When Jeff and Susan White set out to buy a new home last year, they were looking for a significant change. For the past decade, they’d lived in a Contemporary-style house on 14 acres in Hanover County, and while they had enjoyed country living, the yard work was getting to be too demanding. “It just got to be too much as we got older,” Susan White said.
Their goal for the new home was simple. “We wanted to be able to age in place,” White said. That meant finding a home with a first-floor master suite and a smaller lot. The Whites also wanted to find a house with a three-car garage, which complicated their search.
“Finding a three-car garage was a problem until we visited Grey Oaks,” White said. “There are several in the community.”
Grey Oaks, located at the intersection of Pouncey Tract Road and Grey Oaks Park Drive in western Henrico County, is an established, upscale community that attracts a wide range of homebuyers, said Jeannette Mock, a real estate agent with The Steele Group Sotheby’s International Realty. Among them are many empty-nesters looking for a larger home, she added.
Mock, who was the buyer’s agent for the Whites, showed them a Transitional-style home on the market in the neighborhood, and they fell in love with it.
The house, which had been built by Boone Homes in 2007, had the features they were looking for – a first-floor master, a three-car garage and a manageable 1/3-acre lot – and it also had a covered outdoor living space with a kitchen and TV. “And it was beautifully landscaped,” White said. “When we saw this house, we knew this was it.”
The Whites made an offer on the property in September last year and moved in a month later. Mock represented the Whites in the Grey Oaks sale, and she also was the couple’s listing agent when they sold their Hanover home.
“We sold our tractors, lawnmowers and tools because we wouldn’t need them here,” White said.
The Whites’s move to Grey Oaks represented a downsizing in acreage, but not in square footage. Their previous home, which they had renovated themselves, had been 3,900 square feet. Their new home in Grey Oaks is 4,500 square feet.
So far, they’re enjoying their new neighborhood.
“Everybody’s so friendly,” White said. “We were isolated on those 14 acres in Hanover. We love it here.”
Planning for Grey Oaks began in 2005, when four land development companies joined forces and began buying parcels of land in the area. They bought the bulk of the community’s 270 acres in the course of a few years, but they continued to add to it until 2014.
Construction began in 2007. The developers rolled out the community in 11 phases, each of which represents a distinct neighborhood. Builders who have been active in Grey Oaks include Bain-Waring Builders, Boone Homes, Eagle Construction of Virginia, Royal Dominion Homes and Ryan Homes.
Bradford Custom Homes is the exclusive builder for the 24 homes that remain to be completed.
When it’s finished, the community will have 495 homes.
Architectural styles in Grey Oaks include Colonial, Transitional and Craftsman. Home sizes range from 2,600 to 8,000 square feet, with prices starting in the low $400,000s and reaching into the $1 million range.
Amenities in Grey Oaks include common areas, an outdoor swimming pool and tennis courts.
Highly rated public schools, quality construction and a convenient location – it’s a four-minute drive to Short Pump Town Center – attract buyers, as does the development’s strong sense of community, said Mock, who currently has an active listing there.
“It’s nicely manicured throughout, and you’ll see lots of people riding bikes and walking their pets,” she added.
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