THE VIEWS CLINCHED IT FOR FIRST-TIME BUYERS
New home’s sense of space — and mountain vistas — were selling points
When exploring show homes, there’s sometimes a space that makes people stop and take notice.
For first-time home buyers Ben and Kahla Simmonds, this was in the Hawthorne by Homes by Avi. The 2,229-square-foot show home in Sunset Ridge has a soaring open-to-below great room that stopped the young couple in their tracks.
“That’s what sold us on this house,” says Kahla. “We got up to the landing on the second floor, looked over everything, and it felt right.”
The Simmonds both work in downtown Calgary in the oil and gas industry, and are both 28 years old.
They ended up buying Homes by Avi’s Hemsworth model, which is the same layout as the Hawthorne, but a slightly narrower dimension. This allowed them to build the home with the floor plan characteristics they loved on a lot in the community that they liked best.
But, as Ben describes, the Hawthorne show home clinched it.
“We walked up to the living room area and the kitchen and my wife stopped and said, ‘ Wow, I think this is it,’ ” Ben says. “You got this feeling, you got excited about it.”
Their home is being built on a lot that backs on to ranchland, and from the second floor of the front of the home, which faces west, they have views of the Rocky Mountains.
When their new place is complete, it will see them move from their condo rental in Springbank Hill, a neighbourhood in Calgary’s southwest quadrant.
Ben grew up on the southwest side of the city and jokes about how many Calgarians “like their own quadrant” and tend to stay in the area they’re used to. And for Ben and Kahla, this is how the search for their home started. But when they decided to look beyond southwest Calgary, putting down roots in Cochrane made sense.
Sunset Ridge is a community by Melcor Developments on the north end of town, and is expected to be finished development in six to eight years.
“In talking with residents at our community events, we hear a diverse range of comments surrounding why homeowners chose to live in Sunset Ridge,” says Catharina Mendonca, marketing manger for Melcor.
“Many families comment that they were drawn to the amenities with commercial, two schools, diverse housing choices, and wellthought-out public spaces.
“Our central pond feature is certainly a big draw,” she adds. “It was long awaited by many of the early residents and since it was complete two years ago, it’s been a real hub of activity and connectivity among neighbours.
“If you drive by after school on any day of the year, there are several families stopping at the park with their children.”
The single-family homes in Sunset Ridge include the estate segment from the low $500,000s by Jayman Built and Excel Homes, and move-up homes by Homes by Avi and Excel from the low $400,000s.
Jayman and Excel both opened new estate show homes in the community recently.
There are also duplexes by Jayman from the low $300,000s, and townhomes by Jayman and Excel from the $290,000s.
Kahla and Ben’s new home was a comfortable match for their budget, even after deciding on a number of upgrades to their specifications.
“We realized this could be a home that could work out to be long-term, because we got the nice- to- haves within reason,” Ben says. “Even with our income situation changing, promotions ... we’d still be in a house that we feel would suit our tastes.
“We wouldn’t have the desire to upgrade as much as we would building a starter home.”
But when they get to a place in their lives where they may want a different home, the ability to move within Sunset Ridge is there, he adds.
“We can grow in one place,” says Ben, pointing to the range in home styles and price ranges. “You don’t have to leave the community as your family ages and your income rises. You can upgrade and stay in the same schools.”
Kahla agrees. She says, while driving through the community, they felt like it was a fit.
“Being a young couple, we’re getting to the point where we’re starting to consider having a family,” she says. “I think there’s only been one time we’ve driven to Sunset Ridge where there haven’t been kids outside playing. And I think that’s just an awesome feeling to the community that gave us an extra push to want to be there.”