Justen and Kimberly Woods’ Candy Land-themed birthday party for their oldest daughter coincided with another busy weekend: their move to Buford. It wasn’t perfect timing, but they were excited about their new custom home.
The couple desired for more than a year to sell their Hoschton home in Gwinnett County and move into the Buford City Schools district. When their home didn’t sell in 2014, they took it off the market and lost out on a new home they were building, including not recouping their deposit. They re-listed their home in early 2015, sold it in a week and put a contract on another home under construction. Both were set to close in February 2015, around the daughter Caroline’s 6th birthday party.
“We planned a sleepover on Friday night for our daughter’s birthday. We moved on Monday. The basement and upstairs was packed, but the main floor … you walked in and it was Candy Land,” said Kimberly, 34.
The priority
The couple have three kids: Caroline, and 4-year-old twins Caitlyn and Connor. They lived in the district for Gwinnett County Public Schools, which has more than 175,800 students total for K-12, and its Mill Creek Cluster, which includes Mill Creek High School, with 3,998 students.
“It’s a really good school system, but it was larger than what we wanted,” said Justen, 31. “We wanted to get into a smaller school district.”
They wanted to buy a home in the Buford City Schools district, which has about 3,600 students total for K-12.
The search
The couple had difficulty finding four- or five-bedroom homes with a master on the main and a basement in the $300,000-$400,000 price range in Buford. When they expanded their price range, unappealing options in Buford included one built in the 1900s with no updates, a trailer and one above their budget, in the $600,000s. They found few new neighborhoods under development.
Casey Wood with the Hill Wood Home Team had a son in their daughter’s kindergarten class. The couple wanted to try again to sell in early 2015, because Caroline had been accepted into a Buford school. They decided to work with Wood, who put the home on the market in January.
“We had still not looked for any houses because we didn’t want to deal with heartbreak again,” Kimberly said. “Six days later, he sold our house.”
The timing was just right. Wood’s team had listed a new four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home in Buford in the low $400,000s, and they bought it.
The home
The custom-built home, by Southern Heritage Homes, met must-haves, such as a master on the main and kids’ bedrooms upstairs. Features, including two linen closets and a laundry room that’s large enough to serve as a mudroom, met the family of five’s needs.
“We were looking at this as being our last house for our kids,” Kimberly said. “We didn’t want to move them again.”
They willingly sacrificed buying a house in a subdivision, because of the home’s proximity to the school and the nearly acre lot.
The tip
Be willing to wait for a buyer and your next home. “We had to stay patient to make sure that five, 10 years down the road we’re still happy with the decision we made,” Justen said.
Adds Kimberly: “Moving here and moving into the Buford City Schools was our best decision.”
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