Building New with Joe & Aleesha

At Eastbrook Homes, our dedication to meeting the long-term needs of our homeowners allows us to build not only homes, but communities and memories that can be shared from generation to generation. Our home building process is tailor-made to meet each family where they’re at, whether moving from across the street or across the country. Eastbrook Homes makes home building among the stunning landscapes and lakeside beaches of West Michigan and the Greater Lansing Area easy and accessible. Just ask Joe and Aleesha!

Hailing from the mountain peaks of Colorado, Joe and Aleesha decided to build a new home with Eastbrook after a few gentle nudges from their hockey-loving son. Captivated by West Michigan’s enjoyable weather, family-friendly seasonal events, and unexpected familial ties to Michigan soil, they were encouraged to take the leap into their home building journey despite the cross-country logistics. 

This building journey is unique because the home’s progress is being captured by a timelapse camera! Join in as we learn more about Joe and Aleesha’s dream home journey and check out the time-lapse camera feed below to watch their gorgeous new home take shape! 

Tell us a bit about your home building journey. When did you know you wanted to build a new home and what brought you to that decision?

We had made flight arrangements, from Colorado to Michigan, to look at houses in Grand Haven and Holland with our realtor. As the week of departure progressed, one after another, all of the homes we were planning on viewing went under contract. So we decided to look at showcase/spec homes and new build options. 

We decided to go with building our new home so it would have all of the features we were looking for. Our last home was a spec home. We had no input for choices and decided our next home would have more of what we wanted.

How did you find Lincoln Pines and what about that community made you want to build there?

We were living in Colorado and had been looking online at houses in Florida, the Carolinas, and Georgia for a few months. Our son, half-jokingly, suggested a place with more hockey rinks, like Michigan. He had just finished his hockey season in New Hampshire and had driven cross-country to Colorado. One of his stops along the way was in Holland, where he stayed with a former teammate and visited the Tulip Time Festival. He said he thought we would really like the area. 

I thought I would do research and tell him why Michigan wouldn’t be our next home (I was thinking about the cold weather). After doing some research, I was pleasantly surprised by everything I found, including the longer growing season due to the lake effect. The weather is more temperate compared to where we were living in Colorado; Grand Haven doesn’t get as cold in the winter or as hot in the summer. And, we would be only a 3-hour drive from where our son is playing college hockey.

Our son sent us a link to a house he thought we would like. It was Eastbrook Homes’ Maxwell home plan. I checked out the Eastbrook website and found the Lincoln Pines community. All of the beautiful trees in the community really appealed to us. 

When I shared my findings with my husband, he looked at me, surprised – Lincoln Pines is very close to where his grandmother’s farm was before it became part of Hofma Park. I had no idea. It was meant to be!! My husband had visited the area many summers as a child. Both of his parents grew up in Grand Haven before moving away for a life in the Navy. We visited Grand Haven for the Coast Guard Festival in 2012 and we really enjoyed the beach, the lake, and the downtown restaurants and shops.

After briefly considering a spec house in the neighborhood, we decided we wanted to start from scratch and choose all the finishing touches for a home on a quiet lot with beautiful trees. We decided on the Maxwell plan; the same plan our son thought we would like!

Describe your home building design process. How did you choose your home plan, selections, and features?

At our age, we knew we wanted a ranch home. The Maxwell plan had all of the spaces we wanted for our new home. It was important to have 3 bedrooms on the main floor; the owners’ suite, a guest room, and Joe’s home office. The flex space will be used as a formal dining room, something our previous home lacked and we had missed having for entertaining.

The selections were pretty easy for us. We had some experience building 2 other homes over the years and we had also lived in a spec home most recently. Some home plan options included things we hadn’t thought of and ended up really liking. We decided on a 3 car garage, white kitchen cabinets, counter, and backsplash, and a finished bedroom/bathroom/rec room in the basement.

Our home design process was 100% virtual. We were unable to be in Michigan for the design process because of Joe’s hip replacement, work, listing our house, and packing up everything for the move out of Colorado. Megan, Matt, and Matthew from Eastbrook Homes easily guided us through the process step by step. It was wonderful!

How has your home building experience been so far?

After the necessary permits for the new phase were complete, work on the house has been fantastic! It is so fun to see the constant progress and the weekly video from Melissa! Exciting to see progress as it gets scheduled and shared with us. Our Eastbrook Homes Construction Manager, Travis, has been very responsive to our questions, and that communication means a lot to us.

What are you most excited about for your new home?

We are living in an apartment while the house is being built, so we are very excited to enjoy the Michigan room (with all of those windows and the view of those beautiful trees), the exercise space in the basement, and the large covered front porch and backyard deck. We’re also looking forward to letting our dog run free in the large yard instead of having to leash her up for 4-6 walks per day!

Are you interested in building a customizable home in an amenity-filled, family-friendly West Michigan or Greater Lansing community? Eastbrook Homes is here to help! We proudly tailor our home building approach to help achieve your long-term goals, often without you needing to leave your living room! Whether you’re a long-time Michigan resident or an out-of-state homeowner looking for a new adventure, we have the perfect move-in ready home, customizable home plan, and welcoming community for you. Connect with an Eastbrook Sales Agent here to learn more or click here to download our free Interactive Home Building Guide.