Homesite Clearing Helps Buyers Envision Homes

Old-growth oak tree at The Forest in Sarasota

The Forest at Hi Hat Ranch lives up to its name when it comes to tree cover. Most of the 3 to 5 acre homesites are densely wooded with old growth oaks and other native Florida trees. This makes for beautiful estate living and lush natural settings when building a new home at Sarasota’s premier gated large-lot master planned community. But the dense tree cover can also make it very difficult for prospective buyers to see and understand the configuration of the homesites.

So the development team is setting up a homesite to better demonstrate how a home can integrate on these large estate properties. Clearing has begun on homesite number 1 located across the street from The Forest Welcome Center. A floor plan layout will be applied to the ground, once clearing and preparation are complete, to give visitors a vision of a future home on the site.

“There is so much tree cover here that it can really be difficult for people to understand the vast size of these homesites,” said Brian Wood, The Forest representative for Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “Even many of the existing properties are so well integrated with the surrounding trees that it’s hard to see the homes from the street. This is really what makes The Forest so different from other “estate” neighborhoods–but it also makes it more challenging for people to tell exactly how the homesites are configured.”

Development managing partner Tom Dabney said he selected homesite 1 because it’s close to the main entrance and Welcome Center, and for its unique characteristics.

Homesite_1-The_Forest“This is a beautiful homesite and one that has a variety of features to help demonstrate our unique setting,” said Dabney.”It’s a corner condition, has very dense tree coverage and is on a lake. So it will really allow visitors to understand how all these aspects integrate with the layout of a home.”

Dabney said his crew will be using paint or chalk to layout a floor plan of an actual home offered by one of the custom builders at The Forest.

“We may even stage furniture for special events to really make this a show-and-tell homesite for our visitors,” said Dabney. “People love to look at floor plans and dream of the home. It’s not often they get to do it for a 4,000-plus square foot house at full scale on an actual homesite. It should be a lot of fun for people and we know it will help them to better appreciate what makes The Forest so different from other master planned community estate homes on smaller lots. You definitely don’t get that McMansion feel driving through The Forest.”