First-Time Homebuyer
Michael and Krista Barraclough wanted to make a furry addition to their family, but their Buckhead apartment was too small for a dog. They looked to the suburbs for yard space and a floor plan with a basement.
A year after their June 2010 wedding, Michael, 30, a consultant, and Krista, 27, a respiratory therapist at Piedmont Hospital, moved into their new home in The Enclave at Hamilton Township in Kennesaw. The couple, who quickly got a chocolate Labrador retriever named Maggie Mae, chatted about what they learned along the way.
Q: Did you immediately focus on Kennesaw?
Krista: We had looked in east Cobb County for almost a year. A lot of Michael's friends were from east Cobb, so they steered us in that direction. We knew what we wanted and we weren't finding it in east Cobb. We started thinking about new developments. I looked online and saw that Traton Homes had new homes and neighborhoods. I was visiting friends in Acworth one weekend. I asked if they wanted to go to this new neighborhood. I loved the floor plan. Michael was out of town. When he got back in town, I brought him to the house and he fell in love with it.
Q: How did this home stand out?
Michael: It was hard to find lots conducive to a basement, without a big steep drop-off. We could put a home with a basement on this lot (about three-quarters of an acre, at the end of a cul-de-sac).
Q: How did you maneuver through the negotiations?
Michael: We didn't even know how to make the offer on the home. (They dealt with Traton's sales team.) It was like, "Am I supposed to low-ball you? I like you." They did come down a little bit on the price. They threw in more money we could use in the design center. They offered money toward closing.
Q: What are some of your favorite things?
Krista: I got excited when I basically got to design the kitchen, because we were building the home from scratch. I wanted a double oven. I wanted a five-burner cooktop. In the apartment, our friends would come over on Sunday nights for an Italian dinner. I would have a pot on every burner and it would be crammed.
Q: What’s one tip for building a home?
Michael: Don't make any sort of assumptions. My big concern was with the basement. I wanted to make sure they did the heavy-duty construction work, such as plumbing everything out. I focused so much on things that I thought were the most important, I never looked at the dimensions of our three-car garage. I never thought for the life of me my truck would not fit in our garage. My pickup truck (a Ford F-150) is too long. I can't park my truck in the garage. But we're very fortunate to be able to build our own home our very first go-round. We anticipate staying here for a very, very long time.
At a Glance
Krista and Michael Barraclough’s new home in The Enclave at Hamilton Township in Kennesaw has five bedrooms, four baths and about 3,400 square feet. They moved in during June. Home prices in the neighborhood range from $285,500-$413,900.
