How Do You Read a Homesite's Slope, Sun and Views?

Read a homesite by checking three things on foot: slope, sun and view. The price will not tell you any of them.

Two homesites can carry the same price and produce two very different houses. One gives you a walk-out lower level, afternoon shade on the porch and a clean line of sight to Watts Bar Lake. The other gives you a retaining wall, a west wall of glass that bakes in July and a view of the neighbor's roof. The ground tells you which is which. Here is how to read it.

What should you look at first on a homesite?

Look at three things, in this order: slope, sun and view. Slope decides what the build costs. Sun decides how the house feels. View decides whether you still love it in ten years.

Tennessee National has three kinds of homesites: The Timbers, which are wooded, plus lake homesites and waterfront homesites. The setting changes from one to the next. The three checks do not.

East Tennessee is ridge and valley country, so do not assume any homesite is flat. Walk it. Then walk it again with someone who builds houses.

How does slope affect what you can build?

Slope affects the foundation, the driveway and the cost of site work more than anything else about the land. It is not good or bad on its own. It is something the design has to answer.

• A gentle slope down and away from the street is the easy case. It can allow a walk-out lower level without heavy earthwork, which gives you a terrace under the main floor.
• A slope up from the street usually puts the garage low and the living space high. Good for views. Count the steps from the car to the kitchen.
• A steep slope from side to side is the one to price with care. It can call for retaining walls, a stepped foundation and fill. Those costs show up in the builder's bid, not in the price of the land.
• A nearly level spot makes a one-story plan and a step-free entry simple.

Ask a builder to walk the homesite with you before you make an offer. A good one can tell you quickly whether the ground helps your plan or fights it. Also ask where water goes in a hard rain.

Which way should the house face?

It should face so that the rooms you use most get the light you want at the time of day you use them. Stand on the homesite with a compass app and think room by room.

On a homesite with a water view, the view direction is set by the shoreline. You cannot turn the lake. You can choose a homesite where the view and the light line up, or design around the mismatch with porches and overhangs.

East Tennessee has four seasons and mild winters. A porch that faces the right way gets used most of the year.

Which views are likely to last?

Views across something that is unlikely to be built on tend to last longest. No view is promised. Sort every view into one of three kinds.

• Longer-lasting views look across open water, a golf fairway or land that is set aside. Ask what is set aside and how you can confirm it in the recorded documents.
• Borrowed views look across an unbuilt homesite. Assume it will be a house someday. Tennessee National has no deadline to build, so nobody can tell you when.
• Filtered views come through trees. Ask what the design guidelines say about trimming or clearing before you count on opening one up.

Take photos from where your main windows would be, not from the street. Go at two times of day. If the homesite is wooded, remember that the view in summer leaf is not the view in January.

Homes at Tennessee National go through design review, so what gets built nearby is checked against the guidelines. That does not keep a neighbor from building. See design rules for homes.

What is different about a waterfront homesite?

The water moves, so look at the shoreline as well as the lake. Watts Bar Lake is a TVA reservoir. Summer pool runs about 740 to 741 feet and the winter minimum is 735 feet. That is a change of about 5 to 6 feet. It is a small swing next to some tributary lakes, and still enough that the bank you see in June is not the bank you see in January. Watts Bar Lake levels has more.

On a waterfront homesite, check:

• The bank. How steep is it, and how would you get from the house to the water?
• The winter look. Ask for photos at winter level, or visit then.
• The rules. TVA manages the shoreline of Watts Bar Lake, and the community may have rules of its own. Ask TVA and your land consultant what is allowed on that homesite and get it in writing.

You do not have to solve everything at the shoreline. Tennessee National has a full-service marina with 140+ boat slips.

What four checks should you run on every homesite?

Run the same four checks on each one, and write the answers down while you are standing there.

1. Buildability. Does the slope help the floor plan you want, or fight it?
2. Light. Do the main rooms get sun when you want it?
3. View. How much of what you see will still be there in ten years?
4. Daily life. How long is the golf cart ride to the gate, the clubhouse, the marina and the course?

A homesite that is strong on all four is worth a second visit. One that wins only on price tends to cost you later, in retaining walls, cooling bills or regret.

The honest part

No homesite is perfect. The one with the best view may have the hardest slope. The flattest one may face the wrong way. You are choosing which compromise you can live with, and it is better to choose it on purpose.

Time helps. There is no deadline to build, so you can see the land in more than one season before you design. How to choose a homesite covers the three settings, how building a home works covers what comes after, and pricing is in the info pack. When you schedule a visit, ask to walk your short list twice.

Facts about Tennessee National come from the community. Lake facts come from TVA. Rules, taxes, loans and insurance change, so confirm anything that affects a purchase with the right office or professional before you buy.