Happy New Year!

Some folks had it tough last year and are thrilled its over! However some folks had a fantastic year reaching milestones and attaining goals. How was your 2009? What are you going to do differently in 2010?

What opportunities are you going to take advantage of? We all know that the best time to invest in something is when it is at  “The Bottom” of a cycle and before it begins to go back up. The mystery is to recognize the “The Bottom” and to take advantage of that knowledge.  Typically the only way to recognize “The Bottom” is when the investment begins to go up. By that time we have actually missed maximizing our opportunity. We all have experienced waiting too long and missing “The Bottom”.

Allow me to suggest that now is ABSOLUTELY the best time to invest in a new home. We are at or near “The Bottom” of housing affordability. Now I don’t want you to take my word for it.  I just read a great report by a financial analyst. I asked Nikki to retype the whole thing but she (sharp young lady!) simply found a link to it!  For more info click here on how to take advantage of “The Bottom”  of the housing market.  Then,  contact me and lets discuss this opportunity. Let us consider the many benefits of investing in a Custom Stratford or site built home at this once in a life time opportunity! Just think – your grand kids might be sitting around one day bragging about how smart you were to invest in a new home when there were so many people paralyzed with fear.

Until Next time

Brian

This year,  the folks that are building a new home have just a bit more to  be thankful for. The president has signed the new home tax credit  which creates an opportunity to reduce the net investment for a new cottage or castle. In addition, areas of our economy seem to be recovering: home prices have risen the past 4 months, most building materials are stable, and of course there are great promotions and incentives . Soon Cottages to Castles will be announcing even more incredible promotions. These special offers are created to give you more incentive to have your home built in Stratford Homes indoor facility during the winter months.   I will be announcing special offers for those of you that prefer a conventional site built home too.  Contact me soon to begin planning your new home.

Amy and I  hope to see you at the Lake Home & Cabin Shows  in Chicago & Madison  as well as the U.P. Builders Show in Marquette, Mi. We enjoy meeting all the new folks and seeing old friends again. Home shows are one of my favorite events and I am thankful to have the opportunity to travel to meet new customers.

My staff and I, as well as our sub contractors are VERY Thankful to be able to serve your new home building needs. All of our projects in 2009 went smoothly~on time, at or below budget, and as planned. This provided our customers with a comfortable, predictable and enjoyable new home building experience that will provide many wonderful memories  for years to come.  We are also thankful for the families that have selected our firm to be their builder for the 2010 season.  We are enjoying the experience of designing and planning many new custom homes and cottages for some really fantastic people.

I am truly Thankful that that I was born in the Greatest and most Blessed country in the world. The United States of America, “One Nation under God , indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all “.  In a country where I have freedom that most of  the world can only dream about. In a country where I can dream any dream. In a country where I have the freedom to succeed or fail. In a country where I can get up and try again and again until I win. In a country that countless men and women have risked their lives to defend. In a country where our poor folks are rich by most of the world’s standards. This country may be bruised and battered at the moment but I would not want to be any where else!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Brian and Amy

Hi everyone,

Cottages to Castles has for many years taken the “systems approach” to creating the home our clients desired. I realized a long time ago that there are always more than one good method or “system” of completing a task. For the first few years of my career (when I worked for a competitor who is no longer in business) I focused on and offered only the “Modular home building system” as the way to construct new homes. It was not long before I realized that if I was going to be the best new home salesman I could be that I would have to be more versatile. So when Cottages to Castles was created in 1995 a “panelized building system” was added to meet the needs of more new home buyers. Shortly we added a “Panelized log cabin building system” for small to medium size cabins and even found suppliers for “conventional log home building system” Soon I realized that a “site-framing building system” offered many advantages to our customers as well and could be combined with the other building systems used. Today Cottages to Castles has a “building system” to meet the needs of every new home buyer.

The big question that I get from many new home buyers is “can you prove Modular homes are better than stick frame homes?” So of course I did the research and found many supporting documents and personal testimonies from satisfied clients and from our trusted subcontractors.

The other day I discovered a report written last year making the comparison between “site built” homes and Modular homes (www.cottagestocastles.biz) then click on the report near the bottom of the page. The report covers everything- global warming impact, energy efficiency, etc and is a very scientific, (boring to some folks) 53 page report. If you want to read it cover to cover go for it. However if you want to hit the high points check out these pages

Abstract Page V:

“The conventional home produces 2.5 x more waste during construction than a modular home”

“The total life cycle energy consumption of a modular home is 5% less than conventional home”

The conventional home will burn 7% more natural gas over its service life.

Page 1 – look at last paragraph

Page 2 has a bunch of comments

Page 7 is ful lof good stuff and so is page 8

Page 23 comments on air infiltration rates

Page 26 1^stparagragp

Page 31 energy use

Page 34 2^nd paragraph

Page 36-38 is full of good info global warming

Page 39-41 is about waste and material consumption

Page 42 paragraph 1-2 conclusions

Page 44-52 has a bunch of graphs

This report should give you confidence that choosing the Modular building system is a environmentally responsible decision.

Thanks again for allowing me to be your trusted home building advisor!

Wow! I can’t believe how fast summer is flying by here in the UP of Michigan!

The other day I was working with a couple from Arizona at their Iron County lake building site. 2 yrs ago they installed a treated wood foundation and a floor sytem and covered it with the intention of completing the project as cash became available. Well, after the recent “stock market correction” turned their 401K into a 201K,  the game plan would have to change. The couple was not about to let this setback stop them from living their dream! They realized that within every adversity lies the equal or greater seed of opportunity if one maintains a positive mental attitude.  The historically low interest rates combined with incredible low material costs prompted them to stop in and see me. I explained about the first time home buyer program and how it could save them $8,000 if they hadn’t owned a home in 3 yrs. Guess what? They qualified! They also discovered that as a Michigan resident they could claim a Homestead tax exemtion too! She immediatley  applied for her michigan drivers license.

Now, instead of taking forever to finish the project, It will be completed by Nov 29th. They just got $8,000 in tax credit (free money to them)!  They are building their home for less than what they planned (save big money at Cottages to Castles)! They take advantage of a an incredible low interest rate that will allow them the financial freedom they desire (this investment can not be stolen by some greedy corporation) and the ability to enjoy the new home now  The  experiences the family will share over the years are priceless).

What if they just had given up? I believe that because of their positive attitude they had eyes open to new opportunities not available before. They turned lemons into lemon aid! How about you? Is the glass1/2 full or 1/2 empty? It upto you!

Hi everyone,

Boy was it difficult to make the decision to utilize a new web page! Even after 90% of the people polled voted for the new version I found it very difficult to let go of the old one. Making a change  for the better was not easy. Isnt that the way it is for all of us? Changing something ,perhaps the way we think, creates stress or internal friction. Why does that happen? For me it was a fear of making a mistake and not wanting to leave my comfort zone I guess.  Now, however, I am very excited and looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities before myself and Cottages to Castles. I really want this blog to be relevant to you the reader. Please let me know what  you would like to have for content. I promise to listen!

The 2009 building season is off to a good start. Our excavators are preparing sites for the concrete subcontractors to install the foundations. The Cottages to Castles team has several very interesting projects this year. One, which will be our largest home ever, is a lake house in Iron County, Michigan. It will be nearly 6000 finished square feet on 3 levels. It actually has 2 turrets facing the lake- our first “Castle”! The home owner lives in Texas and we are designing and planning this home over the phone, fax, internet and of course in person.  Another project we are excited about is the construction of 2 “off the grid” cabins on an island in Gogebic County Michigan.  If you would like some info or a peek at the plans go back to our web page and contact us with your requests