Fieldstone Place Encourages Renters to Buy

ELGIN, IL, October 5 - Is now a better time to rent or to buy? As the real estate economy slows and prices fall, the debate becomes more insistent, with raised voices passionately arguing both sides. Who's right and who's wrong? Perhaps the better question to ask is "who's buying?"

That is to say, if we're asking whether now is a good time for renters to buy, the answer is much more obvious. With interest rates remaining historically low and home prices falling to unusually reasonable levels, this may be the perfect time for renters to acquire their dream home. They don't have to worry about selling an existing home before they buy. And, if they plan to hold on to their new home for five years or more, they can probably look forward to the kind of price appreciation that is almost always true for homes over the long term.

But Scott Ballard doesn't believe that renters should buy just any home. According to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Grand Pointe Homes, a leading Chicago-area builder, they should be buying a new home. Is he just being biased? "No, not at all," he said. "It's just that the high prices of the real estate upsurge long denied these people their dream. Now that the prices have become affordable for them, they should buy the best possible homes they can. New homes include the latest design trends, are less expensive to operate (thanks in part to energy-saving features), and appreciate in price more than older homes. Plus they have that intoxicatingly fresh, just-off-the-line, new car feel," said Ballard.

There may be one other advantage. "In some cases, new homes are lower-priced than a comparable older home. If that's the case, why not buy new? It's the kind of question that we want people to ask themselves when they come out to see our Fieldstone Place," said Ballard.

A development of 43 semi-custom single family homes and 110 courtyard townhouses, Fieldstone is located on the more developed, more convenient, east side of Montgomery, an outer ring suburb. Ranging in size from 1,911 to 2,805 square feet, the single-family homes start in the $210's. The townhomes begin in the $170's and extend from 1,566 to 1,907 square feet.

The single-families feature three or four bedrooms and one-and-a-half to three baths. All homes contain elegant living and dining rooms, modernly equipped kitchens, and sprawling family rooms with lots of natural light.

To enable buyers to individualize these homes, Grand Pointe offers countless options, including central air conditioning; fireplaces and entertainment centers for the family rooms; super baths with soaker tubs and separate showers; cathedral, vaulted and volume ceilings; dens and lofts; center islands for the kitchens; and three-car garages.

Fieldstone also allows townhome buyers to shape their living spaces. They can choose from among three standard plans, with upper-level "mix-and-match" options that can create up to 14 different layouts. The homes feature open arrangements with two or three bedrooms, one to three baths, two-car garages, roomy kitchens with modern appliances, and finished lower-level family rooms.

"Fieldstone Place is an in-fill community, and that fact puts it in the middle of a lot of infrastructure, including schools, transportation, and other development," said Ballard. "The bottom line is that new residents don't have to struggle with the challenges that come with the more pioneering life characterizing the west side of town. Another advantage: taxes are lower here (a tax rate of 2.1% vs. 2.5% in the west) because we don't have to build new schools or other infrastructure. Fieldstone represents a great opportunity for renters to buy a home," he said.

Bringing renters back into the discussion prompts Ballard to raise the issue of price one more time. "Actually, buyers at Fieldstone will end up paying much less than the list price thanks to our incentives program." Buyers can save from $10,000 for a to-be-built home to $20,000 for an already finished home (sometimes called an inventory or quick-delivery home). These incentives are available only by using the company's preferred lender. "We let buyers use the incentive however they want. They can put it toward the purchase price, pay closing costs, or buy down the interest rate," said Ballard.

Existing homeowners looking to upgrade or downsize have lined up to explore Fieldstone. But renters have been right behind them. "Fieldstone is really 'entry-level luxury,'" said Ballard. "It offers renters the chance to buy into the American Dream.

With real estate prices likely to recover in the near future, now's the right time for them to buy…at Fieldstone."

Visitors to Fieldstone Place should take I-88 to Illinois Highway 59, south to Ogden Avenue (U.S. Hwy. 34), west to Montgomery Road, west to Briarcliff Road, and then south to the models and sales center. Sales hours are 10am to 5pm, Saturday through Wednesday.

People seeking information on Fieldstone Place can call (630) 906-7500 (for single-family homes) or (630) 859-2800 (for courtyard-style townhomes).

Submitted 10/5/2007 12:12:06 PM

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