Home selection can also be lifestyle choice

As flowers peek from the earth with new life, a new season is upon us - and a new season is a time of change.

Do you want to change your lifestyle from "ho hum" to "wow" at one of these new home communities? If you want to live among nature, if you'd like to live in a waterfront home, or if you're into sustainable living, it's time to live your dream, live your passion.

Someone once said to be in love with your life, find a beautiful place and get lost. You'll want to unplug and get lost in these communities where the outdoors is your playground.

You can live the life you've only imagined in an upscale home, a charming cottage or a house on a farm, each with scenic surroundings that will bring your enjoyment of life to a whole new level.

Here are some communities that offer a new lifestyle choice.

Newport Cove

At Newport Cove, the lake is your front yard and a luxury cottage is your home. The award-winning community by New American Homes offers a year-round vacation lifestyle with a resident-only marina and ample slips, all with water and electricity.

"We're the only true planned development on the Chain O' Lakes," said Susanne Tauke, president of New American Homes.

Set along Bluff Lake in Antioch, waterfront lifestyle homes overlook 15 acres of open space with beautiful landscaped common areas, swathes of native plants, a waterfront park, walking paths that wind throughout the community and a lighted waterfront walk along the community's shoreline.

The community offers three distinct neighborhoods: the Waterfront, the Estates and the Cottages. All homes feature an East Coast architectural style with colors - red, green-aqua, gray - and white trim, Tauke said. "It's very colorful."

A few years ago, one of the cottages won the best of 50-plus housing for its design.

"It's a universally designed home, but it doesn't look like it. My sister is a professor of architecture in New York, so she worked with me on the house," Tauke said.

"In the summer, my brother rents a house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and that was our inspiration. I think they really do look like East Coast homes because people have told us so."

People want to live on the water, but they also want certain rules and homes with consistent quality. They're not just buying a house; they're buying into the whole community. The lifestyle covenants ensure residents have an upscale, well-maintained community for decades to come.

Serosun Farms

Excitement is blooming at Serosun Farms with its grand opening celebration set from noon to 5 p.m. May 16 along with its lilac festival. The event will feature a tour of its luxury model home showing green technology and a geothermal heating and air conditioning system, said Jane Stickland, owner of the development.

"We will have a golf cart tour of the property and trails, farm garden and a live concert for the public. There's a lot going on; it's awesome.

"We recently had a celebration with the Kane County chairman and commissioners because the special zoning for the combination of a residential and agricultural community is the first of its kind in the country," Stickland said.

Amid suburban sprawl, Serosun Farms in Hampshire offers a sustainable community that blends peaceful pastoral living with today's conveniences.

Centered on a 16-acre working farm, Serosun Farms is a progressive rural oasis where residents will enjoy hundreds of acres of open space with restored prairie and woodlands.

"This is an unusual opportunity for families to live, and for children to grow up, on a farm," said John DeWald, president of John DeWald & Associates, developer of Serosun Farms. "Most professional people don't have the time or money to run a farm; here we do it for you."

The development offers educational programs and several ways to take an active role in the community, such as in the demo gardens, prairie restoration or building birdhouses.

Residences - from smaller cottages to country estates - will sit in clusters on 114 distinctive one-acre lots. The developer adheres to design guidelines and other requirements for green building and partners with architects and builders that share the dream and vision for the community, DeWald said.

Other community amenities include a community center with swimming pool and fitness center; jogging, hiking and biking trails; tennis and basketball courts, stocked fishing pond, a bar and grill and meeting/event facilities.

Also, a world-class equestrian center facility is on-site with eight miles of trails developed by Stickland, DeWald's sister, who lives on the property and is his business partner. An international trainer also lives on the site.

Highland Woods

William Ryan Homes and Meritus Homes are building residences in Highland Woods, a lifestyle community by Crown Community Development on Elgin's west side. Residents live in small, distinctive neighborhoods where they have a sense of community.

Set on gently rolling land with mature oak groves among 196 acres of open space, the development features natural preservation areas, an 18-acre lake, more than five miles of walking and biking paths and seven neighborhood parks and playgrounds.

Residents also have access to the exclusive Owners Club with a clubhouse, fitness center, sports courts, pool and water park.

Highland Woods is like a destination place where you can purchase a home from the mid-$200,000s to $1 million, said Debbie Beaver, vice president of operations for William Ryan Homes.

The builder's Meadows Edge neighborhood offers first-time and move-up homes in the mid-$200,000s while Woodcrest features second move-up homes on larger lots with a three-car garage in the low $300,000s.

People in their 20s can purchase an entry level home, then move up to a larger home and later even into a custom home and still remain in the same development.

"We have people now who are in the custom section and looking to downsize to get out of their 6,000-square-foot home and into a 4,000-square-foot home," Beaver said. "Once you buy in Highland Woods, it's like aging in place."

Brian Brunhofer, president of Meritus Homes, concurs. "Highland Woods offers a terrific lifestyle for buyers at so many different stages of life," he said.

The builder offers the Greenbrook neighborhood of 22 single-family homes.

Meritus offers a semi-custom building process at Greenbrook, meaning buyers can select any home from the Meritus portfolio and build it as-is or work with the design team to make customizations that can range from special finishes to structural changes.

Semi-custom home packages at Greenbrook feature ranch, master-down and two-story plans and are priced from the mid-$400,000s. Home designs range in size from 2,610 to 3,918 square feet and have three to four bedrooms, 2½ to 3½ baths, full basements and attached two- or three-car garages.