CamWest announced, via email to its clients and prospective clients, that they have been purchased by Toll Brothers.
The CamWest logo now says “A Toll Brothers Company”. I’ve long been a huge fan of Toll Brothers since my early days in Real Estate back in Bucks County, PA.
Toll Brothers made the announcement back on November 21st, and I found the comments made by Toll Brothers CEO to be interesting, spot on and less “fluffy”.
CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said the CamWest acquisition does not represent the start of a broader expansion push by Toll, which operates in 20 states.
“We have been looking at Seattle for a decade, so this was a bit of a long time coming, and we found the right opportunity,
Ardell- I would have commented earlier but Patty and I went to the Metropolitan
Opera HD Live Broadcast sponsored by Toll Brothers for which we thank them. J-
Here’s the kind of big projects they’ve been doing back East. (More on this later).
http://blog.seattlepi.com/northwestmodernhomes/files/library/Toll_Brothers.jpg
Ardell- I looked up some of these earlier “exchanges of ours”.
I’m sure those TBs will all have those scrawny shutters. Jerry
http://raincityguide.com/2009/04/13/whats-to-like-about-mid-century-modern-homes-in-these-foreclosure-days/
Hi Ardell- Google just moved all my “Knols”
over to WordPress which runs Rain City too.
http://jgknols.wordpress.com/page/6/
Cool! I like it! If you need any help working in WordPress…just give me a holler!
Thanks Ardell- I’ve been very impressed with WordPress so far.
For one, the clean layout and ease of operation are just great. Jerry
A- “working in WordPress (WWP)” is a whole new ballgame! J-
not sure how I meandered to here but this development looks terrible. just sayin’. sorry.
Looks good to me. Odd how people can look at something and hate it. There are few homes or developments that I think are “terrible”. I like lots of different styles of homes.
Ardell- I too “like lots of different styles of homes”-
but they do have to be reasonably well-designed. J-
Yeaaaaa, cookie cutter homes with zero soul or personality. Congrats 😉
Well put, JB! 🙂
JB- Houses can be better. JG-
http://o5.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/PATCH/thumbnail/88×138/crop/88×88+0+25/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/patch/7003cfb22c19941483702d4b4c46ff38
What bothers me most about comments like this is that many people like these homes. When you suggest that people should not like them, it is as if you are making rash comments about the people who like and buy them.
Why can you not simply like what you like…and afford others the same courtesy?
Ardell- As usual, we’re talking past each other. You as a Real Estate Broker, me as a (retired)
Residential Architect. Your job in life is to look at the homes you are asked to sell in the best
possible light, mine is to make the home designs I do result in the best possible home. An
example of same is below. Click on Link. Jerry
http://jgknols.wordpress.com/article/the-meadowdale-house-for-two-artists-246qxuxd260sm-51/
Jerry,
It seems you view agents as people who sell houses for sellers more than as people who assist home buyers in finding and buying the right home for them.
You say, “Your job in life is to look at the homes you are asked to sell in the best possible light,…”
But that is not the case most of the time nor my concern with the comments made about “cookie cutter homes”. My concern is that by degrading the desirability of these homes and homes like them, and they are many, you in turn are suggesting that people who choose to buy them are being unwise in choosing them.
Perhaps if money were no object, and I reference Jonathan’s comment here, people could buy lots of “soul and personality” with their home. But for the majority of the buying public in this country, the choice is really old house with soul, personality, wood rod and maybe a bit of mold…or a brand new house without soul or personality…but with a new roof, new wires, current earthquake code standards, etc.
To suggest that those who choose the latter vs the former, and likely at a more affordable price, are “wrong” in any way, is just insulting to them. It feels a little “looking down your nose at” people who like…even love…and buy these homes.
Last I looked, and this will change in 2012, about 1/2 of the people who bought homes in 98052 as example, bought the “souless” ones. 🙂 That’s a lot of people to demean all at once, don’t you think?
What say you about the typical tract home built by a Buchan or a Murray Franklin or a Burnstead or CamWest or DRHorton…all the upper mid to lower priced homes that are being built and sold. Are they all “no good” in your opinion because they are all similar style with lots of white windows and wood trims?
Ardell- As the above reply of yours certainly shows, you can type much faster than I can- with my one finger. As to “Are they all “no good
Ardell- And furthermore- as to “about 1/2 of the people who bought homes in 98052 as example, bought the “souless
I don’t see any “mass-tract” builders building anything else, so I assume there most be a cost fact as well as their responding to what people seem to want to buy.
As example, a neighborhood where 2 story homes sell within 4 to 30 days has a (one story with basement) patterned after a mid century style…and it is the ONLY house in that neighborhood that can’t sell. That is because people don’t necessarily want to send their kids “down to bed” vs “up to bed”.
What these homes all seem to have in common, the newer style of homes that are 95% of what is produced and sold, is 3 to 4 bedrooms UP with full height ceilings in all the up bedrooms.
What is being built is what people desire most often…all bedrooms up without “sloped” ceilings in the bedrooms.
Recently a common criticism of mid century homes that people love but still won’t buy, is with all that floor to ceiling glass up to the roof line…won’t it cost a lot more to heat?
Do you have any thoughts on the cost difference of heating a mid-century home with lots of glass vs one with small new windows?
Ardell- As to- my “thoughts on the cost difference of heating a mid-century home with lots of glass vs one with small new windows?”- I know for a fact it costs considerably more to heat this Mid-Century Modern – but it’s entirely worth it to us both to be able to relate so well to our lovely garden. Here’s my “Knol” describing it. J-
http://jgknols.wordpress.com/article/our-own-mercer-island-home-was-a-246qxuxd260sm-241/
People are very conscious of conserving energy resources and the cost spent to maintain a home. There are many reasons why people “like” new and newer homes. So if you have an alternative modestly cost newer home that you like that addresses these issues…I’m all ears.
Ardell- Just as some people prefer to drive small cars for reasons of economy, others prefer not to have small windows- as this one of mine out in Innis Arden shows. As I said, you and I do a lot of talking past each other
http://mercerisland.patch.com/blog_posts/some-weekly-house-hunts-on-mercer-island-and-other-northwest-patchs-to-which-i-often-contribute-2
I’m just asking that you not insult the “99%” who do care about such things as wasting resources and excessive utility bills.
Ardell- Nothing wrong with the “99% who do care about such things as wasting resources and excessive utility bills”. However they do deserve up to date well-designed homes in well-planned communities. Jerry
There must be one, Jerry, that you like and is representative of “well designed homes and a well planned community” built since 2000 nearby. Relatively affordable as well?