A few weeks ago we introduced the latest Seabrook contest to find out what your dreams of an “Ultimate Beach Home” are. We’ve received many responses of how you imagine you perfect beach house and are looking forward to many more entries in the next couple weeks (just drop us a comment below to enter).

In the meantime, we sat down with our Sales team and asked them how they picture their “Ultimate Beach Home”. Here is what they had to say:

Jennifer Lampe

“My ideal beach home is a cottage that sits up high on a hill overlooking the ocean. There is a winding path through a meadow of tall grasses and wildflowers welcoming you to the brightly painted front door and garden full of flowers. There are lots of windows in my little sea cottage and the home is bright and cheery even when it is rainy and windy outside. A huge river-rock fireplace makes the family room cozy a stormy day and it is the perfect place for a quiet conversation or to enjoy a game of backgammon in the evening. The kitchen is always full of delicious smells and the laughter of many meals shared with family or friends.

Although it is light and airy, this cottage is like a boat – even the stairwell has storage nooks to display books, shells, and precious beach-finds. On a lazy, sunny afternoon, big comfy pillows offer the perfect place to lounge while enjoying the fresh salty air blowing inside. Down the hallway, the bedrooms are tucked into the eaves with colorful quilts and crisp white linens – and there is always an extra bed for guests to stay the night!

More Info on Seabrook’s Team

Darci Roloff Keefer

“Here is my ultimate beach town to have a beach house in:

And finally, knowing that someday our children will understand what a gift it truly is to be surrounded by people who love them, from family to our lovely neighbors and friends.

More Info on Seabrook’s Team

Holly Emerson

“When I think of my ultimate beach house, the first thing that comes to mind is having a large enough space to surround myself with friends and family.

The beach is much used by both people and dogs, so an outdoor shower is a must after a walk, surf, or bonfire on the beach.”

More Info on Seabrook’s Team

Robyn Roloff

“The Ultimate would be simple! It would be where our grandchildren would rather sit and watch the sea birds and waves than play with their games. There would be great music playing from nowhere with the sound of the ocean as background music. The flower boxes on the outside of the weathered shingle siding would be filled with trailing posies.

We would welcome our friends and family to share our precious hours….The evening would come, the lights would be dim and the evening sun would be streaming through the front windows. Grandpa and I would be sitting on the front porch holding hands…”

More Info on Seabrook’s Team

While our Sales team may be creative, this contest is all about you and your ideas! So what are you waiting for? Share your “ultimate beach sanctuary” with us in the comment section below and win free tickets to tour the 2010 Coastal Living Magazine Ultimate Beach House plus other goodies like an individual tour of the idea house and 2 Seabrook glass floats!

You have until July 10 to submit your dream home with the winner announced right here on the Seabrook Blog on July 16 – the opening day of the Coastal Living Magazine Ultimate Beach House!

Thank you for participating and good luck!

This week’s neighborhood preview features Lily Walk, Seabrook’s newest neighborhood.

Lily Walk is a unique type of neighborhood for Seabrook. Situated just east of South Alder Park, it will feature 16 homes surrounding a grass park in the middle. The views of many of the homes will look eastward towards a future organic farm. A much sought-after feature at our beach town – the pedestrian promenade – will encircle the neighborhood. In addition, multiple walking trails will be accessible just east of South Alder park, in the preserve area known as East Alder park.

Six new house plans are being introduced for this part of Seabrook: Bluebell, Primrose, Beach Daisy, Lily, Trillium, & Huckleberry. They all come in different varieties and feature one or two stories with total square footage ranging from 416-1,008 sq.ft. You can see all the details for the houses in the Lily Walk package below.

We are very excited for this new part of Seabrook and there is already a strong interest shown. Since the neighborhoods introduction two weeks ago, we have already sold 3 new beach homes. In the meantime, we have put together a package of all the Lily Walk details for you to look at your own leisure. Here is what all you can find in the PDF binder below:

• Streetscape Rendering
• 19 Home Plan Flyers
• Master Plan Illustrative
• Seabrook Lot Map

The file is pretty big and takes a bit to download, but it is surely worth the wait. To view it, just click on the file below or right-click it and save it on your computer.

Lily Walk Binder

All of the home plans are already listed on our website, so you can browse our listings for more information. As always, don’t hesitate to contact us either through the comment section below or by calling (360) 276-0099.

Starting with last week’s Beach Camp Cottage neighborhood preview, the Seabrook Blog will feature weekly updates on the fast-moving progress around Seabrook. Today, we take a quick glance at the Compass Park cottages, located South of the North Alder Cottage Court.

The four beach houses comprising this sunny Compass Park corner are an ideal mix of size, design, and location. Each Compass Park cottage is about 1,500 sq.ft. with an attached garage (a new facet of Seabrook) and natural cedar shingles. A second story walkout balcony faces South, making the front of the house one of the warmest and most desirable places to soak up the sun.

Inside, the houses welcome you through a porch to an open floor plan – this truly captures the feeling of being at the beach. Three bedrooms on the top floor circle a media/family room.

Three of the four houses have already been sold and two are currently under construction. The first homeowners are expecting to move in during the middle of March and are very excited for their beach house to be completed. And you know what? So are we!

Which part of town would you prefer, the Beach Camp Cottages or Compass Park? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure to check back next week for our oceanfront Northwest Glen neighborhood update!

Seabrook’s Beach Camp Cottage neighborhood, featuring ten cabins representing true Olympic Peninsula travel traditions, is now completely sold out after a happy family from Seattle purchased the last remaining cottage.

In just over six months, all ten beach cabins were quickly gobbled up, and most of the homeowners are already moving in. This popular part of Seabrook will have all the expected modern day conveniences, yet include casual detailing inside and out for a true “cabin camping” experience. Some of the new homeowners have already signed up for the Seabrook Cottage Rentals vacation rental program. This way, the beauty of these little jewels can soon be experienced by everyone.

The cottages will be accessed through a rustic National Park Style-inspired archway and will encircle an intimate grassed park area. The park will be outfitted with a neighborhood rock boulder campfire ring, log benches, outdoor barbeques, and a sprinkling of native forest shrubs and wildflowers. Work on all of these details will begin shortly after all the houses are completed.

As we close the curtains on the Beach Camp Cottage neighborhood, another small part of town is emerging as the place to be for 2010. Lily Walk, our newest neighborhood addition, has to be the cutest and most affordable way to create memories at the beach here at Seabrook. Click here to see detailed homeplans of the houses in Lily Walk!

As the summer is slowly progressing into its final stages, sales at Seabrook could not be moving at a faster pace! People have been visiting Seabrook’s Sales Office in record numbers which has led to a big wave of sales!

Click on the image below to see the full list of sales and closings that have been made so far in 2009. The list is going to grow, however, so check back on our blog for the latest updates on Seabrook’s growth.

In an e-article recently published by Kiplinger.com, they outlined the four most important questions to ask yourself when considering buying a second home. Suffice to say, we couldn’t agree more!

First: How accessible is the property?
Kiplinger: Gas prices dim the appeal of a place that’s hundreds of miles away. You can usually hop a cheap flight to Florida, but that’s not necessarily true of Corpus Christi, Tex., or Durango, Colo.

Seabrook: We always stress to potential buyers that the way to reap the most benefit from a second home or investment property is by using it as often as possible. For investment properties, it makes sense to maximize both income and time spent at your property by spending that time visiting during the off-peak seasons. Nevertheless, Seabrook inherently fosters lifelong memories and how can you create memories without investing some time in a little R&R?

Second: Is the community well planned?
Kiplinger: In rural areas, a beautiful new cabin may adjoin a cluster of rusting trailers.

Seabrook: We’ve got plans for everything!
Third: Is the house in good shape?
Kiplinger: New construction is fine, but an older place or summer home is likely to be the victim of deferred maintenance and premature wear. Instead of asking for a price concession, you may be better off asking the seller to hire a carpenter and a painter.

Seabrook: New construction = ready to enjoy/rent ASAP

Fourth: Will you feel at home there?
Kiplinger: “[...] nothing beats a visit to see if the locale offers what you’re looking for.”

Seabrook: On numerous occasions, our homeowners have said to us that they know their neighbors in Seabrook better than they do their neighbors at their primary residence. This goes back to our detail-oriented planning, but simply put our pedestrian-friendly town plan does wonders for neighborly relations. This being said, we know neighborly relations doesn’t always imply a feeling of home. We firmly believe home is where the heart is and we invite you to take Kiplinger’s advice. Your heart will not want to leave!

Shown below are the footings of Seabrook’s NW Glen’s lot 159. DO NOT be fooled, these are no ordinary footings! 40% of these foundation footings are made up of fly ash rather than concrete.

What exactly is fly ash and why do I want incinerated insects in my foundation, you may ask?

Don’t worry, here is the technical scoop:

Fly Ash

Power plants fueled by coal produce more than half of the electricity we consume in the United States today. But in addition to electricity, these plants produce a material that is fast becoming a vital ingredient for improving the performance of a wide range of concrete products. That material is fly ash. Fly ash is comprised of the non-combustible mineral portion of coal. When coal is consumed in a power plant, it is first ground to the fineness of powder. Blown into the power plant’s boiler, the carbon is consumed — leaving molten particles rich in silica, alumina and calcium. These particles solidify as microscopic, glassy spheres that are collected from the power plant’s exhaust before they can “fly” away — hence the product’s name: Fly Ash.

Chemically, fly ash is a pozzolan. When mixed with lime (calcium hydroxide), pozzolans combine to form cementitious compounds. Concrete containing fly ash becomes stronger, more durable, and more resistant to chemical attack. Mechanically, fly ash also pays dividends for concrete production. Because fly ash particles are small, they effectively fill voids. Because fly ash particles are hard and round, they have a “ball bearing” effect that allows concrete to be produced using less water. Both characteristics contribute to enhanced concrete workability and durability. Finally, fly ash use creates significant benefits for our environment. Fly ash use conserves natural resources and avoids landfill disposal of ash products. By making concrete more durable, life cycle costs of roads and structures are reduced. Furthermore, fly ash use partially displaces production of other concrete ingredients, resulting in significant energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

That, my friends is how you earn one LEED point toward LEED certification!