Classic Communities At Evandale

We bought a new townhouse at Classic Communities at Evandale. It is one of the duet units, 1600 square feet, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom. Our experience so far has been pleasant(ish). We went to the design center and thought the prices were reasonable (not too far out of this world) and that the lady that helped us was not pushy and was quite helpful. At the end of our meeting she presented us with a $100 gift card for a local restaurant which was really nice. The reason she gave it was because we had to go all the way to Dublin to meet with her on a weekday, which was a big pain.

The people in the office don't know much, seems like the builder keeps all the information close to his chest which is not ideal. The manager is the most helpful.

Looking into the window of our unit, it seems like things are coming along well. Our walkthrough is scheduled next month. We have a loan lock for our mortgage with Wells Fargo, which has been the most challenging part of buying the townhouse to date. Wells Fargo had significantly lower rates than First Horizon (the other inhouse lender), but getting all the documents written was somewhat painful.

One of my favorite parts of this process was getting our appraisal. It had pictures from inside the unit which was fantastic since we can't go in. It was great to see how much progress had been made and what our upgrades look like since you are kind of blind when you order them at the design center. Now we can concentrate better when we do the walkthrough (vs. seeing things for the first time).

The Escrow people sent over the list of charges that will we endure for buying the house. Clearly the seller has passed along the usual "selling" costs to us the buyer. Not the best surprise, but overall we are so excited that we are able to look past it.

Looking at the outside of the units, we are wondering a few things:
(1) Why do some people have "shutters" around their living room windows (outside) and some don't? Seems inconsistent.
(2) Why do some units have lights by their garages and some don't?
(3) Are they going to paint those ugly handrails they just installed?
(4) How are we going to get our mail?
(5) How are people going to find us when they map us? Does someone send a letter to Yahoo! and Google letting them know a new street has been created?
(6) Are we going to close on time?

I will continue to write about our experience of buying a new townhouse. We are starting to put together a list of things to check for during our walkthrough. Buying a new house is a bit overwhelming and confusing so I'll post things as I figure them out!

New Development List

Hi,

I just found this additional link that contains all new developments in the bay area!

New Homes Magazine

Enjoy!

Another Condo/Townhouse blog

Another bay area blog dedicated to talking about condos/townhouses:

http://careal.blogspot.com/2006/06/villagio-in-cupertino.html

Enjoy!

Villagio in Cupertino

We visited the Villagio complex recently in Cupertino. Information about the units can be found here:

http://www.villagiocupertino.com/

The model we saw was very nice. It was 2 stories of living space, with a garage on an additional bottom floor by itself. The garage is a truly a "garage in a garage," as there are many units in the complex that share a common garage and the garage door for the model was literally in the garage. Lots of protection, I guess.

So, the unit had a great layout, but something I noticed is that it lacked light, especially on the first floor where there was just one window. Also, unlike other townhouses I've seen, this townhouse had units on both sides and two levels of units above it which is less nice than the ones that share fewer walls.

The biggest draw of this place was the location. Right in the heart of Cupertino by Apple and other great companies. The neighborhood was fantastic.

The sales people at Villagio left a lot to be desired. They were not very motivated to show the model units (they sent us over to the model that was locked without coming with us) and there was some rudeness when we tried to discuss different pricing options. But, you can't judge a place you are going to live on the sales agents they send to sell them. Or can you? :)

Classic Communities at Evandale

My husband and I visisted Class Communities at Evandale today. It is a site with new townhomes and single family homes in Mountain View, right off of the 101. I was originally worried about the location, but I have to say, the townhouse model was quite nice and the price seemed very reasonable.

The model was 3 stories, with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The bedrooms were on the smaller size, but there are 3 which is great! The best part was the 2nd story which contained a living room and huge kitchen area, with an island in the middle. The living room had 16 foot cielings and tons of light. Much more light than I've seen at other complexes with units selling for similar prices (mid 700's). The units were very cute on the oustide too. There is also a little park in the middle of the complex which is quite nice.

Here is a link:
http://www.classiccommunities.net