Five Great Reasons to Live in a Planned Community

There are countless reasons to choose to live in a planned community like Ten Trails. Here are just a few of the reasons why you should consider Ten Trails as your new hometown!

Beautiful Landscape Design

Ten Trails has partnered with Pacific Landscape Management to create lush and beautiful landscape designs throughout the community’s parks, neighborhoods, and open spaces. Ten Trails has two major community parks that are landscaped and maintained by Pacific Landscape Management, as well as smaller parks scattered throughout the community.

Connect with Other New Neighbors

Making friends and connecting with new neighbors is easy in a planned community like Ten Trails where new neighbors are constantly joining the community from local cities as well as from around the country. Whether you are moving into a new home to raise your new family, or settling into an “empty nester” home, chances are there are plenty of other residents like you who are looking to meet new neighbors. Connect via the community Facebook group, through resident activities like yoga in the park, or at one of our community events.

Walkability

Ten Trails has miles of paved and unpaved walking trails to enjoy. Walking paths weave through parks, open spaces, and neighborhoods, and our trails connect our wooded natural spaces. Enjoy walking, biking, jogging, and more all within the community.

Amenities

At Ten Trails, we have a wide variety of amenities to suit residents of every age. This includes sports courts and equipment as well as walking trails, jungle gyms, pea patches, a kids’ zip-line, a performance stage, and many other fantastic amenities! As the community grows, more amenities will be added for residents to enjoy.

Enjoy a Sense of Community

Ten Trails’ developer envisioned a community where residents could come together to enjoy and connect with their community and to each other. The community was planned to include amenities, park spaces, and community events meant to bring residents and the public together to enjoy gorgeous spaces inspired by nature. www.TenTrails.com 360.469.4043  

Fast Pace of Home Sales Shows Ten Trails has What Homebuyers Want Most

Since opening just over two years ago, Ten Trails, the master planned community in Black Diamond managed by Oakpointe Communities, has seen home sales increase at a brisk pace and is well-known in the Puget Sound area as a desirable place to live. There are many reasons why so many homebuyers choose Ten Trails. Here are just a few!

Many Home Builders to Choose From 

Currently, Ten Trails has eight different builder options to choose from with home products ranging from townhomes to single family detached homes and even some apartments for rent currently under construction and pre-leasing.

A Walkable Community

Walkability remains one of the top features homebuyers desire in a new community. Ten Trails has miles of paved sidewalks and walking trails in addition to our nature trails that weave through the community’s wooded natural areas.

A Strong Sense of Community

Homebuyers want to also feel a sense of connection and community with where they live. Ten Trails offers this through our many shared community amenities and community events that bring residents together. Even during the pandemic, we have found ways to connect with one another and are looking forward to coming together in person again when guidelines allow for it.

Proximity Close to Nature 

Home shoppers are also searching for communities with easy access and proximity to nature. The entire community of Ten Trails is nestled in rural Black Diamond, surrounded by forests and with open and natural spaces integrated throughout the community. It is also located just a short drive from some of the area’s finest outdoors destinations like Crystal Mountain Resort, countless hiking trails, campgrounds, and Mount Rainier National Park. 360.469.4043 www.TenTrails.com    

Tips for Working From Home 

Many American workers have switched from daily commutes to the office to working from home some or part of the time. With predictions that many businesses may adopt a part-time work-from-home policy even after the pandemic, it is more important than ever to follow some key guidelines to work from home productively.

Start the Day Right 

You will have a better experience all day at work if you start the day off on the right foot by doing a few simple things. First, make your bed to immediately set the tone for the day. Next, get dressed in clothes you would normally wear to work in your office, rather than lounge wear. Being dressed for the task at hand can help to promote a sense that you are engaged in work, rather than leisure. Finally, sit down and write a task list of what you need and want to accomplish for that day. That list will keep you focused throughout the day on the most immediate priorities.

Enjoy One-Gig Speed Internet to Work from Your Ten Trails Home 

At Ten Trails, workers who can work from home can take advantage of the community’s one-gig speed internet to smoothly navigate video calls and work online. Provided by Wave, the community’s internet is some of the fastest available in the Seattle area with downloads and uploads at up to 1,000 Mbps.

Set Aside Space in Your Home Just for Work 

If you have space in your home, set aside an area that is solely dedicated to workspace—even if that is just during the daytime hours. Having a dedicated workspace will keep your work items organized and help you shift your focus to work tasks at hand, rather than being distracted from the larger home around you. www.TenTrails.com 360.469.4043

Celebrate Cyber Week at Ten Trails by Home Shopping from Home

It is Cyber Week and you can complement your gift shopping this week by doing some home shopping from home! Check out some of our builders’ amazing virtual tours of homes at Ten Trails in the paragraphs below as well as a list of past featured virtual tours here.

JK Monarch 3D Tour

Take a 3D tour of a home by JK Monarch located in Bonney Lake. This builder’s upcoming model home at Ten Trails will be completed soon! Sign up for our email list at info@tentrails.com to be the first to know when it opens for tours.

Toll Brothers Virtual Tour

Take a virtual tour of the Abercrombie floorplan by Toll Brothers. This floorplan is being built currently at Ten Trails at Lot 45 in Toll Brothers’ section of the community with a tentative scheduled completion date of May 2021 . Contact their sales team for details.

Lennar Villages Collection Virtual Tours 

Tour all the available floorplans in the Villages Collection by Lennar at Ten Trails by visiting Lennar’s website. Here you can also find pricing information as well as handy links to schedule your self-guided, in-person tour of these homes.

Ichijo Virtual Tour 

Take a video tour of the Cottonwood single-family detached model home at Ten Trails by Ichijo. This builder will be pre-selling new single-family home lots in the upcoming months. Email us at info@tentrails.com to be added to the interest list for this new release of homes. www.TenTrails.com 360.469.4043

Ideas for New Holiday Traditions This Season 

While the holiday season may be a little different this year for some families due to the pandemic, that does not mean family traditions have to be abandoned completely! Why not use this year to establish some fun new traditions with your family, or try different twists on longstanding ones? Here are some suggestions for how to connect with loved ones during the holiday season why still maintaining physical distance.

Play Long Distance Games with Family 

Video games have long had the option for players from around the world to connect but there are ways to play popular board and card games virtually as well! Family favorite games like Monopoly, Scattergories and Uno all have online versions you can play with friends and family. You can also hop on Zoom or Facebook Rooms to have a video conference with family members to play fun games like Charades, Who in the Room, or Trivia.

Do a Virtual Watch Party of Your Favorite Christmas Movies 

Does your family have favorite holiday movies that you watch together every year? You still can with new streaming technology and the help of ultra-fast one-gig internet at your Ten Trails home. Many streaming services like Netflix or Sling offer opportunities to create a “watch party” with friends and family members who are also subscribers. Chat on video while the film plays, and you can offer commentary and enjoy all your favorite scenes together.

Zoom Holiday Formal 

Do you miss getting dressed up for a night out? Get decked out in your favorite holiday attire and attend a holiday formal with friends or coworkers via Zoom. Ideas for sharing this event including picking out one or two appetizer recipes ahead of time that you will each make and share together during the party. Select a few special holiday-themed cocktails or mocktails to toast with while showing off your festive outfits.

Take Part in a Remote Baking Competition 

Holiday time is synonymous with baked goods and there is no reason this year should be an exception! Enter a friendly competition with friends, neighbors, or family members by baking up your best sweet treats and shipping or dropping off small batches to your baking competitors. Decide on a rating system beforehand and each member on the competition gets to vote for which treat they like best. Suggestions for voting categories include: “best decoration,” “best taste,” “most creative,” “best texture.” and “best overall.” Plant a New Year Tree Many cultures celebrate the new year by decorating or planting a tree — similar to the common practice in this country of putting up a Christmas tree. To mark the passage of 2020 and transition to 2021, your family could adopt this tradition and plant a tree or purchase a new houseplant to commemorate the holiday and represent a symbol of growth and life for the coming year. www.TenTrails.com 360.469.4043

Tips to Keep in Mind When Searching for Your New Home 

Home is more important than ever before. When considering a move, the goal is to get as close as possible to all the elements that you are searching for in your new space. Below are a few tips to consider when researching your move.

Buy vs. Rent 

When looking for your new home, consider whether you want to make the commitment to purchase a property or rent your new home. Both options have their advantages, and you can decide what is best for your family given your current circumstances. Ten Trails has options for both purchasing a home or townhome, or renting one of our upcoming apartments in The Village at Ten Trails.

Decide Your Priorities

Before you begin your search for a new home, sit down with your family members and make a list of priorities for your new space. Consider how your family lives and uses your current home and what elements may be lacking. If you work from home, perhaps you are looking for a home with space for an office or option for 1-gig ultra-fast internet speed. If you have a large family, maybe you want a home with enough bedrooms so each family member has their own space. Whatever your priorities, keep them in mind when looking at homes so that you do not get overwhelmed by options and lose sight of your original goals for moving.

Gather Information

Ten Trails has a wealth of resources to help you in your home search! Our team at our Welcome Center can answer many of your questions about the community and assist you with scheduling your model home tour. Our builders also have sales consultants dedicated to the community who can help you select the home, townhome or apartment that best fits your family’s needs. Start your search by browsing through our website and check out our community informational flipbook. 360.469.4043 www.TenTrails.com  

Ten Trails Offers What Today’s Buyer is Looking for

While 2020 has not gone as any of us could have predicted, Ten Trails residents are finding ways to carve out some normalcy in their day-to-day lives, helped by the community’s many amenities and home options.

What Today’s Homebuyer is Looking For 

Today’s home shoppers are seeking more space for their family in new homes and want to be closer to loved ones who live in the area. Ten Trails’ builders offer many options for spacious floorplans with plenty of room for families to spread out. We also have amenities that make our community unique and offer definite advantages during these challenging times such as our nature trails, parks and one-gig speed internet.

More Space for Your Family

Ten Trails’ builder teams offer home floor plans in a wide range of sizes to fit all families. If you are finding that you need a little more room to spread out during this time when we are all spending more time at home, Ten Trails has you covered! Our builders are constructing  homes with enough space for large families or anyone who just needs some extra room.

Work and Learn From Home with Ultra-Fast One-Gig Internet

Ten Trails has floor plans with flexible spaces perfect for creating that ultimate work-from-home office. If your kids are doing virtual learning, our builders also have home plan options with lofts, dens, or flex spaces that can be easily converted to at-home learning studios for little ones. Residents of Ten Trails have a unique advantage for telecommuting, streaming, and gaming with access to true one-gigabit speed internet in their homes! The 1-gig internet service at Ten Trails provides downloads and uploads up to 1,000 Mbps, with fast performance and streaming for ensuring no buffering or interruptions. 360.469.4043 www.TenTrails.com  

Take a Virtual Field Trip from Your Ten Trails Living Room

Some of the world’s most sought-after attractions, museums and zoos are now offering virtual tours! Ten Trails families can access some amazing exhibitions and live web cams of world-renowned tourist destinations all from the comfort of their living room using the community’s 1-gigabit speed internet provided by Wave.

Visit the Country’s Largest Aquarium Online

The Georgia Aquarium is not only the largest aquarium in the United States, it’s the biggest in the entire western hemisphere! Home to hundreds of species and thousands of animals across seven major galleries, the museum has several extremely popular webcams including one for its beluga whales and African penguins.

Check out World-Renowned Museums

If you have ever desired to visit some of the world’s most well-known museums, now is the time to take advantage of special virtual tours! The Louvre is offering free virtual tours of five of its main exhibits, including the ancient Egyptian collection. You can also take a 360-degree, room-by-room tour of every single exhibit in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Live Stream a Musical Performance

With many live music venues and bars closed, Billboard magazine is constantly updating their website with a list of new live stream musical performances to watch from home. Upcoming live stream shows include The Dropkick Murphy’s performing remotely with Bruce Springsteen on May 29^th, and a June 7^th Tony Awards Broadway musical celebration. The Metropolitan Opera is also airing nightly live streams of past performances on their website. www.TenTrails.com 360.469.4043  

King County’s Library System Offers Online Resources for Ten Trails Residents

Staying at home does not mean you no longer have access to all the great free resources offered by the King County library system! Ten Trails residents can access e-books, audiobooks, tabletop gaming resources, adult e-learning certifications and services for grade and high school at-home learning – all through the internet!

Rhyme on Poetry Events

Expressing yourself through poetry can be a great way to be creative and get your emotions out in a healthy and productive way! The King County Library System (KCLS) is now offering ongoing Rhyme on Poetry Events. April’s events included a poetry contest, sidewalk Haiku project and Facebook live poetry breaks. Stay tuned for announcements of future poetry contests and activities through KCLS for the upcoming weeks!

Get Certified from Home

Use extra time at home to improve your skills at work or at school with online e-certifications through KCLS! Get certified as a  Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS), or become an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) through online programs that guide you through program requirements and test prep. Other online certification programs through KCLS include Quickbooks Online Certification and Entrepreneurship and Small Business Certification.

Temporary Services for At-Home Learning

Perhaps one of the most useful free tools offered by the library system are their resources to help parents assist children with at-home learning! Search online reference services, take free online classes in technology, core skills, reading and math, and get resources to help with homework.

Tabletop Gaming Resources

Connect with friends and family who live remotely through KCLS’s tabletop gaming resources! If you are new to tabletop gaming, the library has videos and tutorials to help you and family members learn the rules of play so you can get started with remote family game nights soon!

E-Books and Audiobooks

Keep literacy in the forefront of your child’s education with free e-books and audiobook downloads from KCLS! The library’s informative website even has a list of suggested titles for various age groups, making it easy for Ten Trails parents to choose appropriate books for their child to read. www.TenTrails.com 360.469.4043

Working from Home Made Easy with 1 Gig Internet Speed at Ten Trails

While much of the country has transitioned to working from home this spring, the residents of Ten Trails have a unique advantage for telecommuting with access to true one-gigabit speed internet in their homes! The 1-gig internet service at Ten Trails provides downloads and uploads up to 1,000 Mbps, with fast performance and streaming for ensuring no buffering or interruptions during your next work video call.

Surf, Stream, and Work all at the Same Time 

With kids at home on zoom calls with teachers, family members playing video games, parents working online, and home appliances and other devices all running off the internet, fast internet speed is more important now than ever before! There are no data caps included with the 1-gig internet service at Ten Trails, so every member of the family can use the internet on multiple devices all at the same time.

Create Your Home Office Workspace to Enjoy Ultra-Fast Internet 

At Ten Trails, many of our builders offer floorplan options with space for a home office, den or “technology space” with convenient access to Cat 6 jacks for setting up your home internet equipment. Create a space in your home that is set aside for your workspace and be able to set up all your technology equipment with ease in your new home.

Tips for Being More Productive Working at Home 

Transitioning to working from home can be difficult, but here’s a helpful tip to make it easier: Designate an area in your home for work so you can begin to have the mental association that the space is for working. Make it comfortable and inviting, and don’t forget to have all the tools you need nearby so you can be most productive! 360.469.4043 www.TenTrails.com