Spring into Summer with a Made From Scratch™ Home You Will Adore!

From first homes to move up homes to vacation homes and boomer homes, Julie LaTerra Homes offers a building experience you will love featuring women-focused home designs, healthier, more comfortable homes that are green and energy-efficient, and thousands of personal choices to customize your new home just for you!

A home is one of the biggest investments you’ll make and it’s important that you don’t compromise what you want. We want you to Love Your New Home!

With a fresh approach from a woman’s point of view, you’ll find our designs to be refreshing. Our unique designs provide easy entertaining, thoughtful storage and organization solutions, de-stressing areas, and flexibility to meet your family’s ever-changing needs.

Our wonderfully designed home plans focus on lifestyle solutions for the way you live. Design experts have done the work to make it easy for your home to look and live its best. We love to exceed your expectations with built-in ‘surprises’. Julie LaTerra Homes offers eco-friendly, healthy, low-maintenance products making the home buying experience easy for you. You might say it’s our Recipe for Success!

We know time is a commodity you can’t afford to waste. Our proven building systems enable us to deliver a home to you within 100 Days or less. With interest rates at an all-time low and our quick delivery time, you can be in and enjoying your new home for summer!

To enjoy your new home just in time for summer, call us now at 704.979.1188 or visit us on the web at http://www.JulieLaTerraHomes.com/. Our Charlotte custom new home design center is conveniently located at 8532 Pit Stop Court, Concord, NC, directly across from Concord Mills Mall.

ACT NOW! Mortgage Rates Fall as They Approach All-Time 50-Year Low

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped below 5 percent this week as the Federal Reserve seeks to push mortgage rates lower. Homeowners see this as good news as they line up to lock in new mortgages at lower rates.

Freddie Mac reports 30-year fixed rate mortgages fell to an average of 4.98 percent. One year ago, 30-year mortgages were averaging 5.87 percent.
Nancy Vanden Houten, economist at Stone and McCarthy Research Associates, believes we have “found bottom” and that interest rates will hover between 5.00% to 5.25% for a while.
Market watchers report adjustable rate mortgages are also down from rates one year ago, however, there is little difference in rate to cause buyers to choose this riskier mortgage product.
And on the refinancing market? The Mortgage Bankers Association reports refinance applications jumped 30 percent last week. Refinance of existing mortgages in January jumped to their highest level since 2003. The expectation is that refinancing demand is likely to continue this summer as a new federal program to help homeowners lower their monthly payments kicks in allowing people to refinance and get out of high-rate mortgages. Shop around for the best rate.
There’s never been a better time to be building your new home. With competitive pricing and low interest rates, now is a great time to consider purchasing your new home. Take action now while rates are at 50-year lows. If you’re wondering if interest rates will go up, ACT NOW! – a 50-year low is a pretty great rate!

Secret Home Ingredients for a Better Living Home

Many prospective home buyers are looking for innovative new home ideas for their families. Our ‘Secret Home Ingredients’ make a noticeable difference in the way your home ‘lives’.

At Julie LaTerra Homes, it’s not one magical ingredient that separates us from other builders, but several. It doesn’t matter whether you’re building your first home or last home, before you make an investment of your time, energy, and money, make sure your new home includes some of these Secret Home Ingredients for a recipe for success.

Lower Your Blood Pressure – When a man comes home from work, his blood pressure drop, yet when a woman comes home, she is coming home to her second job…and her blood pressure goes UP… several points! At Julie LaTerra Homes we eliminate stress by designing a rear foyer entry – no dirty laundry for everyone to see!

The Importance of Natural Light – Did you know natural light reduces blood pressure, improves our ability to absorb calcium, reduces cholesterol, reduces headaches, makes us less irritable, and better able to concentrate? Julie LaTerra Homes places natural light in kitchens and in the MBR bath.

We Provide for Those with Pets – Clean pets mean clean homes, and who wants to mess up the bathtub when we can provide a pet zone feature in your new home? Shower your pets with care with our Pet Shower and Pet Zones.

Have You Ever Enjoyed an Oversized Shower at a Luxury Resort? - Now you can have that same relaxing experience in a 5-foot shower with twin seats, plus integral soap shelves. Imagine relaxing beneath two showerheads and choose full or massage body spray patterns.

Spend a Little Less Time Cleaning – Women spend an average of more than 14 hours per week on household chores. A Toe-Kick Dust Pan, installed in the cabinet toe kick in the kitchen- is activated by a toe switch, making sweeping dirt into the dust pan and central vacuum system of the home a breeze!

Where Will My Personal Space be in the Home? - Think soaking tubs, little bump bays for a sitting area to curl up with a book, how about a gift wrap center, a paint area for your daughter, potting area...all these thoughtful touches can be added to your new home.

Let Us Help You Relieve Stress in Your Life in the MBR Bath - You want more storage for king size sheets, towels, etc. You want a walk in shower with no door. It’s easier to clean. Problem is…it’s cold. Solution? Radiant floor heat or a heat lamp.

Homebuyers Discover Julie’s Jewel Box Collection – Small Homes for a Simpler, Eco-Friendly Way of Life

At Julie LaTerra Homes, we are known for our women-focused approach to homebuilding. Today we are announcing our newest collection of homes, 'Julie’s Jewel Box Collection' – small homes for a simpler, greener, more cost-efficient way of life. Homes from this unique, new collection range from 800-1,500 square feet. Smaller, less expensive and lower maintenance costs make this collection of coastal cottages and mountain retreats a perfect solution in today’s second home real estate market. These delightful plans are also attracting first time home buyers.

“As a leader in trends and what women want, we saw an increased desire for weekend retreats where people could ‘cocoon’ and get-away,” explains Charlotte custom home builder, Julie LaTerra. “Call it a sign of the times, but cookie-cutter, puffed up ‘marshmallow’ homes are a thing of the past and it’s easy to understand why.”

Today’s changing economy has caused a paradigm shift for America’s homebuyers as they consider their options for a second home or vacation home. High energy prices have tempered people’s enthusiasm to pay for conditioned space and square footage they don’t need. Tighter banking requirements have left homeowners with the ability to build less. Julie’s Jewel Box Collection is the ideal answer to a changing economic environment for baby-boomers, expanding or blended families, or single professionals.

First time home buyers say they don’t need a great room and a living room or a dining room and a breakfast nook. Many prefer smaller homes that take up less room and use less energy. As equity builders, these flexible plans have 'growth' options allowing expansion for the future.

But building the weekend retreat as a haven in the mountains or beach requires a fresh approach. We asked, "What do people do when they go to their mountain or water retreat?"



You responded overwhelmingly...
"I need an escape...I'm stressed out."
"I'm coming with kids OR I'm not coming with kids."
"We definitely want an area for entertaining...a place to have meals and a glass of wine...I'm here to relax."
"A second bedroom is essential."
"My vacation home needs flexible space for my changing needs as life goes on."
"Make sure I have a washer and dryer...in case the baby spits up. You never know."
"Yes, give me an owner's closet, a private place for storage, so I can rent it out."
"I'd love a porch with a couple of Adirondack chairs! I'm going to snuggle with my favorite book."


Julie’s Jewel Boxes are not only baby-doll cute, jewel box cute; they are also affordable. And these little gems are superbly functional! Well-designed around the way you live, these homes boast front porches large enough to serve as outdoor living rooms, built-in niches for pictures and knick knacks, and loft areas to create the illusion of space while maximizing storage. These right-sized homes live bigger than their size.


Smaller houses also require less maintenance, saving you time and money so you can do the things you enjoy! Energy efficiency keeps your monthly utility expenses down.

“Our Made from Scratch™ homes are well-built with attention to detail, quality and value,” says Julie LaTerra. “From Craftsmen to Victorian, these bungalow homes are the perfect haven for people who need less space and want to relax. Give your family the opportunity to take pleasure in a second home experience and enjoy the mountains or coastline.”


For more information, visit us at http://www.julielaterrahomes.com/ or call us at 704.979.1188

Meet Mandy!

I am so excited to be a part of the Julie LaTerra Homes blog team. My name is Mandy Singleton and I have the best job in the world. Having been in the new home sales industry for about 15 years, I have the incredible opportunity as the sales manager of Julie LaTerra Homes to work with some of the most talented and well-trained group of people every day. Our team of sales consultants and designers are each uniquely gifted and are committed to the mission statement of our company which is to “enhance people’s lives.”

Part of my responsibilities is to train, coach, motivate and inspire my team to be the best that they can be in their chosen profession. This is easy to do working at Julie LaTerra Homes!! We are aware that buying a home is one of the biggest financial investments that you can make and our goal is to make this process both fun and exciting – the way home buying should be. We want you to be more than satisfied; we want you to be a raving fan of Julie LaTerra Homes.

Because Julie is a boomer -focused and woman -focused builder, I get the privilege to bring you a weekly blog that focuses on the diverse and unique needs of these groups. As a woman focused builder, we know that 91% of the buying decisions are made by women, therefore, we are constantly learning so that we can offer you the best and most up-to-date techniques, service and products available. We will bring you more information about this in upcoming blogs.

We will also talk about the boomer generation. This generation is the largest demographic in history and they are redefining many things in the market place. Get ready for some interesting topics that will help you understand more about this generation.

2009 - The Best Year Ever!

The other day, I was listening to a conversation between two people who were talking about how they could not wait for 2008 to end. Their hopes are that 2009 will be better. One of the ladies recounted all of the bad things that had happened personally to her, such as having had skin cancer removed; her mother had been hospitalized; she tore a ligament in her knee, etc. As I listened to her I thought, “Wow, what a negative perspective. The cancer was not melanoma, her mother’s health improved; while a torn ligament is painful, it did heal; and the other incidents that she described turned out well in the end.” Her perspective on the entire year was so negative. It made me wonder how many of her 40 plus years were viewed from that negative perspective.

As we look back at 2008, we know at Julie LaTerra Homes that we had a great year and as we look forward to 2009, we do so with eager anticipation that it will be the best year ever. You may be wondering how a custom homebuilder can view 2008 in a positive light. We believe that despite what the media says, now is a great time to buy a brand new home. Pricing is very aggressive and there is definitely increased availability in the marketplace. I came across a statistic the other day that said for the first time in 40 years, we are seeing both low interest rates and low pricing. How awesome is that! With aggressive pricing and historically low interest rates already in place, 2009 will be the best year ever.