Newsletter February 2000
For over ten years I have attended the home building industry trade show but I missed it this year. Instead, my 3 top management team members went without me and spent high-energy days walking the exhibit floor and attending seminars. We spent a lot of time researching new computer software, construction techniques, marketing ideas and design trends and returned with great results.
Trip To Bonaire and Venezuela
My reason for missing the Builder show this year was the complication in trying to arrange a family vacation around the work and college schedules of me, my wife and 3 adult children. We finally settled on a week on the island of Bonaire off the coast of Venezuela. This is part of the “ABC” islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Known for its excellent scuba diving and snorkeling, we had a great time there together.
Over the last few weeks leading up to our departure for Bonaire, our college student daughter, Barbara, was in the final stages of considering international marketing internship opportunities. We were all thrilled when she accepted a position with Ford Motor Company in Valencia, Venezuela for an 8 month duration. What a coincidence to learn that Valencia is only 100 miles from Bonaire and she was scheduled to report to work one day before the end of our one week stay on the nearby island! In fact, she took 2 large duffles filled with 8 months of stuff on our vacation flight and then one day before the rest of us departed Bonaire, we all delivered her to the airport for her quick jaunt over to Valencia.
A further coincidence played out with a friendly Fond du Lac couple buying one of our homes. I knew they were from South America so I called them for advice as soon as Barbara learned of a possible Ford job in Venezuela…no city location mentioned at this time. When I mentioned Ford and Venezuela, Pedro immediately said…”that must be Valencia and we have friends and relatives there”. What a small world! Pedro and Haydee graciously gave us travel tips and names and phone numbers of family members there.
On the west edge of Oshkosh/Town of Algoma we have purchased most of the wooded, half-acre lots in the new Woodland Creek subdivision. We have already sold our first model home there and start this week on a second and third. We have one large wooded lot left that is available for a customer to build on. Call us soon if you are interested.
The new Hecker Hollow subdivision, nearby, is also ready with large lots, some wooded, and several with natural, wooded areas behind them. Located a block south of Lake Butte des Mortes off Oakwood Road, it is a beautiful setting for your next home.
In Fond du Lac we purchased a couple lots in the newest phase of Whispering Springs Golf Course, one wooded and one in the open on the golf course. We have one lot left in Country Club Estates subdivision also.
In the north Appleton area lots are quickly becoming short in supply and last week we purchased a few of the best remaining Thornbrook subdivision lots. We have a few lots left in Marshall Heights, too. The bad news here is that there is no new piece of land being worked on by developers at this time to bring more quality lots on stream so the supply is going to be pretty low for a while.
On the northwest side of Appleton/Grand Chute we are just about to open our first models in the new wooded Bentwood subdivision. There we have purchased the 7 best, wooded lots for use by us and by our contract customers. These half-acre lots back up to a larger wooded piece that is owned in common by all the lot owners and that will never have houses built on it. Very nice.
In Green Bay we are building for-sale models on partially wooded ravine lots in three areas. Our most exciting location, however, is the Thornberry Golf Course subdivision where we are building a slightly smaller version of my new 5,000 square foot personal residence. Called the Alexandria, this model will be our parade entrant in late February.
By the way, we sold a house recently to our first Green Bay Packer
player. Created quite a stir in our organization. His initials are ---. No, I am not
supposed to say in writing. But come into our new office and read his
In Appleton starting February 11th we will have our Hayward model open in the Bentwood subdivision of Grand Chute. Next to the official entry will be our Kensington and our new Edgewood model.
In Green Bay we will have our new 4,300 square foot Alexandria model open in the spectacular Thornberry Creek golf course subdivision starting February 26. On the east side of Green Bay at the Wandering Springs subdivision will be our Hayward model.
In Oshkosh we will introduce our new 3,750 square foot Richmond model on April 29th. Look for the fireplace in the master bedroom sitting area and the dramatic high-ceilinged family room. Also featured is a four-car garage and basement stairway from the garage. We expect four-car garages will be one of the next must’s in our bigger custom homes.
Our list of included home features has added 3 hours of the services of a wonderful interior designer. Kaye Breister has been working with us for about 2 years now. She assisted my wife, Kathy, in our new residence and she is a joy to work with. She is a good listener and has a great eye for color. As Kathy puts it, Kaye doesn’t put a signature look on a home like some designers might with their own predictable, repeatable style. Rather, she listens well to the client and interprets the client’s tastes in a wonderful, skillful, personal manner unique to that client’s home.
I just compared the heating bills for my new residence to that of my former, 30 year old home. The new home has nearly twice the floor area, three times the space volume, and four times the window area. The cost to heat the new home is about the same as that of the older home. Wow!