Just a bit of background on how we came to decide on Kolter Cresswind Charlotte.  We had been looking at 55+ age-restricted communities for about 7 years, both along the east coast as well as the desert southwest.  Whenever we took vacation, we took the opportunities to seek out 55+ communities and visit them.  This gave us a very good idea as to what we wanted in a 55+ community, what was available, and pricing.

In March 2017, we took a trip to Chattanooga TN as well as South Carolina (along the Charlotte NC border) to visit several communities we found during our internet searches.  One evening in the hotel room during that trip, I came across a single online reference to Kolter Cresswind Charlotte.  When I went to the Kolter website, there was no mention of a Cresswind community in the Charlotte NC area, so I contacted the company to inquire about their plans.  They responded back that Kolter was expecting to break ground in the spring and so I asked them to put me on their mailing list as we were interested.

As I researched Kolter and Cresswind further, it seemed that Kolter had quite a sterling reputation with their 55+ communities.  Cresswind Charlotte would be their first community in North Carolina.  Why was this important?  Just like anyone else new to an area, you don’t know who the good subcontractors are and so you take a chance on who you hire.  Some will work out well, while others will not and will need to be replaced and their unacceptable workmanship repaired.  Sames goes for a builder.

In early May 2017, Kolter had 6 of their 9 models built (the smallest homes) and invited a group of interested people to come visit.  During that visit, we were given a tour of the first phase lots and selected two lots that we were very interested in.  Those side-by-side lots were situated on the only cul-de-sac available at the time, and backed up to property owned by Novant for their new hospital (which was being built).  Between the two properties was a wooded wetland, and this would afford more privacy than most other lots, and this was of great interest to us.

A few weeks later, Kolter contacted us to see if we were still interested.  We were then invited to a “pre-opening” event during which they would hold a “lot lottery”.  We decided to attend and, if we were lucky enough to get one of the two lots we wanted, we would pull the trigger, otherwise we would wait and see what future phases offered.

When we drew #16 in the lottery, we figured the two lots that we were interested in would be gone by the time our turn came.  Fortunately, our choices were the largest lots and had the highest premiums so when our turn came to go into the Sales Office and select a lot, our #1 choice was still open!   We were interested in the Oakside model, the 2nd largest model Kolter offered, and even though they did not have that model constructed, we went ahead and contracted for the Oakside on our first choice lot based entirely upon the floorplan.  We were told that we would be closing “in late November/early December 2018” and that was fine with us.

In addition to getting the lot we wanted and the model home we wanted, the location of Cresswind was ideal to us.  Novant was building a brand new hospital next door to Cresswind, and this was critical given our ages.  The area is convenient to shopping, medical practices, etc. and the Cresswind Community seemed to be well-planned with many amenities.  To say we were excited about our decision and looking forward to the move would be an Olympic Gold Medal understatement!