Shopping List: Mattamy Eastland

It was a battle between Mattamy's Eastland and Fernwater widelot townhomes. I flip flopped between these two models a lot. This blog entry will talk my likes and dislikes about the Eastland model.

The Eastland fit in nicely to the criteria I was looking for in a house:

• not too big and not too small at 1411 sq ft;
• master bedroom had its own ensuite;
• walk-in closet in master bedroom;
  
• garage;
• unfinished basement; and
• price (starting at $225k)

This was a great start. I figure even after upgrades, I should be well under the $250k max budget I had given myself. I really like the layout of the second floor. All three bedrooms are quite spacious. In fact, the master bedroom is actually bigger in the Eastland than the Fernwater. I liked how bedroom 3 (the one that would have been for my daughter) had a little window seat.

The main floor is quite open. Overall, the layout wasn't bad at all. The "eat-in" kitchen is a bit on the small side at 8'10" x 12'6". I was trying to figure out where to put a kitchen table. The patio door is located in the kitchen so that sort of limits table placement. In the end, I figured I'd either get a really small breakfast table or just skip the table all together and eat in the dining room at all times. No biggie. Alternatively, Mattamy offers a "Chef's Kitchen" which adds a breakfast bar.

Some other things that I didn't like about the Eastland:

• location of stairs from first floor to second floor. Basically, the stairway is right at the front door entrance. I was thinking how annoying that would be in the winter months if the front entrance is all wet from snow being tracked into the house and having to walk through that just to get upstairs or come downstairs.
  
• no closet at the front foyer. The only closet on the main floor is by the side door. Not very convenient in my opinion. But I would have gotten around it by either installing a wall coat rack or just buying a mini closet from Ikea or something
• garage is on the narrow side. At 9'6" wide, it's about half a foot narrower that most other garages.
  

Despite all of my dislikes, the Eastland was always in the top three on my list (the Claridge Queensby being the third). None of my dislikes was a dealbreaker for me and I could have lived with them. No house is perfect, right? The biggest thing going for the Eastland was its price. At $9k cheaper starting price than the Fernwater, it made it very attractive. In the end, I decided to pony up for the Fernwater. But that story is for another time...

Shopping List: Minto

As mentioned earlier, I had no idea type of house to look for. I originally went to look at the Executive Terrace homes offered by Minto. I have two friends who are buying their Terrace homes. I visited their model homes in Chapman Mills and must say that they were quite nice. I could picture myself living there with my daughter. And the pricing is definitely catered to first time home buyers who don`t need a lot of space. Not that space is even that tiny at approx 1300 sq ft. I liked how each bedroom had their own bathroom. The main floor is also nice and open. I prefer the upper unit but of course it costs a little more. In the end, I decided that I wanted a place with a garage (I like working on cars), a bit of a yard for my daughter and a little extra space to store all my junk.

Now, onto the townhomes. Minto offers two types: Executive Townhomes and Newstyle Townhomes. The Executive Townhomes are slightly bigger sq ft wise but it includes a finished basement. The ensuite also has a nice Roman style tub as well as a separate shower. I visited the models in Chapman Mills which were the Newstyle Townhomes. Keeping to wanting something not too big to keep upkeep costs down (e.g. utilities and property taxes), I focused on the Ellington, Gershwin and Helmsley models.

I actually liked pretty much all of the Minto homes. Some very good friends of mine owned and lived in the Manhattan Executive Townhome up until last year and now have gotten themselves a beautiful Minto single home. I focused on the Gershwin and Helmsley models as their starting price was just within my budget ($250k with upgrades) at mid-230's. The Ellington was sold out at the time but they released another block in early July. However, I found out at the sales centre that the available lots for all models were actually low to mid 240's. I inquired via email so I can only presume that the difference was due to a lot premium.

So, in the end, I had to cross the Minto homes off my list. Minto does not give you any sort of bonus or free upgrades so I would have been way over my budget. Claridge was giving a lot of upgrades included in the price and Mattamy also gives you a $5k credit towards upgrades. Both Claridge and Mattamy also include the base three kitchen appliances. Minto does not give anything. However, if you look at price/sq ft, Minto actually works out to be slightly cheaper. But I didn't want to spend that much on a house total wise. Too bad Minto didn't offer a slightly smaller model at 1400-1500 sq ft. That could have fit the bill.

Shopping List: Claridge Queensby and Bradwell

Claridge was the first builder sales centre I went to in Barrhaven. It wasn’t for any particular reason but rather it just so happened to be the first one I came across as I was driving around. I grabbed a price list and the floorplans and then visited the model homes. Price wise, the Queensby and Bradwell were within my budget. Included in the pricing of the townhomes: finished basement, fireplace, hardwood on main floor, ceramic tiles in front foyer and powder room, two potlights and three kitchen appliances. Claridge also offers 40oz carpeting as their standard. Overall, you probably wouldn’t have to spend as much on upgrades if buying one of their townhomes. The Queensby ended up on my final shopping list but I’ll start my comments with the Bradwell.

Bradwell

The Bradwell at 1745 sq ft is quite nice. I like the layout of the main floor with the winding staircase. Looks very rich. Main floor is open concept and is quite welcoming. I’m not so sure I liked how you have to cut across the living room to get to the staircase to the basement. I have a lot of junk which I imagine will be stored downstairs so it seems a little inconvenient having to navigate through the whole house to get downstairs. The biggest knock against the Bradwell is the second floor. There is only one bathroom so everyone shares it. The master bedroom, while a nice size with a sloped ceiling, did not have a walk-in closet. Just a his and hers closet with sliding doors. The finished basement was nice although I didn’t necessarily want a finished basement. In the end, the lack of a master ensuite and walk-in closet did this model in and I struck it off my list

Queensby

The Queensby at 1620 sq ft is smaller than the Bradwell overall. But this model offers two bathrooms on the second floor AND a walk-in closet. Along with the “freebies” noted above, this seemed like a pretty good buy for the price. So what didn’t I like about it? The main floor seemed a bit tight. There is a wall that separates the kitchen and the living room so there isn’t much of an open concept feeling. The fireplace protrudes from the wall cutting into space even more. The kitchen has a pantry which seems out of place. It’s in the middle of the wall and it’s not very big. The dishwasher opening is right by the sink so you can’t really stand in front of the sink with the dishwasher door open. For me, I usually do a quick rinse of dishes and then transfer them into the dishwasher. Who am I kidding, I usually just pile dishes in the sink and then load them all at once. :)

The second floor layout was fine. Nothing to really fault about it except the vanities in each of the bathrooms were on the small side. I didn’t like the basement layout. The way the walls were laid out and the doors to the furnace room and storage areas didn’t lend itself very well to using it as a home theatre room.

A friend of mine commented that the layout of the main floor didn’t suit me. I like to entertain and it just felt too tight. Something irked her about the layout of the main floor too but she couldn’t put a finger on it. We’ll call it a “je ne sais quoi”.

The last thing that I wasn’t keen on was the location of the next block of townhomes. They were still fairly close to Standherd and given the expansion of Strandherd and Barrhaven in general, I suspect that traffic noise will be a bit high.

So that’s my overview of Claridge. I was really close to buying the Queensby but you’ll find out later why I chose the Mattamy Fernwater.

What to buy?

When I started off looking at model homes and visiting builders’ sites, I had no idea what I wanted to get. Nor did I realize how many different types of homes: terrace homes, urban townhomes, starter homes, village homes, widelot townhomes, etc. I wasn’t even sure of what size I wanted. One day, I felt like a 1100-1200 sq ft house would fit the bill and then on the next day, I wanted a 1800 sq ft house. Regardless, I knew I couldn’t afford a single home.

Then there was location. Well, at least this one was a bit easier. I definitely wanted to stay in the west end. So, either stay in central Nepean near my parents (Citipark, Central Park), Barrhaven where many of my friends are/will be moving or Kanata.

Over the next little while, I’ll be posting the houses I was looking at and what I did and didn’t like about them. Of course, that will include the Fernwater that I did end up buying. The builders that I picked up information for were: Claridge, Richcraft, Mattamy, Minto and Ashcroft

My first blog and some useful links

Alright, I've been reading various posts on buildinghomes.ca which has been a good resource for homebuyers. I've noticed that many people are blogging their house buying experience so I figured that I do the same thing. :)

I'll start off by sharing some of the resources I used and also provide some links for potential homebuyers.

http://www.ottawasnewesthomes.com/ -> I found this to be a fantastic resource. They often post news articles about the latest in the financial world about stuff that may impact the housing market. They also have a pretty good mortgage calculator which factors in CMHC fees. There are several articles including an overview of the Ottawa housing market, house reviews and other interesting articles.

https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/cgi-bin/mortgage/mpc/start.cgi -> I found RBC's mortgage calculator pretty good. You can do a quick compare of different scenarios by changing one or more factors.

www.mortgagesmadeeasy.com -> their site contains some good information about mortgages in general. They also have an FAQ which you can search whcih answers some questions that people have posed.