Getting your player ready...
For homebuyers in Fort Collins, this summer housing market is a good-news bad-news story: The good news is that absolutely everything is coming to Fort Collins right now – job growth, some great schools, and national recognition for quality of life (America’s ‘Most Satisfied City’ according to TIME last year). The BAD news is that in Fort Collins Southeast corridor, older homes are drawing multiple offers and selling within days – and if you want to get a new home, you need to get out there and start looking, because there’s plenty of competition.
Meritage Homes’ Dana Edgerton sees all of those forces at work at Mail Creek, south of Harmony on Timberline Road to Zephyr – where you can tour two new Trail Collection’ models today, and see an electric car show, with free ice cream for you and the kids. Edgerton has seen no decrease in demand for Meritage’s super-energy efficient homes as the market moves into the summer months: a near-close out of Meritage’s Kechter Crossing neighborhood just north of here, and already 15 sales in this new community, leading into the grand opening. Most of those sales, Edgerton says, go to families coming out of older neighborhoods, seeing their old place sell rapidly into the mid-$300,000s, then finding nothing in the resales to move up to that doesn’t require a major remodel. “People have plenty of equity,” she adds, “but after you’ve figured in what it costs to remodel, you’ve spent as much as to build new, and you still have an older house.” That’s a contrast to what Meritage will show you today at Mail Creek: Two series, including Meritage’s Summit series of larger homes that were fast sellers in Kechter. Both series have 3-car garages, full-wide on some; and state-of-the-art energy features that earn HERS ratings of 60 and below – in a whole different league than older homes. You can tour an Energy Information Center showing how much better Meritage performs – and if you like the looks of those electric cars on view, Meritage gives you an option for a charger/plug-in, along with an upgraded 7-panel solar energy system, providing you contract now. You can see where six homes sites are opening next weekend, many of them backing to a greenbelt, close to where a park is planned and walking distance from a new elementary school. Meritage has 11 home plans to choose from – and if you need something now, Edgerton can tell you about a popular Windom ranch plan at Kechter Crossing – 2,336 square feet. It’s at $478,000 – ready for move-in now. Meanwhile, Edgerton is seeing an increasing percentage of her traffic now arriving from out of state – California and back east, people who despite rising prices see the Fort Collins lifestyle as a value now, and who have already Googled Fossil Ridge High and all of the other advantages to living here. Mail Creek is a mile-and-a-half south of Harmony on S. Timberline to Zephyr, and then east; to reach from I-25, take Harmony west 2.5 miles to Timberline and turn south. WHERE: Meritage Homes at Fort Collins’ Mail Creek, ‘soft opening’ for new Summit Collection homes, electric car show today, two series available with 11 designs, energy learning center, buy this weekend and get a 7-panel solar system. 2409 Spruce Creek Dr., Fort Collins; from I-25 take Harmony Rd exit, head west 2.5 mi. to S. Timberline, turn south 1.5 mi. to Zephyr Rd., east to Tilden PRICE: From low $400sSunday 11-6 PHONE: 970-286-6011 WEB: Mark Samuelson writes on real estate and business; you can email him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com. You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns online at DenverPostHomes.com
