SDH Happenings

See the Sutherland homestyle from Southern Development Homes come out the ground in the neighborhood of Hyland Ridge.  Watch the video and see the various stages of the building process unfold.

A big THANK YOU to all who came out to tour our homes and Design Center during this year’s Parade of Homes.  We had a great time meeting you all.  And a huge CONGRATS to the winners of the 6 fabulous prizes for touring three or more of our homes during the Parade.  We look forward to seeing you again next year!

John and Abby Hall (GoPro)

Natalie and Mark Vandenabeele (Vitamix Mixer)

JoAnne Gonzalez (iPad Mini)

Donna Clark (Vitamix Mixer)

Hugh and Diana Ames (GoPro)

Kristine and Kornel Krechoweckyj (iPad Mini)

All Southern Development Homes get HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rated by an independent third party.  Want to learn more?  Watch the video to learn more about the importance and benefits of HERS testing!!

EasyLiving goes beyond first-floor living.

At Southern Development Homes, our goal is to create inviting, functional, and comfortable homes. That’s why we’ve incorporated many aspects of EasyLiving into our homes. So what exactly does “EasyLiving” mean? When we hear the term, we often think of a first-floor master bedroom, and while that is one major asset, the benefits go far beyond. Let’s explore what EasyLiving has to offer.

Beginning on the outside of the home, Care-Free Maintenance means more “me time.” When you purchase a home in one of our Active Adult communities (Village Oaks, or the Villages at Nahor), the exterior lawn care and grounds keeping is included. Weekly lawn care during the Spring & Summer seasons, snow removal (not only the neighborhood, but your driveway and sidewalks), care for common areas and trash removal are all part of our Care-Free Maintenance package; resulting in less time doing chores, and more time enjoying life!

Whether you’re pushing a stroller or carrying a load of groceries, Step-less Entry makes entering your home safer. With zero steps from the garage into your mudroom or kitchen, and a level path from the driveway into your front door, you and your guest can enter your home with ease.

First-Floor Living just makes sense. Whether you’re 27 or 77, having your primary living spaces on the same floor allows for a more convenient lifestyle. By placing the master bedroom, bathroom, and laundry room on the first floor, it reduces the trips up and down the steps. Your kitchen and living room reside on the first floor, while guest rooms, offices, and less used spaces can be built on the upper level.

Some of the less obvious, yet hugely impactful Design Elements of EasyLiving that we have integrated into some of our homes are larger doorways, wider hallways, and lower counter tops. We’ve placed electrical outlets higher up on the wall for less bending and greater access, and rocker switches allow for effortless lighting control. We use convenient door handles instead of knobs, and cabinet pulls instead of knobs.

These are just some of details that increase the comfort and longevity of Southern Development Homes. Want to know more? Contact Andrea Akers | aakers@southern-development.com | 434.202.5071.

Andrea Akers joins Michael Guthrie and other guests to talk about 55 plus communities.
http://wina.com/podcasts/55-plus-communities/

Its time to applaud your energy bill.

Our homes will give you energy bills so low, you’ll want to cheer. A Southern Development Home has an average HERS score in the 50’s. That means they are nearly twice as energy efficient as a standard new home built just a few years ago and over 60% more efficient that the average resale home. 

We’ve all heard promises of energy savings, but we understand that a truly efficient home takes more than just buzzwords. It takes conscious building. Southern Development Homes takes superior construction to the next level with conscious building, and we have the energy savings ratings to prove it.

We start from the ground up, making smart design choices that translate into better comfort, durability and energy efficiency. Features like high efficiency HVAC Equipment, ENERGY STAR appliances, water sense-rated faucets, and Geospring Energy Star-rated water heaters reduce operating costs, saving you money every month. Our responsible building practices extend beyond our use of sustainable materials — including recycling our construction waste at a local facility that we helped create.

Our commitment to conscious building is more than marketing fluff – we use third-party ratings to ensure our effectiveness. Each home is third-party inspected, tested and given a HERS Index score – the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) is the national industry standard by which a home’s energy efficiency is measured. Last year, more than 1/3 of all new homes sold in the U.S. received a HERS rating.

Additionally, many of our homes are certified EarthCraft Homes, meeting and surpassing the energy and environmental requirements of EarthCraft Virginia and the Home Builders Association of Virginia. In fact, we are EarthCraft Virginia’s “Builder of the Year”.  Bottom line – you’ll use less energy and keep your home more comfortable – making the planet, and your wallet, happy. And that’s something to applaud.

To learn more about our commitment to energy savings, contact John Semmelhack semmelhack@think-little.com, our third-party rater.

Want to know more about the rating system? Visit the HERS site.

Charlottesville is seeing some of the highest growth rate in the state with a large percentage of buyers moving towards the city. With this move towards in-town living, we are seeing are less cars, more bikes and trends such as bicycle garages like Southern Development Homes offers at Burnet Commons.

Read more here.

“According to trulia.com’s recent survey, twice as many buyers prefer new homes over exist-ing ones. In fact, the survey reveals that two in five Americans strongly or somewhat prefer a newly built home over one that was previously occupied. That’s a sizeable 41 percent of the pop-ulation that prefers shiny and new. In-terestingly, the results also show that the biggest advantage of buying new is that you’re able to get a house custom-ized before construction is done – in es-sence, you are guaranteed a home that mirrors your personality and matches your lifestyle.” Read more in Real Estate Weekly’s article on Buying New vs Old Homes.

To thank the more than 50 companies that help us build our homes, we held a Trade Partner appreciation lunch last week.

We awarded vendors who have have reached the 5, 10, and 15 year relationship mark, along with highlighting the following companies

• Best Trade Partner 2014 – Roof Top Services
• Best New Trade Partner 2014 – K & K Foundation Sealing
• Most Supportive Trade Partner – Better Living
• Best Trade Partner at Service 2014 – Cornerstone Home Improvement, Inc.
• Best Trade partner Supervisor 2014 – David Taylor w/ East Coast Insulators

We LOVE being known as Charlottesville’s Favorite Builder. We LOVE expanding the Southern Development Homes’ Family.

AND WHAT WE LOVE THE MOST IS KNOWING THAT 99% OF OUR HOME OWNERS SAY THAT THEY WOULD REFER A FRIEND OR A FAMILY MEMBER TO SDH.

To show how much we appreciate those who appreciate us, we are excited to introduce our REWARDS for REFERRALS Program*. Refer a friend or family member to a Southern Development Homes community  and we’ll reward you with a $500 gift card* when they close on their new home.

THE MORE REFERRALS YOU MAKE, THE MORE REWARDS YOU’LL GET!

Simply fill out the REFERRAL FORM below, print it and pass it along to your friend, family member or co-worker to present when they register with any Southern Development Homes’ Sales Consultant. We’ll take care of everything else to help them find the home of their dreams!