In Scott and Jennifer Schroeder's Sandy Springs apartment, they lived with their dog, Daisy, and cat, Max. But they wanted to add another pet, and their apartment only allowed two animals.
By buying a new home in Cobb County, the couple added a puppy, Suzie, They also got to chance to play a hands-on role in the look of the house. They chose the lot, floor plan, siding, shutters, flooring, countertops, paint colors and other details of their house in Oakdale Ridge, a Piedmont Residential neighborhood.
Scott, 27, who works in banking, and Jennifer, 26, who works in the transportation industry, chatted about their two-story home in Mableton.
Q: Were you thinking a long time about buying your first place?
Jennifer: We thought about it for a couple of years. With the market the way it is, we decided that this is the perfect time to buy a house. We would rather invest in house instead of throwing money away in an apartment.
Q: How did you determine where to purchase?
Jennifer: We had looked all over metro Atlanta. We looked down in Fayetteville and Peachtree City. We decided it was too far away. They're nice neighborhoods, but we both work in Midtown, so we wanted to be able to have a quick commute to work every day.
Q: Did you have concerns about buying in a new neighborhood, with the housing market still recovering?
Scott: I think a lot of that was looking and seeing the overall health of the builder. We looked in a bunch of their different communities. In most of them, they're still building spec homes (under construction without a buyer). When we moved in, there were still seven houses to be built. Now there's three houses left to be built.
Q: What did you consider in choosing the lot?
Jennifer: There were two lots available on the dead end. We wanted to live on a dead end or a cul-de-sac, and that way, we wouldn't have to deal with heavy traffic.
Q: How did you decide to add upgrades to the home?
Jennifer: When we initially got the list of absolutely every choice we could have, we went through and made a list of wants and must haves. Obviously, the price difference was quite substantial. We started looking at the wants and what we could live without. That left us with all of the upgrades we made to help with resale value.
Q: What were some of those upgrades?
Jennifer: We chose to put in hardwood floors on about three quarters of the first floor. We did recessed lighting in the kitchen.
Q: What's a feature you did without?
Jennifer: We have a fireplace in our living room. The lower-priced one was a gas fireplace. One was our wants was to have a wood-burning fireplace. When we sat down and thought about it, we thought, why not have a gas fireplace? We don't have to clean it.
Q: What's your favorite room?
Jennifer: Our kitchen. It's a bright yellow. It's a nice contrast to the darker cabinets.
Q: What's a tip for buyers?
Jennifer: One of the biggest things we learned when building a house is to make sure you have absolutely everything in the contract. When you're building a house, you don't want to assume anything.
At a Glance
Scott & Jennifer Schroeder's home in Mableton's Oakdale Ridge neighborhood has four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and about 2,259 square feet. They purchased it in April, assisted by Sandra K. Holmes with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. Homes in Oakdale Ridge are priced from the $180,000s-$220,000s.
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