Credit: Courtesy Tim O'Brien Homes
Suburban Import
City homes with suburban DNA offer the best of both worlds.
There are plenty of languishing single-family subdivisions these days that builders wish they’d never built in the first place. Oak Hill isn’t one of them. At first glance, it’s got all the trappings of suburbia—traditional five-over-four-and-a-door elevations, roomy garages, island kitchens, and walk-in closets—except that it’s not in the ’burbs. Rather, the neighborhood’s location inside Milwaukee proper has made it a hot property among municipal employees with residency requirements who still want the big house and yard.
Inside Edge: Tim O’Brien Homes offers a $5,000 discount to city employees on top of any other promotion it’s got going. That’s allowed the builder to post flyers on City Hall bulletin boards and in other municipal workplaces.
Credit: Courtesy Tim O'Brien Homes
“In Milwaukee, all public sector employees are required to live within city limits,” says builder Tim O’Brien, who bought 15 of the project’s 34 homesites (lot prices: $80,000 to $130,000) and has already sold five homes since breaking ground on seven earlier this year. “That includes the department of public works, police, fire, the public school system, and anyone in City Hall.”
O’Brien’s offerings might seem run of the mill in locations farther afield, but inside city lines, they are a rare find. “We offer about eight ranch plans and eight two-story plans, allowing people to move the footprint around,” he says. “Most buyers are couples in their 30s and 40s who either have kids or are planning to have kids.”
The neighborhood’s proximity to downtown jobs and public transit means buyers don’t have the commuting and parking expenses of their suburban brethren. Plus, all O’Brien homes are Energy Star and NAHB Green Building certified, with guaranteed utility savings of 25 percent or more.
Credit: Courtesy Tim O'Brien Homes
That’s the kind of stuff happy home buyers chat about at work—a phenomenon that’s been easy to leverage, O’Brien says. “When we get a homeowner who is a member of the police force, fire department, or school system and we earn their trust, we tap them for referrals and sometimes even get them to do a presentation to their department. ”—J.S.
Location: Milwaukee
Community: Oak Hill
Total acreage: 16
Date opened for sale: Spring 2007
Product: Single-family homes from 1,600 square feet to 2,200 square feet
Price range: $225,000 to $350,000
Sales to date: 19
Total number of units at build-out: 34
Builders: Tim O’Brien Homes, Milwaukee; Miracle Homes, Milwaukee
Developer: General Capital Group, Milwaukee