The $200,000 house became the subject of conversation at a December builder roundtable when one recalled selling houses for $100,000.
“It’s almost impossible to build anything in a single-family house for $200,000,” said Dan Star, president of the Illinois division of Centex Homes. “Single-family houses are costing $250,000 and up, and townhouses are starting around $200,000.”
High land prices and a growing array of municipal fees (which are passed along to buyers) are two of the main culprits in those escalating prices, say builders. The inevitable result is that developers are looking farther afield for affordable land and amenable city officials.
So when I saw a new home advertised by Chicago-based Pasquinelli Homes for about $180,000 in far northwest suburban Harvard, I was curious.
Truth be told, I did not see the $179,990 house, which is the split-level Aspenette: 1,311 square feet of finished living space with three bedrooms, one bath and a two-car garage. It is one of the six floor plans available at the Meadows of Countrybrook, a Pasquinelli subdivision planned for 108 houses, but it is not one of the four models.
The builder does show the similar, larger Aspen, a 1,895-square-foot split-level with three bedrooms, two baths and a large finished family room in the lower level, base-priced from $192,990.
The Aspen and the two-story Maine model, with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths in 2,120 square feet from $201,990, are the most popular at this development, according to the sales staff.
The two plans account for more than 40 of the 60 homes sold.
Also shown as models are the White Pine plan with 2,140 square feet, four bedrooms, and 2 1/2 baths, from $203,990, and the Sequoia II, a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath two-story home base-priced from $214,990.
Describing Harvard as “suburban” would have been unthinkable until recently, because the town of 8,000 people is about 70 miles northwest of the Loop and is within a few miles of the Wisconsin border.
The town is the home of the June Milk Days festival, and its mascot is Harmilda the cow, a large fiberglass black-and-white Holstein, a lingering reminder of Harvard’s fast-disappearing rural roots. It also is home to a sprawling, empty Motorola complex where up to 5,000 people worked before it was closed in 2003, six years after it opened.
Harvard is the last stop on the Metra service from Chicago but is 13 miles west of Woodstock, a housing hot spot, and easy driving distance to Lake Delavan and Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.
I was not surprised that young families looking for space at an affordable price might migrate here, but Ross Barnard, Pasquinelli’s director of sales and marketing, said about 50 percent of the buyers are double-income couples with no children.
Beth Steele, a sales consultant at the subdivision, underscored that point, saying that buyers are split between the younger set and more mature buyers returning to the area after living elsewhere or fleeing more congested–and higher priced–areas like Lake in the Hills, Carpentersville and Algonquin.
The Aspen is a traditional trilevel plan that dates, at least, to the 1960s. Steele said it is “family friendly” and packs a lot of square footage in a compact footprint.
The front door opens into a 11 1/2-by-17 1/2-foot room, which is shown as combined living and dining room and would be tight for formal entertaining for more than six people.
The kitchen, shown with an optional box bay, is behind the great room. A half-flight of stairs leads up from the great room to the three bedrooms and bath on the upper level. But it is the big and well-lighted, finished family room down several stairs that is the plan’s main selling point.
This large space wraps like an L around the second bath and separate laundry room on the lower level. The main part of the family room is 23 by 15 feet, while the added 10-by-10-foot space at the side is shown to its best advantage with a large built-in corner counter and cabinets, perfect for a semi-private home office or craft and sewing area.
Upstairs, the bedrooms are smallish. The master bedroom is roughly 14 by 14 feet with a walk-in closet that has a door to the sole bathroom on this level. The bath has a second door on the hallway. This floor could have two baths if the parents are willing to give up the walk-in closet and trim a couple of feet from the bedroom. The secondary bedrooms, 11- and 11 1/2-by-10 feet, are strictly for sleeping or small children.
The Maine model is how people want to live today, Steele said. This is a house without a formal living room in the floor plan. The front door opens into a foyer with a powder room and door to the kitchen on the left and a den/home office with French doors on the right. That space could be furnished for a small formal living room, if buyers want.
The foyer opens to a 32 1/2-by-13-foot space across the back of the house. Adjacent to this open space, shown as a combined living room and dining room, is the kitchen separated by a half wall for open sight lines.
Though the work triangle seems awkward with key appliances on opposite sides of the room, the kitchen has plenty of counter space and is shown with a center island. Buyers will enjoy it at the expense of the adjacent laundry, only big enough for a side-by-side washer and dryer.
There are four bedrooms on the second floor with a master suite that has appealing side-by-side walk-in closets.
The attractive models are much upgraded so shoppers should carefully read the lists of options and decorator additions posted in each model. Steele estimated the average sale to be about $225,000 to $230,000. Among the most popular options are air conditioning and space-adding bays.
The 40-gallon water heater, which is standard for many if not most builders, is small, but the builder showed a 90 percent energy-efficient Energy Star furnace, an upgrade that I was sorry to learn few buyers have bought.
While it’s hard to like housing where two- or three-car garages on all the models dominate by jutting well out of the front facade, these vinyl-sided homes with some brick or shingle-look trim upgrades are about $95 to $100 a square foot, less than one-third the cost of many Chicago condominiums.
Still, that may be too much for many buyers who expect to buy a new house here for $150,000 to $175,000, said another builder in the area. For those buyers, Pasquinelli has another subdivision–the Woods of Countrybrook–across the street. It is planned for 64 duplex townhouses with prices starting from $134,000.
– – –
The Meadows of Countrybrook, Harvard
Base-price range: $179,990 to $214,990
FACTS & FIGURES
Ranch, two-story and split-level houses: three and four bedrooms, 1 to 21/2 baths and two-car garage
Square feet: 1,311 to 2,420
Annual assessment: $150 to $300
Developer: Pasquinelli Homes
Web site: www.pasquinelli.com
Community: Part of a 108-house development in community of about 8,000 people near the Illinois-Wisconsin border.
AMENITIES
– Eight-foot first-floor ceiling, vinyl tile in foyer, kitchen, baths, laundry room; carpeting in other rooms; Maytag kitchen appliances, oak 30-inch cabinets, laminate kitchen countertops. Walk-in closet in master and some other bedrooms; partial basement; landscape package with full sod.
GETTING THERE
Address: 503 Countrybrook Lane
Phone: 815-943-8303
– Take Interstate Highway 90 to Illinois Highway 47, exit north and continue 12 miles to U.S. Highway 14. Turn left on U.S. 14 and continue to Airport Road. Go left on Airport Road and continue three blocks.
———-
sstangenes@tribune.com
