Buying in Kunze Farms (Vancouver, WA): D.R. Horton Homes and Townhomes Near Vancouver Mall

Kunze Farms is D.R. Horton's newest community in central Vancouver: 309 approved lots on about 26 acres between NE 49th and NE 54th Streets, a mile and a half from Vancouver Mall. It sells two collections from one office on NE 51st Street: two-story single-family homes from about $470,000 and townhomes from about $400,000. Both are part of D.R. Horton's Express Series, the company's entry-level line with a set list of included features.

It's one of the few places in central Vancouver where a buyer can get a brand-new home in the low $400s, with a county park next door, a grocery store four minutes away and SR-500 five minutes away. It suits first-time buyers and anyone who wants a new home close to the middle of town. This guide covers both collections, the schools (which split inside the subdivision), the HOA, and what we'd check before writing an offer here.

Community overview

Builder: D.R. Horton (Express Series), both single-family and townhomes Location: NE 51st St and NE 63rd Ave area, central Vancouver, in unincorporated Clark County inside the Vancouver Urban Growth Area (Roads End neighborhood) Status: Now selling, Phase 1 and Phase 2 (as of October 2026) Pricing: Townhomes from $399,995; single-family from $469,995 (October 2026) Home sizes: Single-family 1,353–1,929 sq ft, 3–4 bedrooms; townhomes 1,394–1,499 sq ft, 3–4 bedrooms Homesites: 309 lots approved in August 2024. Phase 1 (129 lots) recorded December 2025; Phase 2 (72 lots) recorded June 2026; Phase 3 (about 108 more) still to come Lots: About 3,000 sq ft for single-family; under 3,000 sq ft for townhomes HOA: About $80 a month for single-family and $230 for townhomes, per current listings Schools: Vancouver Public Schools; most addresses go to Truman, Gaiser and Fort Vancouver (details below) Sales office: 6218 NE 51st St, Vancouver, WA 98661, open daily 11 to 6

The homes

Every home at Kunze Farms is two stories. D.R. Horton publishes "starting in" figures rather than a firm base price for each plan, so the most reliable prices are the ones on the homes for sale right now.

Single-family plans (October 2026):

• Magnolia: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,353 sq ft, one-car garage (call for pricing)
• Cove: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,400 sq ft, two-car, from the $470s
• Cypress: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,484 sq ft, one-car (call for pricing)
• Juniper: 4 bed, 2 bath, 1,484 sq ft, oversized one-car (call for pricing)
• Birch: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,499 sq ft, two-car, from the $495s
• Clark: 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 1,657 sq ft, two-car, from the $520s
• Rowan: 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 1,819 sq ft, two-car, from the $552s
• Catalpa: 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 1,929 sq ft, two-car, from the $550s

D.R. Horton's plan walkthrough of the Catalpa, the largest single-family plan here:

Townhome plans:

• Pepperwood: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,394 sq ft, one-car, from the $400s
• Sage: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,481 sq ft, one-car, from the $425s
• Iris: 4 bed, 2 bath, 1,481 sq ft, one-car, from the $425s
• Hudson: 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 1,499 sq ft, two-car, from the $430s
• Sitka: 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 1,499 sq ft, two-car, from the $430s

What's included: quartz counters, shaker cabinets, stainless appliances, a pantry and island, an electric fireplace, a fenced backyard and covered patio, a smart-home package (video doorbell and thermostat), an EV-ready garage outlet and a 10-year limited builder warranty. The homes are all-electric with heat pumps. As an Express Series community, the options list is short, which keeps pricing simple and means the home you tour is close to the home you get.

Homes for sale now: D.R. Horton lists 15 single-family homes from $469,995 to $559,995 and 9 townhomes from $399,995 to $434,995. Most are on NE 51st Loop, NE 57th Court and NE 51st Street. Several carry visible price cuts of $10,000 to $30,000, and one single-family home has been on the market about 145 days. The builder's pages don't show ready dates, so tell us which homes catch your eye and we'll find out which are finished and which are still under construction.

Current incentive: D.R. Horton's Red Tag Event cuts prices on select move-in-ready homes through November 1, 2026, and MLS remarks describe a below-market rate or flex credit through DHI Mortgage, the builder's affiliated lender. Rate offers like this usually depend on using that lender, so we'll help you set the total cost against an outside quote over the years you expect to keep the loan.

The builder

D.R. Horton, based in Arlington, Texas, has been the largest homebuilder in the country by volume for 24 years running; it closed nearly 85,000 homes in fiscal 2025. In Clark County it's building Kunze Farms, Fircrest Meadows, Fircrest Landing, Oakpointe Crossing and Fisher's Creek Terrace in Vancouver, Cascade Terrace in Camas and Sterling Ranch in Battle Ground, with 119th Street Station and Four Creeks in Ridgefield coming soon.

Kunze Farms is part of the Express Series, the company's value line, launched in 2014 around a limited set of options. The published warranty is a 10-year limited builder warranty. D.R. Horton's general warranty overview describes one year on workmanship and materials, two years on major systems and ten on structural items, with a third-party administrator for the structural coverage. Before you sign, we'll get the Washington warranty booklet from the sales office, so you know exactly what's covered and how to file a request.

Schools

Kunze Farms is in Vancouver Public Schools, and it's one of the rare subdivisions where the school assignment splits inside the neighborhood. We checked the Phase 1 addresses against Clark County's attendance-area maps (published August 2026):

Part of the community	Elementary (K–5)	Middle (6–8)	High (9–12)
Most of the plat, including every home now for sale and all the townhomes	Truman	Gaiser	Fort Vancouver
A strip on the west end (NE 51st St from about 5900 to 6030, even side, and NE 59th Ave)	Minnehaha	Jason Lee	Hudson's Bay

Drive times from the sales office (free-flowing traffic): Truman Elementary 5 minutes, Gaiser Middle 11, Fort Vancouver High 7; Minnehaha 7, Jason Lee 13, Hudson's Bay 12.

The builder's own pages list McLoughlin Middle School, which isn't assigned to any Kunze Farms address in the county's maps, and they leave out Gaiser. Vancouver Public Schools asks families on new streets to confirm their school with the district, so tell us the address you're considering and we'll confirm it before you write an offer, especially for Phase 2 homes on NE 50th Way and NE 59th and 60th Avenues.

Inside the community

D.R. Horton lists a park and a playground among the community's amenities. The site plan isn't published online, so it isn't clear whether those are inside the neighborhood or the county park right next door. Either way, Tower Crest Neighborhood Park borders the plat: a 2.9-acre Clark County park at 6311 NE 54th St with a paved loop trail, a playground and a nature-play area, open 7 a.m. to dusk.

There's no clubhouse, pool or gate. Every home has a fenced backyard and a covered patio. HOA dues run about $80 a month for single-family homes and $230 for townhomes, per current listings; listing summaries describe the dues as covering common areas, front-yard landscaping and grounds, and management, and townhome listings include front-yard irrigation and landscaping. The management company and the CC&Rs aren't published online, so we'd ask for the HOA documents and budget before you commit, including the rules on fences, parking, RVs and rentals.

Parks and outdoors nearby

• Tower Crest Neighborhood Park: next door; loop trail and playgrounds
• Bosco Farm Neighborhood Park: 6 minutes; 12-acre county park with play equipment, a half-court and a path
• Orchards Community Park: 7 minutes; 33 acres with forested picnic areas, trails, a rose garden and a reservable shelter (a renovation is in planning)
• Burnt Bridge Creek Trail at Leverich Park: 10 minutes; a paved trail of about 8 miles from Vancouver Lake to Meadowbrook Marsh
• Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and the Vancouver Waterfront: 12 to 13 minutes
• Vancouver Lake Regional Park: 15 minutes; about 190 acres with a swimming beach

Getting around

Drive times from the sales office in free-flowing traffic; rush hour adds time, especially at the bridges.

• SR-500: 5 minutes, via NE 66th Ave and Vancouver Mall Drive
• I-205: 8 minutes, via Andresen Road and Padden Parkway
• Interstate Bridge (I-5): 10 minutes
• Glenn Jackson Bridge (I-205): 12 minutes
• Downtown Vancouver: 11 minutes
• PDX airport: 20 minutes
• Downtown Portland: 23 minutes
• Transit: C-TRAN Routes 78 and 32 stop on Andresen Road, about a quarter to half a mile away, and Vancouver Mall Transit Center is 5 minutes by car

Daily life

• Groceries: Safeway on NE 63rd St (4 minutes), Grocery Outlet on Fourth Plain (5), WinCo on Andresen (6)
• Coffee and dining: Starbucks and Brewed Awakenings in the Safeway center (4 minutes), Dutch Bros on Vancouver Mall Drive (4), and the restaurants around Vancouver Mall (5)
• Healthcare: PeaceHealth urgent care at the Orchards clinic on Vancouver Mall Drive (6 minutes), PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center's hospital and ER (10), Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center (14)

What it costs to own

• Jurisdiction: the mailing address says Vancouver, but Kunze Farms is in unincorporated Clark County. Police service is the Clark County Sheriff, roads and land use are the county's, and fire service is Clark County Fire District 5 (served by Vancouver Fire).
• Utilities: City of Vancouver water and sewer; Clark Public Utilities for power. The homes are all-electric.
• Property tax: the 2026 levy for this tax code area is $9.632 per $1,000 of assessed value, about $4,500 a year on a $470,000 assessment. Listings show a placeholder tax figure of about $170 because the lots were taxed as land before the homes were finished; budget for the full amount.
• HOA: about $80 a month (single-family) or $230 (townhomes).
• Impact fees: paid by the builder at permit and built into the price. Here that's the county's school fee for Vancouver Public Schools ($2,786 for a single-family home) and Park District 7 ($4,252), plus a county traffic fee. Our custom homes guide compares fees across the county.

What's changing nearby

The biggest change is Kunze Farms itself: about 108 more approved lots in Phase 3 haven't been platted yet, so construction will continue around the finished phases, likely into 2027. Nearby, a 30-lot cottage subdivision on NE 66th Ave was approved at the pre-application stage in 2022 with no later application, and a 3-lot short plat on NE 49th St is in early review. Orchards Community Park's renovation is in planning. We didn't find road projects planned on NE 63rd St, Andresen or NE 66th Ave.

What to check before you buy

• The school for your exact address. The split inside the plat means two neighbors can attend different schools. Share the address with us and we'll confirm it with the district before you write an offer.
• Price history on the home you like. Several homes have been cut $10,000 to $30,000 and some have been listed for months. That's room to negotiate on price or closing costs, and we'll pull how the homes around yours sold.
• Lot size and placement. Lots are about 3,000 square feet for single-family and smaller for townhomes. Walk the lot with us; we'll check which way the backyard faces and find out what's planned next to it.
• Phase 3 timing. We'll ask the sales office where Phase 3 will go and when, so you know what construction will be near your home after you move in.
• The HOA documents. The dues come from listings, not published documents. Reach out and we'll request the CC&Rs, the budget and the management contact.
• The lender offer. Send us the DHI Mortgage terms and we'll set the rate or credit beside an outside lender's quote over the years you expect to keep the loan.
• Inspections. New homes still have defects. We'll help you line up a licensed inspector before closing and again before the warranty's first year ends, which keeps fixes on the builder.

How we help here

At Kunze Farms we start with the homes already for sale. We compare each one's price history and days on market, confirm the school for that exact address, and look at what's coming in Phase 3 next to it. Then we negotiate: on a community with visible price cuts, the levers are usually closing costs, the rate offer and upgrades, and we run the DHI Mortgage offer against outside quotes so you know which one really costs less. We get the HOA documents in front of you before you commit, and we coordinate the licensed inspections before closing and before the first-year warranty walk-through. Our construction background means we know what to look at in a production home before you sign off on it.

Before you commit to anything, you'll have a written Engagement Proposal with the exact scope and fee.

Also looking in Vancouver? See Fisher's Creek Terrace, another D.R. Horton community, Ramble Creek and the full Vancouver new-construction page.