Thanks for visiting Chatham Towne

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Chatham Towne bazaar! It was a great way to start the holiday season. Around 500 people came during the two days. By the end, we were very tired, but we really enjoy putting on events and look for similar events in the future.

And have a great Thanksgiving!

Join us Friday and Saturday at Chatham Towne

If you're like me, you really enjoy Christmas and holiday season. This year, we have a couple of surprises for Boise.

For starters, we'll be holding a holiday boutique featuring holiday and everyday home decor, gourmet foods, ornaments, spa products and jewelry, all produced by local artists. The boutique will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday at Chatham Towne. The Pie House will be offering free homemade pie and warm holiday drinks.

More importantly, Chatham Towne is a bold stylistic statement in the Boise market. We have modeled Chatham Towne on classic New England design principles, much like the kinds of homes seen in a Pottery Barn catalog. In fact, we didn't stop there - the Pottery Barn has accepted our inviation to furnish the model homes. If you've ever looked at a Pottery Barn catalog and wondered if you could live in a home like that, well, now you can.

Creating the Pottery Barn vibe is a matter of re-arranging details, not necessarily doing anything more expensively, and townhomes are priced competitively at $179,000 and $159,000 for three- and two-bedroom units. It consists of 15, two- and three-bedroom townhomes at the northeast corner of Meadowlark Drive and Five Mile in Boise.

Builders in this area tend to be pretty conservative and I'll admit the black doors took a little getting used to. Stylistic touches include built-in dining areas with upholstered bench seating and table; wallpapered areas; built-in entertainment center with LCD HDTV; shelving along the tops of the walls; trim; and beadboard paneling. There will be two model homes staged with Pottery Barn furniture. One model will have mint colored walls with white trim and black doors and white cabinets; the other model will have black cabinets and chrome hardware.

Designers, artists or related companies sometimes partner with or even design housing developments. More recently, Thomas Kincaid, the famous "Painter of Light," lent his name to a Northern California development. Chatham Towne homes carry the standard three-year warranty on his homes, longer than any other builder in the area.

I invite you to visit Chatham Towne this Friday and Saturday. At the very least, you'll get a jump on Christmas shopping and you might find a great place to live.

Getting by in tough times

A few weeks ago was the worst week in Wall Street's history. I thought it was a sign that things had dried up for a while. Given all the problems facing the housing market these days, sometimes it's hard to stay optimistic.

Then I came into the office Monday morning and there sits a contract to purchase a home that had been slid under my door sometime over the weekend. It was a good way to start the week and a reminder that no matter how bad things might seem in the financial markets, we're in the business of meeting a crucial need of good people.

I got another reminder later in the week. A retired husband and wife were to meet me at 1:00 pm for a walk-through of a home they were purchasing. Ten minutes passed... then twenty minutes passed and they still hadn't shown up. I began to worry that, amid all the news of financial disaster, they had had second thoughts and weren't interest at this time. To my relief, in walked the couple about thirty minutes late. In talking with them, I learned that a Ted Mason home is a way to for them to save money. For 18 years, they had lived on a half-acre in a large family home and they were looking to downsize, yet live in a community that took care of the yard work and snow removal.

Times are tough for all developers. In a typical month, I sell 10 to 12 homes. These days I'm doing about half that, which is enough to get by in a down economy. TMSH is in a good position to make it.

Due to retirement, health changes, economic conditions, or personal choices to simplify their lives, more people are drawn to smaller, well-built homes close to transportation corridors, employers, and shopping facilities. There are not a lot of builder/developers that offer what I do: lawn service, snow removal, three-year warranty, high quality construction and homes under 1800 square feet. As I told The Idaho Statesman, I have a niche that's managing to hold its own in this down market.

As long as we continue providing a valuable service to society, I believe people will continue to place their trust in us.