Congress has approved legislation to allow FHA to increase fees on home buyers. For more information, watch this video from TBSW. New legislation become effective September 7, 2010 and will feel much like an increase in APR. Click here and watch for yourself!
Touchstone Homes has a brand new single family community coming online August 1. Clarkstone Village is a cozy community located in Flowery Branch near Spout Springs Road and Interstate 985. There are 17 existing homeowners, Touchstone Homes has purchased 34 lots where we intend to build craftsman style homes similar to those you see when you visit the community.
Touchstone Homes is rolling out two new floorplans for this community – the Campbell and the Clearwater. Both are 2-story plans with 3-4 bedrooms, opening floorplan for entertaining and flexible spaces.
These new plans will start in the $140,000s. First homes available in October or pre-sale homes are available now. Contact Jeff Barnes at 770.965.7816 or email clarkstonevillage@touchstonehomes.com for more information.
You can also visit our web site TouchstoneHomes.com for additional information on this brand new community.
My decision to work with Touchstone Homes has proven to be one of the best choices I’ve made as a first time homebuyer. My new home is a dream and working with the Touchstone team has made all the difference. From the time spent at the Design Studio to my pre-closing walk-through, every member of the Touchstone team has shown that they care about what they do and are committed to homebuyer satisfaction. I would definitely recommend Touchstone Homes to other homebuyers interested in working with a professional company that builds quality homes.
Mimi S., Suwanee, GA
Riverdance Townhome Community
Brian Milbrett, Operations Manager for Touchstone Homes, tells all about the rebooting of the company, the 50% reduction in building process, new Energy Star certification and products used to make our homes more energy efficient foir our Buyer. The segment was featured on Atlanta’s Best New Homes TV on Sunday, July 11th. But if you missed it, you can check it out here.
I was recently reading an article on John Burns Consulting, and here is what he has to say about the Housing Industry and the Cycle we are currently going through (again).
If you have never visited the Touchstone Homes Design Studio located within the Village Grove master planned community in Suwanee, you are definitely missing out on a wonderful experience. When you enter the studio, you feel like you have entered Tuscany for sure. Strings of lights overhead, water trickling in the fountain, and brick walkways. Contact your New Home Specialist in any Touchstone Homes community for a private VIP tour of the studio.
The Design Studio was featured on Atlanta’s Best New Homes TV show, if you missed it, you definitely want to see this!
Our Riverdance community is Suwanee is FHA approved and we thought all was right with the world until a Lender for a Buyer under contract on one of the newer units tried to get a case number for the loan and was declined. Much to our surprise, FHA was reporting that we were over our FHA loan saturation level based on the number of units submitted to the condo at this time. Well after much research, Touchstone staff determined that FHA was incorrect in their assessment and we were set to prove it to them.
After speaking with many lenders, attorneys and others intimately involved in FHA approved condos – we learned alot over those 4 days and kept getting conflicting information. So finally a week later, the issue is resolved and Riverdance is under the FHA loan saturation level as it should be. They were not unreasonable to deal with as we expected, all we had to do was prove it to them. As it turns out, they were missing some of the condo units that had been submitted and approved. Once we provided the documentation again, they corrected their system and we are back in business!!!
A lesson for those involved in FHA approved condos in Georgia:
We were told our case was the FIRST in the United States and we resolved the situation in a weeks time and our Buyer will be able to close.
As of May 1, 2010, Touchstone Homes will become a featured builder on the television show Atlanta’s Best New Homes. The shows airs Sunday mornings at 10:00 on FOX and runs for 30 minutes each week. “At a time when many builders have gone or are going bankrupt, Touchstone Homes is revamping our building process and Sales & Marketing to reach our buyers,” says Sales Manager, Mike Zambri, “There are still people out there buying homes and we feel that an investment in this telelvision show will be positive for generating traffic to our communities.”
The first community to air will be our luxury townhome community located in Roswell called New Haven Walk. We look forward to Sue Proffitt and her crew coming out to see our cozy community to air on May 9, 2010 – Happy Mother’s Day!!
Babes for Boobs Participates in 3-Day for the Cure in October
SUWANEE – Touchstone Homes would like to announce its 2010 Corporate Sponsorship of an Atlanta Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure Breast Cancer Team known as Babes for Boobs. When asked why the company chose to sponsor the team, Touchstone Homes CEO Richard Stein said, “Women’s health issues are typically underfunded for research and testing. We feel that many companies make donations for tax breaks, but this cause for us is personal. We chose to support an employee walking on the team. Tina Bennett has been an employee for six years, and has been very passionate about this particular cause and the Komen 3-day for the Cure for the past two years.”
Touchstone Homes was asked to become a Corporate Sponsor of the local 3-Day walk team Babes for Boobs in 2009 and 2010, and graciously agreed to do so. The Marketing Director for Touchstone Homes is a member of the team, as well as her mother who is an 11 year breast cancer survivor. Sixteen ladies are on the Babes for Boobs team and will walk 60 miles in 3 days this coming October all in the name of Breast Cancer. Employees of Touchstone Homes will cheer alongside the walk route in October 2010 to cheering on the Babes for Boobs team walkers as they did last year – rain or shine. Business Partners of Touchstone Homes also chose to sponsor the team due to their personal relationship with Mrs. Bennett including Sign-A-Rama of Buford and Xeritech, LLC. In 2009, Touchstone Homes sponsored a team that participated in the Susan G Komen 5k Race for the Cure at Atlantic Station. The team consisted of 27 employees, friends and family members all passionate about breast cancer and supporting a worthwhile cause. Touchstone Homes funded all costs associated with the race including custom tshirts “Designed for Hope, Built for a Cure” and race fees.
I recently read a blog post on HousingZone.com written by Matt Phair, Contributing Editor for the HousingZone, and he reports that nearly 2/3 of American’s believe that NOW is the right time to purchase a home, and the majority believe that home prices will remain the same or escalate over the next year, according to a Fannie Mae survey recently released. Read more…..
Visit our web site at www.touchstonehomes.com and view our latest promotions and available homes. We will DOUBLE your tax credit on select homes purchased through April 30th! Take advantage of the tax credit, don’t wait…..buy now!!
