If you live in the Pacific Northwest and are in the market for your first home, but you haven’t won the lottery or don’t work in tech, then your prospects may be looking pretty grim. Despite the Fed raising interest rates, home prices have either plateaued or continued to rise. In Seattle,the average single-family home is selling for $770,000, which is $10,000 higher than three years ago at the start of the pandemic. Making matters worse, interest rates are about 3% higher than they were last year. This means that if you were to buy the average Seattle home this year, your monthly mortgage payment would be about $1,100 higher than it would have been if you bought the same home a year ago. Yikes.
[NPR “American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality“: Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts/CORBIS]
年代o if the traditional single-family home is out of the question, what are you left with? Townhouses are nice, but are just as expensive. Apartments and condos might meet the budget, but living in a large apartment building has its drawbacks: no outdoor green space, no privacy, not enough room, no parking, etc. Perhaps a cottage is the answer.
[年代isters Woodlands Development, Sisters, OR. Photo: BUILD LLC]
In recent years, cottage developments have become a popular alternative to traditional single-family home developments, and for good reason. These communities consist of small, detached homes clustered around a shared green space. This arrangement offers a number of advantages over traditional suburban developments, with the main one beingaffordability。因为房子小很多,有米aximum size of between 1200- and 1500-square feet (depending on the jurisdiction), they are often much less expensive than comparable single-family homes. This makes them more accessible to a wider range of people, including first-time homebuyers, young families, and retirees on a fixed income. The arrangement also fosters a great sense of community compared to traditional suburban developments, with residents sharing amenities like picnic tables, fire pits and vegetable gardens.
[Third Street Cottages, Langley, WA byRoss Chapin Architects。Photo: Ross Chapin Architects]
Third Street Cottages was the first modern cottage development, and it set a high bar for the others that followed. Designed by Ross Chapin Architects in Langley, Washington, this pocket neighborhood consists of eight cottages around a shared park. It’s a successful model proving that eight cottages can house more people and foster a greater sense of community than the alternative of building four single-family homes in the same space.
[Third Street Cottages, Langley, WA byRoss Chapin Architects。Photo: Ross Chapin Architects]
We at BUILD have been hard at work designing five new cottage developments for the年代isters Woodlands Developmentin Sisters, Oregon. Rather than taking the traditional route and building about 40 single-family homes, our developer clients opted for 100 cottages, which is a more affordable option than the cost of an individual home. These cottage clusters are located in the protected center of the development, among 500 existing ponderosa pines, and they’re only a five-minute walk to downtown Sisters.
[年代isters Woodlands Development, Sisters, OR. Image: BUILD LLC]
年代ome cottage developments offer 2 or 3 models, with the option to change the exterior paint color to provide a sense of individuality. We thought we could do better. We’ve designed 7 unique models, each with a mirrored counterpart, that present a diverse mix in eachpocket neighborhood. Rather than playing paint-by-numbers, we opted to use the same exterior materials for each cottage – charred larch siding, standing seam metal roofs, and natural wood porches – and rely on different forms to create uniqueness. The result is an elegant and sophisticated overall feel to each neighborhood. Currently, 6 cottages are nearing completion with 15 more about to move into construction. Stay tuned for details about the extensive landscape installation, and more lessons learned!
[年代isters Woodlands Development, Sisters, OR. Image: BUILD LLC]
Cheers from Team BUILD!