Aspen Bay

For friends and family that don't know Blaine or don't know the development we're talking about, we figured it might be a good idea to give a little more perspective on where we are building this house of ours. First though, when we were there Sunday night and saw 10 deer roaming the back yard when we visited the lot with Jes, Adam and Jackson, Jes took a picture of Sara and I out among the stakes.



A few years back, when people were "building homes" and the real estate market was booming, a developer planned for a fairly large, multi-purpose development in Blaine.

This screen shot from our builder's Web site does a good job of defining where in Blaine the Lakes development exists.



The development itself consists of a series of neighborhoods connected with lakes, ponds and bays. We had a chance throughout the fall, and during the Parade of Homes, to tour the area and really get a sense of the entirety of the community. The development has a Senior Community, lots of Townhomes/Condos, retail, parks and trails, and some very cool pedestrian areas and beaches surrounding the lakes.

This is a good representation of the lakes and bays.





Within the larger plan is a series of neighborhoods around a chain of man made lakes.

Aspen Bay is a three phase development starting West to East. Most of the lots in Phase 1 are full. Many of the lots of Phase 2 have houses built. And part of Phase 3 (where we will be) is built up.

When we finally decided that Aspen Bay was where we would build, we had 5 or 6 lots in mind, all across the street from the lake. For a variety of reasons, we narrowed in on two lots. One was a "look out" which would have required us to adjust our "walk out" design. The other was on hold by another prospect who apparently got very serious about building about the exact same time we were coming to conclusions.

After much discussion, our TJB offered up a solution, which was a cul-de-sac lot that we really liked, but had dismissed because of the expense. It was a "look out" in Phase 3, that was everything we were looking for in a lot. Even with all of the leaves off in the woods behind the house, you'd hardly know there were houses through the woods. And even thought the lot is in the least developed Phase 3, all of the other lots in the cul-de-sac have homes (some of which are neighbors to be who we've met over the last few weeks). In fact since we signed our Purchase Agreement, even the Model Home just off the cul-de-sac now has a sold sign in the front yard.

This map is of the Aspen Bay portion of the development, with each of the three phases shown, and an arrow pointing towards our new lot. Interestingly, the tip of the arrow points almost exactly to where the 10 deer were Sunday evening when we were there with Jes and Adam.



The more we visit the neighborhood and the lot, the more excited we get. Sara has traded emails with TJB about some of the first decisions we're going to need to make in the next week or so. More on all of that later. We're just so excited to break ground on Monday the 7th. I'm sure a lot will happen between now and then, and we'll keep everyone posted.