Michael Barnes Custom Homes

If your looking to build your dream home, Michael Barnes Custom Homes and The Builder Resource Group can make that happen. Mickey has building in middle TN going on 35 years. He is more than awesome! 

Here is a stunning home by Michael Barnes, nearing completion. As always, top of the line features and finishes. Picturesque backdrop at no extra charge! 

If you dream it we can build it! 

Let us take you from Land to Home.

Alana Barnett

Re/Max Elite 615-661-4400

Direct: 615-856-8258

278 Franklin Rd 

Brentwood, Tn 37027

Each Re/Max office is independently owned and Operated

City Girl Gone Country!

I am officially a country girl! I made the move to TN last week, and I feel like we are settling in nicely, and quickly!

Living somewhere is a lot different than visiting somewhere. With every day that passes I am more and more positive this is where I am supposed to be. 

There is grass in my back and front yard!! NYC will always have my heart but I am falling hard for middle Tennessee. 

I have jumped right into work with Alana. Currently helping her with several clients she already has and working on a few new ones that have come in this week. Busy busy! Excited for what the next few months will bring. 

Just wanted to check in with y'all. We will be updating a lot more often, and will be documenting our first build as a duo. 

Cheers! 

New listing!

Can't you just imagine your dream home on this gorgeous 8.5 acre pasture land? It is build ready! No trees to clear. We can start construction right away. Seriously y'all, it is beautiful!

Perked for a 5 bedroom home, this plot has great views, a peaceful creek, and is very private with a shared gated driveway. It is in an amazing location, right in the heart of Leipers Fork in Williamson County. Giddy on up and bring your horses!

Call or email Alana to view this property today! 

Alana Barnett
The Builder Resource Group
Remax Elite
278 Franklin Rd
Brentwood, TN 
615.661.4400 (office)
mls#1549965

Check out this beauty!

When building your custom dream home the possibilities are endless. Here is just one possibility, and it's a good one. This gorgeous 4 bedroom 4 bath home was just completed last month. What is so great about our builder is that the standard features in all our homes are not standard at all! Hardwood flooring, granite, stainless steel appliances, crown and base molding. Anything you want we can do! These homes are built to last! I can't imagine ever wanting to leave your custom built home, but if that day comes, the resale will be a piece of cake. Check out this beauty, photographed by yours truly, Alana. (Did we forget to mention she is also an amazing photographer?)

Nestled among these green rolling hills...

Stunning dining room.

Fireplace and coffered ceilings.

I would cook in this kitchen every day!

Walk in closet? Yes please!

His and hers showers!!

I want to take a bath in there right now!

Alana Barnett
The Builder Resource Group
Remax Elite
278 Franklin Rd
Brentwood, TN 
615.661.4400 (office)

Kitchen Design Ideas

Now for the fun part! Designing my home. Before any building begins, I get to have fun deciding what I want each room to look like. Every week I will dedicate a post to a specific room and store all my ideas for my future build right here. This week,  my favorite room in the house, the kitchen!

I absolutely love kitchen design. This is the room people spend a lot of their time at home in. From Breakfast to dinner to entertaining, it is used very often so of course it has to be beautiful and inviting. Since my home is going to be completely custom I am able to pick everything out, from the ceiling to the floor. But for this post I will focus on the main features in the kitchen: cabinets, countertops, backsplash and sink specifically. Here is a little collage I threw together a while back when I started thinking about what I want my dream kitchen to be like. I love the waterfall look when it comes to finishing the edge on counters. A wood butcher block center island would be really cool paired with white marble on the perimeter counters. The mix of finishes adds a ton of interest.

Being from the city, I like clean lines and the minimal look, but since I will be building in the country I can afford to go a little more traditional. I will still have that modern feel though. I call this design style Country Chic. Thinking about doing two toned kitchen cabinets. Gives it that custom feel! Grey and White? Here are a few inspiration designs I am digging! 

Two tones cabinets and that apron front sink!

Grey and White cabinets and white subway tiles, love this
design from The Inspired Room

I love the butcher block island in this one.

Big News!

Can't talk the talk with out walking the walk! I have been back and forth between Nashville and NY, but I'm about to make Nashville my permanent residence. While I love my twin sister and have missed being near her for the past 10 years, I don't think living with her is going to work for very long. I couldn't decide on which direction to go as far as my living situation goes, but after spending some serious money on rent in NYC the past decade, I feel like I am ready to commit to buying. And if I'm buying why not buy new? Brand new! And custom build it exactly how I want! My dream home! This is extremely exciting. And it will be super fun having y'all (practicing my country slang) join me on my journey from Land to Home. 

I haven't yet explored all the surrounding areas of Nashville, so I still have some looking to do before I settle on location. Alana will be taking me to check out some available land. Looking for the perfect spot to build my perfect home. I will keep you posted on my progress! 
While I don't have location, I can still search floorplans and decide on features and finishes! And even better, style of home! So in the mean time I will share some options I am considering for my new build! Here are a few gorgeous homes that are possibilities for me. Really the possibilities are endless when building a new home. That's what makes this so amazing. Which style do you like best? How will I ever decide?

Cozy and Rustic

Plenty of space

Country retreat

Quaint and beyond charming

Castle and Call it a day. Just kidding!
This one won't do, there isn't a moat or a draw bridge.

The Interviews

Wrapping up our first week we are going to let you all into our personalities a little more by interviewing each other. We don't want to come off all technical all the time. We both love life and are happy to be showing y'all a little of ours.

Lex: Your favorite thing about TN.
Alana: All of the gorgeous green rolling hills, open farmland, and horses. And of course the great live music everywhere, and going dancing at the honky tonks downtown!

Alana: What do you love about TN?
Lex: It's picturesqueness. Now that's a fun word! I love that you can go from city to country and back to city within a 30 minute drive. Coming from NY, I never thought I would like country living, but I love having all this beautiful land around me. And its so nice for my babes to be able to run around. Only slightly better than our front yard in Brooklyn aka the sidewalk.

Lex: Fondest childhood memory of us?
Alana:  Rearranging our room for sure. Sharing a room with two beds we had to get creative, we changed the design around often. It's something I love to do for my 9 year old son, Camren. Sometimes I'll rearrange it, while he is out for a fun surprise. When he comes home he is always so excited to see it.

Alana: What was it like growing up with a twin?
Lex: Automatic BFF. Lots of good memories. One thing that was kind of annoying was being called "twin" all the time. Or being referred to as "the twins". Like we were one in the same. Eh, I came out of it OK. I guess it was because people couldn't tell us apart. I don't see why.

Lex: Favorite thing to do in your free time?
Alana: I love photography. One of my favorite things to photograph are our builds from start to finish. I really enjoy shooting interiors of homes and landscapes as well.

Alana: And your fave thing to do in your free time?
Lex: I love discovering new restaurants, eating good food and drinking French wine.  I'll admit I'm a bit of a wine snob. But the nerd in me loves to read and write. When I have extra time I try to add some pages to a novel I am working on.

Thanks for following our first week! Lots more to come. Enjoy your weekend.

Cheers!

"The Twins" :)

The Low Down on Land

Building your dream home doesn't have to be a nightmare. Here are a few things to consider when choosing land for a new construction home.

When choosing land, there are three important facets to consider:

Country vs. City

Unimproved vs. Build-Ready 

Lot vs. Acreage

Location! Prices vary considerably from one place to the next. 
City vs. Country 

You will get a lot more bang for your buck going country. You can get significantly larger lots for the same price if not drastically less out in the country than in the city. And when I say country you can still be a short 20-30 minutes from downtown!  Alana will throw on her cowgirl boots and take you out to the country and find you a great spot to build on. But if you want that city feel it's definitely doable. You won't get the space you would building in the country, but you get the convenience and buzz of city life. 

Trees please! Or no trees please.

Wooded vs. Cleared

When going with a heavily wooded parcel of land, you have to keep in mind there will be extra cost for tree removal. But there are perks to choosing a wooded lot. You have mature trees you can decide which ones stay and which ones go. This adds character to your home, and can also provide whatever amount of privacy you want. Tree removal runs anywhere from 10k- 20k per acre depending on area you are in. Remember when looking for land keep in mind these extra costs and when making an offer present this to the seller and you may be able to negotiate the asking price. All of these costs will be factored into your construction loan. A cleared lot is great for those who don't want to bother with that extra work.

HOA or NO way!
Residential lot vs. Unimproved tract
When buying unimproved tracts there will be additional costs for things like electricity, telephone, street access (longer drive ways on larger land) water availablility, and septic system installation. These additional costs reflect in the price of the lot, unimproved tracts will be less because they cost more to get build ready. Residential lots generally have everything ready to go, and we are able to start building pretty quickly, once permits are pulled! Different subdivisions will have different CC&R's (covenants, conditions, and restrictions)​ monthly HOA fees, Sq Ft minimums and much more. With no subdivision or out in the country you don't have that to worry about, you can normally build whatever your heart desires, with no  association fees!!

We are all visual people, so here come the pictures!

Enchanted forest aka Wooded

Cleared, and ready to go!

Residential equipped with neighbors

Alana Barnett
The Builder Resource Group
ReMax Elite TN 
615.661.4400 (office)

Williamson County Tennessee

Places in Williamson County to buy or build your home in today. Its ridiculous how hot Nashville and it's surrounding areas are. Heck, between the both of us, we have lived in L.A., NYC, Las Vegas, and Florida and we both agree, Nashville wins hands down! What's great about this super city is it's all those cities, rolled into one, and packaged in a sweet southern demeanor. Don't get us wrong we love all our cities, but Nashville is fast growing and we can tell you why.

Williamson County is one of THE places to live. The rate that land is selling and homes are being built is proof. Why is it so pop? We would be here all day if we listed everything great about Williamson County so here's just the tip. Great schools, conveniently located 20 minutes from Downtown Nashville, countless amazing restaurants, Red Pony, Saffire, Cork and Cow, and Wild Ginger just to name a few. If you're looking for a great craft cocktail, Grays on Main is the place to go. It's a really cool speakeasy located in downtown Franklin. Speaking of downtown Franklin, it is such a quaint and charming downtown, with so much to offer, shops, restaurants and monthly art and music festivals. There's nothing not to love about Franklin, TN. It even made the top 100 cities to live in list!

Brentwood, where our office is located, is another city between Franklin and Nashville, and a very desirable area to live in. Again with great schools and fabulous lots available, it is most definitely a prime location. 

Now if you are looking for something just a little further out in the country but still close enough to it all, take a ride down this 2 lane road, through a 1 horse town called Leipers Fork. With beautiful rolling hills, and some of the richest farmland in Tennessee, you can sit back, relax on your front porch in a rocking chair and take in those breathtaking Tennessee sunsets! Home to the original Pucketts Grocery and Restaurant, which has live music nearly every night.  Its such a friendly, peaceful town with so much perfectly gorgeous land to build your Country Dream Home on!! You will fall in love with Leipers Fork.

There are so many other areas in Williamson County to check out, like Thompson's Station, a pastoral setting located just south of Franklin, and College Grove, one of Williamson County's earliest communities. Both have many gorgeous parcels of land available to build on. 

And now for a little video action! Here Alana talks a little about the equestrian community of Saddle Springs, located in Williamson County. We will touch on more equestrian communities next week, they are so cool they need their own dedicated post! 

When you are ready to build that dream home send us an email. LandToHomeTN@gmail.com

The Builder Resource Group
Remax Elite
278 Franklin Rd
Brentwood, TN 
615.661.4400 (office)

Steps to Building your Dream Home

You've been searching for your dream home. You've looked at countless homes but you just haven't found The One. Either the kitchen is too small, the master bath has an old shower, or there's no bathroom on the first floor. That's where we come in. We can build exactly what you want, where you want, for less! Gosh we love saying that, because it's true! 

Working with The Builder Resource Group at ReMax Elite, Alana is current on the best parcels of land available. We work closely with several sought after builders that build beyond gorgeous custom homes. We are all about quality. Some of the standard features in all of our homes are: wide plank hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, granite in all the wet areas, 10 ft+ ceilings. You can go with a standard build, but if you want to add some personal flare and aren't quite sure where or how to add that extra interest, this is where Lex comes in. She can help with all the fixings. From drive way to sofa, we customize your house to your needs. All this can happen within 5-6 months of finding your perfect piece of land. It's such an exciting process and we love being part of it. 

Let's give you a rundown on steps to building your dream home. 

1. First things first. Land! 

Alana will find you the perfect parcel of land to build your perfect home on. Being that this is her specialty, she knows the market and what's out there. You will no doubt get the best deal for the lot you decide on. She is a bit of an expert negotiator. And even better she will be sure you are building in an area where the comps are priced where they need to be. This is how you build into equity. It's usually costs less to build your home than what it will appraise for once built. Score!

2. Pick your floorplan! 

Probably the most exciting part of this process, next to walking into your brand new home, is deciding on a floorplan. This should be done simultaneously with step one. There are so many plans to choose from you will definitely find one that suits your needs exactly. We even have an in house architect that can modify an existing plan or create a totally new one for you! We can help you with this step so that you are not overwhelmed. Lex actually loves this part! 

3. The fixings!

Again this is where Lex comes in. You will need to decide on things from flooring to crown molding and in between. Some people love doing this on their own, and others trust us with this step. 

Once you have decided on the floorplan and features you want, you will get a total price for the build, and that price never changes, promise!

4. Sell your current home!

Yep, Alana does that for you too. Man this girl rocks! While your home is being built she will list your home and get it sold!

5. Watch your dream home become reality! By far our favorite step. It's beyond exciting watching a home being built. Everything brand new and all yours just the way you want it. 

Here are some pictures of projects the team at The Builder Resource Group have completed, and some we currently have underway.

This is just one example of a gorgeous home we can build for you at $120-$200 per sq foot, depending on floorplan, your personal taste, and the neighborhood you choose, plus the cost of land. We would live in this home in a heartbeat! 

Shoot us an email today for more info! LandtohomeTN@gmail.com

The Builder Resource Group
Remax Elite
278 Franklin Rd
Brentwood, TN 
615.661.4400 (office)

Introducing Land to Home

Hey there. Welcome to our blog Land to Home! Allow me to introduce myself and my twin sister Lex!

My name is Alana and I am a full service Realtor in the greater Nashville area. I work with The Builder Resource Group, at ReMax Elite. While I am able to help you with all your real estate needs, I have special interest and knowledge in new construction homes. I help my clients find the perfect piece of land and then build their dream home on it! Buying a resale home can be stressful, and building one can seem daunting, but that's what I am here for. I make the whole process, from Land to Home, seamless and smooth!!

Lex here! I am a real estate agent and interior designer from NYC. I have been designing homes, in the greatest city in the world, for the past few years. When I heard what my sister was doing, I hopped on a plane and headed to Nashville to see what all her excitement was about. Well, I am confident in saying this city gives NYC a major run for it's money, at nearly half the cost of living!! I will always love you NY, but I am quickly falling in love with Tennessee.

Alana and I are so happy to be working together, finally. Twins on a mission! We are here to show you how easy it is to build your dream home. We will be going over the process of going from land to home. Talking about awesome neighborhoods in and around Nashville. Places that are hot now, and places that are sure to be hot in the near future. From residential lots to rural lots we are going to cover it all.

Our goal with Land to Home is to build stronger more progressive communities, creating neighborhood wealth. And help our clients build into equity.

Imagine living in a home designed specifically for you and your needs. Your dream home.

Who wouldn't want to be the first person, ever, to sit upon their porcelain throne?  Brand new everything!! Why buy used?? 

Email us for more info LandToHomeTN@gmail.com 

The Builder Resource Group
ReMax Elite
615.661.4400 (office)
278 Franklin Rd.
Brentwood, TN