Profile of an Allen Edwin Home Buyer - First in a Series

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 First in a series

Jonathan and Kristin Wessell have come a long way since their apartment days at Milham Meadows. Jonathan, who teaches at Western, and Kristin, a nursing student, were married in 2003. Each came with a son from a previous marriage. Chris is now a junior at Portage Northern. Younger brother Jake is a freshman at the same school.

Their new three-bedroom/three-bath home is located in the Meadows/Constitution neighborhood. Since the summer of 2003 when they moved in, the Wessells have completely finished the basement, adding bedrooms for the teenagers and rounding out the bathroom that was roughed in at construction. Today, the spacious basement has a family room, bedrooms for the boys, a third bath and, of course, ample storage space.

“Everyone told us we were nuts. . . .”

Kristin: “We knew we had to make a housing change. The apartment was not a long-term solution. But sharing a bedroom for the first few months was a good experience for the boys. It was a time of bonding and learning about one another.

“When we started to talk about building, everyone told us we were nuts—getting married, blending a family and building a new home. But we really wanted to go new construction if at all possible. We didn’t have the time or know-how to fix things that might go wrong with an older house.

“Besides, the kids were older and into lots of activities, and we wanted to focus on these things as a family. In the end, our payments are about the same for a brand new home as they would have been for an older house—with none of the headaches and risks that can come with buying used.”

“Fabulous.”

That’s the word Kristin uses to describe the Allen Edwin design and building processes.
“They clearly define everything and spell out all the options. All in all, we only had one disagreement. It was about the style of closet door, and Jonathan won.

“Things went pretty smoothly overall. Each step along the way someone was there telling us what was happening. They were very thorough up front so there were no surprises. In fact, it was just the opposite. We ended up getting things we didn’t ask for like that trim on our half wall and these ceiling fans.”

The Allen Edwin connection actually began when Jonathan found a model he liked in Ashton Woods. With some modifications they were able to build basically the same home on the Portage lot near their jobs and the boys’ school. “The whole house was flipped to accommodate this lot,” Jonathan explained. “Flipping it also saved us the expense of building a retaining wall which we would have needed originally. It was fun and exciting to see it come together. Since we were living in an apartment nearby, we rode our bikes over every night to check on the progress.”

A home of their own.

Jonathan and Kristin agree that they probably could not have had a new home without Allen Edwin. They are also in complete agreement on another point. “We have recommended Allen Edwin to other people. And if we were to build again in the future, we’d use them.”

A new Allen Edwin home has had a profound effect on the Wessell family. “On moving day, when everyone was gone, we all sat on the floor and cried because it was finally ours,” Kristin remembers. “Last year we had 14 for Christmas. We never would have been able to do that without this house.”