of each other, because of the different number of windows or just because of the way the company fulfilled the orders, one would get the window package earlier than another. We might have to wait a week or two weeks longer on a window package. It's things like that on the trade side of things. Sometimes they don't ship those out exactly as they're ordered. They've got things on their side I'm sure that are happening that affects those, as well.

Danielle Depot: [00:18:52] What we try to explain to customers to is you have to remember we're like a general contractor. We use a lot of subcontractors and some of those things we don't have exact control over. I don't know how they input orders into their inventory system and the way their stuff comes out. You'd like to think it was first in, first out, but it doesn't always happen that way and some of that stuff we have very little control over.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:16] Yeah, that makes sense, just things that you don't see or think about from the outside. You're just driving by looking at your house and you see they stayed the same progress for so long, and then one jumps in front of the other.

Whitney Pryor: [00:19:28] Yeah, I think weather can affect it, too. If you think about, early on, if it hasn't rained for a while and one house got plumbing rough or inspection before the other, and then it rained the next day, they would have to wait another week for an inspection on the other house. Just that alone, will cause delays that you don't really think about. I think there's a lot of little things that add up.

Danielle Depot: [00:19:54] Yeah, that's true. You may have a subdivision across town. Your friends building a house in that subdivision and things are moving a lot faster, but you had weather conditions. A lot of that has to do with the different types of soil that we're building on. You might have one area that's really rocky that dries out super quick. You may have a heavy rainstorm one day and then the next day you can get on it because it just dries out so quickly. Then you have another neighborhood down the street that's the highly expansive clay soil that just stays wet forever, and it may take a week to dry out. Weather and your soil conditions really play a part in that as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:30] Even though it's not actively raining, doesn't mean we can get right back out the next day.

Jason Dodson: [00:20:35] We've even seen city municipalities that only have so many inspectors to be able to do so many inspections. That causes a delay as well in itself, and it moves that schedule around.

Danielle Depot: [00:20:47] Yeah, we have a couple of municipalities that we're in right now that have rolling inspections. If they can't get to it that day, it rolls to the next day. That's really been a challenge, as well.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:58] Yeah, there's inspectors that won't come out if they see anyone on the job site because of COVID, right? That is another kind of regulation or rule change there on their end to that kind of messes with things sometimes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:11] We get asked a lot, what can cause a closing date to change? We think we're going to close on Wednesday, the 15th and then that gets bumped. What are some of those factors?

Danielle Depot: [00:21:25] I know for me in my area, it's one of the things we just talked about, waiting for final inspections. Obviously, you have to have a certificate of occupancy, what we call a CO, to be able to close on your home. That's really your final inspection with the city. If the city says, "well, too bad, we're not showing up today, we don't have enough people on our staff and we have too many inspections," so your inspections role, that can really offset things and cause your closing to delay a day or two. Vendors not showing up when they're supposed to do last minute, final things on your house has been a major impact right now, as well.

Jason Dodson: [00:22:01] Yeah, I think the thing that is important to know is that on our side of it, we don't want those delays in closing that house either. For us, the actual business side of it is, we don't get paid until that closing happens either. For everybody that's working on that house, we're pushing them to hit the dates that we've given the customers and that we've given the lenders. We want all that to work out. From the customer side of things, we know that they've set up moving trucks, utilities, their rent wherever they're they're living at right now. They've probably given up a lease or whatever, so there's a lot of things riding on those closing dates that we give. It's a really hard thing for us to do to have to to move a closing as well because there's a whole lot of work. There is documentation that has to be redone and whatever the customer has with those things that they've set up. We know those things are are not good, so on our side of it, we're pushing and we're trying to get those closings to happen when they're supposed to, as well. It's just not advantageous for anybody. I think the important thing to remember is these homes, they're built by people and things happen. It's not ideal for anyone for foreclosing to get moved. It's definitely not and t's not what we want either.

Danielle Depot: [00:23:18] We understand, our customers have a huge emotional, financial investment in these homes and we understand it's a big deal. I think everybody here at this table has bought multiple houses and moved multiple times. We know it's not fun to do all the packing and scheduling of moving. There's just a lot of organization that goes into planning a move. It's a very stressful time, so we get it, but it's never intentional for us to want to move a closing in any way. We want that home to be 100% complete, clean and to your satisfaction before you ever move in on that house. We've got to have certain things that are done and finish on a house before we allow you to close on it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:05] I think it's important for people to know that there's a lot of things that we can control, but a lot of things that we can't. To Jason's point, we're all human. I think just the world in general, just have a little bit more patience with each other, just everywhere. You know, you go to a restaurant and you're like, "why is it taking so long?" Well, there's just not that many people working. Be nice to the people that are there working hard. It's not their fault that somebody else didn't show up today. I just think with home building and the economy as a whole, we could all do a little bit better with that understanding, for sure.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:37] Yeah, that's a great point. I think everyone out there that's listening in has been affected in some way with their own positions or jobs and understand that whole industries are changing or adapting to what what has happened. Homebuilding is such a human business, right? It's the only business where you're building something with your with your hands, literally. It takes a lot of, I think, empathy and understanding that when you have that many humans working together to build something that things have to change, right?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:13] Yeah, for sure. Is there anything else that you think people should know and consider when building a home? Anything we didn't talk about, cover or just kind of reiterate?

Jason Dodson: [00:25:24] I think an important thing right now is, people need to know that even though you see things like lumber coming down, there's vendors walking into our office up there daily that they're asking for price increases. Those things are still on the move, even though some of the things that we see in the news, like lumber, those things are moving down and kind of getting to a normal area. I think the important thing right now is as demand is still high for homes, inventory is still very low and existing houses out there. People still have in the back of their minds, the COVID and existing house, that type stuff, that inventory is extremely low. I think it's important to know that as houses become available, those are things that you need to move quickly on. As you see those come up on our website and they become available, go take a look at them. If a home is what you're interested in right now, you're going to get the best money ever for your existing home. It's possible to get into that new home, but you got to move quickly on those new homes as they become available. The thing that's going to affect us in the future ongoing, lot supply. For builders, lot supply is huge right now because again, you've got people doing the work out in the subdivisions. It's raw land. They're making it into lots. Well, it's moving a lot slower, just like the home building process is, so lots are coming on a whole lot slower than they ever have. A lot of builders that were smaller that only had fewer number of lots, they've moved through all their lots and they don't have anymore. A larger builder like us, we have a Development Company. We go out and we develop our own lots. We've got that future out ahead of us that we've planned for and we've still got those coming on. It's still important to know that demand is high, so getting in those homes as they become available on the the website and getting with those salespeople right now, it's more important than ever.

Whitney Pryor: [00:27:13] The price we're only going to see increase over time, probably. It is important the sooner that you contract, the sooner you can lock in that price. That brings up another good point of the fact that we don't have escalation clauses in our contracts. I know we get that question a lot. Do you want to do you want to kind of touch on that?

Danielle Depot: [00:27:34] A lot of you have probably seen in the news that was going on for a while. There are builders out there that have an escalation clause in their actual contract that when they contract with the customer that says, "hey, if our costs go up, we have the right to raise our prices." At John Houston, we don't do that to our customers. We really assume all the risk when we say we're going to build a home for you. If costs go up $50,000, $100,000 during construction, that's on us and that's the risk that we take. We don't feel like it's fair to to do that to our customers. I know if I were buying a home, I would not feel comfortable signing something that had some type of escalator clause on it. I think that's an advantage to buy with us. Jason mentioned the limited supply out there. Right now, it's just supply and demand. One thing I'll point on to, it's never been a better time to buy. Interest rates are still phenomenally low. You can still buy a lot. This whole entire DFW market has been undervalued for so long. Everybody's like, "well, houses have gotten so expensive." They've really gotten to where they need to be as far as the marketplace goes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:28:40] Thant's a good point.

Danielle Depot: [00:28:41] You've got so many companies that are coming to DFW. The job growth here is phenomenal. We're just adding more and more jobs every day, and that's why there's such a big demand on the housing market here. Most of the economists out there view that to remain strong over the next 10, 15, 20 years, so it's going to be a great market to be in. There's really not been a better time to buy. Jason mentioned you get top dollar for your home that you are selling now. You may be buying a little higher, but those interest rates are still so great.

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:14] Mm hmm. Yeah, definitely.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:16] All good things! Thank you, Jason and Danielle. Thank you so much for joining us on the show and your wealth of information. I'm sure we'll have yall back because we always have so many questions for you.

Danielle Depot: [00:29:29] Thank you for having us.

Jason Dodson: [00:29:30] It's always a great time.

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:32] If you want more information about anything that we talked about today, you can visit our website at jhoustonhomes.com or feel free to give us a call at 866.298.1416. You can also join the conversation on social media. We do have a Facebook page and Instagram where you can view all of our beautiful homes. Thank you for listening in today. We look forward to having you on another episode of the Welcome Home podcast.

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:30:02] Welcome Home.

The Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation in Your New Home

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 07:03:24 GMT

The Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation in Your New Home

With the sizzling Texas heat still upon us, insulation is top of mind for many homeowners. After all, none of us enjoy sky-high electric bills, nor do we like feeling sticky and uncomfortable in our homes.

What’s more, poor insulation can lead to a variety of issues including:

Excessively hot home during the summer
Chilly drafts during winter months
High energy bills
Fluctuating temperatures between rooms
Uninvited pests
Internal moisture and condensation
Excess noise
Mold growth

The good news is this: spray polyurethane foam insulation, more commonly known as spray foam, can make a tremendous difference in your home’s air seal, overall environment, and energy efficiency.

John Houston Homes understands the exceptional value of spray foam insulation and is proud to offer its homebuilding clients the option of adding this superior insulation product through its partnership with Mesquite, Texas-based DFW Thermal Solutions.

What exactly is spray foam insulation?

“Spray foam is a chemical product created by two materials, isocyanate and polyol resin, which react when mixed with each other and expand up to 30 to 60 times its liquid volume after it is sprayed in place,” said Chris Swanzy, co-founder of DFW Thermal Solutions. “This expansion makes it useful as a specialty packing material which forms to the shape of the product being packaged and produces a high thermal insulating value with virtually no air infiltration.”

When applied, spray foam insulation sprays on as a liquid then rapidly expands to fill small and irregular spaces. The spray foam acts as an insulation and air barrier, keeping your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Swanzy says that all homeowners should consider spray foam insulation due to the product’s performance value.

Most houses that are spray-foamed perform 35 to 50 percent better than they would with traditional insulation, according to Swanzy. Spray foam is typically installed in the walls and attic roof deck and replaces the need for fiberglass insulation.

While it may seem like a new product in the industry, spray foam has been around and used for new home construction for over 40 years. However, in the last decade, it has become a preferred product for savvy homebuilders.

Here are a few compelling reasons why you should consider spray foam insulation when you are building a new home:

Greener Living – For environmentally-conscious homeowners, spray foam insulation is a premium option for home insulation because it reduces a home’s energy consumption.

Moisture Barrier – Spray foam can make your home resistant to moisture which can help prevent wood rot, buckling floors, and mold growth.

Peace & Quiet – By absorbing sound waves, spray foam can minimize noise from the outside world as well as sounds between interior rooms.

Save Money – While spray foam does require an up-front investment, rest assured you will reap the financial rewards for years to come in the form of lower energy bills and potential rebates from utility companies and/or government tax incentives.

Long-Lasting – Spray foam does not sag or settle, will retain its full R-value for the life of the home, and outperforms traditional cellulose and fiberglass insulation.

Valuable Investment – If you decide to sell your house down the road, having spray foam will likely enhance your home’s value.

Keeps Critters Out – Spray foam insulation fills gaps and cracks around your home and acts as a natural pest deterrent.

Healthier Air Quality – Because spray foam acts as a solid barrier, it reduces the amount of dust, pollen, and other pollutants entering your home for cleaner, healthier indoor air. Leave allergies and other respiratory ailments at the door.

All things considered, spray foam is an excellent choice for homeowners who want to ensure optimal home comfort and an airtight seal for their home. By insulating and air sealing at the same time, spray foam insulation has proven its value to residential homeowners time and time again.

Swanzy said that while all insulation stops energy loss in some way or fashion, spray foam insulation stops air movement which is its key benefit.

“Fiber products work like a filter and still allow air movement while spray foam is a complete air barrier,” said Swanzy. “When there is no air movement, there is very little energy loss. A house spray-foamed is compared quite often to a Yeti cooler.”

And who wouldn’t want to be Yeti-cool during these blazing hot Texas summer days?

To discuss spray foam insulation options for your new home, contact a John Houston Homes New Home Advisor today at 866-237-7803.

Why Classic Farmhouse Curb Appeal Endures

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 07:10:55 GMT

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Heralded for its rustic charm, family-friendly vibe, and practical sensibility, the “modern farmhouse” style is one of the most beloved looks when it comes to American residential real estate.

In fact, according to a recent study by the real estate portal Homes.com, the modern farmhouse style took the top style spot in 42 of 50 U.S. states.

According to study respondents, the style was especially favored for being “aesthetically pleasing but not boring,” “simple, cozy, and not too busy,” and seeming like “a nice big home for a family.”

Vintage Charm with Farmhouse Exteriors

As this winsome style continues to stand the test of time, we at John Houston Homes are excited to announce our new “Farmhouse” elevations which include the Athens, Barcelona, Concord, Florence, Harrisburg, Hartford, Helena, Madrid, Melbourne, and Phoenix styles.

Available in select John Houston communities, our beautiful farmhouse elevations embody a vintage American look cherished and celebrated by so many, including Waco, Texas’ own Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV show “Fixer Upper” fame.

Often dubbed the queen of modern farmhouse style, Joanna Gaines has inspired homeowners everywhere who want to foster an environment of unpretentious livability married with earthy, natural elements.

That is exactly the kind of look we are now pleased to offer.

Homeowners who choose a John Houston farmhouse elevation for their new home can expect a stylish exterior that delivers a modern farmhouse presentation through a steeply pitched roof with multiple gables, clean lines, expansive windows, and of course, the hallmark spacious front porch (or veranda).

In bygone years, breezy front porches were a must-have on farmhouses which were historically practical and functional. With beckoning rocking chairs and airy appeal, front porches served as an inviting outdoor space ideal for neighborly chats, enjoying a serene moment unwinding from the workday, or sipping sweet tea.

John Houston’s farmhouse elevation summons that same nostalgic charm, enhanced through optional offerings including front porches, metal roof overhangs, black window casings, painted brick, board and batten siding, and more.

Modern Farmhouse Design Trends

To continue the farmhouse look inside the residence, homeowners who have contracted on a John Houston home will visit John Houston’s 6,000+ square-foot Design Center during the homebuilding process to select design features and materials that will complement the exterior farmhouse elevation.

Inside the elegant Design Studio, homeowners can customize their home’s character, choosing materials and finishes ranging from paint colors, flooring, countertops, and lighting elements to cabinet hardware, fireplace mantels, exterior stone and brick, stair railing, and more.

To achieve the farmhouse look inside their home, many homeowners upgrade certain design elements which might include a white apron-front farm sink, floating cedar fireplace mantel, decorative tiles in the utility room or powder bath, wood flooring, a shiplap fireplace, wood range hood, or white painted cabinetry.

Cedar beams across the ceiling, accent walls, and shiplap kitchen islands are also among some of the features that Lara Bailey, John Houston Design Studio manager, is seeing clients use to add visual interest and farmhouse character to their homes.

“Clients are interested in hardwood flooring, and natural, lighter woods are very popular,” said the Design Studio’s Bailey.

She added that many clients are opting to create a smooth, flowing look with continuous hardwood flooring that extends across multiple main-level rooms. They often choose engineered wood or vinyl planks, which are known for their aesthetic appeal and durability, to use across John Houston’s contemporary open floor plans.

She noted that she is also seeing black-and-white or gray-and-white patterned tile being used in baths and wet areas.

Yesterday’s Grace

Other design styles clients are employing to achieve a farmhouse feel include crisp white kitchen cabinets, islands painted in cool gray, and stone and brick surrounding fireplaces.

Additionally, light-colored granite, quartz, and dolomite have been prevailing materials used for kitchen countertops to add to the sleek, modern farmhouse feel.

Small details such as faucets, light fixtures, doorknobs, and cabinetry hardware can also help to infuse yesterday’s rustic appeal into a home.

When considering metal finishes for a farmhouse-styled home, the following options could easily lend an old-world look to kitchens, baths, and more:

Oil rubbed bronze
Stainless steel
Brushed nickel
Chrome
Antique copper
Champagne bronze

At the end of the day, there is truly an endless array of elemental combinations when it comes to bringing your modern farmhouse look to fruition.

Ultimately, most homeowners seeking a farmhouse-look dream of a relaxed, functional, no-fuss atmosphere that whispers livability, comfort, and uncomplicated, chic style.

Think distressed décor, chippy furnishings, sliding barn doors, and open shelving complemented by ornate lanterns, mix-and-match antique pieces, and untamed wildflowers tucked into an enamel coffee pot.

Whatever your farmhouse vision, John Houston Homes can lay a beautiful foundation for your special story.

No wheat fields necessary.

Interested in one of these new farmhouse elevations? Talk to a community sales manager to find out more about this new look!

S2 Ep17_That New Hospital in Midlothian EVERYBODY is Talking About! (Methodist Midlothian Medical Center with Jary Ganske & Kasey Cheshier)

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 07:14:50 GMT

S2 Ep17_That New Hospital in Midlothian EVERYBODY is Talking About! (Methodist Midlothian Medical Center with Jary Ganske & Kasey Cheshier)

If you're considering buying or building a new home in Ellis county then don't rule out the city of Midlothian! This growing community has so much to offer to its residents including fast and convenient access to healthcare with the brand new Methodist Midlothian Medical Center that just opened! Today we have Administrator Jary Ganske, and Kasey Cheshier, Community Relations & Volunteer Coordinator, to tell us all about the new hospital, the many benefits it brings to the community, and what it means for you as a current or future resident of Midlothian.

To Learn more about Methodist Midlothian Medical Center visit their website at MethodistHealthSystem.org/MethodistMidlothianMedicalCenter or contact them at 469.846.2000

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Welcome Home Podcast. I've got Chelsi here with me. Hi, Chelsi!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:26] Hello.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:27] How are you doing?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:28] I'm great. I'm really excited about today's podcast!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:31] Who do we have on today?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:33] Today we are talking about the city of Midlothian, but more specifically, about an organization many people know and respect as one of the leading health care providers in North Texas. We're talking with Methodist Health System. They've recently opened a beautiful new medical center just right here in Midlothian. A lot of people have been really excited to have that hospital right here in our own backyard and just top notch health care. I'm excited to talk about that with Jary Ganske, he's an Administrator and Kasey Cheshier, he's the Community Relations and Volunteer Coordinator, so welcome to the show.

Jary Ganske: [00:01:11] Well thank you, we're thrilled to be here!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:13] Great!

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:15] We are super excited that you guys are here. I know I've been watching the construction of the hospital go up over the past year or however long you've guys been doing that, but it looks beautiful. To have another option in this area for health care in our community is super exciting. We're really glad that you guys are here.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:35] Yeah, I think what makes this even more special is that access to health care in an emergency room is very important, a great thing to have in your community and a reason that people want to live in an area. What's awesome about Methodist, even more special about them, is just their commitment to the community that they serve. We've seen that in Mansfield, Dallas and every other place that they exist. Even before actually having their hospital in Midlothian, you saw them plug into the community and really get involved. We'll talk a little bit more about that today, overall, the benefit of that in Midlothian and what that means for homeowners.

Jary Ganske: [00:02:16] We appreciate that.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:18] Before we jump in, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself? How long have you been with Methodist and what you do there? We can start with Jary.

Jary Ganske: [00:02:26] Okay, sure. I'm a native Wacoen. I spent many years there as president of a health and wellness organization. I started working with the hospitals here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area about 15, 18 years ago. I was with Texas Health Resources for a while before joining Methodist about 10 years ago. At that point, I moved to Mansfield and was the Chief Financial Officer for the hospital in Mansfield for a number of years. When we had some changes in our organization, I took over as the Interim President of Mansfield for a while and was primarily responsible for planning the Midlothian campus. I got so involved in it and so interested in it, I said, well, "I'd just like to be the person that goes there as the Administrator." It's been really a lot of fun for a number of years. I moved to Midlothian two years ago this next month, about a year before we opened the hospital, just to get to be part of the community and see it be finished.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:27] We were just talking about that. We won't tell people where you live, but we don't live far from each other in Midlothian, so that's cool! Casey, what about you?

Kasey Cheshier: [00:03:36] My name's Kasey Cheshier. I'm over Community Relations and Volunteer Services there at the hospital. I was actually raised in the Duncanville in the Best Southwest region. I guess my time with Methodist goes back a long way. I was born at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. I didn't start with the company until about a year ago, but as they were kind of opening up the new hospital, they onboarded me to help with a lot of their community relations ventures and stuff going on there. I've been a Midlothian resident for about 12 years now, married to my beautiful wife, and we have three kids that were raised in the city/school district as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:08] You've been involved in Midlothian for a while. It's not like you started the hospital a year ago and you're just now learning about the community. You have a long history.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:04:16] Yeah, quite a bit. Before this, I served as the Executive Director over the United Way here in Ellis County. I've done a lot of community advocacy and volunteerism with a large variety of different projects.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:27] Yeah, United Way works with so many organizations. Your wife was my daughter's third grade teacher and we loved Mrs. Cheshier. That was a very fun, too. I feel like I know you guys so well!

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:39] More about the Midlothian campus, can you kind of tell us where it's located and how big it is or what the size is of the campus?

Jary Ganske: [00:04:47] I have to give credit to the groups that we hired to help us find the location. First, you're looking for 60 to 100 acres that you want to be very accessible to the community. It's a lot more involved in choosing than we thought. I think we were thrilled in the end to be able to buy 67 acres. I can tell people we're at 1201 East US 287 and that's probably pretty meaningless to most people. When we point out that we are immediately adjacent to the Midlothian ISD football stadium, then everyone who travels 287 knows exactly where that is. We purchased the acreage there. It's easily accessible off of Midlothian Parkway, 14th Street, or if you're over on Main Street as well. We built some new streets to carry us into the backside of the hospital that were not there previously. It's got great access all the way around. It is 1201 East US 287 if we just want to be technical about the location.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:54] Okay, now how many beds? I think that's a common hospital question, right?

Jary Ganske: [00:05:58] Well, we built the hospital for 90 beds, but you can't really open with 90. It's like saying, "we're here, you can't staff it that fast, so we actually opened with 46 beds. We have a need to go beyond there and we're in the process of opening those other beds. When I say we built it for 90 beds, they are there, it's a matter of equipping them, staffing them and those sort of things. I'm sure we'll start increasing that 46 number during 2022. The hospital itself is about 200,000 square feet and that holds the 90 beds. We tried to build all of the things that are overhead, shall we call it, for the hospital - the plant, the kitchen, those sort of things, to be able to allow us to more than double that. We left a space directly behind the hospital, as it's designed to put the second tower. With the original plan, we had envisioned taking it to nearly a couple of hundred beds. Obviously with the 67 acres, we've got more than enough room to continue, whether that needs to be a freestanding center of some sort or an Ambulatory Surgery Center. One of our partners is in the process of building a Dialysis Center within a couple of blocks of the hospital. It's going to become a a medical mecca as we go forward.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:32] I think that's a huge benefit that a well-known established hospital or health system brings to a community. Once you're there, then we get many supplemental or services that come in, not necessarily associated with Methodist, but like you said, Dialysis and other quality health care providers really come in soon behind.

Jary Ganske: [00:07:55] Those people are members of our medical community. We have 332, I think it was as of the last count, providers who are part of our medical staff in Midlothian.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:08:08] You're going to see that definitely as you're driving down 14th Street, that the growth in the region is definitely expanding. We've actually recently opened up our Professional Office Building as well, kind of right there next to our hospital. It's right there in Don Floyd, so that has a lot of our outpatient services. We have the MISD Express Care Clinic there and then obviously the Family Health Center, as well. In addition to the hospital itself, your going to have a lot of office spaces and stuff going on there for our specialists.

Jary Ganske: [00:08:34] As we laid out the facility, we tried to put that one office building is between us and 287. We have two other pads for office buildings that are going back towards Main Street. As opposed to going with one giant office building and deciding how long it is going to take to fill up, we decided it would make a lot more sense to have about three pads and build them as we need them.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:58] That's smart.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:00] Speaking of all these different buildings that you guys have planned for the future, what services can you give the people listening in? What kind of range of services will you guys offer?

Jary Ganske: [00:09:14] We really would define ourselves as a full service Acute Care Hospital. When you open, you don't have every last thing that you might wish for, but you see what happens through the first 10,000 visits, the first 20,000 visits and you see what the needs are in the community. Obviously, we do have Cardiology, Emergency Care, Labor & Delivery, Nephrology, Neurology, Orthopedics, Radiology, Surgery, Colorectal care, G.I. Lab, those are all going. We look at things as we go and we say, "we need a little more in depth." For example, we've already determined we need advanced Cardiology Services. We're in the process of equipping and outfitting a Cardiac Cath Lab that will be ready by Spring, just because we think that is needed in that particular community. There will be other things that come like that, for example, Robotic Surgery. There's enough demand for Robotic Surgery, that we're also in the process of adding a robot. Those are not the things you would have opened on day one and said, "we have every last thing," but we pay very close attention to what is needed. We react accordingly. I had one stat that I think you'll find interesting. Can I say it?

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:37] Absolutely.

Jary Ganske: [00:10:38] That is, you said something about the Emergency Department. We knew there was a need there, we just didn't know how vast the need was. Just in the eight months we've been open, we're pretty well able to say that the Midlothian Emergency Medical Services covers like 62 square miles, I believe it is. We were amazed to find that number. Just in the people that they have been able to transport to Methodist Midlothian so far, they're going to save 60,000 miles a year on their ambulances, over 1,000 hours quicker care and over 1,000 hours of saved labor from the teams. We were just kind of like, "that is pretty amazing," even though we knew we were bringing something major to the community, we hadn't guessed that. We have a great relationship with the Fire and EMS people there. They share this with us. We're proud to keep trying to build up on that.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:11:38] I'm sure they were very, very happy to see the hospital go up. I didn't even consider that really. I didn't think about what that would save just in those daily runs.

Jary Ganske: [00:11:48] We didn't either. Quite honestly, you would think that we would be looking at all of those things and that's one we more or less missed in the process. It's very thrilling.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:11:58] As he talks there, you look at the investment that Methodist Health System continues to make here in Midlothian and really the Ellis County corridor, as well. They just obviously just opened up a 175 million dollar facility, but the fact that we're already looking at adding Cardiology, access to Robotics and that kind of stuff, is really just showing how much they have a passion and want to serve the growing health care needs here in the region. It's pretty inspiring to hear some of that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:22] Yeah, it's really neat to hear that you guys use that kind of data driven approach. It's so important to know the people, what their needs are whenever they're coming into the hospital and be able to provide that in the future.

Jary Ganske: [00:12:36] We actually had the chairman of the board of the Methodist Health System come down in and spend some time with us about three weeks ago, something like that. It's important that I know everybody and I know how we've been able to take care of everybody that's come in the door. It's maybe even a little bit more important to know about the ones we've been not been able to take full care of when they came in the door, that we found a reason to have to transfer them for a higher level of care or higher level of service. We look at those and where we know there's a need, then we will react to those. Someone asked me, "are you eventually going to have everything?" We're probably not going to do Transplant Surgery in Midlothian, Texas, but I don't think anybody else around us is going to be the transplant surgery, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to look at it and see what is really needed. If it's a once a year sort of a thing, we probably will go where someone knows, does it five times a day and has a great deal of expertise. These are the kind of things we have to look at. You don't just open up and say, "we're going to be every last thing to everybody." We want to be what is really important to this community because we love this community. I've gotten very involved with it. Kasey, I mean, we've got a great group of people that are Midlothian-centric, so we're thrilled!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:05] That's great! I think that's a huge benefit of to having someone like Kasey, a Community Relations person out and about. In the fact that y'all both live here, but then you have somebody dedicated to the community, not only can you look at the stats, but then people will just come up and talk to you about, "hey, I went to the hospital last week or here's what I did." Do you get that a lot?

Kasey Cheshier: [00:14:26] Yeah, absolutely. We really rely on those community relationships. Really a lot of it, even our Advisory Board Members, we want to hear the good and we want hear the bad things that way we can make sure that we're responding to those as needed. Those community advocates are huge for us and we're really invested into Midlothian. We want to make sure that we have the right strategic partnerships and the relationships with the community as a whole.

Jary Ganske: [00:14:48] Before we opened and of course opened is a little tough word here, because we were trying to open into a pandemic with a lot of issues, but we named a Community Advisory Board. There was a lot of thought given to that. We have people from the city. We have people from the school. We have a broad group of people, from the religious community and others that advise us, that tell us, "this is what we hear, this is what we know." I'm sad to say that we only were able to bring them together for the first time physically, a month ago in June. Now, I'm even wondering whether we should go back to Zoom for the next meeting simply because of the pandemic. It's been an interesting situation, but they're very involved. They've all come in and gone through the hospital. I wish we could have them there consistently, but we can't quite yet until we know the future of the pandemic.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:50] We have a lot of growing families. You mentioned Labor and Delivery, which I think is great. I delivered at Methodist Mansfield. I would have loved to deliver in Midlothian, but the timing just didn't work out. We have a lot of growing families that Whitney and her team talk to all the time. They're moving to Midlothian so they can grow their families or start a family. They have a lot of choices on their health care providers just because we do have several hospitals within this South Dallas-Fort Worth area. Can you kind of just describe the experience a family could expect from Methodist Midlothian, during labor and delivery?

Jary Ganske: [00:16:31] Methodist Midlothian, I believe we opened with the first what is called LDRP Model in North Texas. Now, someone may have followed us with that so far, but what that means is Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum are all in the same suite. If you come and take a tour of our place ,as you walk in, it is absolutely gorgeous with all the wood paneling. It's large and you can bring the family in. When it's time to deliver, there are some buttons that get pushed. Out of the ceiling, drops the correct lighting and out of the wall opens up the correct support items. You aren't taking a person and running them up and down the hall. "Now, let's take you over here. Now let's move you into the recovery." Everything is done and the baby can stay in the room. Yes. We find it's an excellent model and it's used a lot around the country. I think we were the first in North Texas to do it, but like I said, I think one or two others that might have been opened just since then. We're thrilled with it. We've got nothing but very positive response over it. It'll just take a while. We have some more OBGYN Physicians that'll be coming into this market. We're really excited about a couple of them that we're talking to, but it'll take several months to get those, including one who's coming home, so to speak. That's kind of all I can say about them.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:05] I love a good teaser!

Jary Ganske: [00:18:06] We have one coming back, coming home, a native, so all is looking great. Kasey, you talk to these people. I know you've actually done some stories on them. Anything you want to add?

Kasey Cheshier: [00:18:18] Yeah, absolutely. One of the main key things we always hear back, in addition to what he's saying about the Labor Delivery and Postpartum being in the same room, that has really been a highlight, is the Nursing Team. They do such an exceptional job. They are truly invested in the patients, the mom and the baby, and just making sure that that experience is top notch. From you name at the meals, the photography that they do for the mom and the kiddos, we would make sure that that experience is top notch. The crew does an amazing job there.

Jary Ganske: [00:18:45] We have some people that joined us because they actually were in some very high level positions around the Metroplex, but lived in Midlothian. We actually wound up with the Vice President of Women Services from one of the large Children's Hospitals that wanted to come home to be over our LDRP program. it's amazing how many people have this love for Midlothian. We were able to latch onto them since they already lived here. They wanted to be part of this. Even though we were a smaller hospital starting out than than they were used to, they came home to us, so we're thrilled.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:25] That's great! I think anybody that's delivered a baby or his spouse has knows that those Nurses are just so key to your experience. Having wonderful, amazing Nurses is huge. That's great that you guys can recruit such high quality staff and Nurses.

Whitney Pryor: [00:19:46] Definitely. My Friend actually had her baby at Mansfield in Mansfield. I was shocked by that experience. Her being able to stay in the room, not having to move rooms, move nurses and move all of those things, it just seemed so much more peaceful and relaxing. Labor and Delivery, in and of itself, is not a very peaceful thing. It's a little chaotic and stressful for everyone.

Jary Ganske: [00:20:13] I don't know that for a fact, but my wife has said that a lot too.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:17] Yes, just to be able to make that a little bit more calming and soothing for the family and the baby, it really changes the experience. That's a really awesome thing that you guys do. To be able to offer it now in Midlothian is really great. I know several people that have been driving to Mansfield for years for care at Methodist and to have that in their backyard now is great.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:20:44] We want that care close to home. We look at the top three service lines. The hospital Labor and Delivery is definitely one of them, so we want to have that capability for the family to get there quick.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:58] Definitely.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:59] Yeah, sometimes you need it in a hurry.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:21:01] That's right.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:02] Methodist Health System is huge. I know we've talked a lot about Midlothian already. Is there anything we haven't touched on in regards to why Midlothian?

Jary Ganske: [00:21:11] I guess the "why", is there was a need here and we kept seeing the need grow from the position I was in at Mansfield. We kept seeing the level of Midlothian's, Midlothionites? I'm not sure what that word should be.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:25] That sounds good!

Jary Ganske: [00:21:26] Midlothianonian's or Midlothianite's, but they're looking at Mansfield for medical care. We saw that and we said, "there is a need specifically here." We knew that John Houston Homes and we knew that others were just planning thousands and thousands of new homes in this particular area. It was not going to do anything but get higher demand. I think when we started planning this hospital, we probably didn't even see quite the high level of demand that we're now seeing and that's now on the horizon here. We're absolutely thrilled. We saw what was coming to Mansfield and we knew that there needed to be an option here. We talked about it ad nauseum, as they would say. We decided we did not want a little Mansfield here, but we wanted what people liked about Mansfield here. We stole enough people. I shouldn't say that. We recruited enough people from the Mansfield Hospital to bring that kind of a personality to Midlothian and then brought others in from elsewhere around the Metroplex, so that we can get best practices from a lot of different hospital systems in order to do this. It's not little Mansfield, but it has that personality that people liked at Mansfield. We're thrilled to be able to carry it forward.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:22:52] You know, Midlothian is growing. Did yall know that? From a home builder, I hope yall did. I think the latest number that I heard is roughly a 5% increase growth rate annually. We have a lot of people that are moving to this area because obviously the school districts are amazing. There's a small town charm. We have so many really neat events that we do here in this area. As you start looking in the growth in the whole region, Midlothian and all of Ellis County, the health care needs are going to increase as well. The fact that our health system has been very strategic and intentional about making sure that we're able to service/ We've talked about the Mansfield corridor, but to make sure that obviously we have the investment into Ellis County and we're serving the residents right here in this region is huge. When I look at why Midlothian, I just think about the growth that we're all seeing. We just want to make sure that we're responding to those service lines and the health care needs of the region.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:47] I was going to ask you, what would you tell our listeners to consider about their health care when they're choosing where to live? Are there things that they should think about like, "I need to make sure there's a hospital. I need to make sure there's a E.R." It's not something I really thought about. I thought about schools, but is there something that you could kind of strategically think about if I'm going to be here for a long time?

Jary Ganske: [00:24:10] I think the fact that we built the hospital here in Midlothian. We've already talked about how that acts as a magnet for everything that comes around it. The demand for land on 14th Street, on Maine and everywhere else from other Medical Health Care groups and professionals that want to add to it. I think we've created the draw. What you should be looking for is access points. In health care, that's what everybody talks about, is access points. Where can I enter the health care system because not everybody wants to enter the health care system through the Emergency Department. We may have seen 70 people in our emergency department yesterday, but that's not the way that you want to necessarily enter the system. You want access to Primary Care and you want access to Specialists that you can self refer to. I think what we've done, is create the environment for all of these providers and doctors to relocate around us and continue to build those access points with us in the center. That doesn't mean we're the driver, it just means we created it. We're thrilled to be the driver that we are. We've been open, what, eight and a half, nine months. We have national ratings that are called HCAP scores which are between 93% and 99%. I won't say how that compares with other people in our market, but it's great.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:37] We could probably go and check that out.

Jary Ganske: [00:25:37] There you go, you go check that out. We're thrilled to be where we are. We're just going to continue to grow and take care of the city of Midlothian. When I say city of Midlothian, not everything is getting built in the city limits, but the people that rely upon the city of Midlothian for their health care.

Whitney Pryor: [00:25:55] We've noticed that you guys are really involved with the community. I live in Waxahachie, but I still see Methodist stuff everywhere. You guys support local churches. Do you guys volunteer? You support different community efforts like schools, for sure. Can you speak into that and why it's so important for you guys to be out there?

Kasey Cheshier: [00:26:21] The Methodist Health system, as a whole, is really dedicated about giving back. At each campus, whether it be Methodist Mansfield, Methodist Charlton or even Methodist Midlothian, we have a community relations person like myself. We're charged to really looking at how we can make the biggest impact by giving back through various partnerships. Whether it be a financial investment, recruiting volunteers, showing up at a back to school bash or whatever that might look like, we're very intentional and really we try to make sure that we're having the biggest presence that we can. We love being involved. We get involved in so many things. It's kind of funny, you mentioned church networks. The school districts are one our key partners. We do a lot with the parks and recs. We really try to encourage health and wellness. Anything that can get people outside, get people kind of moving a little bit and improving that, we're really involved with as well. We just opened up a National Fitness Court with the City of Midlothian, just a few weeks back. That's another project that's right there near 14th Street. That's a big thing for us. We want to do whatever we can to just continue to serve the community not only from, just walking in the emergency room or coming through the hospital as a whole, but what can we do elsewhere as well?

Whitney Pryor: [00:27:30] Yeah, definitely. I think prevention and health are such an important part of the health care network too.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:27:37] Yeah, every time I go to Hawaiian Falls, I love seeing all the little reminders of health and water safety. I just love that yall are like boots on the ground. It's not just like, let me give you money and be on the back of a T-shirt. I see people volunteering.

Kasey Cheshier: [00:27:53] I'll give you an example. We had a UIL Sports Physical Clinic that we actually provided for the school district right at the end of the Summer. It was like right at the end of May. We probably had around 40 health care professionals that volunteered their time. There was probably 10 Physicians that came up there, probably another 20 or 30 Nurses and then we had a lot of our Patient Care Technicians. They weren't getting paid for that. It was something extra they did on a Saturday morning. That really shows you their commitment to Midlothian and this area, because that was just a service that we wanted to provide for the students and the district as a whole. They've got to figure out how to get a few thousand students that come through their sports physicals, so that was a good little deal there. Our team is all on board. It's been a little limited with all the COVID and the safety precautions, but they're really wanting to do some stuff and any time I could rope them in, I try to.

Jary Ganske: [00:28:44] He does a great job of roping in the physicians as well. That was not just Nurses and Techs, we actually got Cardiologists to come out there, give of their time and do the reads. It's important. I think a number of years ago in Mansfield, they discovered one or two issues that could have been very, very serious for a student, so they're in tune to that now. They want to do it for the community.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:10] People that really care about the people that live here. That's great, you can't beat that. Thank you both so much for coming.

Jary Ganske: [00:29:19] We certainly enjoyed it. Thank you very, very much.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:21] You're welcome. You're welcome back anytime!

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:24] Thank you again listeners, for joining us today on the Welcome Home Podcast. We are so glad that Methodist Midlothian came today to share information about their new hospital. We will leave information about their hospital in the show notes for you to link to, visit their website and find out more about all the different services they offer. If you'd like to get more information about how we can help you in any way, definitely visit our website jhoustonhomes.com or you can email us at info@jhoustonhomes.com. Thank you and have a great day!

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:30:01] Welcome Home.

S2 Ep16_We Have Lots! Upcoming Communities (Whitney Pryor & Chelsi Frazier)

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 16:40:42 GMT

S2 Ep16_We Have Lots! Upcoming Communities (Whitney Pryor & Chelsi Frazier)

You're ready to step into the home buying journey, but wait.. where are the homes?? Whether you're looking for a move-in ready home or a lot to build on, finding your perfect place in this current real estate market can be exhausting and even discouraging. That's why we're bringing you today's episode to let all who are on the home search know some great news... We've got HOMES!! Listen in and take notes as Whitney and Chelsi break down the details of our current available lots, inventory homes, the communities there in and exactly where to find them. If you're on the house hunt, this episode is for you!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining in on today's episode of the Welcome Home Podcast. I've got Chelsi here with me, hello Chelsi!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:26] Good morning.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:27] I cannot believe it is already August.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:30] I know, it's crazy.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:32] How has the time flown by so fast this year?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:35] I don't know, I feel like we barely got a Summer. It was here, we tried to cram everything in and then it's gone.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:42] Yeah, I guess because we were all cramped up at home and then we finally were released into the wild. It's like every weekend I've had plans,

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:52] Which is great, it's been a great Summer. It's been really fun, but it's gone and I want it back. It's not gone, we still have a few more weekends of heat, but once you start school, it feels like you don't have as much free time.

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:03] Yeah, as soon as Starbucks rolls out their Pumpkin Spice Lattes, that is the official end of the Summer season.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:11] That's so true. Is it out yet?

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:13] I don't think so.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:01:14] Okay, thank goodness.

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:15] Yeah, I haven't pulled out the Fall decorations yet because I haven't seen anything at Starbucks yet.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:20] I'm not ready, not ready. I try to squeeze every ounce of summer life I can get.

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:26] I know, but I am looking forward to the cooler weather.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:30] Yeah, we've got some really exciting stuff happening this Fall, which is what we wanted to talk about today because the big question is, do you have homes to sell? Do you have lots? What's happening? There are so many builders that don't have lots and we're in a really good position where we do. Looking up and realizing, okay, it's almost mid-August and we've got some cool stuff coming up. That's kind of what we wanted to talk about today.

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:56] Yes, the market, of course everyone knows, we've been selling everything like crazy. We sold out of quite a few lots in different communities, but we've luckily and fortunately have good relationships with our developers in the different areas. We have been able to procure lots coming up for future communities, too, so that we keep having that inventory and those homes available for people looking to move into the area.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:25] For sure. We'll still have a good mix of inventory homes, that will be moving ready or almost move in ready. We will also have lots for people that want to build.

Whitney Pryor: [00:02:37] Yes, build their custom home.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:39] Where do you want to kick off?

Whitney Pryor: [00:02:40] I think we should kick off with Midlothian because we've got so much coming in there. In Midlothian, if you don't know listeners, Midlothian is situated in between Mansfield and Waxahachie. It's a great area to live in. It's right off of 287 and 67, so it gives you a great, easy commute into either Fort Worth or you can take 67 into Dallas. It's just an awesome, smaller community with a great school system and just has all the benefits.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:17] Yeah, it's grown a lot, so a lot of people who moved to Midlothian in the 80s, early 90s will tell you none of this was here, this was all farmland. Midlothian isn't what it used to be. There's a lot more shopping, dining, grocery stores and options there, too.

Whitney Pryor : [00:03:38] There is a Chick fil A, a Starbucks and a Kroger, all important things.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:44] Yes, that that makes it feel like a city when you have those things. We just opened Dove Creek in Midlothian on the South side, South of 287, almost to 875, which runs from Waxahachie to Maypearl, so another good area. If you need to hop on 35, you can kind of go that back way. If you need to hop on 287 to 20 or even 287 to 67 to go up to Dallas. It is a good spot, but outside of town.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:15] It's right off of 14th Street which now runs straight to 287 and will eventually connect to 875 which would take you to you know Waxahachie or wherever. Right. It's a great location for a community.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:32] Yes and it's the second phase, so you have a lot of established homes already there from that first phase and a little bit larger lots, right?

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:42] Yeah, so they actually have a good mix of lots. I think that their smallest lots are still pretty large and they've got some oversized lots as well. They have a good mix of different size lots. They've got a lot of cul de sac lots available. For those that like that really big pie shaped lot with a big backyard, there is that option and you would probably would be able to fit a pool back there, as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:09] Yea, I was just looking at the homes that we offer range from 1,800 square feet on up to 3,330 square feet, so a really good range of house sizes to choose from.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:21] Yes, that one we just opened a couple of weeks ago. We do still have lots available in there to build on, as well as, inventory homes that will come soon.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:34] Great! One thing I would tell people to make note of is, for Dove Creek and this may be the case for other Midlothian communities, but we'll talk about that as we get to them is, your Elementary School zone for this year is Mountain Peak. When their 8th Elementary School opens in 2022-2023 school year, you'll switch to Elementary School number eight. They'll open that new Elementary School back off of 14th Street, kind of behind Kroger. With Midlothian growing so much, they've got a new Elementary School opening, not this Fall, but next. Just keep that in mind. If you really, really had Mountain Peak in your heart and you want to stay there forever, your school zone will change after this year.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:18] Definitely good to remember whenever you've got the young kiddos.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:06:23] Yeah, now the Middle School and High School, those those stay the same. It's just that elementary.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:27] Another community that we have and this one's on the Northeast side of Midlothian, is Bryson Manor Phase 3. This community has been a really hot community. A lot of people have been interested in it. The lots range in size, but most of the lots we'll have will be about a 1/2 acre, with a few lots being 1-acre in size. This community is in Ovilla. It has a Ovilla city tax rate, which is about 2%, which is still pretty low for the area, considering Midlothian and Waxahachie are usually around like 2.4% to 2.6%, somewhere around there.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:12] What is that one supposed to be? Is it late Summer or early Fall for release?

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:18] Yes, we're really looking at early Fall. We're hoping by end of September, the developer will have that ready to deliver to us to start building, but it could be October.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:33] That's still Midlothian schools. It's actually right by McClatchey Elementary, which is right now the newest Elementary. No, I'm sorry, Irvin's the newest Elementary School. Anyways, it's right by McClatchey.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:45] McClatchey is still a really great school. There are lots of people that want their kids to go to McClatchey. It's really nice.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:51] Yeah, it's really pretty.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:53] It's right there on Shiloh.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:54] Yeah, it's really easy to hop from your house to drop off. Those school zones will stay the same for the next two years. Bryson being so close to McClatchey , it'd be hard for that to ever change.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:09] I would think so too. Another one that's really close to Bryson Manor is The Arbors. The Arbors is also on the Northeast side of Midlothian. That community will have all 1-acre lots and that one actually should be opening pretty soon. It'll be in the Fall. We're hoping October/November time frame, we will be able to start selling in there.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:40] We have a lot of lots in The Arbors, like 42, so there are lot of opportunities.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:46] There are lots of opportunities to build there for sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:49] Yeah, right off Walnut Grove, that's a good road that kind of takes you all the way down to 287 and all the way up to kind of those back roads to Cedar Hill.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:00] Yeah, definitely. We have another community that we have, also in the Northeast side of Midlothian. The Northeast side of Midlothian is really building up a lot right now.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:09:12] Yes.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:14] Another one we have as Haye's Crossing. Haye's Crossing will be off of Haye's Road in Midlothian. Those homes are going to be a little bit larger. The homesites, I think they're going to be somewhere around 80' wide, so they'll be about a 1/4 acre in size. You'll still get a little bit larger size. If any of you are familiar with the Midlothian area and know Texana Ranch, it'll be somewhat similar to that.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:09:45] Okay, so not huge yards. You're not having to get a tractor or a zero-turn to keep your lot mowed. There is space to spread out, but not huge.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:58] Exactly, so if you're wanting a pool but you don't want to spend the entire weekend mowing instead of enjoying that pool, then this would be a good option.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:10:07] Yeah, definitely.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:08] I always like to point that out to people. The difference between the 1-acre lots and other lots. One acre lots are super desirable, but if you've never owned one, the biggest difference is going to be that it will have a septic system. Another thing is that the fence is not included. Whenever you're looking at possibly building or finding that community that's right for you, there are options that give you a lot of space, but allow you to move in with the fence fenced in backyard and you would be on city sewer, which is also pretty desirable. We do have other options other than the 1-acre lots as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:10:56] Yeah, which is good. I love that we have communities with both options. Some builders are custom and because their houses are so big, they're just going to be on much larger lots. We do that, we just have both, so it is a nice option. Those school zones will stay the same for the next two years. You'll go Longbranch, Walnut Grove and Heritage for that community.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:21] Another community, we've actually got two others coming soon in Midlothian, and both of those are also 1-acre lots. We have Oak Creek Ranch. This one is actually going to be on the South side of Midlothian. It is located on Skinner Road at 875. If you're familiar with that area on the South side of Midlothian, it's a really rural area. It's beautiful, great landscape, rolling hills, natural cedar trees, things like that. This will be a really great 1-acre community if you're looking for more of that spacious look.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:04] Also, you've got county taxes.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:07] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:08] One important thing, this is Waxahachie schools.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:13] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:14] We do need to make sure people know that if you're at Oak Creek Ranch, you will be zoned for Waxahachie, which is great. Waxahachie has amazing schools. It seems like Midlothian because it's more on that side, but it is Waxahachie schools.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:28] Yes, it is Midlothian City, as far as your address, but it is county taxes. You won't have to deal with the city taxes on that.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:40] Yeah, that's a beautiful one. I'm excited to see the houses that they put out there. Okay so, Winding Creek.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:47] Yes, mmm hmm. We also have a Winding Creek. That one is also going to be 1-acre lots. Winding Creek is technically an extension of Bryson Springs.

Chelsi Frazier:[00:13:00] Oh, that's right.

Whitney Pryor:[00:13:01] If you're familiar with the Bryson Springs community on Bryson Lane in the Northeast side of Midlothian, this is going to be built behind phase two. However, I think it goes into the city of Ovilla, so they technically had to change the name on the community for some reasons. It's weird. They changed it to Winding Creek and those will be 1-acre lots. It'll be the same look and feel custom wise, as far as, Bryson Springs has. A Lot of custom homes. If you're looking to really scale it up, then that would be a good community for you.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:39] That one is next Spring.

Whitney Pryor:[00:13:42] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier:[00:13:42] We're a little ways out from Winding Creek.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:44] We are a little ways out from that one for sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:45] But, just like Summer flew by, that'll be here before you know it. Definitely check out our website and get on interest lists for any Winding Creek or any of those. If we don't have it up yet, because it's just a little bit further out, you can always call our Online Sales Team. Tthey'll get you down and make sure that you get those emails when we're ready to start selling, release lots or just have community updates.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:09] Yes, definitely.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:11] Should we move on over to Waxahachie?

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:14] Yes, so in Waxahachie, we have four upcoming communities between now and the beginning of next year. We have one that we just opened, which is called The Haven at North Grove Phase 2.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:30] Our Masterplanned Community with lots of cool things. The pool just opened.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:35] Yes! We've been building in several different phases of the North Grove community. The Haven Phase 2 has just opened up. That Phase is located right by the new Simpson Elementary. If you're familiar with the new Elementary School, North Grove does have an onsite Elementary and the Haven Phase 2 lots are located right next to the school. They are very desirable.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:06] Yeah, that's nice.

Whitney Pryor: [00:15:07] The lots are very large. They're going to range between around 70' to 80'wide in that community and they will have larger backyard space. If you've been looking for something that is a little bit larger lot, then this would be a great opportunity. They do have lots and inventory homes available.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:33] Yes, you could do a 3rd-car garage or even side entry garage on those lots, which is cool. I always, as a kid, wish I could ride my bike to school. I wish I lived close enough. I feel like The Haven is quintessential. The the front of the school has the bike rack full of kids that ride their bike to school. It is so cute. I love it!

Whitney Pryor: [00:15:55] Yea, it's located right next to the park ,as well. They got the park right there too.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:01] That's cool! Okay, just down the street from that, not too far, is Sunrise at Garden Valley, which is coming this Fall, kind of later Fall. No, really going into Winter, Garden Valley is established. We've got a couple of communities over there. We've got Garden Valley Farms and Estates at Garden Valley, so this is kind of the next section of that, right?

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:24] Yes, that's correct. It is located behind Garden Valley Farms. I think it connects to Broadhead that runs behind it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:35] Oh, yeah, you're right.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:36] That's kind of a neat thing, is that you can drive to Garden Valley Parkway or you can connect to Brodhead on that one.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:45] Yeah, right by the movie theater and Whataburger.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:52] The movie theater now has bowling. It has everything.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:53] It's so nice! If y'all haven't been to Showbiz, they've completely redone the inside. I think all the theaters now have the big, cozy chairs that recline. They have bowling, arcades and they've just kind of redone the food area as well, so it's really cool.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:11] It is very cool. I highly suggest it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:13] Yes, it's an amenity in itself, right there.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:16] Fortunately, I also live right next to it and let me tell you, every time we drive past it, my daughter says, "can we go to the arcade?' I'm like, "no, we're not going to spend $20 in two minutes today."

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:28] I know, it just sucks your money! So Springside, that's another 1-acre community coming next year in Waxahachie.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:40] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:40] Which is exciting because we have a lot of desire for 1-acre lots in Waxahachie too.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:46] Yes we do! Springside Estates, if you are looking to build from scratch a custom home on a 1-acre lot, then that is going to be Springside Estates and that one opens up early next year. We're hoping January/February timeframe. That would be the next opportunity in Waxahachie to build from scratch on a 1-acre lot.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:12] Also, you'll be building in a community already established because this is Phase 2 because Phase 1 is already there. You got county taxes. We do have some inventory homes coming soon in Phase 1. If you you hear this and you're like, "well I need there now," we do have some stuff coming up. But like you said, Phase 2 for builds or future inventory.

Whitney Pryor: [00:18:37] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:37] Cool!

Whitney Pryor: [00:18:39] That pretty much wraps up the Midlothian and Waxahachie areas. We are going into a new area close to us.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:49] Yeah, I'm excited!

Whitney Pryor: [00:18:51] We are going into Ferris. We'll have a Master Planned Community there called the Wood Stone. It's going to be huge.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:02] I was just looking at the plot, the giant plat, the developers created.

Whitney Pryor: [00:19:07] We're building in the first phase right now, which looks tiny on this giant plat. It's like this little blip on the map. This Master Planned Community is just going to be gorgeous, from what I can see. It will have pools. It will have walking trails, ponds and greenbelts. There's a creek area that runs through the community. If you're really big into, nature preserves and enjoying the scenery, this community is really going to hit that mark for you.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:44] Yeah, just keep in mind, this is the very first phases of Woodstone, so some of that stuff just takes time.

Whitney Pryor: [00:19:51] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:51] A lot of people think, oh, "it's Master Panned, I'm going to go into it and have everything right away." That's just not the case. It just takes time, so all of these things are future.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:02] Yes, it will probably be years out from creating all of it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:07] Yeah, but when you get in early, I feel like the home prices are lower than the later phases and your established. You're like, "oh well I've been there."

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:20] Yeah exactly.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:21] Yeah, we are super excited for Woodstone. That's a good one!

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:25] Those lots are going to be kind of more of an average size. They're going to be I think, around 60' wide and have more of our homes that are in the 2,000 square feet range.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:40] Did we say where that was?

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:40] In Ferris, I think I said it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:45] Just in case.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:46] Just in case, it is in Ferris.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:48] Yeah, new area for us, but exciting to learn about a new area. It's really not far from Waxahachie.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:54] It's not at all! I go close to that area for the drive in movie theater.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:00] Oh yeah, that's right!

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:02] The drive in movie theaters over there.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:05] All right, let's bump on over to Mansfield/ Burleson area.

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:09] Yes, in Mansfield, we've got an awesome community that we just opened down.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:16] Yes, it has been highly anticipated. I feel like we've been talking about it for so long.

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:20] Yes! That community is M3 Ranch. M3 Ranch is another Master Planned community. If you're familiar with the Mansfield area, this one is developed by the same people that developed which community?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:37] Somerset.

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:38] Somerset, yes, and Somerset is beautiful. If you've ever driven through Somerset, the developers put a lot into the look and the feel of the community, the presence of the landscape, everything, so M3 Ranch will be equally as amazing, if not better. We've seen some amazing renderings of what they're planning to do and just with natural creek, rocky creeks running through the community, it's just really a beautiful area.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:16] It really is.

Whitney Pryor: [00:22:18] M3 Ranch, we actually just opened up and we actually just started taking appointments today. By the time this airs, we'll be a couple of weeks in, but we will have lots and homes available in that community. The sizes of the lots kind of range. We will have a couple of oversized lots.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:42] Yeah, also another one where you can build a huge house. I mean, 3,600 square feet is the largest plan that we have.

Whitney Pryor: [00:22:52] Yes and two of our most desirable floor plans are available there, the Providence and The Carter.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:00] Yep, everybody loves that Carter bathroom.

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:03] Yes, the Carter bathroom is where it's at. The Providence plan is really beautiful too. It's got that sweeping staircase in the front, as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:11] It is beautiful. It's like a grand entrance.

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:14] Yes, it's beautiful!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:15] Right now that's all we have in in Mansfield, correct?

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:19] Yeah, that's coming soon, or that has just opened. Our option for lots is going to be M3 Ranch, if you're wanting to build.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:29] That's it for now for Mansfield communities.

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:31] Yes, but stay tuned because we do always have lots and homes that we're working on with other developers. As of right now, we don't have anything else in Mansfield coming, but that doesn't mean that we won't pick up a contract with the developer tomorrow and start building. It definitely changes day by day.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:50] Yeah, another website plug, just stay on our website, check it out or sign up for emails for just Mansfield communities if you're interested in that area. Whitney and her team do a great job of sending emails with information just for that city that you're interested in, whenever that comes available.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:09] Yes, definitely.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:11] In Burleson, we have two communities coming up this Fall, Hulen Trails and Panchasarp Farms, which I always feel like I say that wrong.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:20] Everyone says it wrong!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:22] Panchasarp or Panchazarp, if you hear it either way, it's the same place.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:25] Every time I'm on the phone with someone trying to say it, they don't even try. It's like the parks at pa pa and I say, "Panchasarp, I understand."

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:36] You knew what they were talking about?

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:37] Yeah, it's a tongue twister for sure, but yes, we have two communities coming up and Burleson. Hulen Trails is going to be actually in the Crowley area.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:48] Oh, that's right!

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:49] We say Burleson just because it's kind of the Burleson area, but it is actually going to be Crowley for that one.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:56] Crowley schools?

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:57] Yes, Crowley schools, so that one will be a nice little community in the Crowley area.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:02] Hulen Trails is really great location for an easy commute to Fort Worth or Burleson. It's kind of situated, conveniently located, off Chisholm Trail, between downtown Crowley and Chisholm Trail, really.

Whitney Pryor: [00:25:15] Yes, if you need to commute on Chisholm Trail or work in Fort Worth or Burleson, that's a good kind of halfway point.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:24] Yeah, you get Crowley schools, but you can work in those cities.

Whitney Pryor: [00:25:27] Yes. Another one that we have coming up is Phase 2 of Panchasarp Farms. That one is a Master Planned community that we are in. We do have a model home in that community. We built in Phase 1 and we're now closing out Phase 1. We have a couple of inventory homes available there, but Phase 2 will open up in the Fall and we're really excited about that. A lot of people have been wanting to build in that community and we haven't had lots available for a little while. Whenever the lots opened in the Fall, that one will be really exciting.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:05] Is that one similar in lot size and house as Phase 1?

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:10] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:11] Okay.

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:12] It'll be kind of average size lots. Again, nothing too big. That community is Master Planned, so it does have a pool that's already built.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:25] Oh already there, that's even better!

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:27] It is because you don't have to wait for that one. The pool is already built. There will be future parks and playgrounds that will be built as the phases are built out.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:36] Nice! Also, just minutes away from Chisholm Trail Parkway and at I35W.

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:41] Yes! Quick plug for QuickTrip, but QuickTrip is right on the corner.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:48] You know I love QT! Hey, I might have to check this community out myself.

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:54] Yes!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:56] Okay great! You can get on the interest list for the upcoming phase, as well, and for both of those really, if you're interested in those.

Whitney Pryor: [00:27:03] Yeah! Our next area is going to be Waco. In the Waco area, we've got a few different communities opening up right right now. One that we've just opened up is Sunwest Village. Sunwest Village has two phases that are open right now. One of them has a little bit smaller lots and the other one has a little bit larger lots. If you do go on our website and take a look at that, you'll notice a difference in pricing, as far as, a starting price point. It's because the lot sizes are a little bit different.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:27:39] That's good to know, especially when you got phases right next to each other and people kind of think, "why is this so much higher than this one? It's a straight away."

Whitney Pryor: [00:27:46] Yeah, exactly. That one's a really nice community. We've got a lot of different floorplan options in there. If there's a plan that you've been wanting to build in that community or in the Waco area, it's probably probably there.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:28:02] Yeah, and that's Midway ISD for both Sunwest Village and then the one we're about to talk about, which is an amazing school district. I got to give my girl, Susie Pagle a shout out. They have a great education foundation that supports teachers and students in classrooms. It's a really great school district. I think we hear all the time people move to those areas for the schools, for Midway ISD.

Whitney Pryor: [00:28:25] Yes, definitely for Midway ISD. That community is located right off of Highway 84, so it's very convenient. It's going out towards McGregor, but it is again, Midway IS.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:28:39] Nice! Then Renaissance is also coming this Fall. We've got a lot of stuff coming this Fall. That one is Midway ISD, as well.

Whitney Pryor: [00:28:47] Yes, that one is located close to our Chapel Ridge community. If you're familiar with the Chapel Ridge area, that community is, I think, right in front of it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:28:59] Okay, and it's close to Hewitt Elementary off Panther Way.

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:05] Our other community that we're opening soon in the Waco area is going to be the West End at Val Verde.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:11] I love that name!

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:12] I know it sounds fancy, right? It sounds like a good salsa.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:15] Oh, it really does. That's a great idea. I like it!

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:20] This community is in the McGregor area. It is a Master Planned Community. It will have a resort style pool, parks, playgrounds and walking trails. The lot sizes are going to be a really good size, as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:36] There will be 1/2 acre lots and natural gas available.

Whitney Pryor: [00:29:39] I mean, that is a win win. We all love to cook with the gas cooktop and have the gas fireplace. Also, to be on 1/2 acre size lots is just I mean, that's going to be a beautiful community for sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:29:53] Yeah, definitely join our interest list for that one so you can get updates. That's that's also a Midway ISD community. I feel like we just threw a lot at everyone, so if you don't have time to re-listen to the podcast, just call us and we can talk you through anything that you're interested in. We can add you to an interest list. You can add yourself to the interest list. We have these nice little banners at the top of each community where you can join. You'll just be subscribed to that community, so it's not going to make you get an email every time we have a home in every city.

Whitney Pryor: [00:30:25] Yes, if you subscribe to that list, then we will email you specifically with information about that community. As soon as we have information, you will be the first to know.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:30:36] Yeah, for sure. Well thanks everybody for listening! Is that it? Did we miss anything?

Whitney Pryor: [00:30:41] I think that's it. I know that's a lot, so take time to process. If you have questions, definitely give us a call. We're happy to go over any of the future and upcoming communities.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:30:52] Yeah, by the time this airs, we'll probably have a couple of them open, because it'll be two or three weeks before this one comes out. We might actually be in September.

Whitney Pryor: [00:31:00] Yes, exactly. We are just around the corner from all of these new lots.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:31:04] Happy Fall! Hopefully you'll be drinking your Pumpkin Spice Latte as you're listening to this episode.

Whitney Pryor: [00:31:10] Yes, exactly. Well, thank you again for listening in today. We are happy to give you all of this information. If you have questions, feel free to give us a call at 866.251.0910 or you can definitely email us at info@jhoustonhomes.com. You can visit our Web Site at jhoustonhomes.com, as well. We're happy to listen in and we're happy to help you with any information that you're looking for. Thank you!

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:31:45] Welcome Home.

S2 Ep15_How JH Reach is Helping People Find Their Way Home (Bobby Parks & Megan Gaither)

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 16:43:48 GMT

S2 Ep15_How JH Reach is Helping People Find Their Way Home (Bobby Parks & Megan Gaither)

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Hello listeners, thank you for joining us on another episode of the Welcome Home Podcast. Today, we've got some awesome guests. I'm excited to do this podcast today. We always bring in great content about how to build a home, how to work with a sales manager, how to search for products and design your home. Today, we're bringing it back in and we're talking a little bit more about our company as a whole and what our purpose is. Chelsi, why don't you tell us who we've got on today and give us a little bit more scope of what we're talking about.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:54] Today we're talking to Bobby Parks. He's the Chief Ministry Officer for the JH Family of Companies. We also have on the show Megan Gaither. She's a program assistant for JH Reach. A couple episodes ago, we talked about the JH Family of Companies, who all that is and and what that's all about. These two people work really closely together and with a really great team of people who support our company, our culture, our employees, local and global organizations. There's so many things that we're going to dive into. We just wanted to talk to them today because it's part of who we are as a Family of Companies and as John Houston Homes. Like you said, we talk about building houses and all the specifics in the products all the time. It's nice to just take a break and talk about who we are and why we do what we do. That's what we're talking about today, so welcome to the show Bobby and Megan.

Bobby Parks: [00:01:57] Hey, we're glad to be here. You guys are always incredible. We're excited to talk about JH Reach, ways that our employees reach out to the community and also the deeper purpose of our company is about as well.

Megan Gaither: [00:02:11] Yeah, thanks for having us. I'm really excited for this.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:14] Bobby, you've been on the show before, so I should have said welcome back!

Bobby Parks: [00:02:17] Hey, not my first rodeo, but I will see if I can stay on for more than eight seconds this time.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:02:24] Great, let's just start with like, what is JH Reach? Bobby, if you want to take that one and explain to the listeners what JH Reach is.

Bobby Parks: [00:02:34] You know, the listeners that have chimed in here, obviously, they know that we're not just a home building company. We hear that from our founder, John, all the time. He even says, "we're not in the homebuilding business, we're in the people business." That's so true for every one of our employees. We're reminded of that all the time, that our number one job is to be a hope-filled, joyful, loving guide, to help people on their journey, not just to purchase a home, but in their life journey. We're encouraged and empowered to serve people and to love people. Our number one core value is Generous Love. We want to see that played out in every interaction, every touchpoint from a customer, trades and our business partners. We also believe deeply in the ways that we show Generous Love to our employees in the workplace, the ways that plays out in our local community where we work and serve and where many of our employees live. We also try to do that with our global partners all around the world. JH Reach is just our ministry arm of the family of Companies of how do we love our employees well, how do we love our community well and then how do we also partner with some amazing organizations that are serving people, even all around the world, in over 100+ countries?

Chelsi Frazier : [00:03:52] That's amazing. I think just as employees, Whitney and I can both speak into what impact that's had on our personal journeys here. I've never worked for a company that had a ministry arm. At first, I was like, "what is this? What what do we do? Explain it to me?" Whitney, what did you think when you first came on board?

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:12] Oh, yeah, I've never worked for a company that has poured more into not only the community and global outreach, but also to their employees. You work for companies, large corporations that, have a charity arm. They give money, give funds, but you never as an employee get to see that impact. Usually, it's more of a marketing message, "hey, we give to this company", vs. what you actually do as an employee, as a company and who you are as a person. To come to a company that not only does that, but also involves their employees, sends them on mission trips, organizes life teams, financial wellness courses and pours into their employees so they can go out and do things for their community, is just amazing. I've never worked for a company or heard of a company that even does that. I can go on and on and on!

Bobby Parks: [00:05:14] I know for us it's a joy that we get to do that in a marketplace setting. I know myself, I came from a more traditional ministry setting and worked for a missions organization. To get to do that in a marketplace where it's not just a side thing, but it's who we are and every employee has an opportunity to get involved. We pray and hope and I love hearing that Whitney, that you feel it. You feel involved, you feel that love that is our heart. We're also excited that so many of our employees, Whitney and Chelsi, you guys do this, get to serve and give back to the community. You get to be a part of even what some of our global partners are doing in other countries around the world. For us, that excites us, that, even here in this marketplace setting, we don't have to separate ministry, serving others or giving back to others, or maybe what some would say is relegated to Sunday morning. We could live our whole lives here at work. We don't force anyone to have that faith or that belief. Everyone's accepted, everyone's loved, but we want to invite people into a deeper journey that you don't have to compartmentalize your work life, your church life, or even your purpose and why you feel like you're here on the Earth. You get to live that out here at the church family company. We love that we get to be a part of that and help employees do that as well.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:45] Yeah, we definitely feel that. You spend so much time at work, 40 hours a week, you give up a huge amount of your time.

Bobby Parks : [00:06:51] If you're only working 40... Most people spend, I think the average is 8.5 hours a day in a work week. Some studies show even 50 hours a week that most people are spending in the workplace. That's a big chunk of their time.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:09] Huge, so if we can incorporate the two and not just have outreach and giving as something you do on the weekends, but also just a part of who you are throughout the week, that's amazing.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:20] Lets talk about some of those things specifically that we get to do for employees, like life teams, counseling, financial help, marriage retreat, Right Now Media and company events, just to name a few. What kinds of opportunities do we have for our employees to get involved?

Megan Gaither: [00:07:39] Yeah, ee partner with 15 to 20 local organizations just around the DFW area. One of those organizations we absolutely love is Mentors Care. Last year, 14 of our employees volunteered to be a mentor. Mentors Care serves at-risk students in the high schools around Ellis County. They really encourage adults to get out and just spend one hour a week with those students, encouraging them in their daily lives and just being there for them. That is an organization that we love to partner with. One of our own employees, Wes Dorough, this year, was awarded Mentor's Care of the Year, which is the first award that they gave out. That's just another example of how amazing our employees are. At JH Reach, we get to help and just encourage our employees, but it's really amazing to work with all of y'all. Y'all are the ones that make JH Reach possible. We would not be here without y'all. That's just another organization that we work with. We also partner with Bridges. They help single moms and families kind of just get back on their feet. We partner with organizations that really want to encourage and to lift up the next generation, but also those that are kind of structured on biblical values. Those are two of our main focuses when we reach out to organizations.

Bobby Parks: [00:09:12] Yeah, there are a lot of opportunities for employees to jump in, serve and get involved. As Megan mentioned, Mentors Care, we love them and the incredible work that they do. Our company is actually helping to partner with a couple of organizations out in Fort Worth to build what we call a Hope Field, which is a multi-purpose, synthetic turf field that at risk youth can play sports on soccer flag football. It's reaching a primarily refugee youth community out there in Fort Worth. They do incredible work. They're teaching English as a second language, World Relief Does for them. They're helping them pull them off the streets and give them better choices than some of the peer pressure challenges that are out there for them. By building this Field of Hope, it's giving youth hope for a brighter future. It's showing them that they don't have to go the same path that you know others around them have. Here's an opportunity for you and do it through your passion, do it through sports. That's a way to kind of bring them in, but then it's also teaching them biblically based leadership and values to show them how they can walk in that hope and how they can have a brighter future. There are incredible opportunities for our employees to serve and get involved locally, but we live in a beautiful place. We have amazing organizations here in Ellis County. We feel honored that we get to serve these great organizations that are reaching out and doing so much work. As Megan mentioned, so many of our employees, a reason why they work here is they didn't want just another job. They could go work at any other organization, but they chose here. They said, "I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. I want to work at a place where I can give back and I can make a difference." That's our secret sauce here at the JH Family of Companies, we have some of the best employees with the greatest hearts, as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:11:01] I love that. It's so true, you can work anywhere. I think most people want to feel like they're making a difference in their job and in what they do. I know just coming and doing marketing every day or sales or building houses, you're like, "well, what difference about making?" Overall, if the company supports things like this, what we do every day, it feels like we're supporting that because we're helping make a profit, encouraging each other and volunteering our time. I think it's great because there's so many ways. If you don't have the time, you can donate, you can join a Life Team over lunch with your coworkers and learn how to be better organized and have a more family time. There are so many things that you can do. I think as employees, that you hit the nail on the head talking about wanting to feel like you're being a part of something bigger, because I definitely feel that, for sure.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:59] Absolutely.

Bobby Parks: [00:11:59] I think coming back to our employees, Chelsi, you mentioned some of these initiatives that we offer for our employees. It's Life Teams which is kind of like small groups in the workplace. It's a way for employees to grow together in community and they can grow in their faith. We have courses on family, on marriage, on parenting and even on financial wellness. Our heart behind that is if we're just trying to squeeze work out of our employees all the time or just asking them to serve and give, and then we're not pouring back into them, they don't feel that generous love. They don't know that they're valued and cared for, that your job here is not just to serve everyone else. You work at a place where we see you and we care about you. We know that you have difficult things going on at home and your finances. Someone might be sick or sometimes you just need to know that there's others out there with you, that there is a place that you can call home. When you leave here, we believe God, Family then Work in that order, that we need to give people time to spend with their families. Coming back to spending so much time at work, it's so sad that so many people, they come to a place at work and they just sit at their desk all day long. They feel alone and feel isolated. They don't have community there, so we're trying to be intentional in the ways that we even help our employees find their way home. That's our brand vision for our company, is that We Want to Help People Find Their Way Home. We do that in very practical ways by helping our customers find beautiful dream homes. We have some of that we can offer, but there's a deeper Home that we're talking about, as well. For our employees, part of that is making them feel at home, a place that they belong, a place that they feel, a place that they feel seen, and then a place that they're cared for. When you're a young kid, you come home, you know you can come to the table and your parents are going to feed you. You're going to have things provided for you there, so we want to do the same with JH Reach. We want our employees to know that you're cared for. You're taking care of here. We want to invite them on a journey, how they can find their eternal home and how they can help others do the same. That's really what JH Reach is all about.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:02] A side track, my daughter is turning eight on Friday. She's having a birthday party on Saturday at our community pool. We live in one of the communities in Buffalo Ridge where we build at. Every person that we've invited to the party is one of my friends from work and my daughter is friends with all of their children. You foster a sense of community, you help people find friends and family at work. Anywhere else I've worked, I never would have mingled with people outside of work. It's go there, leave and then I have my my friends outside of work, but at this company it's different. Everyone is my family here. To have my daughter's birthday party, every single person invited is someone I work with and my daughter loves all of their kids. They go to gymnastics together. They do things on the weekends together. It just feels great, especially not being from here. I don't have a lot of family here, so it's great to work for a company that has helped me basically create my family. It's been great.

Bobby Parks: [00:15:13] I love hearing that. I think there are two truths you can find in any culture anywhere in the world. I've traveled to over 40 nations of the world, then coming here to this, The John Houston Family of Companies, this principle is so true anywhere. Everyone wants a place where they can belong and they can believe. In that belief, some people have different beliefs, of course, but they want to believe that there's something greater. They want to believe in a brighter future. They want to have a hope. I think that we do that for a lot of other people outside. To do that for our employees, that they have a place where they belong and they can believe, that's what makes this place feel like home for so many people, as well, that we're helping people find their way home. You can belong, you can believe here.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:15:59] We have many, many awesome things for our employees, but let's talk about what we do globally, too, because it's reaching all the people and every ear. What are some things that we do globally?

Megan Gaither: [00:16:10] Yeah, usually every year we'll send at least four teams on Mission Trips. Last year we had to take off due to COVID, but we did get to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to build a Hope Field. That was amazing. We had about 11 employees go, lay down the turf and build the fence. During that time, it felt like we were doing more during COVID then without, because we did campaigns and we partnered with a lot of organizations while also doing giving campaigns. One of our big partners is One Hope. They really believe that they want to reach every child with the word of God. We go on a lot of Mission Trips with One Hope as well, and we also partner with Enlace. We've sent our employees on Mission Trips to El Salvador. That's kind of a soft place for us because we partner with them every year. They're very biblical based, but they they want to transform communities. They really believe in strong relationships. We love that about them.

Bobby Parks: [00:17:24] We have incredible global partners. We could tell you guys stories of many other partners, whether they're finding homes for orphans that we've had to flee their country that we're stuck on the border and without parents and without food. Now, they're literally finding a home. They're being fed, being clothed and also being taught the word of God. We could tell you stories about girls that have been rescued out of trafficking. Now they're being restored and finally finding hope through partners like Venture that we work with, as well. Chelsi, you said something. You said, "it helps me know, yeah, there's opportunities for me to get plugged in, to get poured into here at H Reach or there's ways I can go serve my local community." You've also been on Mission Trips with us. To know that every day you could be helping a young girl that was rescued out of trafficking or a young kid who was orphaned find a home, that just by doing what you do every day, doing it with excellence, going the second mile in your work, knowing that you're also making an impact for young kids around the world in a country you may never go to, but yet your impact is reaching that. That's part of that greater purpose that we can tell our employees, our customers and those that partner with us, you're part of something bigger. This isn't just buying a house. This isn't just a job. We're part of something bigger and so much of that is to impact on the next generation. With God's word, we give them hope, but then also we help them very practical ways.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:18:55] It's powerful.

Whitney Pryor: [00:18:56] Megan mentioned that we weren't able to go and do Mission Trips during COVID and that kind of threw everyone for a loop. It threw JH Reach for a loop, too, as far as our outreach and being able to be with people. Amidst all of that, you managed to start a new mission. Tell us more about this new adventure.

Bobby Parks : [00:19:18] Yeah with COVID, obviously the whole world was thrown for a spin and it affected every person in every industry, but particularly, those in missions and outreach work. A lot of our global partners, their work was shut down and stopped, but then there was these other problems that came up. There were food shortages and kids that you couldn't reach in the same way. Of course, we had to innovate, pivot and say, "how how can we find new ways to help them?" Then we started looking in our local community. If you remember, it wasn't just the COVID pandemic. We had these racial tensions that were hitting everywhere. It wasn't just streets in other cities, but it was kids. It was kids in schools that they were home and and looking to social media news to try to make sense of this. We all know you're not going to find a lot of truth that way. A really great outreach partner and friend of ours, Bishop Aaron Blake, he and I were invited to speak to a couple of football teams. We were doing kind of like "in zone" locker room talks with them, and this is on the heels of George Floyd's death. They've got questions and challenges. They just lived through the first global pandemic. Everyone's wearing masks. They're trying to figure out and how to navigate this season. It seems like everyone's divided and where's their hope and truth. Bishop and I talked to Megan and our whole team. We decided they need more than a pep talk. They need more than just a locker room inspiration. We said what they need is they need leadership and they need values that they can hold on to that are true. In the midst of confusion in a world divided and chaos all around, what can you hold on that is true? We started what we call the Varsity Leadership Academy. That is for top Junior and Senior level students that the coach, club director, chess team, the band, football or soccer and they say, "I see these students. They may not be the best on the field, but they have the best potential to be a leader and to use their influence to impact others. We want to pick them, select them and we want to invest in you." You're a part of this Leadership Academy. They go through ten, now they're biblically based values, but there's no faith mentioned in the curriculum. We can get into the schools, encourage the youth with incredible content, show them what it means to be a leader, what it means to live with those values and then at the end, we also help them to do an outreach in the community. Now we're showing them, here's values that you can base your leadership on no matter what is happening in the world around you. Here's some things you can build your life on, but then here's what a leader does. A leader sees need around them and they use their influence to impact and serve others. We had a lot of these these macho High School football players going with us to shop with a cop with us. They were shopping with other at risk youth, young kids around Target and Wal-Mart buying Christmas presents with them. It was a beautiful, beautiful opportunity.

Megan Gaither : [00:22:14] Yeah, it's amazing when you give a High School student encouragement and just speak life into them. They really step up. I've had the opportunity just to hear a couple of those cops and those students say, "hey, I'm still in contact with my kid from shop with a cop." Everybody, like you said, wants to believe, they want to belong and they want community. I would just encourage all of the listeners, if you live in Ellis County, if you consider yourself a leader or not, there's a strong desire that High School students have. They long for a leader to look up to. Even if you're not a leader at work, just giving the students a voice and say, "hey, I was where you were at one time and look where I am now." Giving them potential to see just who they can be, even if you didn't play sports, chess or were in choir, we really want to reach the whole school. We want to show that every kid belongs and they have the potential to be the best that they can be.

Bobby Parks: [00:23:21] Yeah, if you want to tell a young student that you believe in them, we've got the curriculum and we've got everything to make it really, really easy. You don't have to know what to say. You just have to show up and tell a student that you believe in them. If you want more info, you can email us at info@jhreach.com. We'll get you all the info and what it means to be a Varsity Leadership Academy Facilitator.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:43] Let's shift back a little bit. What are we doing in the marketplace, business to business?

Bobby Parks: [00:23:49] You guys mentioned you haven't seen other businesses that do all that we do. Sometimes even for us, when we came in, there wasn't a manual that we could go to and say, "okay, how do we do ministry in a marketplace for our employees? How do we engage people in community and beyond and reach the world through through a marketplace?" However, what we have found, is there are some incredible organizations that are doing that. We actually have friends just in West Texas, Beaten Bow Homes. They're doing incredible work for their employees and their local community. They send their employees on Mission Trips, as well. We have our friends Interstate Battery right up the road from us and they've got incredible programs. We have a passion for other business owners and business leaders. It doesn't even just have to be in business. It could be Engineers or Lawyers. They don't know how to use their sphere of influence, what they do every day, not only to make an impact, but how they can live out their faith in the workplace. Sometimes I feel like we have this wall of separation of church and state that was written in a letter by Thomas Jefferson. Somehow we think that means that no one could ever live out their faith and what they do, that's just not true. I remember when I first even started working this job, I met with Chad Miles, our our CFO, and said, "Chad, I think we need to talk to employment lawyer. Can we say this?" What we found out is that you can live out your faith in the workplace. The issue is, will you accept and accommodate for everyone? Our answer to that is always absolutely, yes. We want everyone to feel love, so it would be wrong of us to force our faith on anyone. That's not our heart and that's not what we do, but yet that doesn't limit us. We can share our faith, we can give people hope and we can give people opportunities, if they want to. If they want to go that way, then why would we not share the thing that we think is most important, the thing that we think can really help people truly find their way home and find a place that they belong in, something that they can believe in that won't let them down. For us, we're very passionate about how can we help empower, equip and inspire other people in the marketplace? We could say, "we don't have it all figured out, but here's some things that we do and here's a strategy that we use." John Houston recently wrote a book. He's starting to speak and share more of that story. You guys know, John, he doesn't always like to do that, but we're encouraging him. People need to hear this story. We're living in a day and age where we see hurt and we see confusion. We see so many negative things out there. If we could inspire people that the workplace could be a place that people find hope, encouragement and purpose. That you could use your role in the workplace to make a positive impact through the people that you work with and also your community, we need more of that. We're passionate about we teach, train and inspire others to multiply that work. We can't reach our whole community by ourselves, as one, six or seven companies, or however many we have right now, however, if we can encourage others to link arms with us and do their job as well, we really believe we can be a part of seeing our community transform.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:27:02] You mentioned our brand vision again, Helping People Find Their Way Home. Why do you feel like that's so important for employees in the business and in the marketplace? Can you explain that a little bit more?

Bobby Parks: [00:27:14] We've wrestled in our company for a while of, we have this greater purpose. Our purpose statement is, Reach People for Christ and Give to The Kingdom, and that's why John and Tracey started the company so many years ago. They've never strayed away from that and even our employees know, that's our greater purpose. That's why we do what we do. How do we help people that maybe don't share that faith, maybe they don't understand what that means or even how do we communicate something like that to customers having a vision statement like Helping People Find Their Way Home? We just knew that was something that was going to help widen the funnel, so to speak, meaning that there'd be more people that would jump in with that, could buy into that and could get excited around that. The language I know for you ladies, it's helping your teams to know how do we communicate such a beautiful purpose? How do we do that in a way that it makes sense as a home builder and for people that work here. For us, we're really excited that we have language that no matter where you are in your faith journey or where you are, even in your journey in our company, if you don't know about Life Teams or you've never been on a Mission Trip with us, you can find your place and help people find their way home. This is where it gets personal to us. Our heart and our goal is not just that people know how to sell a home really well or build a home really well. Our heart and purpose is that people truly know that they belong, that they're part of a family, that they're loved, that they're valued, that they have worth, that we believe that every person was created in the image of God and that they have a purpose and a destiny. We want them to find that. We want them to know that. We believe the only way people can truly find their real way home is when they have a personal relationship with Jesus. When they get to see Jesus for who he is, in the ways that he sees them, loves them and what he did to show them that love, we believe that there's not anyone in the world that wouldn't want to meet this Jesus and to know that Jesus. If they really could see the ways that he loved them. If they could really see the lengths that he went to bring them back home. I would just even say, I want to encourage anyone that's listening here. You might have been listening to our organization about ways that we serve and love our employees, ways that we give back to our local community or partner with people in another country that you may never go to and say, "what does this have to do with me?" Maybe you're listening today and maybe you feel far from home. Maybe you don't feel like you belong or that your belief has strayed away. I just want to encourage you. It's never too late to come back home. It's never too late. You're never too far gone. You've never done enough that God doesn't say that he loves you. He wants you to return. I really believe that when we know the Father's heart, our Heavenly Father and I know for many of us, when we talk about our earthly Fathers, that can bring up some pain and even some distance sometimes, not everyone. I know for some people that's a reason why they haven't come to God because there's pain and hurt. When you know your Heavenly Father sees you, loves you and know what he's done to say, "I want you to come back home and I want you running into my arms. I've forgiven you, if you'll just come to me." I don't know that there's any better homecoming, any better reunion or any greater sense of fulfillment of love, of belonging than when we come back home to God. He is our creator, the one who loved us, the one who sees us, the one that we can find purpose in, no matter what your role or title is. If you're listening and you're an educator, you're a stay at home mom or a business owner, there's no greater place then to come back home to be with the Lord and being a community that also celebrates that as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:31:07] I love it! There's no place like home.

Whitney Pryor: [00:31:09] No, there is not.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:31:11] Thank you both so much for sharing today. I think this was really great to talk about. It is different than what we normally talk about on the podcast, but it's very much a part of who we are. We just appreciate your time. Megan and Bobby, thank you so much.

Whitney Pryor: [00:31:25] Yes, thank you so much for coming.

Bobby Parks and Megan Gaither: [00:31:27] Thanks for having us.

Whitney Pryor: [00:31:29] If you listened in today and heard some of the great opportunities that we provide, not only for local ministry, but also for our global outreach and our employees, and you would like to learn more and get involved, we would love to see you do that. You can find out more information at jhreach.org. They have a list of the different outreaches that that they do. You can get involved there. If you're looking for more information about our company, feel free to visit our website at jhoustonhomes.com or you can give us a call at 866.298.1416. You can reach us by email at info@jhoustonhomes.com. Thank you so much for listening in today.

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:32:19] Welcome Home.

S2 Ep14_Why We Like Working at the JH Family of Companies (Kimmy Kelley & Eric Wall)

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 16:33:19 GMT

S2 Ep14_Why We Like Working at the JH Family of Companies (Kimmy Kelley & Eric Wall)

We've all heard the term "It takes a village" and this is certainly true when it comes to building the perfect dream home for our customers. On this episode, we give you a glimpse into our big JH family and the people that make it all happen. You'll hear from two of our very own employees, Treasury Analyst Kimmi Kelley and Purchasing Estimator Eric Wall, as they share about their personal journeys with the company and give you an inside scoop about what it's really like working for the JH Family of Companies.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining us today on the Welcome Home Podcast. I'm Whitney and I've got Chelsi here with me. We've got some exciting things to talk about today. Chelsi, why don't you tell us about what is going on today?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:31] Okay, so today's show is a little different. We're taking a break from talking about the market, homebuilding and products to talk about the John Houston Family of Companies, also known as JH Family of Companies. We've mentioned this before. I know we talked to Bobby last year about it, but we didn't really dive in to who are the Family of Companies? What does that mean? Why do we talk about this? We just want to chat about that. We also have a couple of employees on the show that we're going to introduce in just a little bit to talk about what it's like to work here, the culture, the family and all of that really fun stuff.

Whitney Pryor: [ 00:01:09] Yeah, we are not just John Houston Homes. There are more companies under our Family of Companies branch. We are actually

just one of six companies and in total we employ about 250 people within all of those companies.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:27] That's a lot.

Whitney Pryor : [00:01:29] Yea, it is. There is John Houston Homes, which most people know in the marketplace or out in the community. That's the forward facing brand that they see whenever they're looking for a new home, but there are other companies, such as Trinity Oaks Mortgage, who is our mortgage arm, and many others.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:49] We've got JH Development, they are a development company. They take the raw land and make it ready for houses for John Houston Homes and also other builders. They are not just an exclusive developer for us. We also have GoPro Environmental. They are an environmental ground erosion company.

Whitney Pryor: [00:02:16] Yeah, and then there's Keystone, Keystone Home Design Studio. They are the architects behind all of our floor plans. Those beautiful four plans that you see, your favorite Concord or Athens Model, those were all designed by Keystone Home Design Studio. Keystone has a team of architects and drafters that do that and make all of those custom changes on the homes that you're building. Then, of course, you've heard about Trinity Oaks Mortgage. I just mentioned them. They are a huge part of the home buying process. Their the financing side of it. We also have Precise Title Company. All of our homes, most of them actually, are closed with Precise Title Company, which is another company in our Family of Companies. You might say, why do you have all of these companies? Why can't you just stick to homebuilding? The big advantage here is communication. Any way you look at it, communication is a huge part of the homebuilding process. Whether it's communicating with vendors, employees, other companies that we're working with, anywhere that we can tighten that communication and those processes, it's way better for the home buyer as a whole. They don't see it because it's all backend stuff, but whenever you're building a home, you're having to communicate so much with the mortgage lender, with the developer on building the home on the land, with your different trades like GeoPro, who does all of the erosion control with your architects who are designing the plans. There's so much daily to the hour to the minute communication that has to take place to make that home perfect. It's so much easier whenever we own those companies and can communicate internally, freely, without having to go through several obstacles to to get that communication. That to me, is the biggest and best reason to have all of the different companies. That just makes it a smoother, more efficient process and communication is great, which equals a way better product.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:32] With all of those companies doing their own thing, we still all come together and we feel like we're all under the same umbrella. We are all still co-workers. Just because you work at Precise or you work at Development, doesn't mean that we don't still work together for the same company. We still do a lot together in meetings, company events and in the culture. I feel like the most important part is the actual people in those companies that make all of those things happen.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:02] We've grown so much in the past few years, but it's been amazing to be a part of the growth.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:08] Yeah, because you and I haven't been here since the beginning, but we do have someone who is. That brings us to our guests on the show today. We have Kimmi Kelley, who is a Treasury Analyst, and Eric Wall, who is a Purchasing Estimator. Welcome to the show Kimmi and Eric!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:05:22] Thanks for having me.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:24] Absolutely.

Eric Wall: [00:05:25] Thanks for having me over here.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:26] Welcome! We took you out of your little holes and brought you here to talk about the company and what you love about it. We want to get some insight into what you do and why you love working here. We also want to let people know about our culture and why we love what we do.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:44] I'm excited because you have two very different perspectives. Kimmi has been here for seven years. has had a couple of different roles and has seen a lot of growth. Eric, six months, not brand new, but newer than seven years. I'm just interested to hear the different perspectives that you have on working here from a long term perspective and then a short time perspective.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:09] Kimmi, I did not realize you were here for this long. Tell us how many years have you been with John Houston?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:06:13] It will be seven years in September.

Whitney Pryor : [00:06:16] So you've seen a lot of change?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:06:17] I have. When I first started, there was only like 100 people in a tiny little office, maybe.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:06:22] Yeah, you guys were down the street in the old building.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:26] It was a shopping center building.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:06:27] It was a shopping shop, we were at the end. The Design Studio was right beside us and it was small. All of the STARTS departments working out of models. We had employees, but the office was so small it only held the main office people.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:06:45] That was back in the day when John would say, "all right, y'all, we're going to Dairy Queen!" The whole office would walk to Dairy Queen and get ice cream.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:06:54] We would have random days that he would just walk in the office and say, " Okay, we're going to Dairy Queen!" We would all go to Dairy Queen. He would buy us all ice cream and then we would go back to work. There were also days in the old office that we had Wingstop Fridays.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:07] He would!

Whitney Pryor: [ 00:07:08] I like those Fridays!

Eric Wall: [00:07:08] I think we need to bring those back!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:10] I agree!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:07:10] He tried to do that once a month, but I mean, it's easier when we're smaller, but now we're way bigger.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:18] They still feed us and treat us very well. It just is brought to the office is trying to vs. trying to take everyone out.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:25] On that note, we also have Eric Wall here who has not been here quite as long. How long have you been here, Eric?

Eric Wall: [00:07:32] I've been here six months now, I believe so not very long at all. I don't know about the Wingstop Fridays or the Dairy Queen ice cream trips, but they do feed us well. I do make the comment every now and then to new employees when I do see them coming in. "Hey, just be careful, they feed you almost every day!" There's always something to eat.

Whitney Pryor : [00:07:51] If you're on a diet, this might not be the place.

Eric Wall: [00:07:54] This might not be the job,no.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:07:56] You need very strong willpower.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:58] Yes, very strong. Well, that's awesome. What do you do, Eric Wall?

Eric Wall: [00:08:02] I am the Purchasing Estimator. When we receive any custom changes, when they roll out new house plans or do any kind of custom houses, I am in charge of the lumber takeoff's and all of the building materials. I make sure that the builders have what they need to build the house for the customers.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:21] That sounds very stressful.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:08:23] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:24] Yeah, lots of questions on that.

Eric Wall: [00:08:27] It's not bad.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:29] It sounds exciting! Every day is different and there is always something new.

Eric Wall: [00:08:34] Any time any one of the sales guys want to make a change, then we have to change all the plans. With the different types of houses being built, whether they want a different kind of design style or whatever is strong in the market right now, they always go so that way we're always ahead of the curve.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:49] So one change, people might not realize changes several different trades or different materials. If you think, "let's just move this toilet to the other side", it's not just moving a toilet. You have to break up the foundation or whatever your process you're at, there's a lot of things to think about. That's kind of what you do is, okay let's break it down by trade, figure out what that's going to cost and what that's going to look like.

Eric Wall: [00:09:17] Correct. It's not just on the one plan. I think we have 35 to 40 different floor plans for now, so we then have to do that all the way across the board.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:27] So execute it across every floor plan,wow!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:09:31] Eric, when you came on board, what was it like? Did it feel like a large company to you?

Eric Wall: [00:09:36] It did at first. The first day I walked in for my interview I was like,' okay, this is a lot bigger than I'm used to,' you know? On the second or third day, once I actually got started, it's not really a company atmosphere. It's more like a family atmosphere. Everybody's kind of friends or they talk to you, they don't talk to you like, 'okay, I'm the boss and you've got to do what I say.' It's more of they get your input all the way across the board from the small guys that just started to the guys that have been here five or six years. It's more like a family atmosphere. I think that's just from John and Tracey, just the way that they want it from the top down. Being able to walk over and talk to your CEO in a bigger company that has 215 employees is almost unheard of in any other industry.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:18] Yeah! He regularly, like once a week, we'll stop in to every department to just chat and ask, not about what you're doing work wise, but just how you're doing in life.

Eric Wall: [00:10:29] Yeah, he talks about your family. "Hey, how's your wife? It was good seeing her at the picnic the other day", or something like that. I mean it's great.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:10:35] Kimmi, what has it been like for you to see the company grow?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:10:39] I mean, it has been kind of crazy! We only had probably 100 people a long time ago and then now it's like we have people everywhere. We had to move to different offices to hold everybody because there was not enough room. It's awesome because we're able to do that, but it's just been kind of crazy with how many people we've actually have.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:00] When you started working for the company, you were in the position you're in now right now, right?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:11:06] No.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:06] What did you start as?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:11:08] When I first started with John Houston, I was an Accounts Payable Specialist. I was just entering invoices, all day every day. That was back before we had PO's, so we were entering anywhere from a 1,000 to 1,500 invoices manually every week.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:24] Since then, you've grown in positions, right?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:11:29] Right.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:29] How long were you an Accounts Payable Specialist and when did you move up?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:11:35] I want to say I was an AP Specialist for maybe two to three years, and then I became the AP Manager,for probably about two years. Last year, I changed to an Accounting Clerk, which basically supports all of our accountants. Just last month, I actually changed over to Finance to be a Treasury Analyst.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:01] Wow! What is a Treasury Analyst?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:12:03] I secure all of the financing for all of our construction loans for any of our new houses that we've either sold or we're building as specs. I'm also responsible for lot financing. I work closely with the Title Company to ensure that it all closes correctly, between the banks and them.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:24] Wow! That's a big deal. I don't know how you got that out in one sentence because I feel like there's a lot to that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:32] Yeah.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:12:33] I really like it. It's different from Accounting. It's also something that I've always wanted to do, work in Finance because I came from a bank before I came here. It's just interesting.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:12:44] As the company has grown, do you still feel connected or has that been that growth been fostered, in your opinion?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:12:52] I think so. I feel like we do enough activities as a Family of Companies. We all get to know each other if you're not in the office or if you're outside of the office when we have picnics and stuff like that, so I feel like we're still all in a way connected.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:07] I think I know what your favorite company event is.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:13:10] Yes, the State Fair.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:12] Yes, Kimmi loves the Fair. Her whole family loves the Fair.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:13:16] It's my favorite!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:17] They go every year,

Kimmi Kelley: [00:13:19] Yep, sometimes more than once a year. We will go a couple of times.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:23] Wow!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:13:23] It just helps because my first Fair Day was actually like a week after I started.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:29] Oh, cool!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:13:31] I didn't know anybody.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:32] You are like, "best company ever!"

Kimmi Kelley: [00:13:34] Right, I was like, oh okay, cool. My brother worked here so I just kind of stuck to him like glue at the fair. I was like, I guess I'll have to make friends. It was a good icebreaker coming into working. You have this huge company event where you have to make friends, figure out other people and you get put on teams and stuff like that, so it helped me coming into it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:55] Yeah! Eric, did you meet a lot of people at picnic?

Eric Wall: [00:13:59] I did. My favorite event so far has been Christmas and that's just because right when I started that fed us a lot of food. I'm a big guy, so I like food, it's all good. Also just the gifts. We didn't get to have a Christmas Party this last year because of the COVID, but it was just still amazing that they took all the money they were going to spend at the Christmas Party and rolled it in to give an employee stuff. Through the events that they had, like the Twelve Days leading up to Christmas, decorating the cubicles, which I thought was weird, but still kind of fun, you know. You saw how the different teams came together. You got to meet people from other departments as they were messing up your cubicles and just seeing the overall joy that all the employees had. I think I was the only one who started right after Christmas and everybody was having a good time and having fun. It was like, "hey I made the right choice. I'm with a company that even after five, ten, fifteen years, all these people are having fun still." That's the best part about a job is when you come in, you want to enjoy what you do. I haven't done the Fair Day yet. I do love the Fair and our family loves the Fair. I'm looking forward to that, but so far, the best event has been Christmas.

Whitney Pryor : [00:15:13] Yeah, just so you know, he mentioned messing up cubicles. We have an elf on the shelf, but it's John and Tracey on the shelf. We've put their faces on an elf on the shelf. That elf visits different departments and causes lots of mischief to each department and then that department then gets to carry on the mischief to another department. It's a lot of fun around Christmas time in our office.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:44] Yeah, if you come in and your door was closed but it wasn't closed the day before, be prepared for what's going to be behind it because you've been elfed!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:15:54] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:15:56] Eric, you have a unique job in which you work with multiple departments. We kind of talked about that a little bit, but I think you offer an interesting perspective on how you work with people out in the field and also other departments internally. Tell us a little bit about that.

Eric Wall: [00:16:10] Correct, As the Estimator, I've already mentioned that I work with Keystone and the architects, so that's one of the companies that I work with. I also work with O.T., who is a Field Validator. He works mainly with the builders out in the field to make sure we're using the material, to check if we have too much of this material or too little material. That way, we are bringing the best value to our customers out in the field, once the house is complete. If something needs to be changed to where it doesn't look like it's right for our customers, I get it. I then go back to the Architecture Department and say, 'hey, we need to make changes on these house plans,' so that way it's made across the board. That way, we feel safe delivering a product to our customers and be comfortable about them having. It's the same way with the Warranty Department. If he has a lot of warranty issues with a certain plan, we go back and look at it. We make sure once again, with architecture, that they're doing the right stuff. If we have any being built, I actually go out and talk with the builders if O.T'S not available. We meet out there with and we work out the best solutions. One of the advantages of having the multiple companies under one umbrella is we all do work together. We're all the same Family of Companies. We can make those changes. Our number one goal is to make sure we're taking care of our clients, which are our home buyers. Our job is to make sure that we're delivering a safe, wonderful house for them that they're going to enjoy for the rest of their lives or until they decide to sell it, and hopefully build another house with us.

Whitney Pryor : [00:17:33] Absolutely. I think on that to, not every home builder, especially not smaller ones have estimators. It's such an important job because like you said, we want to deliver a safe and beautiful home that can last for years and years for many families in most cases. Also efficiency wise, you're there making sure that the plans don't have too much material. That's a cost savings that gets passed down to the homeowners, making sure that we're not ordering too much brick. That's a waste that eventually the homeowner has to pay for or someone does, right? Your position is very important. You make sure that the right materials and the right amount of materials are ordered, so that we can get the best cost for our different houses and our different products.

Eric Wall: [ 00:18:22] Definitely, yeah. You've been on job sites where there's just stacks of bricks, like you said, or just piles of two by four's . Yes, somebody's got to pay for that and normally home builders send that down to the customer because this is what the house cost. If we have it in our budget and we have the right materials where we're not overdoing it, our home prices can be lower, being that's not in your upfront cost. If you have something left over, we can't just return it back to ACME brick or wherever we got our brick from because they're not going to take it back. We ordered it, it's ours.

Whitney Pryor: [00:18:56] Yeah, that's awesome. that's a really good position to have. it's not something that people often think about, but it's really important.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:03] Eric, you make a really great point about the benefit of working with a Family of Companies and other departments. Kimmi, have you seen that in your positions with accounting and working for the Family of Companies, not just John Houston Homes?

Kimmi Kelley: [ 00:19:16] Yeah, for sure. In Accounts Payable, you have to work with literally everybody. You have to work with Purchasing to make sure that the P.O.'S are correct. You have to work with the Builder to make sure that the P.O.'S are approved. You have to work with any of the companies if they have invoices or anything like that. You're always constantly working with other departments. You're never just working by yourself.

Whitney Pryor: [00:19:37] What's your favorite department? I promise I won't tell.

Kimmi Kelley : [00:19:40] Well, now it's Finance because I'm in it, but outside of that, it's Marketing.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:45] Yes.

Eric Wall: [00:19:45] Wow! Where's Purchasing?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:46] Eric is over here pointing to himself!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:19:49] Um, third?

Eric Wall: [00:19:50] Why third?!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:50] Top three!

Eric Wall: [00:19:53] If Purchasing is not right, then Marketing can't be right and Accounting gets all messed up.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:19:57] It's Marketing, Accounting and then Purchasing.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:02] Eric, it's not about our jobs, it's based on personality. We all know Marketing has the most fun personality.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:20:10] It's like all my friends are in Marketing and Accounting.

Eric Wall: [00:20:12] That's because you don't hang out in the fun cube enough!

Kimmi Kelley : [00:20:15] I'm too far from that. I'm too far away from the fun cube!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:19] Hey, we'll make our way to the fun cube, it's happening. What are some of your most fun or memorable moments so far? I know you kind of shared the Christmas stuff, but anything else?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:20:30] I do love the picnics because my kids have developed a relationship with a lot of my co-worker's kids. They have a lot of fun doing the family events like the Easter Egg Hunt and stuff like that. I will say one of my favorite memories is a prank we use to play. We use to do April Fool's pranks all the time. In our old office with Mrs. Sue, we had the printer guy out the day before to maintenance our printer. We had convinced her that the printer was now voice activated, so if you needed copies, you had to tell it, "I need two copies." She was standing at the printer and we're all trying not to die laughing and she's like," two copies", and it's not printing them. She's like, "two copies", and she's just getting louder and louder. It's not giving her copies, obviously, and she's like, "what is wrong with this? I need to call the guy!" We were all just like. "Mrs. Sue, it's a prank!"

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:32] Oh, I would have let her call the guy!

Eric Wall: [00:21:35] I've actually heard this story.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:21:36] There's a video somewhere! I'm not sure who has it because it's been so long ago, but was so funny. It's just one of those things that's like always stuck in my brain.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:21:48] That is so funny!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:21:49] Office pranks are always funny!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:51] Mrs. Sue is the sweetest lady!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:21:52] She's standing over there yelling at the copy machine, "two copies." That's one of my most memorable.

Whitney Pryor: [00:22:03] I remember a couple of years ago I did an April Fools prank and Chelsi was in on it with me. I got a Krispy Kreme box, I took the donuts out and I put in a veggie tray. We set up a video camera in the break room to see people's reactions when they open the Krispy Kreme box. There were so many people that walked in with a face, like, "oh, yes, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts!" Then they opened it and they're like, "what?!"

Eric Wall: [00:22:30] That's just cruel.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:32] I think my favorite part of that was people they would walk in and kind of just look at the box like they're thinking about it. Some people would do the left to right look like, "is anybody going to see me get a doughnut?"

Kimmi Kelley: [00:22:49] I would be so sad if I was expecting doughnuts and it was celery.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:53] Especially a Krispy Kreme!

Kimmi Kelley: [00:22:54] Right, they're so good. Nope, sorry, it's celery.

Whitney Pryor: [00:22:58] Yup!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:58] Last year we were voted the Most Innovative Place to Work in Ellis County, which we're really, really proud to get that because it was a JH Family of Companies Recognition. It was the first time that they have added that category to Best of Ellis County. I'm just curious from your perspective, what do you feel makes us innovative as a Family of Companies?

Kimmi Kelley: [00:23:19] I feel like as a Family of Companies, we're always constantly trying to improve everything. Whether it's our computer programs that we use to do everyday business, the process of how we're building a house or the process that the home buyers go through, I feel like we're just always learning and striving to do better, either for our employees or for people buying our houses.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:45] Yeah, I agree. I think it's just always a topic of conversation. It's not like we've always done it this way and we're going to keep doing it this way. It's how could we do this a little bit differently or better? Do we need to talk about it or review it or what else is out there? I couldn't agree with that more.

Kimmi Kelley: [00:24:01] Right.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:02] Internally, we call it Mending the Nets. We're always trying to fix things, make it more efficient and better. I mean, when I started here, I felt like that was a big difference. A lot of times it is software or different tools that can help us, but sometimes it's as simple as having a meeting across different departments and figuring out, "hey, this is how it's not working for me," and just getting together with different departments and communicating, that can help efficiency so much. I do feel that were always just trying to strive for better and strive for a better experience for the homeowner.

Chelsi Frazier: [ 00:24:44] I feel like we've all done that. Eric, you could probably speak into this a lot, too, but like especially this year, everybody's had to be so flexible, so much communication.

Eric Wall: [00:24:56] Oh, definitely. I mean, this year, even with the Townhomes, I was out there with the Executive Team. They're walking and they're just, "okay, how do we make sure that this is a place that if you yourself were buying a house you would want to live in, that this is an area you want to live or you would want these changes made, but that still fit within our budget so we can still deliver that value product to the homeowner." That's one of the big things with this company that I feel, just in my short time being here, is they're always striving to put the homeowner first. Let us help you find your way home is really their motto. That's what they live by or what we live by, is how can we help these people move into these houses, be happy, safe and have a great experience all the way across the board.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:40] That is so true, great example.

Whitney Pryor: [00:25:42] Thank you so much for coming, Eric and Kimmi. It was a pleasure speaking to you and getting your insight into what you feel is the best part of working for the John Houston Family of Companies.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:54] Thank you, guys.

Kimmi Kelley: [ 00:25:54] Thanks for having me.

Eric Wall: [00:25:56] Thanks for having me over to give me a break from looking at numbers all day long.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:25:59] Any time!

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:00] Now it's lunchtime, so we need to wrap it right up, right?!On that note, thank you so much for listening in today to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. We will have notes in the show notes on how you can reach us. You can visit our website jhoustonhomes.com or if you have questions, feel free to give us a call at 866.298.1416. We look forward to having you listen on the next episode of the Welcome Home podcast.

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:26:31] Welcome Home.

S2 Ep13_Purchasing a Home Past the Pandemic (Brittany Shoemaker)

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 16:37:11 GMT

S2 Ep13_Purchasing a Home Past the Pandemic (Brittany Shoemaker)

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Hey listeners, thank you for joining in today! We've got a special guest today. With the real estate market, we wanted to touch base on some things that happened during the mortgage process and how that's affected. Chelsi, thank you for joining us today. Can you let us know who we've got on the show today?

Chelsi Frazier : [00:00:38] Yes, today we're talking with Brittany Shoemaker. She's a loan adviser for Trinity Oaks Mortgage. She's been with Trinity Oaks for several years now and is a wealth of knowledge. We've had her on the show before and she's going to talk to us today about what is going on currently with the mortgage industry rates. What are people doing? Why is it so crazy? We previously talked with Knob and Key on the real estate side. We all work very closely together, homebuilders, mortgage and real estate agents. We're just going to pick her brain on what's going on right now and also some kind of new things coming up. Welcome to the show, Brittany!

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:01:16] Thank yall, I'm excited to be here!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:18] Welcome back.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:01:19] Thank you.

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:20] I know, you're becoming an expert now.

Chelsi Frazier : [00:01:22] Brittany recently got married. Congratulations, you got married this year, very exciting!

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:30] We've had a couple of things ,right? We've had COVID go on that messed up the market. Then in February, we had this crazy, snow apocalypse that happened. How does all of that affect the loan industry?

Brittany Shoemaker : [00:01:45] In February, well, we'll start with COVID. That's when everything kind of just took a turn and everything started getting super, super crazy. With COVID, initially, we saw a spike in rates and then they just plummeted. Interest rates were in the mid 2's. I mean, they were between 2.25%, as low as 2.25% at some points. We didn't see rates above 3% for almost an entire year. Then the Winter storm hit. There were a lot of changes going on already in the market and in the economy. We had the elections, all of that good stuff that were already playing into effect nobody really knew about, but we knew about it. When the Winter storm hit, rates increased in some scenarios, almost a full percentage in 48 hours. We were all kind of scrambling. Some of us didn't even know what to do. We were just doing the best that we could, trying to call people and inform people. Luckily for us, not luckily because some people were still negatively affected by that, especially the people that were closing in that time frame. However, it didn't last long before rates started leveling out again. That's kind of where we are now and that's kind of where we have been, I would say, the past few months.

Whitney Pryo r: [00:03:04] What kind of range are rates in right now?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:03:07] It really just depends. That's always a loaded question because it depends on what type of loan you're going to be doing, how much you're going to be putting down and credit scores. I would say right now, if you have good credit, doesn't even have to be really good. If you have good credit, even if you're doing the minimum down, you're probably going to be looking at an interest rate around 3% to 3.125%,so still really good.

Whitney Pryor : [00:03:30] It's crazy because my grandparents, they bought a house way back when, and I think their interest rate was like 12%.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:03:38] I hear stories about that and I cannot imagine!

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:42] I mean, I know the House didn't cost as much, but 12% interest rate, I couldn't even imagine.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:03:48] No.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:50] No way.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:03:50] When we were doing the refinance, because we did a lot of refinances also during this time, there were still some people with 8%, 9% and 10% interest rates.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:59] Oh my gosh!

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:04:01] After all these years they still did it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:04] Even four or five years ago, rates went down. That was a great time to refinance. We did that in 2016d and then also refinanced again this year. It's not fun, it's not like, "oh I can't wait to refinance again", but when you see the rates do so well, you want to jump in and do that.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:04:22] It's worth it.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:24] For all of the listeners out there and I don't know this either, why would a Winter storm or an election affect interest rates so crazy?

Brittany Shoemaker : [00:04:34] Elections always are going to have an effect on the economy. Historically speaking, election periods, interest rates are going to increase. They have for as long as I've been in the business. Again, luckily for us, they usually level back out. With the Winter storm and rates, obviously, there were tons of shortages when the Winter storm hit and tons of delays. People weren't able to get materials to builders, so that had a huge effect. We saw lumber increases, as everyone knows, probably about that, so all of those things kind of played into the into the market and interest rates.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:13] We know that with COVID, that was a much longer, lasting impact. We weren't sure a year or two years ago, what was going to happen with the market. Now that we're kind of coming out of the end of it, we've seen lumber shortages and things like that, that have affected different building time frames. On the real estate side, we've talked with Michelle and Alan about the impact that has on real estate. There's not a lot of inventory on the market, so it's driving up prices and people are seeing multiple offer situations. We've seen how it affects the real estate side, but can you tell us about the mortgage lending side? What are some best tips or practices that people should use going into selling their home? If they wanted to put their house on the market tomorrow, what advice would you give them in this market?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:06:10] I would definitely agree with you. There's definitely more buyers than there are sellers. I think a really important thing going into purchasing a home is going to be that you want to be prequalified, you want to have that prequalification or even a preapproval letter that you can show a seller. They want to see that. The chances of you getting your offer accepted, having that already, is probably going to be way higher than somebody who's not able to present that to a seller. Another tip that I have, I know it's really, really hard to not worry about interest rates and what rates are doing. In the past few months, they've been kind of crazy and up and down , so it's hard to not worry. I get asked the question a lot. Well, my offer didn't get accepted. What are rates going to do? What I tell people is right now, it's still a really, really good time to buy, so keep putting your offers and keep making your offers. The likelihood of interest rates drastically changing right now is super low. I always tell people, don't worry about that. We'll get you the best rate.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:15] That's great to know. Can you tell us what the difference is between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:07:23] Yes, pre-qualification, that's going to be what we call stated income or stated assets. You're going to go in, fill out an application and you basically tell us what your income and your assets are. That's great for pre-qualification, for when you want to put an offer in. What's even better, in my opinion, if you can say, "hey, I've already gone through underwriting, I've provided my pay stubs, I've provided my bank statements and I've already been approved." In all honesty, once you're approved at that point, you can close a lot quicker vs. someone who hasn't been through that process yet. I know in this market, sellers, when they go on contract, they're looking at everything. If you can get closed in two weeks because you've already gone through underwriting, I think that's a positive from a sellers standpoint.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:08] Definitely an attractive point when looking at who they're going to consider.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:13] Yeah and you guys still offer the extended rate lock program to, right? Can you explain that a little bit and how that offers a little bit of peace of mind with the rates.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:08:21] The extended rate lock program, that's a really good point to bring that up, it's going to be more so for people building. When you're in the market building and in all honesty, if you're not building with the market that we're in and offers not getting accepted, we have an extended rate lock program. You can lock in a rate for six months. It's going to offer you protection if you are worried about interest rates increasing. Once your 30 days prior to closing or you finally do find your home, you get your offer accepted, we can always look at floating your rate down. You do get a free float down with the extended rate lock program.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:56] If you are like, wow, the market's at 3%, that's a great rate. I want to go ahead and lock in, then somehow, miraculously, it goes lower and it's 2.75%, you can float that rate down once for free?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:09:10] That's exactly right. That's just with the extended rate lock program If you don't do an extended rate lock program, those don't come with float downs.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:18] That's a really great tool for someone that's worried about mortgage rates and what they're going to do when they're just trying to find a home or if they're building a home.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:09:27] It's honestly one of my favorite things that we do at Trinity Oaks Mortgage. It's a great program, not everybody offers it. People ask me all the time, "well, what's the catch? It sounds too good to be true." It really does, but it is a great program. We only offer it for their protection.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:45] What does that program cost?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:09:48] The program cost a $1,000, but it's just a deposit and so it's fully refundable. You get the full $1,000 back at closing. It's just credited towards your closing costs.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:57] Wow, so it's essentially free?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:09:59] Yeah.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:00] Wow, that's awesome!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:10:02] We're always hearing so many things in the news and especially with the market. What market projections are you hearing for 2022 or are you hearing those yet? How accurate do you believe those are?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:10:16] That is always a very fun question.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:20] Break out the crystal ball.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:10:22] Exactly!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:10:22] Tell us what's going to happen.

Brittany Shoemaker : [00:10:23] Yeah, projections for the rest of this year and through 2022 are that rates are going to stay where they are. They're going to be pretty evenly spread across the next year and a half. As with any projections and accuracy, I would say nobody is going to be able to answer that question. We go off of the reports that we get in the news that we hear and we have some very good sources. I would say for the most part, I think that they're probably pretty accurate. I think the market's going to continue to be strong. I think interest rates are going to continue to be good through next year and maybe even after that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:04] That's always good to hear. but of course, we never know what's going to happen tomorrow. We talked about how the market has been in the past and how we hope it will be in the future. We know that right now in the real estate market, people are having to put in multiple offers. They are getting rejected left and right. It's so stressful not knowing what home you're going to end up in. Some people just buy it sight unseen. They don't even know what the home looks like. I mean, it's just craziness, but I think the best advice from the homebuilding side, from John Houston Homes, is build a home. If you have the time, build a home from scratch. What that offers you, is not only are you not having to deal with the multiple offers on a completed inventory home, but you also get to build your dream home. You get to go to the design studio and put in that backsplash and that countertops that you've always wanted. It's just a great process, but from the mortgage side, what what would you say? Is it a wait and see what happens or should people jump now and take advantage of the rates?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:12:13] That's a really good point. I get asked quite a bit as well. For my customers, if they call me and they're struggling with just worrying about what the market's going to do, what interest rates are going to do, should they wait or should they buy? I will, 100% of the time, tell them you don't want to wait because we don't know what's going to happen. We do know what's happening right now and we do know our projections right now, so right now is still a really good time to buy. Again, if the interest rates are something that you're worried about, we do have the extended rate lock program, which does offer you peace of mind protection against anything increasing, and then it offers you the float down as long as rates are lower.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:53] Yeah, that sounds like a win win to me. If you've got that time again to build a home, you don't have to deal with multiple offers and you get to build what you want vs. buying something sight unseen. If you're worried about interest rates and that's your concern about the time frame for building, with the extended rate lock, then it's just a win win.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:13:14] I agree.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:15] Okay, one more quick question before we close it out for the day. Tell us about e- closings because that's something new I'm hearing about. We're starting to talk about how we can inform our customers and homebuilders about it, so will you give us the rundown?

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:13:29] Yes, this is actually something that we're very, very excited to be doing and being able to offer this service to our customers. With John Houston Homes, Trinity Oaks Mortgage and Precise Title, we are able to do what we're calling an e-closing, which is basically just an electronic signature going on your closing documents. We actually just had our very first e-note closing. A Lot of people don't know what that means, but when you buy a home, you're going to have a note. In the past, those had to be physically signed. We're working on all loan programs so that it can be electronically signed. Instead of taking an hour for closing at the title company right now, you're looking at 10 to 15 minutes max in the future. We're hoping to get that down to 5 to 10 minutes. so that's a big deal.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:20] I brought my seven year old daughter to my closing and that was the wrong thing to do because that girl was bored out of her mind. She was like flipping out of her chair and crawling all over the table. I'm like, "I'm so sorry." I didn't realize I was going to be an hour, but that is awesome to hear that e-closing cuts that down to like 15 minutes.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:14:38] It is amazing.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:39] Yeah, that's awesome! Thank you so much for joining us today, Brittany. We really appreciate you coming out. You're such a wealth of knowledge on the loan side and it's great to just find out what's going on in the market right now.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:52] I think our listeners are probably excited to have you back. I was just looking at numbers and you still hold the record for the second highest downloaded podcast of.

Brittany Shoemaker: [00:15:02] Look at that. That's exciting!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:05] Yes.

Whitney Pryor: [00:15:06] We like to hear from Brittany.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:08] Yes, yes!

Whitney Pryor : [00:15:10] Thank you listeners for joining us today. We hope that you will look up more information with us or ask us questions about today's podcast. If you want to reach out to us, you can call us at 866.298.1416. If you have questions specifically for Trinity Oaks Mortgage or for Brittany, you can reach them at trinityoaksmortgage.com We will have a link in the show notes to more information on how to reach them. You can also reach out to us at info@jhoustonhomes.com. Thank you again for listening to today's Welcome Home podcast.

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:15:51] Welcome Home.

S2 Ep12_Why the Real Estate Market is INSANE Right Now!

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 13:47:46 GMT

S2 Ep12_Why the Real Estate Market is INSANE Right Now!

The thought of buying a new home in this current market can be scary! If you're looking to buy or build soon we know you have a ton of questions about the housing market and if now really is the right time to pull the trigger... so we've brought in the Real Estate experts to shed some light on the situation. Co-owners of Knob and Key Realty Michelle Ozymy and Alan Simonton join us today to unveil the truth about what buying and selling really looks like in today's housing market. Listen in because their answers might shock you!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Welcome Home podcast. I've got Chelsi here with me, and I'm Whitney. We're excited to get going on this new podcast episode. How are you, Chelsi?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:30] I'm great. How are you?

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:32] Doing great! We've got some of my favorite people here on the show. I probably won't even have to talk because the are just the most awesome couple ever. I love hearing them on the show.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:45] We've already been laughing and we haven't even started recording.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:47] I'm trying to get it together.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:50] Yes, there's so fun.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:52] Chelsi, who do we have today?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:54] Today we have the co-owners of Knob and Key Realty, Michelle Ozymy and Alan Simonton, here as our guest experts. They have a wealth of knowledge and many years of experience. John Houston Homes has partnered with them, pretty much since the beginning. They have a very longstanding relationship with John Houston Homes and the Real Estate Industry. As we all know, it's literally insane right now. We talk to them weekly, sometimes several times a week. We just wanted to have an episode where we could talk about those questions that everybody wants to know. What's happening, where are we headed, what should I do and just kind of get some knowledge from them. Welcome to the show, Michelle and Alan!

Michelle Ozymy: [00:01:38] Thank you so much.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:40] Welcome back!

Michelle Ozymy: [00:01:40] Yes, this is our second time!

Alan Simonton: [00:01:41] Thank you so much for having us back.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:43] Thank you guys! I know that the market is crazy, crazy, so we have a lot of questions. I think let's just start with what's going on in the housing industry right now and why is it so crazy?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:01:55] Wow, that's a great question.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:56] Loaded question.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:01:57] Loaded question, there are a lot of answers to that. Let's start with the country as a whole. Definitely, we are experiencing an unexpected market after the pandemic. I would assume that because of the pandemic, people were stuck in their homes for so long that they were able to discover what they did or didn't like about it and that's causing a lot of movement, which is fantastic. Of course, the builders weren't ready for that, so that's why we're seeing such a shortage in new home inventory. Because of that, it's kind of trickled down into existing home inventory because people are so nervous about selling. They don't really necessarily know where they're going to go. All of those things are making it a fantastic seller's market because now prices are going way, way up.

Alan Simonton: [00:02:41] Yeah, I think the good news is it's a great time to buy a home. It really is.

Whitney Pryor: [00:02:48] Interest rates are still good, right?

Alan Simonton: [00:02:50] It is and this is the best time, but yes, you have to be prepared. I know we're going to kind of get into what day to day looks like right now with the buying and selling homes, but it's still great.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:03:05] Oh, absolutely. In spite of price appreciation, interest rates are fantastic. The interest rates are so low and so much lower than we've historically seen, that it impacts what a person is able to buy. I was talking with my dad yesterday and when we lived in Ohio and moved back to Texas, the interest rate on the home we purchased then was 14%.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:27] Oh wow.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:03:29] Can you imagine?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:30] No!

Michelle Ozymy: [00:03:30] I mean, wow! I think when we bought our first home not that many years ago, we had a great interest rate from Trinity Oaks Mortgage of 6 %.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:39] That was good.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:03:40] That was great! We were very happy with that, but now, people would freak out if you told them it was a 6% interest rate. In fact, rental investment properties, you can get at a 4% rate if not lower and that's just unheard of

Alan Simonton: [00:03:53] From history, that's great, but we also are seeing a lot of first time buyers, young buyers right now, especially in the Dallas area, where we've been serving more and more. They don't know that history. They just see what's in front of them right now with interest rates and can it grew in value?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:04:13] What they're seeing is, with the rental market and what they've been paying for rent for that apartment or townhome, they can live in their own residence and start building equity.

Alan Simonton: [00:04:23] Yeah, we just closed one yesterday.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:04:27] First time home buyer in in East Dallas.

Alan Simonton: [00:04:28] Yeah, it was so cool. She was tired of renting and wanted her own space. It was like a very adult move for her. It was awesome to be able to share in the journey with her and be successful. Michelle kind of led that and it was awesome!

Michelle Ozymy: [00:04:47] It's definitely that price point that's difficult right now. There are lots of offers and bidding wars. You have to go the extra mile to get the property, but we did it, and her and her sweet puppy moved in.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:57] I was going to ask, did she have a puppy that needed a yard?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:05:00] She did. It was a little Shih Tzu.

Alan Simonton: [00:05:03] Exactly, yes, and that dog is everywhere with her. We posted yesterday, on our Knob and Key Facebook and Instagram, a picture of her with the dog and you can tell the story.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:05:18] They were looking at paint samples. The dog was down on the floor with her and they were really digging it. It was cute!

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:24] Oh, adorable! It's so funny how pet owners now are their pets are their lives. Oh, I need a yard for this pet house. I will buy a house!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:34] I will buy a whole house for you, that's how much I love my dog.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:05:36] We will find you a house.

Alan Simonton: [00:05:37] Hey, we're dog people. We're dog people and kid people. We are all of it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:05:43] I bet it's really rewarding to work with those first time homebuyers.

Alan Simonton: [00:05:47] Yes, it's something I really enjoy, mostly because it's not always, but predominantly younger families, that are looking to grow their their financial situation, grow their families or grow their possibilities. We're there to help unlock that. For me, it's kind of awesome to be along the journey with them, to see their kids grow. to see them get baptized and just help them sell that home to buy the next one. That's something I really treasure. Michelle and I have been pretty successful. Repeat business and referral is how we live.

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:29] You mentioned that you helped a first time homebuyer. What is that hot price point right now? I can probably guess that you're going to say anything, but what is it?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:06:40] Well, gosh, it is anything, because inventory is so, so low. In fact, the latest report showed that the supply in Texas or in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, is less than a month. It's .9 and we are usually at 3 to 4 months.

Alan Simonton: [00:06:57] It's not doing any better. February is really low into March.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:07:05] What that means is every price point is fantastic. Really where we see things just get out of control, is that under 350k price point. There's just not that much inventory anywhere from Waco to McKinney, that's in that 350k price point, especially for first time buyers as they're moving out of rentals. That's kind of that more affordable area. The interesting news with that is because those price points are so valuable and inventory is so limited across the country as a whole, we're seeing a huge number of homes that are going over list price. The average home is selling for over list price now, more so than it ever has across the country.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:50] How does that happen? Is that a multiple offer situation?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:07:55] We're seeing so many homes go into multiple offers, which makes it a great opportunity for sellers.

Alan Simonton: [00:08:00] There's high demand and low inventory, but that doesn't mean that you still can't buy a home. We are serving more buyers more often these days. With a good plan and the way Michelle and I operate, just being forward thinking and being prepared and planful, it's still possible.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:23] What are the tips that you would suggest for someone that's looking to buy a home in that price range? What tips can you offer people?

Alan Simonton: [00:08:33] Yeah, I think the first thing we always want to say is what can you live with, paying monthly, then that's going to potentially determine your purchase price. Then you kind of go from there. That's going to then you kind of determine the areas that you want to live in and then some details of the home. The main thing is to get your financing ready because you have to know several things and Michelle can expand on this. How much cash do you have on hand? How much can you put down? How much can you bring over appraisal, those kinds of things.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:09:17] That's the big deal in the market today, is your offer needs to come in fast, needs to come in simple and strong. If you're in one of those difficult, challenging price points, you're just going to know that you're going to pay over the appraisal price. You need to work with an agent who knows how to make your offer stand out.

Alan Simonton: [00:09:33] And yeah, it's a special negotiation. It's a special preparedness that Michelle and I worked to be when it comes to comp, you know, comparable sales in the area for that particular home. Even when we're working with sellers, it's very important that we know what that's going to appraise it. So then we have to consider, you know, cash over, appraise and make sure how to make the offer look the best.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:09:56] Yeah. And make sure that the buyer is prepared to pay additional cash over appraisal because that's going to make the offer stronger.

Alan Simonton: [00:10:02] We make sure that's well defined because we don't like surprises when it comes to money.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:10:06] Absolutely. One of the concerns that a lot of people have when it comes to paying cash over appraisal is, well, am I overpaying for my home? Well, something that we talked about yesterday, Chelsi, Texas is a unique market considering that situation, I don't know that I would be so willing to pay so over appraisal price in other parts of the country, but Texas is a little bit different and here's why. Across the country, we've all seen an increase in the real estate market because of the pandemic and then, of course, because of interest rates. Eventually the pandemic situation, as people get vaccinated, is going to go away, hopefully sooner than later. Interest rates will go up eventually. What's different in Texas is the enormous amount of relocation with huge companies that we're seeing come into our marketplace and that's not going to change. For example, we're seeing that companies like Charles Schwab, Tesla, AT&T, CBRE and McKesson have all moved in in the last year during the pandemic. They've brought huge groups of employees with them.

Alan Simonton: [00:11:11] Yes, it's a big deal that Texas opened up first, with the masking and things like that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:19] We've seen a lot of remote workers moving in and they're like, "why am I paying this ridiculous amount in California to live here when my company is now gone 100% remote?"

Michelle Ozymy: [00:11:29] Yes, with no state income tax, Texas is going to continue to be attractive for years to come. Of course, our political views are a little different from some of the other states that are bringing those industries in here. Because Austin and Dallas already had a bit of a tech field support in the area, it's bringing even more of those tech companies in. Tech workers make enough money to be home buyers, so it's just a great opportunity that we're not going to see change. Where we may see home appreciation start to taper off in other states, we're not going to see that here. I think it will slow down. It won't be the 12% that we saw last year, but I think it'll slow down to 10% or 8%, when typically it's been 3% to 4%t per year. All that to say, yes, if you bid over appraisal price and you put the cash into the house, you're still buying a valuable property that's going to grow in equity and be a great financial investor.

Alan Simonton: [00:12:24] Yeah, we rarely have clients that are not profiting from the sale of their home. That's usually because they're potentially selling it, shortly after purchasing six months to a year to two years.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:12:38] We've sold several homes this year, that because people were relocating or for whatever reason, had only been in them for a year, someone even 6 months, and all of those people profited.

Alan Simonton: [00:12:48] I had two homes, one in Frisco and one in Midlothian. I listed them both on a Thursday, kind of my plan so it can filter out and be marketed through the weekend. Both went into multiple offers and both well over list price. Because it can be a seller's market and you get multiple offers pretty much on any home, were able to negotiate an extended temporary lease in the home because both of these clients were building John Houston Homes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:23] Oh, yeah! They needed to stay there until their house was ready.

Alan Simonton: [00:13:28] With building, it can be a moving target and also closing on the sale of your can be as well. Are we seeing lenders feel like they've caught up?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:13:40] Oh, yeah! I think with lenders ,the bigger issue was the shortage of appraisers, inspectors and things like that, that would slow the lending process down a little bit. All of the appraisers are back to work and all of the inspectors are working. We work with some great lenders at Trinity Oaks Mortgage.

Alan Simonton: [00:13:56] Once again, that's another reason why our state is just seeing this influx. People are back to work. We're seeing every type of home be listed and sold within our agent and our brokerage. It's interesting just to see, on every level, that it's very competitive.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:14:19] Yea, the average days on market right now is 23 days, which is a decent hold on.

Alan Simonton: [00:14:25] Hold on, average days on market, what does that mean?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:14:27] The number of days from the time the sign goes in the front yard until it sells. That's down 44% from last year, so it's fast.

Alan Simonton: [00:14:38] We thought last year was fast.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:14:39] We thought last year was fast.

Alan Simonton: [00:14:40] We had a very successful year navigating thorough 2020.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:47] Before 2020, what was the average days on market?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:14:50] I'd say around 38 days, somewhere like that.

Alan Simonton: [00:14:53] It fluctuated a little bit, but before a few years back, it was almost 60 days.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:15:00] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:01] Oh wow, that is crazy!

Michelle Ozymy: [00:15:04] Texas is the place to live.

Whitney Pryor: [00:15:05] You just need to be prepared whenever you're ready to sell for sure, right?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:15:09] For sure. We can help you with all that from packers' to movers to storage, all the things. Don't hesitate to put your house on the market for that reason because we've got a plan.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:18] I think that's the thing, people just don't realize what they have until they have it with their real estate agent. It is just all the care, thought and consideration, just all the little things that you guys do for your clients. If they didn't have you, they would either be doing it on their own or it wouldn't happen.

Alan Simonton: [00:15:37] Thank you! I think that's something we focus on. Is the care and communication honest and open? We do lead our company very similar to John Houston and Trinity Oaks. We lead by our faith, so for us, it's an honor to serve. We feel like that God send us our clients and it's it's up to us to steward that well. Through our mission, core values, from faith to knowledge and integrity, joy and service, we look to make a great plan. We want to make sure that you're communicated to about that plan. I tend to build the plan in my head and not necessarily communicate it well, so that's why I have help around me. We have our team, so it's all hands on for us all the time with our clients, with our family, with our strategic partners and our community.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:36] Have you guys seen any interesting real estate forecasts for the future? I know you mentioned that Texas is looking great, but is anything there?

Alan Simonton: [00:16:44] Yeah, we recently invested in this crystal ball. They said that it works. No, I'm just kidding!

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:53] At this point, it's just in magic eight ball, right?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:58] Yeah, ask again later.

Alan Simonton: [00:16:59] Yes, yes.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:17:01] The only real thing that I've seen that I can speak to is in the preowned market. Because of the cost of lumber going up the way it has, the last statistic I read, which I looked up yesterday, per house the lumber pricing seems to be going up 35k for the average family home, which is just insane to me. That is causing a true need or not a need necessarily, but a re-sparked interest in the pre owned market. What that's going to do is drive up prices in the preowned market, which once the builders catch up with our specs, is only going to increase the interest in the new construction market. All that to say, I don't think anything is going to slow down. The key though, to getting this market really moving again or moving in a more solid way, is for people to put their homes on the market. We've got to break that fear barrier. People have to recognize, "oh, my gosh, this is such a great opportunity to sell because I can make so much money on my home that it's worth it to take the risk or move into the apartment or do the temporary thing, so that I can get into that awesome new home."

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:15] We talked about you guys being very relational, invested in the community and active. I know you guys are very active with something called Venture. Alan, will you tell us a little bit about that?

Alan Simonton: [00:18:26] For sure and Michelle can share as well. She's s been a part of this journey with them as well. venture.org is a faith based nonprofit. This is actually the group that I went to Mount Everest base camp with. I actually got to go and see the spaces, in Katmandu, that we are now serving through this campaign. What we're doing is we're, what are we calling it, run to give?

Michelle Ozymy:[00:18:55] Yes, it is the Run to Give Campaign.

Alan Simonton:[00:18:57] Yes! If you want to have access to that, you can go to our Communities Page or tab on our website, knobandkeyrealty.com. What we're doing is we have a specific dollar amount of $36,000.00 and our cutoff is the end of September. This is to serve vulnerable girls, boys and kids in the India Nepal Region. There is a severe human trafficking problem in that space. It is not policed really. It's very severe and it's very disturbing. What happens is these girls or boys will be brought to the border. They'll be sent across alone to thinking that maybe they're going to, you know, get a job or whatever, and they're actually being sold into that trade. What we're doing is we're raising money for a Border Patrol station, border station or whatever you want to call it, that has people standing there that are equipped, usually someone that's actually been through this, to intercept these kids. They know what to look for because the pimps send them alone because they don't want to get caught and go to jail. They're there, they see them, bring them over and they've got some pertinent questions. If they sense that they are being sold, they'll take them to a safe space. That's what I got to see, was this school.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:20:34] It's a really neat organization. The thing I love about it, on the state side, is it really incorporates fitness, activity and community within your area so that you can raise money to send over. What we're doing is coming together as a community for different events like running, hiking, biking, and it's going to culminate with the Dallas Marathon, 1/2 marathon or relay or whatever you want to do. We've done several hikes at the Cedar Ridge Preserve, done some runs around White Rock, different things like that. I love the organization, what it stands for and the way they raise money.

Alan Simonton: [00:21:12] The other part of our mission is to create positive communities. This is something that we truly believe in. The Lord sent us this opportunity to serve people that don't have an opportunity like we do, but we can do something. This helps create community like you were saying. When we give a miles challenge and that's what you can do, you can go to the site and you can either make a donation, a dollar amount, which would be fantastic. In fact, we are given some T-shirts and gift cards out for a certain dollar amount raised per person.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:21:50] Check it out.

Alan Simonton: [00:21:50] Yeah, or you can create a campaign where you set a miles limit. You start campaigning to your friends and say, "hey, I'm a part of this community, look at this cool thing." We love those guys at venture.org.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:11] That's amazing.

Whitney Pryor: [00:22:12] Where can the listeners be a part of that and join that?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:22:15] We post them on our Facebook page. We try to do one every month. We'll be posting the next one for May and June here pretty soon. Just follow us on Facebook or Instagram or check it out on our website, knobandkeyrealty.com.

Alan Simonton: [00:22:29] Right and there's usually coffee and donuts.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:22:33] Because you definitely need donuts before you run, for sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:38] What an amazing cause that the community needed all the time, but now more than ever, safe outdoor spaces together.

Alan Simonton: [00:22:48] You want to tell them what we've pledged, as far as Knob and Key to give?

Michelle Ozymy: [00:22:52] Well, our goal is to raise $36,000.00 for the Border Patrol station. So far, we've raised a little over $6,000.00. We're super excited!

Alan Simonton: [00:23:01] What we're doing more specifically is, every portion of a close sale, we are giving. That month, we're taking that in and giving.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:23:14] Yeah, purchase or sell a home with us and we'll donate a portion of that to Venture.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:19] That's so great!

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:20] At the time of this recording, it's actually Cinco de Mayo. Do you have a Cinco de Mayo joke for us or something?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:28] I know you do.

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:30] We need like a Dad joke or something.

Alan Simonton: [00:23:31] Okay, so there was this kid's birthday party, right? They had this Mariachi Band and they had this Spanish magician. He came out and it was so dramatic. There was smoke and fog and he came out and he yelled, "Uno, dos," and he disappeared without a trece.

Whitney Pryor: [00:23:53] That's good!

Michelle Ozymy: [00:23:54] Wow, I was so nervous about where that was going to go.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:58] That was so on the edge! Y'all are always so much fun. I know we went through a lot really fast, but you always have a lot of insight and good information. Thank you again so much for coming.

Michelle Ozymy: [00:24:10] Always a pleasure. We love hanging out with you guys, so thank you for having us.

Alan Simonton: [00:24:13] Thank you so much. We're so grateful. Anytime, we'd love to come back. This has been awesome.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:21] Well, thanks again for joining us. Thank you listeners for listening in to this episode of the Welcome Home podcast. If you'd like more information, feel free to visit our show notes where we will leave more information about Knob and Key Realty. We also have a Facebook page and Instagram account, so visit us there. You can call us at 866.298.1416 Or reach out to us through email at info@jhoustonhomes.com. Thank you and we'll see you on the next episode!

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:24:55] Welcome Home.

How John Houston Homes is Navigating Today's Housing Market

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:52:29 GMT

How John Houston Homes is Navigating Today's Housing Market

The recent shift in the housing market has made it very difficult for buyers to find the home of their dreams. We in the housing industry have never experienced such a high demand and it's left us to find new ways to create a positive home buying experience. John Houston Homes wanted to shed some light on what changes have been made and how we are still working to guide you home!

How We're Selling Homes in this Market

Here are some of the scenarios prospective buyers may encounter while exploring John Houston new home communities. Please visit the community pages for more details on how that particular community is currently selling homes.

Building Our Waitlist

Some communities are releasing a limited number of homesites to build on every month. Contact a new home advisor to find out available homesites at each community. Other communities do not have lots available and will only have inventory homes available. To be notified of upcoming releases, prospective homebuyers must sign up for the community inventory interest list. This is a simple and fair way to release available inventory homes and notify those interested.

Selling Inventory Homes Only

Some communities are pausing the sale of to-be-built homes and selling inventory homes only. We build our inventory homes by drawing upon our most popular floor plans and exterior and interior finishes. We know this change may be disappointing to customers who were desiring to build their own home, and we certainly want them to know we didn’t come to this decision lightly. Markets adopting this selling model are the ones experiencing especially high demand, which amplified our need to maintain a steady pace to meet the extreme need for housing.

In some instances, a community may opt to continue offering both to-be-built and inventory homes, however, inventory homes would only be available for purchase after they have reached a certain stage of construction.

Highest vs. Most Competitive Offer

Modeled after the resale housing market, this process gives all interested buyers the opportunity to bid on their desired home. We believe this will give more qualified buyers an opportunity for their offer to be seen than the "first come first serve" model builders typically adopt. The bidder with the most competitive offer will receive the first opportunity to enter into a new purchase agreement. Keep in mind that the ‘highest offer' does not exclusively mean it is the most competitive offer. Other factors that make an offer more competitive may include: whether the bidder is financing or paying in cash, anticipated down payment, whether the bidder must sell an existing home as a condition to purchase, and current market conditions. Once an inventory home has begun construction, we will be adding the home to our website, gathering an interest list for the home and once the home has reached a certain stage of construction, we will allow interested buyers to preview the home and submit their offer virtually.

Tips for Buying a Home with Us

Regardless of current market conditions, our No. 1 priority is to provide every customer with an unmatched homebuying experience from start to finish. We want the process to be as seamless as it can be given the unexpected circumstances, so we’ve compiled a few best practices to help you find success purchasing your new John Houston Home.

We strongly recommend scheduling an appointment prior to visiting a model home so that a new home advisor can give you an updated status of the community you are interested in prior to scheduling an appointment. We desire to give you the experience and dedicated attention you deserve throughout your home buying process. You can schedule an appointment by calling our New Home Advisors at 866.237.7803 or by filling out an appointment request form .
Explore our Virtual 3D tours of our floor plans and model homes to help you find your ideal floor plan in the comfort of your own home & and on your own schedule.
Connect with one of our New Home Advisors or Community Sales Managers. Our team will happily provide more details regarding any new homebuying procedures and will help you stay apprised of when new homes may become available. Please note: Appointment availability may be limited, and our response times may be longer than usual—we appreciate your patience.
Get Pre-Qualified with our preferred lender, Trinity Oaks Mortgage as soon as possible to expedite the home-buying process. Even if you plan to finance elsewhere, this is still a required preliminary step in our homebuying process.

At John Houston Homes, we are dedicated to guiding you Home and despite the uncertainty of the housing market and supply limitations, we are doing our best to create a seamless process and positive experience. We look forward to the chance of welcoming you home soon.

S2 Ep11_Why Texas Counter Fitters is the Real Deal (Andrew Gilbert)

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 13:56:04 GMT

S2 Ep11_Why Texas Counter Fitters is the Real Deal (Andrew Gilbert)

It’s time for your design studio appointment and here comes the big question… What stone do you choose for your countertops??? Granite, Marble, Quartzite? We know the endless options can be overwhelming, so we’ve brought in a very special guest to break down all the information you’ll need to know before making the big decision. Andrew Gilbert, owner of Texas Counter Fitters, has over 15 years of experience in the stone Industry and comes with a wealth of knowledge about the different types of stone and how to choose the right one. Listen in as Andrew answers all the questions you might have about the stone selections offered in our Design Studio and provides the confidence you'll need to choose the perfect counter tops for your new home.

Texas Counter Fitters
https://texascounterfitters.com/
469-779-9999
info@texascounterfitters.com

Introduction: [00:00:03] Welcome Home, a podcast brought to you by John Houston Homes. Join hosts, Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor, as they walk you through the exciting adventure of your home buying and building journey.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining the Welcome Home podcast. It is a great day today and I will tell you why. This is Whitney and I've got Chelsi here, but I've got to tell you, today, I'm going on vacation. Where am I going, Destin, Florida and I am super excited!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:33] I'm excited for you. A teensy bit jealous, but very excited!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:37] I'll bring you back the best seashell I can find.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:41] Yes, please thank you and a tan!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:43] Well, we'll see about that. I'm pretty pale. Well, Chelsi, I'm super excited about the guest we have on today. We went and visited their showroom yesterday and I just geeked out over all of it. Can you tell us who we have on today?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:01] Yes, Whitney totally geeked out. Y'all should have seen her. We did get a few pictures to blackmail her later, but she had a great time. Today we have Andrew Gilbert from Texas Counter Fitters on the show. I'm so excited as well. Texas Counter Fitters provides all of the countertops for John Houston Homes, as well as our sinks, which is kind of a side note. We'll talk about sinks in a little bit, but mostly we wanted to have Andrew on the show today because countertops are a huge decision in the buying and building process. There are many different types of materials to choose from. Most people we talked to have a lot of questions and probably the most questions about countertops. They want to be educated so they can make the best decision for their new home needs and just the overall design in their kitchens and bathrooms. I'm very excited to welcome to the show, Andrew, how are you?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:01:54] I'm doing great, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:57] Thank you for joining us. I hope you're ready for the ambush of questions we're going to ask you. Hopefully we prepared you a little bit. Before we start on the specific questions, will you just tell us a little bit about yourself? How long have you been at Texas Counter Fitters and what all do you do there?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:02:14] I work for Texas Counter Fitters. I've been working in the stone industry basically since I was 19 years old. I started out at the bottom of the stone industry, working and polishing fabrication, measuring, sales and then eventually started my own company, Texas Counter Fitters. We've been very lucky and blessed to have grown to one of the largest fabricators, as well as, stone suppliers in the state of Texas. We're blessed and we're thankful for where we are. The home industry, home building is really just taking off right now. We'll see where that goes in the future.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:55] That's how humble Andrew is. I literally did not know until this moment that he's the boss.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:01] I just asked him before we started this podcast. I'm like, what do you do there? Do you own it? He's like, "yeah."

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:07] I no idea! Wow, what a cool dude!

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:11] You've been in the industry since you were 19 years old, so you've got a wealth of knowledge because now you're like 22, right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:03:17] I'm 34.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:19] Oh wow, well that's awesome! Your company is amazing. The showroom, I barely have words for it. The amount of stone, the amount of option and selection that people get there is just, it's amazing. For us, we get tons of questions from prospective homeowners on what the process is like through design selection and how many options they really have. I'm here to tell them that they've got tons of options, no pun intended, because that stone is really heavy.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:58] Literally.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:58] Tons of options!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:58] We've seen it with our own eyes!

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:00] Yes, there's tons of different styles of natural stone. I think a lot of people don't understand what those differences are in the stones. I would really like to kind of explain that to people, that granite actually is a composition of a lot of different stones, is that right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:04:18] Yeah, that's correct. In our industry, granite has kind of become like a universal name for a lot of different things. They're throwing a lot of different types of stones into one category, calling it granite, because I don't want to overcomplicate it.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:30] Okay, that makes sense because a lot of people don't know the differences between all of the different types of stones. Our most common stones that we see people get, from our side and from our homes, are Granite, Marble, Quartz and Quartzite. Engineered marble, I think is what our bathrooms have, right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:04:54] Correct, yeah. To start off with engineered marble, engineered marble is basically marble dust mixed with the resin. You may remember and people may remember old, cultured marble countertops.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:06] The seashell sinks?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:05:09] Exactly. Cultured marble and engineered marble are basically the same thing. The one difference for us, is we just get the slabs already made, so we're not actually pouring the material. We get the slabs of the engineered marble and then we cut it to fit your bathroom countertops.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:27] Got it. Engineered marble, since it is manmade, it's not really made for a kitchen countertop, right, as far as melting and heat resistance is not there?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:05:37] Right. It's a thinner product and it's also basically like cultured marble. Anyone that's had cultured marble, they'll understand the positives and negatives of that. It's a nice looking product. It looks very nice and it performs great for bathrooms, secondary bathrooms and things like that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:59] Great. Now, a lot of people do get granite on their countertops. For us, our level one and our level two granites are pretty consistent, as far as color and pattern. Once we get up to the level three's and above, is when we really encourage people and actually invite them to go out to your showroom to pick the exact slab that's going to go in their home. That's a huge benefit for our customers to being able to go out to the showroom because not all builders allow that. You kind of get what you get. It's natural stone and it's going to have some differences, but to actually go out to the yard and pick that exact stone that's going to go in your kitchen, is pretty awesome.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:06:41] It's a big differentiator for John Houston Homes. To be building as many homes as John Houston does and still have that very custom feel and approach. Being able to come out to our place, see all the stones, pick what they like and get to actually have the exact slab that they're going to have in their account and their kitchen. It's very unique. This is not offered by most of the builders because they can't control the process. We've been working with John Houston for a long time and we've created a very nice working relationship with the design center. We've made this work that's very unique. It's actually kind of cool because you're really changing the market. John Houston has changed the market because other people are trying to keep up with that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:33] Mm hmm, yeah, absolutely. We actually went there and saw the names of the addresses and those slabs that were picked out that are waiting to be installed in the homeowner's homes. It's just really neat to see that we had so many homeowners that had come to pick their slab and are waiting for it to be installed in their new home. It's so personal.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:07:53] Yeah, and it saves time, too, right? One of the unique things is right when the design is done sometimes now because of lead times, it takes a while to build the home. We don't say, "hey, we're not going to hold this material for you." We say, "we're going to hold it for you and let's get it figured out." That helps us also be prepared for when the jobs do come out, to be able to control our inventory.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:18] That relationship is so important to have between us and you.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:08:23] Yeah, it's been great. I'm very thankful for the opportunity that John Houston's provided us.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:31] I think that just says a lot about Texas Counter Fitters as well, that you'd be open to doing something differently than everybody else does for one of your builders or for their customers. The fact that even people can walk in off the street to the showroom, look around and buy direct from you, too. You don't just work with builders. I feel like it's very relational. We felt like that when we visited it as well.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:08:55] Yeah, one of the other materials that we were talking about, I think you're going to ask about, is the Dolomite.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:02] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:09:03] Yes, lets talk about it!

Andrew Gilbert: [00:09:03] What is Dolomite? What's really cool about that in particular with Texas Counterfeiter's and John Houston, is John Houston was the first builder to put it in a program, right? Then yall started to put it in these houses and now the whole market is demanding it, right? Now the the entire market is wanting Dolomites in DFW and it really changed the market. One of the things was, is the Brazilians, they started excavating this material. It's not as hard as a granite, but it's harder than a marble. The benefit of it is it looks like a marble, but it's stronger than a marble. It's been a huge success just because of the look of it, the feel of it and the depth of it. It's almost like you can see into the stone. It has this clarity to it. I would say it's been a wild success.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:59] Yeah, I had noticed that we offer the Dolomite. I saw a slab of it yesterday. It looks a lot like marble and I thought it was marble. I asked Oscar, "this one's marble, right?" He said, "no, that one is Dolomite. I was like, "oh, see, I'm never going to get it." It looks just like marble and a lot of people love that look of marble, but to have it be a little bit more hardy is is really nice. That's a huge advantage, so that's really awesome. I had never heard of it, so it's neat to hear that that's kind of a newer stone on the market that people are wanting more now.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:10:36] Yeah, just like we talked about Granite earlier, being like a bucket for a bunch of different colors, Dolomites becoming that. It's becoming a new category for a bunch of different types of stones. It's that middle category.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:50] Can you talk about that, too? What is the scale called that rates the hardness of the stone?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:10:59] Yeah, there's a commonly used scale called the MOHS scale of hardness, which is how they determine the hardiness or the hardness of stone. The strongest of that scale is a 10, which is a Diamond. Lots of women are familiar with Diamonds.

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:19] I really want a diamond countertop now.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:11:21] Yeah, exactly, then the bottom is like a Talcum. Talcum powder, Soapstone Talcum is like what's in baby powder or was. There is a big think going on right now with Johnson & Johnson. Soapstone is a countertop that we saw a lot of, even though it's on the one scale, it's a very soft material, but it doesn't absorb a lot of things. Even though it's soft, it doesn't absorb. It doesn't stain, things like that. It usually comes in a honed finish because it will etch, which is the polish on the surface getting taken away. A lot of people do it honed or weathered Soapstone and they're okay with it. Soapstone is kind of cool because you can scratch it and will scratch it, even throw in your keys on the countertop. It will scratch the soapstone, right? You can take just a little piece of sandpaper, just rub it and the scratches go away.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:20] Oh wow!

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:20] Honed, just for everyone to know, it means kind of like more of a matte finish, right? It's not shiny.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:12:26] Yeah, honed and matte are the same time.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:28] Okay, yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:29] Leathered is the one I like.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:30] We're down South, so honed is a little fancy for us for words.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:34] It has several meanings.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:12:36] Matte is fancy for me. I think mattes like the fanciness of it.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:42] Well maybe I'm just fancy.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:12:43] You are, I think you are fancy.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:46] Leathered pretty much speaks for itself. It's that feeling of leather finish on the tops if you run your hands across it.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:51] It's the texture right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:12:53] Yeah, leathered has a little bit of a leather feel to it, I guess is the best way to explain it. It is like a little ridges and things that you can feel with your hand. It's basically done with a brush versus a smooth piece of sandpaper. It takes off the softer spots and it leaves the harder spots behind. Therefore, you get those little ridges in there.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:13] I think if you ever want to see an example of leathered countertops, I'm pretty sure our model home at Somerset has leathered countertops in the kitchen, that are really, really nice. Where does Granite fall on the scale?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:13:27] Granite is typically, they say, anywhere from 5.5 to 7.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:33] Okay, so the middle of the range.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:13:35] Yeah.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:36] Which is why it's probably very popular.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:13:38] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:39] I would have thought it would be higher because it's so popular.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:42] Well the higher is more expensive though, right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:13:45] A little bit because Quartzite, Natural Quartzite, is a 9.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:50] Wow.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:13:51] It's almost as hard as a Diamond. The reason that it's more expensive is because when you cut this stuff out of the mountain, when you cut the stone out of the mountain, you have to use Diamonds, right? When you're cutting something that's hard, like a 9 vs. a 7, you're using more Diamond. You're using more materials to excavate the product. Up until 10 years ago, if you ran into a Quartzite mountain anywhere around the world, nobody even would excavate it because it was too hard. Now, with the new technology and things, they're able to bring it out.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:34] Wow, that's amazing for the Quartzite to be that hard. Usually our Quartzite is a little bit, as far as the levels go, it's a little bit higher level to get a Quartzite for your countertops. Is it because it's hard or is it harder to get that material?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:14:54] It's because it's hard. It's also because of the look. Quartzite really looks like a Marble, too. It as a very clear clarity. It's not made up of a lot of different things. Tt has this very smooth, soft look to it, but also with some movement. The look is very prized. Also, it just takes more to get it out and it's more of a rarity, right? It's not as common.

Whitney Pryor: [00:15:23] A big question that we get is what is the difference between Quartz and Quartzite? I think a lot of people think it's the same thing, but they're very different, right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:15:33] That's correct. What we were just talking about was Natural Quartzite. That's something that is made naturally and in the ground that you dig out. Quartz, Manmade Quartz, engineered countertops, engineered stone, has a lot of names. It use to be called Engineered Granite, is basically silica sand and resin. They use 95% to 97% silica sand and then they use different resins and colors to make the slabs look any way they want to. Then they can control the process. It is like baking a cake, but they're baking countertops. The hardness of Engineered Stone or Manmade Quartz is about like a Granite.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:22] Okay, so it's more of like the 5-6-7 range?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:16:25] It's like a 7all the time, kind of 7 to 8.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:29] Okay, can Quartz be used in your kitchen? Do people use that in their kitchens or is that more of a bathroom product as well?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:16:38] People use it in the kitchens and the bathrooms. It's a very popular product. A lot of people are using it right now. I would say probably half of the business that we're doing is Quartz. One of the positives about Quartz, let me say this, is you don't have to seal it like you do a Natural Stone. Natural Stones need to be sealed with the sealer, basically a product that fills up the stones so that nothing gets inside of it. Quartz does not need to be sealed, so that's one of the big benefits of quartz.

Whitney Pryor: [00:17:09] The color is consistent, right? You get a consistent look every time. Is that right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:17:13] That's correct. There is a little bit of a difference, just like there is in Sherman Williams paint or something like that. Nothing is ever exactly the same, but it's a very consistent product because it's Manmade.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:17:25] For the ones you have to seal, do you ever have to reseal your countertops after a certain amount of time?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:17:31] A really easy way to test it, is to take a little water on your hand and kind of like drip it onto the countertop. If it beads up, like you just put Rain-X on your windshield, makes a really nice dome and the water stays there, you don't need to add any sealer. If it flattens out, like when you don't have Rain-X on your windshield, the water is really hard to get off and it just seems to stay there forever, then you need to add more sealer.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:00] Oh, okay.

Whitney Pryor: [00:18:02] Okay. What is the best product to clean your Granite countertops with? I think we get thrown with you know, this is special Granite cleaner, buy this $10 bottle of cleaner that's just for Granite countertops. What would you suggest is the best cleaner for your Natural Stone countertops?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:18:19] Yeah, there's lots of people out there making some unique formula, that's very good to clean your countertops, I guess. I would say cleaning it with Dawn dish soap and water. That's the best thing you can do is soap and water.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:34] Well, you mentioned Brazil and then the stone being in the Earth. Do you ever go out to where their quarries are?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:18:45] Yeah, one of the cool things about Texas Counter Fitters, what makes us competitive, let me say that, is that we source all of our own products from across the world. All the products that you see at Texas Counter Fitters, we bring in from the U.S., Canada and everywhere else that we also have. Everything that we have, we source it direct. The typical process of stone companies out there is you have a distributor and then you have a fabricator. What makes us a little different is we're actually the distributor and the fabricator. It gives us a chance to provide a very good service, plus a good and affordable price.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:28] Yeah, Oscar was saying that it minimizes the amount of times the stones are moved. Every time it's moved from place to place, it's kind of maybe compromised or there's just a chance of something happening. Is that accurate?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:19:43] Yeah, that's accurate. Every time you're handling material, it's very, very heavy. Each slab weighs like about 1,500 pounds. It's not something you want to be moving around a lot. You want to move it as little as possible. There is a chance every time you move it, something can happen to it.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:03] Speaking all the different quarries, stones and where they come from, Brazil, I noticed, was one of the countries that a lot of the Quartzites come from, is that right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:20:13] That's correct, yea.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:14] They have some really beautiful stones there in the showroom that I saw. It's so interesting because those stones, it seems like they all just have a whole different history. I think one of them you mentioned, one of the Marbles was actually the same type of Marble or the same Marble that was used for the Lincoln Memorial.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:20:33] Yeah, that's right.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:34] Oh, okay.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:35] I almost said monument, so you got it!

Andrew Gilbert: [00:20:39] It's a quarry in Colorado.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:41] Wow! It's so interesting to hear the history of the stones and where they come from. This showroom, I highly recommend anyone visit. Can you just tell us a little bit more about about the new showroom that you have?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:20:56] We continue to grow, so part of that growth was to get a bigger place for our showroom. We were able to get a nice property that we were able to buy in Richardson, Texas. It's not where exactly we want it to be yet. We have a lot of work to do over there to slowly get it better and better, but people love it already. Within 4 to 5 years, we hope to have it be kind of like a staple place for Dallas, Texas and DFW in general. Somewhere where people go to just see some cool, natural art.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:31] Literally, it really feels like you're in an art exhibit. It's like staring art, I just got lost in the rows and rows. I would come back, look at something else that I really liked and see something different. I think you could stare at a piece for years and see new things.

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:50] How big is the showroom, inside and outside combined?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:21:54] It's four acres,

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:56] Four acres of countertops, it's amazing!

Andrew Gilbert: [00:22:00] Yeah, we're bringing in more and more every day. One of the goals is to have every type of stone that's out there that is being regularly produced in the world, available, at least ones that people want to see.

Whitney Pryor: [00:22:15] Just think if you're designing your dream home, the most you space is your kitchen and living room area. Most of our floor plans have that open concept. To me, the most important money that you can spend on the design elements of your home is your countertop, because it's such a conversation piece. Like you said, every single stone in that in the showroom is like a piece of art and it has a history. It came from a mountain somewhere in the world. It's just very, very interesting. I think if you're going to upgrade something in your home, the countertop is really a great place to start because it's so beautiful. It is, it's a functional piece of art in your home.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:58] It's almost like an expression of you, your family and your style. What do you have in your house?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:23:05] I have in my house a white Quartzite. It's a Natural Quartzite. It's White Macaubas, I think is what we call it here. It's a cool white and gray Quartzite. What's cool about it, like you said, is every time you go there, you see something different. You focus in on little areas of it. You see all the little imperfections and all the little things. We're talking about polishing rock kits of the day, the little ones. It's like that. You never know what you're going to see. You may see a big piece, but once it gets in your house, there always something else that you really didn't notice about it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:45] Another commonly asked question we receive is about this seams, where are the seams placed? People ask that a lot.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:23:52] Yeah, we try to put as minimal seams as possible. Places you may have to have a seam or reasons why you may have to have a seam is if the length of the slab is just not big enough to acquire the size of the countertop in your house. Obviously we don't have a stretcher. We can't stretch the Granite out, do that would be one reason. One of the other commonly placed seams, is if you have a kitchen perimeter where you have an "L", where there's usually a seam there on that "L". That's basically the only two times you'll have seams.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:26] Okay.

Whitney Pryor: [00:24:27] You guys do a really good job. It took me months to figure out where the seam was on my countertop. You guys fill it with epoxy and they match the epoxy to the stone really greatly. It's very hard to tell whenever there is a seam.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:24:42] Yeah, that's part of the skill of our trade, right? To have the qualified people to be able to do that properly,

Chelsi Frazier: [00:24:49] People also ask a lot, how do I choose an edge or which edge should I choose? Do you have any recommendations on that?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:24:55] It's just whatever those good to you. You can see all the selections in the design center and we can basically make the edge look any way it needs to be. One of the most popular right now is flat polish. It's just rolled on the top and the bottom very slightly to prevent it from being sharp. It's just flat. People like that now because it's more of a Modern Contemporary feel. It's really just a preference. One of the things is, don't make the corner sharp, kind of roll the corner so it's softer. My thing is, it's not going to get any softer. You roll it or not, you hit your head on that, it's going to hurt.

Whitney Pryor: [00:25:38] It's not moving. Yea, that's true. I know one of the edges that I saw or that Oscar mentioned was a and I don't know what you guys call it, but like a natural edge. It looks like this stone is just broken off and the edge is jagged.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:25:55] Yeah, we call that chiseled. It's where the stone is like the chiseled side of a mountain. That's kind of what we make it look like. It's really just breaking it and then that's what you get.

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:11] That would really hurt if you had your head!

Andrew Gilbert: [00:26:16] That's a very particular edge for people because a lot of people like it. They've had it. Some people that have had it, they always want it again. Some people are like, "oh, you know, I regret doing that", because your clothes get caught on it, maybe flake or something like that because it's not tightly finished by us.

Whitney Pryor: [00:26:37] Yeah, it's definitely a particular style, I think, for someone. That's all great. You've been a wealth of information and it's been just really amazing to learn so much from you. I think that our listeners and the people that are out there shopping for a new home and getting design ideas, this has been just really good information for them to take in. To know the different MOHS Scale ratings, what the different products are and where they can go to to view more. Now, your showroom is open to the public, is that right?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:27:08] Yes.

Whitney Pryor: [00:27:09] Okay, so people can come by any time and view or do you suggest they make an appointment so that they can get one on one attention with someone?

Andrew Gilbert: [00:27:18] Yeah, we suggest you make an appointment. It's always going to be better if you make an appointment, because we can understand better what you're looking for and make sure that we're prepared to show you around. Like we said earlier, you don't want to be moving these things around, so the more we can be prepared for what you're coming to look for is better.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:27:37] Andrew, thank you again so much for joining us from Texas Counter Fitters. We really appreciate the relationship, the partnership we've built with you over the many, many years that John Houston Homes has worked with you and for the wealth of information you've given us today. Thank you so much.

Andrew Gilbert: [00:27:52] Thank yall. I'm thankful for the relationship, being able to to be here and hopefully many more years of success for John Houston and Texas Counter Fitters definitely.

Whitney Pryor: [00:28:06] Thank you, listeners, for joining us on today's episode of the Welcome Home podcast. If you would like to visit the Texas Counter Fitters showroom, the address is 909 North Bowser in Richardson. You can schedule an appointment at www.texascounterfitters.com or you can call or email them at 469.779.9999 and their email address is info@texascounterfitters.com. If you'd like to reach out to us and give us information or ask us questions about this podcast episode, you can call us at 866.298.1416 or reach out to us at info@jhoustonhomes.com. We hope you have a great day and we look forward to seeing you on the next episode of this podcast.

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:29:01] Welcome Home.

Waco's Best Kept Secrets

Wed, 26 May 2021 06:31:03 GMT

Waco's Best Kept Secrets

SpaceX, L-3 Communications, MarathonNorco Aerospace, Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Baylor University, Caterpillar Logistics.

From rocket development and Snickers candy to top-tier education and heavy equipment, these are a few of the companies that round out the Waco region’s list of corporate residents and esteemed employers.

Throw in HGTV “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Market, the Dr Pepper Museum, and Lake Waco, and it is easy to see why this North Central region is one of the hottest housing and retail markets in Texas.

In addition, families are drawn by several stellar school districts including the Midway Independent School District which was ranked No. 1 in Niche’s “2021 Best School Districts in the Waco Area” list.

Conveniently located in the heart of Texas along the I-35 corridor, between the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin metros, Waco has been making a name for itself on the Lone Star landscape since its founding in 1849. With a population of roughly 140,000, Waco and the surrounding region have been experiencing phenomenal growth over the last several years.

Offering the best of small-town charm, logistical convenience, and livability paired with proximity to big-city amenities in myriad Texas destinations, this scenic area is a thriving backdrop for John Houston Homes.

Read on to explore select new and existing John Houston communities perfect for your luxurious Waco-area dream home!

Now Selling Communities

Lake Forest – Woodway, TX – Peace and tranquility define the established Lake Forest subdivision nestled into the rolling, wooded land along the shores of Lake Waco. Life in Lake Forest is enhanced by the natural beauty, vegetation, and wildlife afforded by the nearby waterfront. The community is situated within the esteemed Midway ISD and offers easy access to popular shopping and dining destinations in the Waco region. Homes in this community are priced from the high $300s to high $500s and range in size from 1,800 to 3,300 square feet. Gas is available in this beautiful, low-maintenance community which had a home showcased in the Heart of Texas Builders Association Parade of Homes 2021. Favored for its scenic beauty and safe environs, Lake Forest has limited remaining lots available.

Callan Village – Waco, TX – Located within the city limits of Waco, Callan Village is a master-planned community that was unveiled in 2020. Zoned to the highly acclaimed Lorena ISD, Callan Village offers quarter-acre home sites and will feature amenities such as a resort-style pool, playground, pavilion, and more. Perfect for growing families, Callan Village homes start in the high $300s. This exclusive community is taking shape in the southern portion of Waco at the intersection of Ritchie Rd. and Panther Way, and will offer easy access to Hewitt Drive, Highway 84, and I-35. Set amidst pastoral surroundings, Callan Village will be an ideal place to relax, unwind, and enjoy time at home!

Sunwest Village Ph. 10 / Sunwest Village Ph. 11– Waco, TX – “Nice and quiet” is how Sunwest Village is often described by residents. Situated on the outskirts of southwestern Waco, Sunwest Village is a well-established subdivision that is now into its 10th and 11th phases of development. Located in the sought-after Midway ISD, and serviced by the top-rated South Bosque Elementary School, Sunwest Village is an upscale community well-suited to families and empty nesters alike. Homeowners enjoy gas and electric service, no HOA, and proximity to the nearby 2.5-mile-long Cotton Belt Trail ideal for hiking, biking, and running. Sunwest Village floor plans encompass 1,700 to more than 3,000 square feet and home prices range from the mid $300s to high $500s. This charming community is conveniently located along the Highway 84 corridor between Old Lorena Rd. and Harris Creek Rd.

Sunflower Ridge – Hewitt, TX – A newer community in the Waco area, Sunflower Ridge has been welcoming residents for four years. Located in the coveted Midway ISD, the community showcases 60 homes, no HOA fees, and offers gas and electric service to homeowners. Sunflower Ridge boasts expansive 85’ x 125’ home sites with floor plans spanning from 2,000 to 3,700 square feet. Home prices range from the upper $300s to $550s. Beautiful architecture and side-entry garages give these homes enduring property value. This community has limited space remaining so don’t miss this final opportunity to be a part of this upscale community!

Upcoming Communities

Renaissance – Waco, TX – Lot reservations will be accepted during Summer 2021 for phase 6 of this quality community. Renaissance lots in the newest phase are 60’ wide by 120’ to 139’ deep and will accommodate homes from 1,800 to 2,500 square feet. Home prices are expected to range from the mid$300s to the mid $400s. Tucked away in a picturesque enclave of Waco, the Renaissance community will offer residents zoning for the coveted Midway ISD as well as proximity to popular shopping, dining, and recreation destinations in the Waco area.

West End at Val Verde – McGregor, TX – For the ultimate in custom homebuilding, look no further than the prestigious, master-planned community of West End at Val Verde. Located west of the McGregor Airport and northeast of the intersection of Highway 84 and Val Verde Rd., this brand-new community is enticing homebuyers with its promise of striking homes, fun playgrounds, walking/biking trails, a swimming pool, amenity center, entry pond, greenbelts, and more! Located on the scenic, rural outskirts of the southern Waco area, West End at Val Verde will feature 2,300- to 4,600-square-foot homes ranging in price from the high $400s to the low $700s. Make no mistake, this exclusive community will offer the finest in luxurious living including half-acre lots, natural gas, and stunning homebuilding options. Additionally, the West End at Val Verde is in the esteemed Midway ISD. We expect to begin selling in this community in July 2021.

In Closing…

If you are considering a move to the Waco region, we invite you to explore the exciting and diverse residential options offered by John Houston Homes in the Waco-Hewitt-McGregor-Woodway area. For more details or to schedule an appointment for one of these communities, contact a New Home Advisor today at 866-251-0910.

S2 Ep10_ The Treasure and the Pleasure of Living in Temple-Belton, Texas (Misty Ryan)

Mon, 17 May 2021 06:34:24 GMT

S2 Ep10_ The Treasure and the Pleasure of Living in Temple-Belton, Texas (Misty Ryan)

Call us bias, but we love our grand state of Texas. There's so many hidden gems to choose from when it comes to nailing down the location of your new home. One of them being Temple, Tx! Today we get the pleasure of hearing from our very own Sales Manager for John Houston Homes, Misty Ryan. She fills us in on two brand new communities that have so much to offer in the Temple-Belton area - Legacy Ranch and Valor Estates. If you're looking to build or buy in Central Texas, these communities should be on the top of your list!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:18] Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Welcome Home podcast. This is Whitney and I've got Chelsi here with me. How are you doing, Chelsi?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:26] Hey, I'm doing good today.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:28] It's a great day, isn't it?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:29] Yes, it is. We're getting into Summer, getting some sunshine and getting out of all this rain. It's looking good!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:37] We get free tacos today at the office. We're getting treated today.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:41] I mean, free food at work is always a plus.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:44] Yes, tacos even better. Well, who do we have on the show today?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:49] Today, we're joined by Misty Ryan. She's a sales manager for John Houston Homes in the Temple, Texas area. Misty's new to the company, but not new to the industry. Temple is also a new area for us. We have two new communities in Temple, Legacy Ranch and Valor Estates. Misty is the sales manager for both of those communities. We brought her in to tell us more about those communities specifically and just the temple area as a whole. Since it's a new market for us, we don't really know a lot about it other than what we've, read online and driving through it. Being from the area, Misty's going to give us the lowdown. Welcome to the show Misty!

Misty Ryan: [00:01:27] Hi, how are you all today?

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:28] Good, I'm excited to get to know you better too. With you being so far away over, over two hours away, we don't get to see each other that often.

Misty Ryan: [00:01:37] I really am excited about being with John Houston. I've worked for builders in the past and this company seems to be like a family, so that's really refreshing.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:46] Tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you've been in real estate.

Misty Ryan: [00:01:49] Well, I've pretty much been in the housing industry most of my adult life. I started years ago. In 1998, I started in property management. I started out as a little leasing agent, which is, putting people in cute apartments and students. I moved up to assistant manager, then marketing then a property manage, which I did for about eight years. I decided that I really love the housing part of it, not so much the management. I said I'm going to start selling homes. I worked for a couple of National Builders from 2006 till about 2012. I then decided to stay in the industry, go from one to the other, and then now stumbled on John Houston. I think I'm here to stay.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:34] Oh, good!

Whitney Pryor: [00:02:36] That's awesome! What do you love about the housing industry, as far as, homebuilding vs. property management?

Misty Ryan: [00:02:42] In property management, it's a temporary housing situation. When you're building someone's home, you're actually building more than just a home. You're building their dream. You get to know their families, their children and where they want to live their lives. It's a little bit more fulfilling than the temporary lease situation that I was in.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:01] Yeah, the typical homeowner, if they're building a home, is going to spend probably six to eight months with you as a client.

Misty Ryan: [00:03:09] You really get to know them. I love that part of it, that's really special to me.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:14] Are you from that area?

Misty Ryan: [00:03:16] I'm actually from Killeen, which is about 15 minutes away. Temple, Killeen and Belton kind of all merges together. I Think back to high school when we all kind of knew each other. We went to different high schools, but we knew each other. We have people in our communities that we went to school with, that now I'm selling homes. Girls I went to high school with and kids I played ball with are now buying homes for me.

Whitney Pryor: [00:03:39] Cool! All right, let's talk about the location of where you're at. Can you kind of tell us where Temple is and a little bit about it?

Misty Ryan: [00:03:46] It's centrally located. Fort Hood, is about 15 minutes South and Waco is about 30 minutes North. It's right in the middle, which is a good balance when you're selling homes, because like I said, we get the military community. We do get some locals and lots of college kids come to our area to go to college. We have four beautiful colleges within 15 minutes of each other. We have Temple College, A&M and we also have Central Texas College there. You'll get kind of a blend of families that will buy from Legacy Ranch from Valor Estates.

Whitney Pryor: [00:04:27] Isn't Temple kind of the halfway point between Dallas and Austin?

Misty Ryan: [00:04:33] Yes, it is. It's probably the most diverse communities that I've worked in because there's not just one genre. I'm getting medical professionals, families, locals and military all in the same.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:04:49] What is the community like? What draws people to to live and work there, other than military?

Misty Ryan: [00:04:54] We do have the Baylor, Scott and White, so that's a huge industry. I would say probably about 50% of the people that live in Temple are medical affiliated. The hospital is huge. Every single year, it seems like there's another branch going up there. Oh, wow. Also, like I said, the colleges and it's also a Texas town. It's a local Texas town. You can drive through there and there are people that have lived there three or four generations, which is nice,

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:25] It has that small town feel.

Misty Ryan: [00:05:27] It does.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:28] It has all of the amenities that you really need, right?

Misty Ryan: [00:05:31] It's grown so much. Back in the day, it was just a little sleepy town you drive through. Now, every time you drive through I-35, they've built it up. On the left, there's shopping. On the right, there's another branch of the hospital and then they have another branch of the college. It's grown a lot. I think that's why John Houston probably decided to come there, because it's going to be a great community to build in.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:52] I remember driving through Temple when I was in college at UT. I would drive from UT in Austin back home up to the Dallas area and I-35 was under construction. It was such a big pain, but all of that is done now in Temple. If you move to Temple, you don't have to worry about construction on I-35.

Misty Ryan: [00:06:12] A friend of mine and I were talking the other day and we said, "okay, bucket list-the Maldives, this, that, the other and I-35 being done before we die because it is such a real thing!

Whitney Pryor: [00:06:27] It's a real thing, especially up here. We're living it every day.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:06:29] I don't think it will happen, at least in my lifetime.

Misty Ryan: [00:06:31] The good thing is, yes, most of Temple is done, so that really eases the traffic and the driving.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:06:37] Well let's talk about those communities. The location of legacy Ranch and Valor Estates, where those situated?

Misty Ryan: [00:06:44] Legacy Ranch and Valor Estates are right off of Highway 93. The good thing is, that they are right across the street from each other. My model home is going to be located in Legacy Ranch. There was another builder in there, so we have some traffic coming through there. Of course, John Houston is going to bring all the rest of the traffic. We wanted to make sure that is where our hub is for our office. That community is a little bit smaller as far as square footage wise, but it will have a community pool. That's going to be you more of a family type neighborhood. Valor Estates is are more upscale with a little bit larger floor plans right across the highway. They will be able to come to my model home in Legacy and get information on both communities. Since we're in an eye shot of each other, it's going to be easy access.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:35] Valor Estates, those are what, like 3/4 acre?

Misty Ryan: [00:07:40] They're going to be 3/4 acre to 1-acre. The square foot footage will start a little bit larger. They started 2,600 sf. and go all the way to 3,300 sf.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:49] Those are all side entry garages?

Misty Ryan: [00:07:50] They will be all side entry garages.

Whitney Pryor: [00:07:52] Very nice!

Misty Ryan: [00:07:53] Our Legacy Ranch product is nice as well. It's going to have a little bit smaller lots. It will offer side entry garages and a little bit smaller square footage for people that don't need something so large. I mean, 2,600 sf. Is huge. so that's going to be maybe for a larger family or retiree. Legacy Ranch will have that little pool and a little area for families to have weekend time.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:17] Oaky, you said it's off of Highway 90?

Misty Ryan: [00:08:20] It's off of Highway 93.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:22] That's easy to get to from I-35?

Misty Ryan: [00:08:23] It's right off of I-35, yes mam.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:08:26] Legacy Ranch is mixed use area, too, right? There was some commercial stuff in there?

Misty Ryan: [00:08:30] There will be some commercial stuff on the outside. A lot of people think that's a bad thing, but it's really not. I'm getting a lot more families coming and saying, "great, that's easy access to that." That boom, boom right around the corner. You're going to have easy access to shopping, some salons going in and things like that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:48] There's a gas station close by, right?

Misty Ryan: [00:08:51] Right down the way.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:51] You don't have to worry about driving far away for the gas.

Misty Ryan: [00:08:53] I know it's nice. I like that. It doesn't bother me to have things close. I want to zip over and zip back.

Whitney Pryor: [00:08:59] Speaking of gas stations, what we really need to know is how far away is BUCCEES?

Misty Ryan: [00:09:05] I'm like, what's in Temple? BUCCESS, that's it!

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:10] That's my pit stop.

Misty Ryan: [00:09:11] It's about six minutes away right off the highway. You literally can go off 93 on to I-35 and it's right down the road. I mean that's just a staple, it's a Texas staple. I have so many out of town clients that are like, "what's up with this BUCCEES.? I swear it's part of my sales pitch, 30 minutes at least.

Whitney Pryor: [00:09:31] Yeah! You might as well just meet them at BUCCEES. I think it would sell the home.

Misty Ryan: [00:09:35] It probably would. That's such a good idea.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:09:38] Do you go like once a week?

Misty Ryan: [00:09:40] I try to go once every couple of weeks. Believe it or not, I love the restrooms. I love their snacks and their peanuts, but they also have good shopping here. I mean, that other end, I go in that other end because every couple of weeks that delivery truck comes in and there's always such cool things to buy. Yes, that's very close also. We need to put that on our marketing sign- Close to BUCCEES and shopping!

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:04] That's right! They're building one here in Waxahachie. My hope is that my daughter, once she reaches age 15 or 16, that she'll work at BUCCEES because they actually pay well.

Misty Ryan: [00:10:17] I was so surprised! They have it right outside saying, "hey, just in case you really love it here, try working here." I know it's a good job.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:25] I digress. We're not here to pitch BUCCEES, but I could talk about it all day. Some other great things, other than BUCCEES, about Temple, you mentioned that they have lots of different colleges close by. You've got Baylor, Scott and White. I think a lot of medical professionals have to live within a certain distance of hospitals, right?

Misty Ryan: [00:10:46] Yes, we are right down the road. I would say everything's within 10 minutes. Belton Lake, which is huge with Summer coming up. Belton is beautiful. It is huge. It's 220,000 something. I don't know, something about the water count or whatever, fishermen will know what I'm talking about. It is a huge lake. It has BLORA which is a water park. It's Belton Lake Outdoor Recreational Area. People come from all over. They have the big light show at Christmas. In the Summertime they have the water slides, boating, canoeing, all the things that you need to have a fun Summer. That's literally within 10 minutes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:11:32] How fun!

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:33] The neat thing about Temple is it's officially in the Hill Country, right? You've got those giant oaks and rolling Hill Country. It doesn't get better as far as scenery, greenery and landscape in Texas Hill Country.

Misty Ryan: [00:11:48] You can drive through Temple and you can still see farmland. Being from Texas, that's a big thing. I love a developed community. We all love a booming economy, but I also like to take a drive if I have to, and see nothing. You can still do that there. That's what makes it appealing.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:08] Tell us about the schools in Belton. How many High Schools are there?

Misty Ryan: [00:12:11] Okay, we are in Temple, but we are BISD. We are Belton Independent School District in these two neighborhoods, which, not saying anything about the Temple School District at all, but the Belton school district seems to excel in certain areas that are important to families. Us being in the Belton school district, that's a really big deal. We have a lot of people within the first five minutes of their call to me ask, "are you involved in school district?" Yes, we are. It's two High Schools, two Middle Schools, and it's zoned for BISD. I don't see it changing. Belton has a great football program and great baseball. Their cheer team goes national every single year. It's a good perk to have for sure.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:51] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:51] Yeah, I think that's important to point out. It's the city of Temple, but Belton ISD. I think sometimes we have to explain that a little bit about our communities when they are on those lines.

Misty Ryan: [00:13:00] Yeah, it's a good thing for sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:02] Is there anything you want our listeners to know specifically about Temple or Legacy Ranch or Valor Estates that we haven't asked you yet?

Misty Ryan: [00:13:08] Yes, I keep going back to the military. I'm from Killeen. The military is moving out that way, as far as ,wanting to live outside of Killeen. Killeen is pretty packed now. The availability of homes is getting slim.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:27] Fort Hood is one of the largest.

Misty Ryan: [00:13:29] The largest.

Whitney Pryor: [00:13:30] It is the largest, okay, I didn't want to say it.

Misty Ryan: [00:13:31] Yes, the largest military installation. We have lots of military retirees and clients that want to live here. It's only 18 minutes right down the highway and it's not a tough drive, especially going that way South is not bad. North is a little bit more busy, but going South is not. We have Valor Estates. I driving through, looking at my community and looking at the lots. I realized that the street names in Valor Estates are all war heroes, which I thought was so cool. I love that. I'm going to be able to bring that up to you military clients and of course other clients alike. I think that's going to be well respected.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:12] That's neat.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:14] Yeah, it's a very, very cool, fun fact about Valor.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:16] Trinity Oaks Mortgage, I know works really great with veterans in the VA program. They can do the VA loans and are very well versed on it.

Misty Ryan: [00:14:25] Yes ma'am, I've noticed. I'm very happy about that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:27] Yes, now with Fort Hood being the largest military base that we have, I know my sister was in the Air Force and was there for a little bit. She was also at Dyess and then also in San Antonio, san you give us a little background on what it's like in Killeen? Do you have ties into the military there and what is that like?

Misty Ryan: [00:14:50] I'm a local girl. I was born and raised there in Killeen, which is really rare. If you dig deep enough, even as local kids, have some affiliation. None of us were just born in Killeen. You know our grandfathers, so I go back, back, back. My grandfather was in the military. He's from the Hills of Tennessee and married a little German lady, my grandmother, from Berlin. They retired in Killeen. Then they had my parents and my parents had me, so yes, I do have military ties. I also have a daughter that's in the Air Force and she's stationed in Phoenix. Living in a military town is tough. I've made friends and see them go. It's really important with the military clientele to make their home feel like a home. To be honest, sometimes it's for three years, sometimes it's for 10 and sometimes it's forever. That home transition is really important to them, so that they can have some stability. You want that process to be smooth for them. It's a tough life. It's not easy for sure.

Whitney Pryor: [00:15:58] It seems like with your background, that you know how that goes. You'll be able to serve those military clients really well and understand, from your background, what they're going through.

Misty Ryan: [00:16:08] Yes, it was really, really tough for us as a kid. Especially when their families, take that extra care and just make sure that things go smoothly. It's tough. Being in the military and getting off for those design appointments, etc., is a little bit tough sometimes.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:23] Yeah, that's awesome that you're there to make it as easy and smooth as possible for them.

Misty Ryan: [00:16:28] Yes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:28] Misty, thank you so, so much for joining us today. I think it's been really great getting to know you more and your background. Hopefully our listeners will feel connected and ready to come see you in Legacy Ranch and Valor Estates.

Misty Ryan: [00:16:41] Thank you all so much. I'm so excited.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:43] Yes, it was so great to hear your story and hear what you're doing down in Temple today.

Misty Ryan: [00:16:47] Okay, thanks so much, guys.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:49] Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Welcome Home podcast. If you have any questions or would like to comment about this episode, feel free to reach out to us. We are on Facebook and Instagram and we also can be reached at 866.237.7803 or by email at info@jhoustonhomes.com. Feel free to visit our website at jhoustonhomes.com. Thank you Misty and thank you listeners for tuning in today. We look forward to having you listen in on the next episode of our podcast.

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:17:25] Welcome Home.

FLOOR PLAN: The Concord

Thu, 13 May 2021 06:42:10 GMT

FLOOR PLAN: The Concord

The Concord Floor Plan at John Houston Homes

Designed with togetherness in mind, the Concord plan is a spacious 1 story plan with 2,384 square feet of living space. This open-concept plan provides ample space for small families or empty-nesters looking to downsize with plenty of room to host family for the holidays!

Inviting Entryway

Visitors eyes are quickly drawn up as they walk in beneath a unique ceiling feature. Off the foyer is a hallway with three bedrooms and a full bath, perfect for children or guests. Prefer a study instead of the 4th bedroom? This floor plan can easily accommodate that complete with french doors. The extended foyer invites guests to come in and stay a while.