Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 11, 2011
Joomas’ Lakes at Standifer offer dreamy features
Erica Tuggle
Builder Mark Jooma and his Realtor wife, Kelly Jooma, work together to market and sell the Lakes at Standifer properties. These residences offer fine amenities such as granite countertops in the kitchen and vanity style cabinets in the bathrooms as well as outdoor features like lighted mailboxes and sidewalks around the entire subdivision.
- Photo provided
Most families’ dream houses are situated on the lake, close to their workplace, and feature amenities especially tailored to their lifestyle. Finding all this in a prime location was difficult before the Lakes at Standifer subdivision began. Now, it’s a place many are joining and calling home.
The Lakes at Standifer is a mere three miles from the Volkswagen Plant, and is just down the road from Hamilton Place Mall. Kelly Jooma, the Keller Williams exclusive listing agent of the Lakes at Standifer properties, says that once she saw developers scouting out the area, she knew she had to be a part of this development.
Kelly’s husband, Mark Jooma, the head of K & M Builders, is the developer and exclusive builder for this subdivision that Kelly tipped him off to. He has built homes in Sunset Ridge in Ooltewah and homes in Atlanta, Ga., from the $150,000 to $2 million range.
The Lakes at Standifer properties will feature 84 lots upon completion, including 14 lake lots. Forty of these homes have been already built, and currently six are under construction. Kelly says that Mark has about a five to eight month build time on these houses, depending on the weather. Prices of the homes range from $180,000 to $280,000.
Kelly is a relatively new agent, but with that brings a clean slate and remains free from the jaded past years of the market slump. She grew up and met Mark in Memphis, Tenn., and the couple has been married for 20 years. Kelly says she wanted to get her hands on marketing of Lakes at Standifer, and knew she could do it with her background in retail before she took a 18-year break to raise the Jooma’s three kids, ages 18,16 and 13.
Kelly had taken care of the rental homes Mark owned before getting her real estate license, and felt she was ready to branch out into real estate even further. Now, she gets to meet new people and do all the advertising and marketing to complement Mark’s beautiful and detail perfect home building.
The 12 available floor plans of these homes range from 1,450 to 2,900 square feet with basement and single floor homes available. These home exteriors are stone, brick and hardwood siding, which give them a strong and bold appearance, Kelly says. Inside, granite countertops in the kitchens, hard wood and tile flooring, stainless steel kitchen appliances, crown moldings, specialty ceilings and vanity style bathroom cabinets complete the elegant look.
Within the neighborhood are more luxuries such as lighted mailboxes, a sidewalk that goes around the entire subdivision and is great for dog walking, and seating areas throughout. Upcoming for the properties is a common area to be added near the retaining pond. This covered area will be great for picnics and birthday parties for residents, and will be available to them at no charge, Kelly says.
“Right now, we have a lot of older retired folks and new couples moving in, and want to fill that in with families, and that’s why are adding the common area,” she says. “If you look at any of the other subdivisions around here, you aren’t going to find that.”
This new area will also be a great vantage point for the several times a year when flocks of geese come in by the hundreds to visit the property, which Kelly says is a lot of fun for both kids and adults and adds to the peaceful atmosphere of the community.
“We just think living on the lake is a lot of fun,” she says. “So far, the three clients we have out there really enjoy it.”
Although no crime has been reported at the Lakes at Standifer, the Joomas are being proactive and have partnered with the sheriff’s department to form a neighborhood watch for May. During this, Kelly is bringing in other agents to saturate the area and get all of their homeowners involved.
Being a husband and wife team is actually a lot of fun, Kelly says.
“We are two peas in a pod and are good at knocking off of each other. We will go over together a lot of his building plans,” she says.
Kelly does the interiors for all the houses with paint and putting combinations together using her retail experience, and helps to provide a second opinion in the building process.
She says, “For something that I think is a good idea that he doesn’t, we kind of just combine what we think is best for the Lakes at Standifer and go from there. I enjoy it and we do a lot of open houses with out of the box ideas.”
This out of the box approach to open houses includes having Keller Williams guys up at the road with signs to bring clients in, doing surveys and cooking in the kitchens of the houses, giving away gift certificates and many things other agents just don’t do, Kelly says. With half of the properties completed for the project, Kelly says she can’t wait to see the other half and meet the clients who will call these places home.
The Joomas live and, in their spare time, work on their family farm. The whole family is active in rescuing senior horses and are big farmers. Last year, they had nine horses at one time, which was overwhelming, but rewarding as well, Kelly says.
“When I’m not here, I’m out there in cowboy boots and jeans,” Kelly says. “A lot of my renters up here think that’s hilarious because they see me like this [in business attire and then I have shown up in boots and jeans.”
Regardless of whether Kelly or Mark are on the farm or on the building site, they are always within reach and ready to make the lake home we’ve all fantasized about a reality.
For more information on the Lakes at Standifer, visit www.lakesatstandifer.com.
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