Dave Osborn, president of Heartland Homes, shows a model home at 17401 Hawks Tree Lane in the Silverhawk addition in northwest Oklahoma City. Despite the housing slowdown, Osborn says Heartland plans to expand its construction efforts next year.PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN
Some house hunters are anxious to move — but only if the new address is near their job, friends and family or even a beloved elementary school.
"We get that all the time, people asking about specific areas,” said Dave Osborn, who is president of Oklahoma City’s Heartland Homes.
Featured Gallery
Advertisement
In response to this — as well as changes in the national home-building industry — Heartland Homes is making a few changes in its business.
While Oklahoma home sales have fallen from mid-2007 highs, but remain at 2003 levels, national home sales are more than 20 percent lower than they were five years ago.
Heartland Homes’ response, in part, is to build in additional parts of the metro area and return to constructing less expensive, starter homes.
Company expands its focus on homes
For the past 10 years, Heartland Homes focused on houses ranging from $160,000 to $225,000.
"These have been our bread and butter. It was the second, move-up homes,” sales manager Mike Wade said recently.
A Heartland starter home starts at about $130,000, which is why Stacey Hyman, a sales manager for Hartford Insurance Co., was able to buy one near Yukon.
Hyman, 27, said she only began looking for a house to buy after her landlord suddenly decided to sell her rental home and rejected her offer.
Now, she is happy to be living in a 1,667-square-foot home of her own, on Middlesbrough Lane in The Meadows at Surrey Hills. The addition is near Hefner Road and N Mustang Road, just south of Northwest Expressway.
"Oh completely. I haven’t had any reason not to be. It’s everything I ever wanted. Anything I needed corrected, Heartland came back and took care of it for me,” she said.
Longevity no problem for city area builder
Osborn said part of Heartland Homes’ "pedigree” is its ownership by Garrett & Co., an Oklahoma City company doing business in oil and gas, insurance and high-tech manufacturing.
The company, started in 1915, also has been one of the developers of The Triangle, The Brownstones at Maywood Park and The Lofts at Maywood Park, all situated downtown.
"We are going to be here,” Osborn said.
He said longevity is an important issue to potential homeowners when they consider their warranty policies, which typically cover home repairs for a year.
"Some of the large builders in Oklahoma City are really having financial difficulties. Some, for all intents and purposes, will not be doing business anymore,” Osborn said.
Staying optimistic about the future
In the past few years, Heartland Homes, with headquarters at 9625 N Robinson, has built mainly in Edmond, Choctaw, Yukon and Mustang.
Next year, the company plans to build more in the northern and southern reaches of Oklahoma City, as well as Moore, Midwest City and Norman.
In all this year, Heartland Homes will build about 60 homes — about five fewer than last year.
In 2009, however, Heartland will increase its home-building budget by 20 percent, Osborn said.
"We are optimistic about our future. Life is about choices. We choose to be optimistic,” Osborn said.
Some of the large builders in Oklahoma City are really having financial difficulties. ... We are optimistic about our future. Life is about choices. We choose to be optimistic.”
Dave Osborn, Heartland Homes president
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
I used to own a heartland home in moore hickory creek addition. It was a huge piece of crap!!!! Ceilings cracked, tape coming off the walls, flooding, very poor workmanship.
Builders hiding behind a corporate veil… what a concept. The owners are untouchable thus unaccountable. Problems arise (always) and you get to talk to a “site manager”, a “decorating specialist”, or a “builder sales associate”.
Very few of these “builder reps” with their business, accounting, marketing, or liberal arts degrees could tell you how to build a doghouse or which end of the hammer to hold, much less the thousands of details involved in building a home.
See Brass Brick Homes… humm… didn’t Ashley “learn” the building game while employed at the “pedigreed” Heartland Homes? Or was it just how to sell?
One of these liberal arts degreed “builder site superintendents” at Heartland Homes told me that the square footage of a living room with 2 story ceiling height contains DOUBLE the actual footage that you can walk on or place furniture in. He says “it takes double the heat & air, so it’s double the footage.” Their “architect” concurred.
Seriously, I asked? Has anyone ever believed your concept?
Three generations of builders. My Dad and Granddad taught me how to build. Why didn’t they tell me to sell my homes by the cubic foot? All these years, I could have been advertising and selling 2,350 sq. ft. homes when they are really only 2,110 sq ft? Jeez, I want to go to school where this new generation of “pretender builders” went.
In my experience, you have a much better chance of home-buying happiness if you know The Builder… Your home town builder.
Here are a few guidelines to get you started. Not enough space to list them all.
~ Shake his hand; smooth and soft? run
~ Is he wearing a tie or high heels? run
~ Is he driving a fancy car? run
~ Is he wearing cologne? run
~ No references? run
~ Wants lots of money up-front? run
~ Listed on a stock exchange? Run like hell!
>
Fourth of July Page
Share your July 4th photos with NewsOK and view other stories and videos.
Multimedia
More Info
Hearland homes neighborhoods
Heartland Homes, which plans to continue increasing the areas where it builds, already maintains a presence in the following areas:
→Avalon Lakes, near SE 15 and Anderson Road in Midwest City. Heartland bought the last 20 lots and is "finishing out the neighborhood,” said Mike Wade, sales manager for Heartland Homes in Oklahoma City. This is a tack the company likes to take, as "a lot of people don’t want to live in a red-dirt area for two years.”
→Chisholm Crossing, near NW 10 and Mustang Road in west Oklahoma City and in the Yukon public school system. Workers are cutting the streets in the addition, which is being developed by Garrett & Co., the company that owns Heartland Homes. More than 400 homes will be built there, Wade said.
→Silverhawk, near NW 178 and N Pennsylvania Avenue in northwest Oklahoma City. The neighborhood, which includes homes in a variety of prices, was built next to a handsome new elementary school, Westfield Elementary School, part of the Edmond school system. A sidewalk connects Silverhawk to the school. When searching for neighborhoods to build in, Wade said, "We look for where folks would want their children to go to school.”
→Forest Brook, near NE 4 and Bryant Avenue in Moore. Heartland Homes is building 23 homes in this new community.
"There are neighborhoods all around it,” said Dave Osborn, Heartland Homes president. Osborn said his company jumped at the chance to build homes in Moore. "We haven’t had a presence in south Oklahoma City and Moore for three or four years and we have had many requests.”
2
Featured Gallery
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
Builders hiding behind a corporate veil… what a concept. The owners are untouchable thus unaccountable. Problems arise (always) and you get to talk to a “site manager”, a “decorating specialist”, or a “builder sales associate”.
Very few of these “builder reps” with their business, accounting, marketing, or liberal arts degrees could tell you how to build a doghouse or which end of the hammer to hold, much less the thousands of details involved in building a home.
See Brass Brick Homes… humm… didn’t Ashley “learn” the building game while employed at the “pedigreed” Heartland Homes? Or was it just how to sell?
One of these liberal arts degreed “builder site superintendents” at Heartland Homes told me that the square footage of a living room with 2 story ceiling height contains DOUBLE the actual footage that you can walk on or place furniture in. He says “it takes double the heat & air, so it’s double the footage.” Their “architect” concurred.
Seriously, I asked? Has anyone ever believed your concept?
Three generations of builders. My Dad and Granddad taught me how to build. Why didn’t they tell me to sell my homes by the cubic foot? All these years, I could have been advertising and selling 2,350 sq. ft. homes when they are really only 2,110 sq ft? Jeez, I want to go to school where this new generation of “pretender builders” went.
In my experience, you have a much better chance of home-buying happiness if you know The Builder… Your home town builder.
Here are a few guidelines to get you started. Not enough space to list them all.
~ Shake his hand; smooth and soft? run
~ Is he wearing a tie or high heels? run
~ Is he driving a fancy car? run
~ Is he wearing cologne? run
~ No references? run
~ Wants lots of money up-front? run
~ Listed on a stock exchange? Run like hell!
>