Why Buy a New Construction Home? – Jessica Seidel of Pahlisch Homes

A conversation with Jessica Seidel of Pahlisch Homes

Karen Malanga: Hi, this is Karen Malanga with another edition of House Talk. I am so happy today to have Jessica Seidel here from Pahlisch Homes. Jessica is the director of marketing. It’s nice to know that Palisch Homes has been building for over 30 years and currently has 85 neighborhoods going on. That represents a huge boom in new constructions.

So, Jessica, could you tell us a little bit about the reasons why people are buying new construction these days?

Jessica Seidel: Yeah! New construction homes offer some really specific advantages for home buyers—peace of mind, knowing that when you buy that home, you’re not going to have to worry about a new roof or how your windows are performing, or any new latest technology. You really get some peace of mind for the stage of your life when you don’t have to deal with the joys of home maintenance and repairs.

Karen: It’s nice to have everything under warranty.

Jessica: Yes, exactly.

So, not only does it give peace of mind, but it also really is on the forefront of things like the best insulation so that your heating bills are as efficient as possible and you’re using the least amount of energy, the best windows so that you’re holding heat in and holding heat out in the appropriate times, and really looking forward into our communities and our homes and how we all want to live as opposed to looking backwards when you’re in a resale or a home that was built when lifestyles were different and sizes of families were different, incomes were different.

Karen: Sure!

Jessica: And so, I always think buying a new home is really like looking towards the future of what you hope your community, your lifestyle and your family will look like in your home.

Karen: Yeah. And I can see changes over time too. Just take, for example, that simple great room, that whole idea of a great room. We didn’t have that a decade ago. Homes didn’t have great rooms. And now, new homes do have great rooms.

And also, when someone comes into a Pahlisch neighborhood, they have—or should have or might have if they’re in there soon enough—a flexibility in choosing a floor plan.

Jessica: Yeah.

Karen: And you don’t get that when you’re buying a resale home.

Jessica: We just had this conversation internally yesterday about at what point do you choose where you want to live versus the house that you want to live in. While you’re searching for a new home, where is that point? And all of us, if we’re in the market for new homes, start thinking about what are the needs of our family size, lifestyle. That really guides all the decisions after that.

And so, to have the opportunity to look at new homes, we’re thinking about lives right now. That really makes a difference.

Karen:  And I think in a smaller community like Central Oregon, we’re blesed with our proximity to the mountain bike trails, the skiing. We used to be so quadrant-specific in Bend. You’ll either live in the northwest, the southwest, the northeast, the northwest. We used to be so specific in Bend where you would say, “Oh, I have to live in the northwest… I want to live in the southwest… I want to live in the northeast or the southeast,” but truly, you can be anywhere within ten minutes here.

And so, I do think people are focusing more on what home fits them better, fits their lifestyle better, and less on what little tinee part of Bend they really are drawn to.

Jessica: Yeah, I think that’s absolutely true. The population growth has also popped up in new, little corners and new communities. I am a true local who grew up here, believe it or not. I’m a Bend High graduate. There’s very few of us still living in the east boundaries. There are these wonderful new, little pockets that didn’t even exist when I was a kid that now are new home communities with trails.

You can ride your bike to the end of that trial, and then have land beyond that where you get to ride your bike. Or there’s a park just beyond the community or within the community. There are all sorts of new, little treasures out there. And so the pocket that you live in is so much less important now.

Karen: Yeah, but the home and the efficiency of the home and how sustainable it is over time I think is becoming more and more important to buyers.

Jessica: Yeah, yeah. I think so.

With this wonderful quality of life that we have here, you don’t necessarily want to spend the time or the money with the new roof or…

Karen: Or in an old house like mine, 1929, I know there’s asbestos in there, and lead of course.

Jessica: Right, absolutely.

Karen: But if I had a new home, some of those environmental issues would not be in that home.

Jessica: Absolutely!

Karen: And so those are some other advantages that I think people have, better indoor quality.

Jessica: Yeah. We’re talking about what other technologies are innovative and really popular in the market right now like recirculating water heaters. We’re talking about that in trillions of new communities that we’re going in. We were talking about, of course, heated of course. It’s not like heated seats in the car. Once you have it, there’s no going back. You can’t go back to cold toes in the bathroom. It doesn’t really work.

Things like the Nest Thermostat which is learning your lifestyle and your behavior to maximize the efficiency of the energy you’re using in your home. There are some really neat and fun things on the horizon.

Karen: Well, Jessica, there are many things that I appreciate about Pahlisch Homes. And when I sell a Pahlisch home, I always leave it with a good feeling and I know that buyers are going to be happy.

One of them is your terrific warranty. And the warranty team is amazing.

But also, I think—and you’re expressing this during our discussion—is the consciousness of how do we make a home better. And so I know that buyers can be secure when they buy a Pahlisch Home. So, how do they get to your website to learn more about all the features that Pahlisch has in these homes and where the neighborhoods are?

Jessica: Right, www.PahlischHomes.com. We just launched a beautiful, new website that we’re madly in-love with. You can all look at beautiful homes all day long. You’ll get a lot of really great information about the different regions we build, the different communities we build, the different price points for from first-time home buyers to the down-sizers at the end of the cycle and everything in between.

Karen: And just for people that aren’t familiar with Pahlisch, how do you spell Pahlisch.

Jessica:  Yes, Pahlisch, P-A-H-L-I-S-C-H.

Karen: Okay, Jessica, thank you for being with us today.

Jessica: Awesome! Thank you, Karen.

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