Take just one step into Curt and Patti Clark’s newly built home in Oshkosh, and it won’t take long to see how much the Clarks love the home they built in 2010.
Patti has a smile on her face when she answers the door. A fire is flickering in the fireplace at 1:30 in the afternoon. Curt ascends the stairs from the split ranch’s “man cave,” as he calls it, where he has undoubtedly been spending some quality man time. Even their dog, Sally, greets me with tail wagging and welcoming kisses as though she’s the happiest dog on the planet! The open-concept living and kitchen area beckons me inside, and makes me feel as though I’m calling on old friends, though we’ve just met. It’s so cozy, I feel as though we should saunter over to the informal dining area and uncork a bottle of wine! It’s no surprise that the Clarks love this beautiful place they call home.
A retirement retreat and resting spot for years to come, the 1,800 square foot home is tastefully appointed with everything the Clarks have always dreamed of in a home. Raised ceilings, graceful archways, wood flooring, and simple, warm, inviting tones are punctuated with accent colors and modern, clean lines. Perfect, according to Patti.
“We love building homes,” says Patti, a former realtor for Adashun Jones, who retired in 2011. “This is the third home we have built, but it’s the one we liked building the most.”
And, oh, do they love building, all right! The Clarks have built three homes within a mile or two of each other over the last 20 years. The first home, a 2,200 square footer, was their first love. Then, an opportunity arose through Curt’s work to build another.
Curt, a retired shop teacher at Oshkosh North High School, was instrumental in starting a building construction class in the Oshkosh Area School District years ago, where students had the opportunity to have hands-on experience building a new home. Eleven homes were built through the program, and the Clarks were fortunate to own one of them.
“It was probably one of the best homes ever built,” Curt said. “The lead builder for the project, John Oman, set the bar for high quality.”
Maybe that house was one of the best, but not the one they loved building the most. That honor belongs to the retirement dream home they have built on Oshkosh’s West side.
Why they loved building their home
Joining the parade! The Clarks will freely admit that they are parade-home “junkies” and that they have been to all of the parades of homes. This fueled their desire to build the perfect home once they were ready to retire. Not only were they able to build their dream home, though, they were fortunate enough to have it featured in the 2010 Fall Parade of Homes – a veritable cherry on top for this parade-loving couple!
A fresh start. Nearing retirement, the Clark’s knew they no longer needed 2,800 square feet of living space. Their two boys, now 26 and 36, had long since moved out of the house and wouldn’t require overnight accommodations since both reside in Oshkosh. Not only did they decide to reduce the square footage by 1,000 square feet, but they also selected all sorts of new home accents that had never been in the Clark’s homes before. An open concept replaced the prior homes’ boxy room styles. Wood flooring shone richly throughout the main living area, where carpet would have been in their prior home. In the kitchen, maple cabinets with modern “pulls,”or handles adorn the cupboards that had been oak as long as the Clarks can remember. The new house reflected the Clark’s parade-home tastes.
A brick-solid builder. As a former realtor with Adashun Jones, Patti had some exposure to Signature Homes, Adashun Jones’ exclusive building subsidiary. Working with a reputable builder who is not only good at what they do, but good at communicating with the client as well, made building their home quite enjoyable, Patti said.
“They did a great job for us,” she said, referring to Signature Homes’ performance. The Clarks praised Signature for cost control, quality, an “immaculate job site,” convenience and good communication. Once they selected most of the home’s finishings at Signature Homes’ showroom in Fond du Lac, they could sit back and watch progress on a personalized website provided to Signature clients anytime they wanted. Despite that, the Clarks still spent every day at the job site, watching the home take shape.
“We loved that we were here every day and took photos and at the end of the day, you could see progress, but no mess. Signature (Homes) kept an immaculate site,” she said.
Energy efficiency. The Clarks were delightfully surprised when Signature Homes brought in a certified Energy-Star rater check the home’s energy-saving performance when all the dust had settled. They were even more surprised with the results.
“They did a blower door test, but accidentally left the garage door open when they were doing it,” Curt recalled. Despite the less than perfect test conditions, the Clark’s home passed the energy efficiency tests with flying colors and is certified as an Energy-Star energy efficient home.
Fabulous financing. After 20 years with their local bank in town, the Clarks had every intention of financing their dream home where they always had. And they did --until a loan-closing glitch broke up their long-time love affair. Despite having to spend additional money to move the construction loan after the closing, the Clarks were determined to take their business elsewhere.
“We were done with that bank!” Patti explained. She remembered getting a realtor’s tour of CitizensFirst’s new HWY 44 location when it first opened, and how she felt so at home and welcomed when she came in – even as a complete stranger to CitizensFirst.
“That’s really important to us, and I think it’s important to a lot of people (feeling at home),” Patti said. “It’s just so nice.”
It didn’t take long, then, for her to make the phone call and get connected with Melissa Marta on CitizensFirst’s home loan team.
“She took care of us,” Patti said. “It took two days to get everything set up compared to the week or two that the other bank had taken. They even had our mortgage loan set up on payroll deduction by then. It was painless, and they listened. They were remarkable!”
His and hers favorite spaces. Patti’s love is not surprisingly the open concept kitchen – the heart of every home, of course! But a close second is the screened-in porch they built adjacent to the informal dining and master bedroom where they can spend time outdoors in warmer weather enjoying Patti’s second passion -- perennials. Curt’s favorite spot in the house? Clearly it has to be the “man-cave” he finished in the basement area. Complete with a flat-screen TV, more deer antlers than I could count, and a bar area stocked with beer, wine, and of course, deer jerky, this lower-level added just the right amount of “yang” to balance out the home’s upper-level “yin!” But that’s not all. From the man cave, Curt has easy access to his other favorite man-space in the house – a spacious, lower-level workshop where he can tinker and toil all day long before retreating over to the man cave for jerky and refreshments.
Building a new home isn’t for everyone. But for the Clarks, building a home not once, not twice, but three times shows just what a match it was for this married couple of 29 years, who now have a home they will love for many years to come!
