Getting your player ready...
You can come tour the best looking family-sized production home you’ve seen all year…the best one I have, anyway…at Meritage Homes’ grand opening today at Vista Ridge, the master-planned golf community nine miles east of Boulder – two miles west of I-25 on Highway 7. In a year when everybody wants the “open” look, you can stand in the entry foyer (it has one!) and view five separate function areas – family room, large office/study, formal dining room, great kitchen, and a terrific breakfast nook, wrapped in windows to bring in the light.
Hiding behind the good looks of Meritage’s 4-bedroom ‘Ellingwood’ model is energy performance that’s heads-and-shoulders above what “code” houses deliver — better than your average Energy Star home, too, according to Josh Dowling, who’ll have the drinks and snacks out today. The way to measure that, he says, is with the HERS rating – like miles-per-gallon, except a lower score is better. Figure that a ten-year-old home rates in the 130s – average new homes at 100, average new Energy Star homes around 85…and one of these Meritage designs at Vista Ridge, way down in the 60s.
Last week (in between taking five pre-sale contracts on these!) Dowling was down in Arizona, Meritage’s headquarters market, where energy features are giving the builder a huge advantage over competitors. Meritage shows its buyers there a ‘deconstructed’ model, where you see the hidden features, including spray-foam insulation, and AquaPex (high density poly) water pipe, with better heat retention.
The five buyers who discovered this early are all from Vista Ridge – liking their neighbors, schools and amenities. And all, says Dowling, needed more space (one three-kid family had number four arrive the week they signed the contract). There’s plenty of elbow room in this Ellingwood – 3,300 square feet, plus flex space options, a basement that Meritage can finish for you now, and a 3-car garage (standard on everything Meritage has here). The upstairs is as impressive as the main level – big loft/homework area, and a master suite that goes on and on (it has a secret exit, via the walk-in closet, into the upstairs laundry!).
Dowling has two other reasons to see these now, rather than waiting: walk-out lots, and golf-course views across Vista Ridge’s first fairwy (there are only five of those, and two are already gone!). Meritage Homes’ grand opening is north of Highway 7 on Mountain View, the Vista Ridge entry closest to I-25; take I-25 north past E-470 to Highway 7, then west two miles to Mountain View.
If you go…
WHERE: Grand opening, Meritage Homes at Vista Ridge, family sized homes in master-planned community; golf & walk-out sites; ranch plan; super-energy efficient; snacks & drinks today. Hwy 7 at Mountain View (Vista Ridge entry closest to I-25), Erie; take I-25 north past E-470 to Hwy 7, west 2 mi. to Mountain View, north; from Boulder, Baseline east 9 mi. to Vista Ridge.
PRICE: From $324,990
WHEN: Today and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
PHONE: 303-406-4300
WEB: MeritageHomes.com
Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm. You can e-mail him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com.
