By Irby Park
Nestled in a pastoral setting off Snow Hill Road in Ooltewah, Thunder Farms offers a limited number of estate tracts in an electronic gated community with fenced roads curving through the rolling landscape.
A community lodge, tranquil lake and a mile of shoreline on Wolftever Creek along with stables and pastureland for horses are among the amenities in the premier gated estate community.
Twenty-one estate tracts make up Thunder Farms with tracts still available ranging from 3.3 acres to 5.8 acres and priced from $125,000 to $280,000. The prime tracts on Majestic Tears Lake have been sold, but one is the site of a spec (speculative) home priced at $1.5 million. That home being built by Walters Construction is located on a 4.48-acre tract on the lake.
Two other tracts with lake frontage are still available.
Crye-Leike, Realtors, is now marketing the properties and Jay Robinson said original prices on the estate tracts have been substantially reduced. Working with Mr. Robinson, the Thunder Farms sales team also includes Anne Giada and Carol Russo.
Photo by Irby Park
This electronic gated entrance greets visitors to the Thunder Farms estate tract residential community off Snow Hill Road near I-75 in Ooltewah. The gate for the present will be left open for visitors to view the properties.A community lodge originally was a cabin on the Thunder Farms site and was enlarged by owner John Thornton for his use. It has now been converted to a neighborhood gathering place and plans are being made for additional remodeling. Next to the lodge is a community swimming pool with an adjacent bar and tennis courts.
Extending from the lodge is a community playground bordering the lake with a two-story gazebo on the lake for entertaining and a fishing pier and canoes.
Across the main road, Thunder Farms Trail, are equestrian facilities including a barn and stable for boarding horses, a riding rink with jumps and grazing fields.
In addition to the five-acre stocked lake, residents can enjoy fly-fishing on Wolftever Creek which wraps around two sides of the development and also offers opportunities for hiking and riding along the creek.
One of Tennessee’s famous residents, Peyton Manning, former UT Vols quarterback and now quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, owns the track adjacent to the spec home and is finalizing a contract to start building by early next year.
Photo by Irby Park
Overlooking Majestic Tears Lake off Thunder Farms Trail is this “spec home” under construction with a price tag of $1.5 million. The home sits on a 4.48-acre site on the lake.Thunder Farms, although entered through a gate that is opened with an electronic opener, is being kept open for visitors to come by during the daytime to view the estate tracts and amenities.
To reach the Thunder Farms estate community, from I-75 take exit 11, turn west onto Lee Highway and onto Mountain View Road parallel to the interstate on the west side of the highway. Turn left on Snow Hill Road and go about two miles to Thunder Farms on the left.
According to Mr. Robinson, Crye-Leike will have a Realtor on site every Sunday at the lodge to assist visitors and answer questions and “will be happy to meet anyone interested in these exclusive estate tracts at any time.” The sales team can be reached at 704-5588 or 756-0771.
Residents will be able to enjoy the jogging, walking and nature trails that wind around the beautifully landscaped lush, rolling fields, graced by an inviting stream and tranquil lake.
“Thunder Farms,” said Mr. Robinson, “is a world apart from the rest, a place to call home” only minutes from Hamilton Place, Northgate and Chattanooga.
Photos by Irby Park
This attractively landscaped entrance on Snow Hill Road two miles from I-75 greets visitors to Thunder Farms where estate tracts and a variety amenities including equestrian facilities await new owners.
Kitchen, lounging and recreational facilities are featured in the community lodge, but plans are in the works to remodel and update the building to better serve new residents of Thunder Farms.
A fence circles the cul-de-sac at the entrance to the new spec home under construction at the end of Thunder Farms Trail.
Attractive landscaping sets off the entrance to Braveheart Lane, a cul-de-sac drive off Thunder Farms Trail.
NEW HOME SALES DOWN IN OCTOBER, HOUSING STARTS STEADY, SAYS COMMERCE DEPARTMENTWASHINGTON - Favorable mortgage rates continued to buoy the housing market as sales of new single-family homes hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 928,000 units in October, down just 2.6 percent from a feverish 953,000-unit pace in September, the Commerce Department reported this week.
"We’re still seeing healthy demand for new homes on the strength of mortgage interest rates that have trended below 8 percent in recent months," said Robert Mitchell, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Rockville, Md. "However, given the recent signs of an overall economic slowdown, some downward movement in sales is to be expected heading into the new year."
Nationwide housing starts were virtually unchanged in October from the previous month, rising 0.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.53 million units, the Commerce Department reported.
"This report indicates we are experiencing a good, solid, stable housing market," said Mr. Mitchell. "Our most recent surveys of home builders indicate that they are more confident about the future and that traffic of prospective buyers is on the rise. This is mainly due to the fact that rates on long-term mortgages have declined since May."
Mitchell noted that NAHB anticipates sales of new single-family homes will fall below 900,000 for the year 2000 as a whole, compared to a record-breaking 907,000 sales registered in 1999, and that 2001 will see sales dip below 850,000. "But those would still be very strong numbers on a historic basis," he said.
Sales fell in three out of four regions during October, offsetting significant gains from the month before. The Midwest, South and West saw 8.2 percent, 2.8 percent and 8.9 percent declines, respectively. The Northeast, which had not registered a major gain in the previous month, saw sales climb more than 37 percent.
Mitchell noted that despite the strong overall sales pace, the inventory of new homes for sale rose about 2 percent in October. He