Will 2009 Be the Year?

My correspondence with an insider in the company has 2008 coming to an end with still many answers that need be had, planning that seems never-ending and a shiny new sales centre that will remain empty and unloved until 2009. Don't expect any 2008 opening dates as the timeline has moved to a hopeful "early" 2009 opening. They are in the process of planning not only for the subdivisions but planning the entire community. This we are all aware of thanks to your most favouritest blog this side of the internet. In the meantime, if you haven't already seen them, check out the plans for Mattamy Homes, Coughlan Homes and Lebovic's in our forum. The forum only displays to those with FREE registered accounts.

So from now till next year, I'll be busy watching as my mutual funds deteriorate into Canadian Tire Money and the rest of the economy goes down into the crapper.

October 20th, 2008

So the date came and went. Nary an update, posting, article, minutes of meeting to be found. We can only wait and hope for the day to come....

In the meantime, Seaton Creekside is now #1 on the Coming Soon list after the offerings for Castlemore Crossing and Ancaster Arbor were released to the masses on the weekend. You can see the price and home offerings for these sites at Mattamy Homes' official website.

Much Ado About Soil the Sequel

Mattamy has made another failed attempt to gain an exemption to do early topsoil work on its Duffin's Heights land in the hopes of getting a jumpstart on its grading and land prep before the winter season.

Mattamy is one of four big developers in the Duffin Heights Neighbourhood and plans to build 208 detached homes, 112 townhouses and a mixed-use corridor. The committee referred the bylaw exemption request to October for more information on Mattamy's draft plan proposal, the sustainable component of the proposed development and tree preservation and removal. Unhappy with the plans at Monday's meeting, the committee referred it to the Oct. 20 Council meeting.

Once again, the planning and development committee are not eager to let the developers get to their land anytime before all plans have been approved.

Mattamy on the other hand says, "well the land is for building homes and shops so let us get to now because its ours and we gonna dig it up and tear it down all the same!" while wagging their tongues at city officials.

October 20th, seems to be the meeting where all this will be settled, where all questions are answered and the score will be settled. The battle of the century...


Stay tuned for the next installment.

Full article is available at the Moving into Seaton Creekside Forums.

Pickering: Mattamy and friends we're NOT too impressed

So last week I told you about that 30-page plan that was put together by the 4 Seaton Builders own consultants, well it seems as though the city's councilors were not coloured too impressed by the sustainability initiatives that they had proposed for Duffin's Heights.

The ESP, put together by the Sernas Group Inc. on behalf of the Duffin Heights Landowners Group (Cougs Limited, Mattamy Limited, Lebovic Enterprises Limited and the Ontario Realty Corporation) is a detailed document that defines the Natural Heritage System boundaries and addresses transportation and municipal infrastructure requirements such as parks, trails and stormwater management
facilities.

and they go on to say...

Some changes to the Pickering Official Plan and the Duffin's Heights
Development Guidelines will have to be made for the plan to go through.

View the full article at the Moving into Seaton Creekside Forums.

****MiSC EXCLUSIVE: Things get real Official!****

EXTRA! EXTRA! So the big news last week was that Clay Aiken suprisingly came out of closet and so did Lindsay Lohan (ok neither were much of a surprise to anyone who has a pulse) but this week your favourite blog MiSC (Moving into Seaton Creekside), has the scoop of the week for you. Seaton Creekside has "come out of the closet" per se. Above is what u think it is...Yup thats it!! You're right!! You Got it!

The residential plans for Duffin's Heights have confirmed that URFE creek, part of Duffin's Creek is where our kids and their kids will be swimming and fishing and flying kites with the family! To see the residential plans for the developments from Lebovic Homes, the Ontario Realty Corporation, Coughlan Homes and of course our dear, dear Mattamy Homes please visit our very own Moving into Seaton Creekside Forums.

You can view the site plans here first!!


But the goodies will be forum members only. So please take a minute and sign up for the forums. They're FREE and a great way for everyone to share information!!

Mattamy Home builder of the Year says the OHBA

If winning the J.D. Power and Associates award x 3 wasn't enough, Mattamy homes took home the honour of being the 2008 Home Builder of the Year Award from the association.

So you ask, "What does it take to win this prestigious award?"

The Toronto Star explains:

The Builder of the Year award is based on home buyer surveys and judging of aspects such as sales and marketing, floor plan design, community service, industry support and the ability to adapt to changing needs.

Bravo and kudos to Mattamy once again for putting the competition to shame!
They definitely know how to rack up the awards! Maple Leafs take note!

As well, this weekend Mattamy Homes has announced the Fall Special Savings Event where they are slashing prices to bailout all of the US financial institutions underwater!! Wait a minute, this sale has been going on for months now! :/

An "official" Announcement!.......(well not really)

Above is a picture of the sales centre site taken this afternoon. I spoke to a very friendly uniformed guard (pictured above) whom they have hired to monitor the site and asked if he knew when the construction would be done and he replied, "in about 2 weeks." When I asked him who told him that and if it was his boss he said, "Umm...Me...thats what I think." With a smile I said goodbye and he waved as I pull out of the lot.

So it looks like its official, he has made the announcement that in about 2 weeks the sales centre will be done...construction that is....and after that we can wait longer for grand opening while the sales centre building itself depreciates in value while the world prepares for an economic dive.

View the latest pics from the Sales Centre site here at the Creekside forums.

Luckily, we can also look forward to what transpired in this months Seaton Advisory Comittee meeting which re-adjourned this month after taking the summer months off. As soon as the minutes of that meeting have been posted I'm sure we'll have more insight as to what will happen for 2008.

Sorry for the sarcasm false hope in this post, theres just nothing much to write about...again...

We are the Champions, My Friend!

Back-to-back Champs, Mattamy Homes, took the crown once again in 2008 to complete the 3-peat for the J.D. Power and Associates trophy. For the 3rd straight year, Mattamy Homes has been number one in satisfying its new-home buyers.

Now, how 'bout we get the ball rolling on Creekside, Mattamy, and you'll have more satisfied customers to vote for you next year!!?!?! Novel idea huh?!

Furthermore,

The study also finds that the proportion of homes delivered "defect-free" has increased in the GTA market-up from 8 percent in 2007 to 12 percent in 2008. Builder quality efforts have resulted in a reduction in the total
number of construction problems noted by buyers-down to 21 per home in 2008 from
23 per home in 2007.

See the entire article in the Seaton Creekside Forums.

Much Ado About Soil...

Mattamy recently filed for "an exemption to the Fill Topsoil Disturbance By-law" that could would help Mattamy and other developers to get the ball rolling with their Seaton residential projects. Ultimately this could help determine how soon the Sales Centre will open. To find out if the motion was passed by the city click here.

Thanks to member kf240 of the Seaton Creekside forums.

In other news, the city of Pickering won praise and "kudos" at the 2008 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in June.

"In a nationwide competition that recognizes the very best of Canadian municipalities' effors to create more environmentall responsible and livable communities, Pickering took home the Sustainable Comminity Award for Planning for its groundbreaking Sustainable City Project."

To read the entire article courtesy of the 24 hours newspaper click here.

Grand Opening...

After speaking to a Mattamy rep, she has confirmed the construction of the sales center over on Brock Rd. Also, when asked about the probable grand opening date, she gave me the inside scoop on what is happening and their target timeframe. To find out about what she had to share I invite you to join the newly developed ...

Moving into Seaton Creekside Forums

Happy Canada Day everyone! Since its July 1st I had to drop some Grand Opening news...for the forums and Seaton Creekside.

Having said that, the forums are now open! Please join (registration is FREE and easy and only takes a minute to complete) to help develop an online resource for the community!!

**You must register to the forum to view the posts!**

Updates and Everything Else

Thanks to Tina for filling us in that land clearing at the "Creekside" site is underway as well as the delivery of a few trailers to the site have happened. This is probably going to be the Sales Centre site that we'll be getting familiar with in the next few weeks. At least something is happening, the Mattamy website has had nothing new to offer in the past 2-3 months for the Seaton crowd.

...

I've started fiddling with some free Forum servers. I'm hoping to have something up in the next few weeks as I work out the format. I want to keep it simple with room to expand as our needs do as a community. We will be needing a good forum to share info and ideas as more is revealed about Creekside. Stay tuned for the link to the forums on the main page.

www.seatoncreekside.com

...

I went to check out another development by the Monarch Group known as Evergreen. They boast the most green and environmentally friendly community to date. This is what they are selling in Toronto's "popular" Midland Avenue and St. Clair Avenue area (btw...there's nothing exciting in the area save for a Price Chopper, McDonald's, and a Cemetary...but its a 2 minute drive to the Kingston Rd./Bluff's strip...i'll give them that). Nonetheless, they offered details of all of the environmental standards in the building of their community and in each individual home. I'm hoping many of these standards pop up in the Seaton Homes as we all try to decrease our carbon footprints, minimize our waste, energy use and affirm our social responsibility to the environment.

They're looking for $487,000 and up for 30' detached homes topping out at $509,000 for about 23-2400 sqft. Townhomes starting at the $350s in various sizes of about 2000 sqft. Purchase of a unit includes: hardwood engineered oak on the mainfloor and stairs, central air, 5 appliances, energy monitor and $5000 in upgrades for 30' single buyers. Not too shabby for a bonus package but considering these singles are half-a-mil I'd expect those upgrades to be included.

Opening day they had about 20 singles and 20 towns available for sale, with more phases to follow. Opening was at 11am May 24th, I popped in at 11am and was #65. Oh and I didn't buy anything! lol...I'll see what Mattamy has for me first.

Reinventing Suburbia aka 905 Going Euro

An article with discussion on the state of the 905 "revitalization" plans found in the May 31st edition of the Toronto Star.

"...In North Pickering, local officials are salivating at the impending
development of the Seaton Lands, future home to 70,000, already billed as
Canada's first planned, environmentally sustainable community..."

Click Here to view the entire article on thestar.com

Blowout Sale at Mattamyhomes.com!!

Hurry! Act Now! Mattamy is slashing prices left and right!!

I've been trying to follow the trends in the real estate market and come up with my own ideas of what has been happening:

• the recession is taking its toll on the re-sale homes market dropping every month since the start of the year.


• new homes prices aren't expected to suffer as much due to drops in borrowing rates

So with those two points we see Mattamy is offering discounted prices in various communities including Newmarket, Cambridge, etc. Does this show that the new homes market is probably on the same course as the re-sale market? I'd say yes...the past few years you wouldn't find Mattamy discounting many homes save for a few closeout lots...so now we have the #1 discounting lots around $10k and probably a bunch of bonus dollars for upgrades with sign-on.

Does that put us in a good place come grand opening? Will we be seeing incentives from the get-go considering they have to get this whole project off its feet?

Are we buying at the right/wrong time only to lose money on our investment?

Stay Tuned!

*note: I have no experience in the whole real estate business/market, etc. so none of what I say can be taken as gospel but feel free to add a comment if you have some insight into the market and where its going!!

p.s. I'm out of the country till the 22nd so if there are any updates that I may be missing out on please post up a comment!! Keep me in the loop!

"The Best Thing Since...

...Sliced bread." #$%!?!?!

That's what Mattamy is calling the new town of Seaton (or maybe themselves?) in what is part of the fresh, new ad campaign for 2008. I found this full page ad in the current New Homes free magazine on the last page of the Mattamy pull-out.

I don't know what has got into their water (maybe its the 2 J.D. Power & Associates awards, etc.) at the Mattamy HQ but claiming to be the best thing to happen to new home building is like HONDA saying their cars are redifining automobiles...they're not. Or maybe they just hired Kanye West to head the marketing department. Anyways, I feel the ad is on the arrogant side and there is always much more to be desired in mass new-home building before anyone claims to have changed the game.

So the ad goes on to explain that,

"50 years ago,
Kids knew exactly,
what to do
when told to "Go Fly
a Kite."

Seaton Coming Soon.
A Brand New Town.

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread.*

*Based on our shiny trophies


So thats my editorial on the new ad...I really just picking on little things but it just took me by surprise this morning.

Look What I Found!

Found this on the Sustainable Pickering: Seaton site, unnamed, unlabeled and just sitting there, probably never viewed by anyone unless you clicked every link on that site (this is what I do on night shifts). So another one of these colour-coded maps. This one is a bit more useful than the last one I posted.

Guess which colour belongs to Mattamy Homes?

Blue you say? Nah that belongs to Lebovic Homes.

Well ...

Click on the image above to find out where Creekside really is...and how close to the creek we're gonna be!

Ok...now that you've seen where the Seaton Creekside site will be the entire map is located HERE and shows the developments all the way to the 407 colour-coded to who owns the land (including more Mattamy and Lebovic sites north of Taunton). It surely looks like Lebovic will be the larger new home builder in the area with more sites but what do I know I'm just counting coloured blocks.

Leave your comments and tell me what you think of the sites!

Planning Seaton One Slow Step at a Time

So the news has been slow lately so I dug up some boring stuff to read.

I'm sure it's a tough task to plan a new town and the City of Pickering holds meetings every so often attended by the Seaton advisory committee.

The last meeting was held on February 20th, 2008 and the minutes of the meeting reveal some of the plans up for discussion.

Highlights (or low-lights) include:

• Discussion of whether to plan Seaton with a population of 70,000 or a more realistic 54,000 with intensification occurring over time
• Metrus and Lebovic Developments submitted their subdivision plans, no mention of Mattamy although they have reps present
• Interest from retailers to expand to Seaton
• Seaton has the opportunity to be innovative and be a community with integrated shopping
• UOIT/Durham College may build a site in Seaton
• 2 High Schools planned by the School Board -- questioned if it would be enough, they are awaiting the final population goal
• Alternative sources of energy (i.e. hot water heaters/district hot water heating) would be a draw and is being studied
• The Mayor suggested that planned big box retailers at Brock Rd. and Taunton Rd. were not preferred over prestige employment
• a GO station has been planned for the area but no precise location has been announced
• they would like to attract enterprises involved in research, development, production, sales and service of new, modern, efficient, "alternative energy" technologies and related services to the area. Strongly suggested was a "Green" theme
• shopping services that would blend into the area's cultural heritage vs. big box retail
• Green, Green and more Green!

If you want to read all 6 glorious pages contained in the minutes of the February 20th meeting visit

Sustainable Pickering: Seaton (Requires Abode Acrobat Reader)

mattamyhomes.com Reveals Some Minor Changes for Seaton

Few minor updates I noticed on Mattamy's Homepage:

COMING SOON THIS SPRING. Seaton Creekside, where homes and nature live together. Soon, the sun won't be the only thing to rise in the east. Seaton Creekside is a special new Mattamy neighbourhood adjacent to natural greenspace and a winding creek. Seaton, on the eastern edge of the city will feature Urban Townhomes and Urban Singles as well as 34', 36' and 43' detached WideLot homes. Biking/walking paths and park spaces will further enhance the natural feel of Seaton and provide gathering places for friends and neighbours. Seaton Creekside offers easy access to major shopping and recreation facilities and is close to major highways such as 401 and 407.

Gone is the suggestion that the site sales would open this Spring, confirming what I posted last week.

Also they corrected the link on the main page that Listed New Condos in Pickering to say New Homes in Pickering

Summer 2008

That's the new tentative opening for the Seaton Creekside site as per a Mattamy representative. The projected timeframe has been moved from a Spring opening to a Summer opening.

If that is the case then it'll be easier to camp out in 20 degree weather than this Arctic weather we're having now.

www.seatoncreekside.com

I have this URL forwarding to this blogger site. Easier to remember. Bookmark it. In the future, if/when we have a forum it will directly linked to this URL.

Opening Date Delay?

Got an email reply yesterday from Mattamy and the latest sounds like a Summer 2008 opening vs. Spring. I've emailed for them to confirm the delay. We'll see what they say.

Fitting in...15 Residential Areas

These are the residential sites that have been planned out for the area. This image is courtesy of the City of Pickering's Central Pickering Development Plan. Thanks again to shawn122 for the link.

They weren't kidding about the sustained green space that will highlight Seaton. If you click on the map above or this link, you can hover over greenspace on the map and see that pretty much what isn't residential will be greenspace. Quite impressive.

A Community of Epic Proportions?

Dropped by the Summerside sales office just to see what the sales office has to offer (asides from $500,000 semis :s) and asked a sales person about Seaton. He doesn't have much information to offer but he did say that compared to Summerside (500 units), Seaton will be much much much bigger. 10x to be exact. He has heard around the number of 5000 units, with model homes and the whole 9 yards. Sounds like Seaton may be the second coming of Hawthorne Village in Milton -- Large, multi-phase development.

Hopefully we can get enough of those 5000 buyers into a forum like Hawthornevillager.com and support each other through the many decisions that will come with new home buying. It seems to me that their forum is a great resource for tips, questions, group buys, advice, etc. I would like to eventually start a forum like theirs for our community once the Seaton site opens (with the help of shawn122)

Assembly Line Homes by Mattamy

The Toronto Star has featured Mattamy's (aka the #1 advertiser in the New in Homes section)indoor home manufacturing plant in Milton. Hopefully, for Seaton they will outsource the manufacturing to a plant in China to save the buyers even more money on their mortgages and they can dominate the home builiding sector for years to come like Wal-mart (I hope the sarcasm was noted). But a very interesting article nonetheless.

"And we all have to deal with shovelling our driveways, but just imagine having to shovel out a construction site."

Read More...

Mattamy Homes released in Cambridge Mill Pond

Again, for your interest. I really like these prices and hopefully we get prices similar to these. Good place to look at floorplans and get an idea of what you want your house to look and feel like.
Take a tour of the 34' and 43' Widelots in the Virtual model home tours.

Townhomes
From $188,990
Click for Details

34' WideLot™ Detached
From $242,990
Click for Details

43' WideLot™ Detached
From $294,990
Click for Details

50' WideLot™ Detached
From $334,990
Click for Details

Seaton? What is Seaton?

A new community is in the planning and proposal stages that could capture the spirit of what a forward thinking community should be. “Planning with a clean slate gives a wonderful scope to do things right for a sustainable future.” Planners have great hopes that the new residents of Seaton will be extremely proud to live and work in this new community balanced between nature, the environment, and sustainability for the future, gracious living, activities and employment opportunities.

Interesting article about the community of Seaton. What's planned for Seaton...the Seaton Airport? Home to 15 residential communities...Nature, Preservation land and more...

http://www.astoriamagazine.com/seaton.html

A Sign of Prices to Come?

A new Phase released in Stouffville by Mattamy. I found this of interest because I wanted to get a sense of the pricing they might be offering to us in Pickering. I'm hoping that the prices in Pickering won't be overinflated (yeah right) and I have a spending limit in mind that hopefully tops out no more than $350k. Ideally, a nice 43' lot will go for around $300 mark (again wishful thinking)...that'll leave me a bit more room for upgrade costs, move-in fees, lot premium, etc. I don't know if its wishful thinking on my part but I'm hoping that recent changes in the market and Pickering's low-profile in the housing market works in my (and your) favour.

Oh, and I didn't just go ahead and move to Stouffville because its too far and inaccessible to the places I have to be (ie. work, play, family, friends, major 400 highways, etc.)


Anyways, towns, 30', 36', 45' and 50' lots released Jan 26th in adjacent areas of Stouffville.

From mattamyhomes.com website:

Wheler's Mill was one of two mills in the area that grew to be Stouffville, one of Ontario's most charming towns. You will discover a tremendous variety of WideLot" homes in Wheler's Mill. With about 40 different designs and floor plan variations available, our Stouffville Community is all about giving you the choice.

and pricing starts as follows...

WideLot™ Towns
From $252,990
Click for Details

30' WideLot™
From $299,990
Click for Details

36' WideLot™
From $319,990
Click for Details

45' WideLot™
From $379,990
Click for Details

50' WideLot™
From $448,990
Click for Details

Opening Date

I called the GTA east office for Mattamy and I forget the name of the lady I spoke to but I was able to find out a very vague timeline for when the site will open up their sales. She said "February or March, if not, April or May." mmmkay thanks. Since that call they've updated their site to say "COMING IN SPRING" which usually falls between those months :P

Anyone else have any info from someone who works with Mattamy?

I think i'll shoot them an email and see what's up.

Upgrades, Premiums, Arms, Legs, etc.

I've been trolling the Hawthorne Villager forums and have found some interesting (and not-so-interesting :s) numbers regarding upgrades

Theses are approximates, not specific to any model, nor will be applicable to Seaton Creekside:

• 9' ft ceilings on the main floor ($5000)*; 2nd level ($8300)



• Hardwood on mainfloor* ($5000+)



• Stained Oak Stair Case ($9000)



• Maple Stairs with Wrought-iron spindles* ($6-8000)



• Granite Kitchen Countertops ($5000+)* (this one is will be my 1st maybe)



• Potlights ($200-250/ea)* (this one is a tough decision, may do this after closing)



• Garage to House Door* ($1200)



• 3 Piece Basement Rough-in* ($580)



• Kitchen Backsplash ($1000+)



• Smooth Ceilings 1st Floor* ($1000), 2nd Floor ($2300)

What I've read about lot premiums:

• $20-25k for a lot backing onto greenspace


• $5k for a lot with a look out


• $20k for something backing onto a school or park

Again, all estimates and not from 1st party sources...but definitely something to consider into budgeting and choosing a lot.

Some of these costs I really didn't think of before I began looking for a new home. Some prices seem fair to me however, some seem crazy and overpriced...so now comes the task of choosing what I feel would be worth it and can't be revisited with a reno in the future. I've indicated with asterisks which I feel I may/will be adding to my home purchase price. And i'm working with a budget around $20000...so we'll see how this plays out in the end.

Why I'm doing this...

I'm finally shopping for my first home after having started working full-time for about 2 years. I decided that I would start saving up some money to finally move out from home and invest in a house. The thing is when I set a goal to do something, I'll tire myself out researching, preparing, thinking, planning, etc. So I thought I would make my own blog to document my progress from start to finish. I got this idea from some folks who started an online community for their community in Milton called Hawthorne Village and decided I wanted to do my own.

So feel free to add comments to anything I post and hopefully one day we can have our own forum for our new community.

Coming soon to Pickering: Mattamy Homes

Mattamy is coming to North Pickering (Taunton Rd. and Brock Rd.) and offer this teaser on their website:

COMING THIS SPRING. Seaton Creekside, where homes and nature live together.Soon, the sun won't be the only thing to rise in the east. Seaton Creekside is a special new Mattamy neighbourhood adjacent to natural greenspace and a winding creek. Seaton, on the eastern edge of the city will feature Urban Townhomes and Urban Singles as well as 34', 36' and 43' detached WideLot homes. Biking/walking paths and park spaces will further enhance the natural feel of Seaton and provide gathering places for friends and neighbours. Seaton Creekside offers easy access to major shopping and recreation facilities and is close to major highways such as 401 and 407.