Affordable New Builds & Family-Friendly Living at Solara in Lakewood Ranch

In this episode of Jim Sells the Suncoast, Jim welcomes Brock Blaney from DR Horton to spotlight Solara—a new construction community in Lakewood Ranch that blends affordability, convenience, and access to top-tier amenities. With homes starting in the low $400s, this neighborhood is nearing its final phase and offers a golden opportunity for families, first-time buyers, and investors looking to make a move before it’s sold out.

From walkable green spaces and pond-front homes to easy financing and resort-style perks, Brock shares why Solara is one of Lakewood Ranch’s best-kept secrets—but not for long!

🔑 Key Highlights

📍 Prime Location in Lakewood Ranch

• Minutes from Everything: Nestled near top-rated golf courses, county parks, and the Premier Sports Campus with new aquatic and recreation centers.
• Easy Commutes: Just off SR-70 and University with access to 3 airports (Sarasota, Tampa, St. Pete) all within an hour.

🏘️ Floor Plans & Home Options

• Eight Unique Floor Plans: Choose from 3–5 bedroom homes ranging from 1,600 to 3,200+ sq ft.
• Two Distinct Series: Express Series (affordable, basic finishes) and Tradition Series (upgrades like high ceilings, crown molding, and tray ceilings).
• Multi-Gen Options: Floorplans to accommodate extended family or live-in relatives.

💰 Pricing, Incentives & Build Timelines

• Price Range: $400K–$600K with move-in-ready options and customizable builds.
• Quick Builds: New homes can be completed in as little as 5 months, with some available in 60 days or less.
• Incentives: Special FHA/VA interest rates (3.99%), closing cost assistance, and limited inventory discounts.

🌴 Lifestyle Amenities

• Community Perks: Large resort-style pool, two playgrounds, lush wetland and pond views, and full lawn maintenance.
• HOA/CDD: HOA = $268/month (includes lawn care); CDD = $1,200 annually.

🏗️ Build Quality & Warranty

• DR Horton Quality: Spec-built homes with pre-selected finishes to simplify the process.
• Warranty Coverage: 10-year structural, 2-year systems (HVAC, plumbing), 1-year workmanship—backed by RWC.

🌿 Environment & Outdoor Living

• Backyard Potential: All lots allow for private pools, with 115–120 ft depth.
• Green Views: Most homes back onto ponds or wetlands; native upland habitats border the community.

💼 Financing & One-Stop Service

• DHI Mortgage: On-site financing team offering FHA, VA, Conventional, Investor, and Doctor Loans.
• Streamlined Closings: In-house title, insurance, and lending simplify the buying process from start to finish.

📩 What’s Next?

If you're dreaming of new construction in Lakewood Ranch—with space to grow and pricing that won’t break the bank—reach out to Jim at jim.ahearn@gmail.com or visit Jim Sells the Suncoast.

For more details on homes available in Solara or to schedule a tour, contact Brock Lane at D

A Personal Note from Jim:

Hey there, I’m Jim Ahearn, your go-to real estate guide and host of Jim Sells The Suncoast podcast! 🎙️✨ Dreaming of Florida life? I’ve got you covered! As your dedicated buyer's agent, I’ll handle everything from walk-throughs to closing, making your home-buying journey as smooth as a Florida breeze.

Whether you're local or tuning in from afar, I’ll bring the Suncoast to you with virtual tours and expert advice. Let’s chat about your dream home and I'll connect you with all the right people to make it happen.

Ready to move to paradise? Drop me a line – I can’t wait to help! 🌴🏡

Transcript

Jim: 0:55

Hey, and welcome to Jim Sells the Suncoast. Today I am pleased to have Brock Blaney on here over at Solar in Lakewood Ranch. Brock's been in real estate for about a year, working with the R Horton for about eight months, and just got moved over to Stelara. So he is jumping in fresh and. Clean. So welcome, Brock. Thank you, sir. Go bulls. So tell me a little bit about solar and what's setting that community apart in terms of lifestyle, community experience location, what else is going on out there?

Brock: 1:31

Yeah. So here is solar. We've been here about five years. We're just starting our last phase. So we have about 60 to 70 homes left. The great thing about us is we're. Surrounded by just about anything you can really imagine. Yep. There's two golf courses that literally butt up to us. Calusa Country Cup, and then the PGA, Lakewood National. They play PGA there, so that's great. And then they're starting that premier sports campus right across the street. So we're located directly across Uline. From that Premier sports campus that's gonna have everything you can really imagine. It's gonna have, so there's 12 or 13 football and soccer fields out there now. They just broke ground on an entire aquatic center. There's gonna be a gymnasium out there. They have the library there already. They're gonna have dog parks. So we kept Sora to be really our most, 'cause we have two in Lakewood Ranch, the Rhor communities. We're gonna have our resort style one, which is Star Farms. And then really this one's gonna be more catered towards that family lifestyle. Really using the resources of Lakewood Ranch while still trying to get a nice, cheap home. Not cheap, we can Right, it's, we're gonna be able to provide the most bang for your buck homewise while you're still surrounded by everything you can possibly need. We do have resort style pool. It's one of the largest in Laker Ranch actually. And then our price per square foot in Lakewood Ranch is one of the lowest as well. So we're really providing, we're more emphasizing on what you're gonna get out of the house here. Rather than amenities and things like that,

Jim: 3:13

Yeah, I think when you look at the location and where it is to your point, you're not far from anything. Whether it's the golf courses, whether it's the communities, whether it's the county parks you've got everything. You've got the main arteries of 70 and university and 64 running through, so you can get into town. You've got all the restaurants, Lakewood Ranch and UTC. You've got Sarasota Airport. 20 minutes away, maybe 30 with traffic Tampa airport's 45 minutes away. So really almost in a dead heart of everything you can imagine out there.

Brock: 3:45

For sure. That's, really the big draw to Lakewood Ranch in general is just everything that we offer at the location of three airports within an hour beach and just about The master plan, the way they planned this community is just, it was great. They did a good job.

Jim: 4:01

So what are the variety of living options there? is it a single family home there?

Brock: 4:04

yeah, we do have our single family homes. Like I said, we're on our last phase, so right now we only have two with three car garage left.

Jim: 4:14

Okay.

Brock: 4:14

But we. Still, we're gonna be able to offer about eight to nine different floor plans, one story and two story. So there's still a lot of variety just between those two series of homes as well.

Jim: 4:25

Okay. And then is this set up, you can put any one of the 50 foot plans on any one of the 50 foot lots?

Brock: 4:32

Yeah. So with us being a spec builder which means we just start construction and then sell throughout the construction process. Okay. We preplan all the fits and finishes and features of everything inside the house. So everything is already permitted for what's gonna go there. So the two series we have here are gonna be our express series, which is just gonna be your basic features. eight inch roofs. The regular baseboards, four and a quarter inch baseboards. And then we had the upgraded series, which is called our tradition series, and that's just gonna be a little bit more upgrades. You get taller ceilings, things like that. And then there's three different floor plans for the express series and five in the tradition. So you would be picking between those.

Jim: 5:21

Okay. And then so what's the smallest size house you have?

Brock: 5:24

Yeah. We have a three bedroom, two bath, 1600 square foot aria.

Jim: 5:29

Okay.

Brock: 5:30

going at about 400 right now. Are not getting a lot in Lakewood Ranch right now for that. So to be able to provide you a single family home for that is. Pretty tremendous.

Jim: 5:39

And then how big, what's the biggest one that's still offered out there?

Brock: 5:43

Currently, like I said, we only have the three car garage. We have one, two story, three car garage, 3,200 square feet. And it's called the Jordan. It's a four bedroom, three and a half bath.

Jim: 5:57

Okay.

Brock: 5:58

So again, you can't read it.

Jim: 6:00

Is that all bedrooms upstairs or is the master on the main floor?

Brock: 6:04

As Dr. Horton, our whole division, unfortunately we don't do any master bedrooms downstairs. Okay. Bottom level. Everybody wants that to be open nowadays. So we're trying to provide that openness. But it does have the guest bedroom with an en suite bath downstairs.

Jim: 6:20

So you have main floor living and then bedrooms go to sleep, everybody's upstairs and it keeps 'em separate that way.

Brock: 6:25

Yeah. All of 'em have was and dryer upstairs too, so you're not checking load of laundry up and down.

Jim: 6:29

Which is, what about the pools? Is there room for that on any of these?

Brock: 6:33

Yeah. Every single one of our locks are about 115 to 120 foot in length.

Jim: 6:39

Okay, great. So it gives options for anybody that wants to put a pool in there. Beyond the home purchase, what additional costs are there? HOA, what's the HOA fee? Does it cover maintenance? And is there any CDD fee?

Brock: 6:53

Yeah. So anywhere in Lake Ranch, you're gonna get a CDD fee. So we do have a CDD fee and we, our HOA. Actually we're 2 68 right now, and the CDD is only 1200. And the HOA does provide lawn and landscape everything like that. It's included. So everything exterior is gonna be taken care of.

Jim: 7:14

Oh yeah. That's, especially in Florida, you get to the summer I don't mind paying somebody to take care of the yard outside.

Brock: 7:20

Of course. Yeah. And they control all your irrigation and everything like that too. You have a panel, if you wanna throw it on at night, then you can do that But they have a master controller too, to make sure your neighbor's yards aren't turning brown.

Jim: 7:32

All right, so you talked about really the amenities are gonna be what's available in Lakewood Ranch.

Brock: 7:37

Yep. So we have the community pool and we have two playgrounds as well. Do you always see kids out there running around playing on the playgrounds? And those are located. Spread out throughout the neighborhood. So there's gonna be one in the front about a quarter of the way back, and then there's one in the back as well. 'Cause we're a long, narrow neighborhood, you'll notice if you look at our map, so they're spaced out so kids aren't running all the way to the front.

Jim: 7:59

how many total units are there gonna be in there?

Brock: 8:02

Total count is 672. And we did a quick count yesterday of how many we have left, and it's about 67

Jim: 8:10

okay. So plenty of time still to get in there, but I would imagine you're thinking a year, 18 months to wrap this up with the Stelara.

Brock: 8:19

Yeah. Just looking at quick numbers, we are looking at about eight months to a year.

Jim: 8:24

Nice. And then when you talked about what's the timeline, if somebody, wanted a particular lot that hadn't been started yet, what's the timeline to build right now? Are we about six months, maybe a little quicker? Yeah.

Brock: 8:37

So if it was a lot that hasn't started yet it would be about three weeks before they broke ground just to get permitting and everything done. And then our approximate home build right now, they just told us at our last meeting is about 108 days. So you're looking About five months.

Jim: 8:56

That's good. It's a lot different from just a couple years ago where it was pushing a year, so that's nice.

Brock: 9:01

Yeah.

Jim: 9:03

Now I like to think about the home building process. So what are some of the options that they can do? And you talked about maybe some of the upgrades inside, whether it's the baseboards or some of those things that you can do that are really cosmetic as opposed to structural.

Brock: 9:19

Yeah. So cosmetic wise, we're gonna offer different cabinets. we offer our express level, and then on our tradition level, we're gonna have 46 inch sire cabinets with the crown molding. And then baseboards, like you said taller ceilings, which is a huge thing for a lot of people. We go eight, eight or nine, nine and a half. In our tradition series, We'll have, tray ceilings in the master bedroom and the living room. Which is very nice. They look, that looks really good. We don't offer tile unfortunately anymore, so all of our houses will have the LVP. But of course, that was coming from our customer surveys, the overall agreement was to do away with it. So we're doing the LVP now. So that'll be in all the homes.

Jim: 10:11

the weather and conditions and what's going on.

Brock: 10:13

Yeah, of course.

Jim: 10:17

So what kind of warranty comes with the homes? What are we talking about here, 12 month on the structure and what's going on for that first year, and then what's the ongoing.

Brock: 10:27

Yeah, so we do a 10 21 RWC warranty. And you're provided a whole handbook at the time of your closing. That'll go over everything you can think of. But basically a quick overview is gonna be, it's a 10 year structural role. Warranty. Then we do a two year workmanship.

Jim: 10:48

So that's talking about crown molding comes off or something like that, that they can fix. It's not structural, but it's gonna be something that, is important to that homeowner.

Brock: 10:59

The one year, it'll cover baseboard ceiling.

Jim: 11:02

workmanship, right?

Brock: 11:05

Oh, the two years hvac, sorry. It's systems, so your HVAC and your plumbing things like that. It's gonna be the two year and then one year's workmanship.

Jim: 11:15

Okay. What kind of environmental considerations were done? How much green area do you have in there? Open areas, trails, walking, any of that.

Brock: 11:24

Yeah, so we actually, but up to a native upland habitat, that's between us and Lakewood National, so that's gonna extend the whole length. Of the back of our community, and we have quite a bit of wetland, almost every home Will back up to a pond or a wetland throughout the entire neighborhood, unless you're on a corner But just by every home, you're on water or you're on wetland.

Jim: 11:52

What financing options do you have vertically integrated through the builder? What are some of the options available if somebody's interested?

Brock: 12:00

Yeah, so we have our sister company, DHI mortgage that we work hand in hand with. We all have our own loan officer, so mine is Cindy by she's amazing. And she'll actually, get on the phone with you and talk to you if you have any questions, you're skeptical about anything, she'll get on the phone and. talk you through it, which is really nice for first time homeowners or anything like that, that are feeling a little skeptical about the process. But we're gonna offer, we actually just got a doctor loan that we're offering. And then we have an investor loan, A-D-C-S-R and then we have your basic FHA VA and conventional loan. So all that, we have all, pretty much all those with. DHI mortgage. And then you would just go on our website and it's do the quick application and then everything will be handled through your loan officer from there.

Jim: 12:48

And they're very, It's one stop shop and it's all right there for Yep.

Brock: 12:53

Title insurance. Everything's all, all with us. It makes it very easy, very simple. Not you don't have 10 people's hands in the pot, which is nice.

Jim: 13:02

Yeah. So I know you've only been there a month, but tell me, do you have any customer testimonials, anybody that's talked to you or talked about what they liked about moving in or the process?

Brock: 13:12

It's really what I get a lot is what we just spoke about. Just the process being so smooth and easy. Because our umbrella company, DHI is able to oversee all of us, DR Horton as the builder and the sales, DHI title insurance and mortgage, it's all handled one stop shop, like you said around us. So it makes it very simple, smooth, quick, so that's really what I've heard most is just how easy it makes the whole transition of everything be. And of course with us being a speculator too, a lot of people like that they're able to, we have move-in ready home options. We have options, right? Two months, three months, up to that five month point. So that makes it nice too for people that are getting promotions that have to move here in a month

Jim: 14:00

Yeah, they had the option to really find something that's gonna hit their timeframe, whether it's tomorrow or five months, and everything in between. Yep. Exactly.

Brock: 14:09

For our largest current home right now.

Jim: 14:12

Yeah.

Brock: 14:13

Yeah. It's. 3,200 square feet and it's about 600. So we're looking between four and 600 here. Okay.

Jim: 14:22

Yeah, that's not bad at all. It gives you a good range of being able to find the one that's gonna work for you and your family

Brock: 14:26

We have, from 1600 square feet to 3,300 square feet. So yeah, you have just about anything you can think of here that'll accommodate just about any lifestyle. We also have our multi-generational option. If you have a minor living with you or an older kid in college.

Jim: 14:41

Brock, I want to thank you for coming out and talking about Stelara. Any last words you want to give to anybody interested talking about Stelara?

Brock: 14:49

Yeah don't hesitate to reach out. Like I said, it's a really great opportunity. It's very affordable houses and an amazing location. So just gimme a call anytime I'm available whenever.

Jim: 15:01

And I know probably have to move quick if you're gonna be wrapping up before the end of 2025.

Brock: 15:06

Yeah, a hundred percent. Actually we have, so typically we only sell homes that are permitted, like I said, but since there's so few left we are selling ones that are unpermitted. But on our inventory sheet, which is what you'll see when you come in and we hand you the available lots. We have about 45 to 50 on there. So other than what on here there's only like 10 left after that. So I would definitely if you're thinking about it, do it now. Our incentives right now are incredible, of course. We have those two that Jordan right now and another three car garage. Single story. We're offering 3 9 9 F-H-A-V-A interest rates. Which is unbeatable right now, Of closing cost. So right now is definitely the time to, to get you in if you're thinking about it, don't wait.

Jim: 15:58

I hear you Brock, and thank you for joining me today.

Brock: 16:00

Thanks,