Brookfield Homes

Congratulations!

Some people say I write too much.

Some people say I don’t write enough.

My general rule is “Don’t write unless you have something to say!” Well, I got something to say!

At the International Builders Show, in Las Vegas last week, Brookfield Homes San Diego received a special prize. www.brookfieldsd.com was named the Best Builder Website! Yup, it’s true. Check out the judge’s comments on reviewing the nominees …

• “Great graphics, color scheme…”
• “… easy to access and use …”
• “The quick search …”
• “… incentive is brilliant …”
• “… great content …”
• “… Online Sales Center … Awesome!”
• “… thoroughly optimized …”
• “… using social media properly and in a forward thinking manner.”
• And, my personal favorite …”The President writes a blog! Nice!”

Need I say more? You bet! Thanks to Jim Adams at NewHomesDirectory.com for submitting www.brookfieldsd.com to the competition.  And, thanks to Bailey Gardiner, 10th Degree and Scribe Communications for their enthusiasm, professionalism and patience in getting us there. Thanks to Lora Heramb, VP Sales and Marketing and Debby Marshall King, Director of Marketing for taking charge and making it happen. And, most importantly, thanks to our buyers and prospective buyers for their feedback and ideas regarding how to improve our site. What a great team!

Rockrose continues to grow at The Foothills in Carlsbad, CA.

Brookfield’s new “Eco-Savvy” product line of single family detached homes is receiving very positive reviews from new home shoppers. The information trailer for Rockrose opened on January 9th. Over 550 inquisitive parties have signed up on the new neighborhood’s Interest List. And, over 35 prospective purchasers have begun the loan qualification process!

Are you environmentally tuned in? Are you focused on eco-friendly homes, energy efficient homes, and sustainable homes? Are you looking for environmentally friendly homes, energy saving homes, and green house designs? Then you may be “Eco-Savvy”! If you want all these things in your new home, and you want your home in a great school district, a coastal city and a new master planned community, then you may be “Eco-Savvy”! If you want all these benefits and you want them at a great value, the you are “Eco-Savvy”!

“Eco-Savvy” means sustainable and smart! “Eco-Savvy” means energy conscious, water conscious, air quality conscious, habitat conscious, renewable resource conscious and smart! Every home in the Rockrose neighborhood will be a minimum of 35% more energy efficient than required by the current California’s Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential Construction (Title 24). No other builder in San Diego is offering this level of energy efficiency in its standard construction homes! That’s right “NO OTHER BUILDER IN SAN DIEGO IS OFFERING A STANDARD CONSTRUCTION HOME AT 35% MORE EFFICIENT THAN REQUIRED BY TITLE 24!” That is why “Eco-Savvy” in smart!

In Rockrose you will find … water efficient fixtures, low VOC paints, stains and adhesives for air quality, National Wildlife Federation certified habitat landscaping, sustainable forest certified lumber, xeriscape front yard landscaping, construction waste reduction programs, in-home recycling centers, and the list continues to grow … that is “Eco-Savvy” smart!

Have you been by to visit Rockrose? What’s holding you up? You can find us on Glen Avenue in Carlsbad. Take the I-5 to Cannon Road exit, go east. As you cross El Camino Real, you can see us ahead on the left. Turn left on Hilltop Street and go around the traffic circle to the Brookfield Information Center for Rockrose. Stop in and see Julie or Loretta, they will be happy to show you how “Eco-Savvy” means a smart buying decision.

California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing a return of the Housing Tax Credit.

In his last State of the State address, the Governor announced his upcoming budget proposal (to be released on Friday) would include $200 million for Tax Credits to home buyers in California. Based upon the success of last year’s New Home Purchase Tax Credit, the Governor will propose to the Legislature that the purchasers of each new and resale home in California be granted up to $10,000 of State Tax Credit (within specific guidelines and time frames).

The idea for a California Home Purchase Tax Credit is driven by a number of factors. First, the incentive for providing the Tax Credit is the creation of new jobs. As highlighted by the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) a Tax Credit for the construction of each new home in the state generates up to 3 new jobs. Second, the Tax Credit has been shown to also generate up to $10,000 of new State revenues (through sales, income and property taxes) and up to $3,000 of local revenue (through sales and property taxes). And third, the Tax Credit also helps stabilize neighbor home prices through increased demand and sales activity.

A new twist on the proposal this year is the provision to utilize the Tax Credit for resale home purchases. This change follows the recent Federal Housing Tax Credit extension plan, which opened up the Federal Tax Credit to any purchaser of a home, not just to first time home buyers.

A number of issues will need to be worked out with the Governor’s proposal. For example, it is likely that the new State Tax Credit will follow the guidelines utilized by the 2009 Housing Tax Credit, requiring the credit amount to be spread over three years and limiting the credit amount to the amount of state tax owed by the home buyer, not to exceed $3,333 per year. Additionally, by placing a limit on the Tax Credit allocation of $200 million and opening the Tax Credit eligibility to resale and new home buyers, the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) will need to create a program allowing prospective home buyers to reserve an allocation of the limited Tax Credits at the time a purchase contract is signed for the home sale. There may also need to be a division of the Tax Credit allocation between new and resale home buyers, as the resale homes will be more available and will dominate the sales activity in the early weeks of the Tax Credit life. While this may sound like a “so what?” to most people, the job creation aspect of the stimulus provided by a Tax Credit will not achieved if only a small number of new homes buyers are able to take part in the program.

And, finally, remember this is a proposal. The Governor can not make the law, he can only approve a law drafted by the Legislature. The Governor’s budget proposal contains the provision for a Housing Tax Credit. The Administration will need to work with the State Senate and Assembly to craft the language, the rules and the “where as-es” to draft a Bill that creates a Tax Credit for California home buyers. As they say … “the devil is in the details”. Stay tuned as the adventure begins again!

Saturday, January 9th, at 10:00 am, the Sales Information Center for the new Eco-Savvy neighborhood of Rockrose at The Foothills, by Brookfield Homes, will open to the public. Details about our new homes in Carlsbad will be unveiled, along with projected schedules and community information.

The new homes at Rockrose will range from a single story home with 2,116 sf to a two story home with 3,167 sf. In all, four different floor plans will be offered, with multiple architectural elevations and color palates.

The Eco-Savvy design and construction techniques will be previewed this weekend as well. You will learn more about our plans for conserving water, conserving energy, reducing construction waste, drought tolerant landscaping and irrigation systems, improved internal air quality and other environmentally sensitive design and construction approaches being offered in these eco friendly new homes.

The Foothills community is conveniently located east of El Camino Real, along Cannon Road, in Carlsbad, California. The Foothills community is also situated on a southerly facing, gently sloping, hill side. This provides homes sites with view opportunities, good access to warm sunlight and cool ocean breezes. The recreation center at The Foothills will offer resort level amenities and a great gathering places for new friends and neighbors.

The Carlsbad Unified School District will provide educational facilities for the children of The Foothills and is planning a new high school, along Cannon Road, just east of College Avenue. The new high school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013.

Pocket parks, a recreational vehicle storage facility and a future commercial office building will also be part of The Foothills master plan. A city neighborhood park has been designed and graded just west of The Foothills, along El Camino Real, and will be developed in the future by the City of Carlsbad.

Stop by our Sales Information Center and learn more about The Foothills and our new neighborhood, Rockrose. Find out what it means to be Eco-Savvy and how you can customize your new home to fit your lifestyle while providing for fewer impacts to our environment.

See you on Saturday!

Here we are in mid-December, the heart of the Holiday Season. No matter which path you choose to follow through the Holidays, the spirit and light all focus back on a couple of consistent goals. It is time to give thanks. It is time to rejoice. It is time to share, to love, to embrace, to give and to forgive. It is time to put the hardships of last year behind us and to look to the light and hope of the New Year. The Holiday Season provides time for respite and re-charge.

Each of us has our own family and cultural traditions for the Holidays. We have special events that occur over this six week period that we cherish and await with anticipation. We wear special clothes, eat special meals and decorate our homes with special memories. We remember Seasons past. We celebrate with family and friends.

Many of us will share and comfort the less fortunate of our communities. Some of this sharing will be direct, by visiting with those who are shut in, providing meals and gifts. Some of the sharing will be indirect, by dropping some change in the kettle, making donations of toys and food or sending gift packages to service men and women overseas. However you share and comfort others is important and even more so during the Holidays.

There is a special group of people in San Diego that share their time and treasure with a new group of young people everyday. Just in Time for Foster Youth helps emancipated (just turned 18 and released from County jurisdiction) foster youth make the transition from juvenile to adult. Think back when you were 18. Now imagine you had no family or support network to help you with the transition to adulthood. How would you have felt? Just in Time (JIT) helps these young adults by providing goods and services to ease that transition.

One of the many programs offered by JIT is “Home for the Holidays”. Imagine … you are on your own. You are 18. You have found an apartment you can afford. You have nothing to move into the apartment but your clothes! “Home for the Holidays” helps you with the essentials. JIT provides you with the basics of living on your own, so you can go to school, go to work and focus on living and growing.

If you are looking for someone to reach out to, someone to help during these Holidays. Think about Just in Time. Think about helping to make someone’s first Holiday Season on their own, one they will always remember warmly. Because, ‘Tis the Season’!