Is the Toledo Parade of Homes Worth Going To? Every Price on the 2026 Tour Against What New Builds Actually Sold For

Nothing beats standing in the house, a Sylvania builder told the Blade this week, and he is right. Fourteen of them are open through next Sunday, from nine builders, six of whom I have named on camera as the people I would send a client to. The parade site publishes the prices, which most people skip past on the way to the kitchen photos, so I put all fourteen on one table against what new builds actually closed for in the MLS this year. The parade median is $260 a square foot. The MLS median for a new build closed in Sylvania, Monclova, Perrysburg, Waterville or Whitehouse this year runs $216 to $243. Then how I walk a parade house, because I grew up around this business and I have watched a lot of people fall in love with a light fixture.

What is open, and what does it cost?

The Home Builders Association of Greater Toledo's Parade of Homes runs September 11 to 20. Fridays 5 to 8, Saturdays and Sundays noon to 5. Ten dollars online, five at Appliance Center, one ticket for every house on both weekends. Homes in Monclova Township, Sylvania, Temperance, Lambertville and Toledo.

Here is every priced home on the parade's own list, with the price per square foot I worked out from their numbers.

Builder	Home	Price	Sq ft	Per sq ft
Eagle Creek Builders	Heather Meadow Dr, 2 bed 2 bath	$242,900 incl. lot	1,158	$210
North River Building Co.	Grande Lake Circle, 3 bed 2 bath	$385,365	1,770	$218
Summerlyn Builders	3 bed 2 bath	$459,000	1,907	$241
Eagle Creek Builders	Gala Dr, 3 bed 2 bath	$470,500 incl. lot	1,982	$237
Doug Howard Building Co.	Limerick Lane, 3 bed 2 bath	$499,900	1,858	$269
RF Moore Luxury Living	3 bed 2 bath	$517,900	1,780	$291
Doug Howard Building Co.	Victory Lane, 3 bed 3.5 bath	$550,000	2,182	$252
North River Building Co.	Moonlit Pass, 4 bed 3 bath	$593,275	2,018	$294
Mavillino Custom Homes	3 bed 2 bath	$619,900	2,024	$306
Homes by Josh Doyle	Sage St, 4 bed 2.5 bath	$644,900	2,484	$260
Homes by Josh Doyle	Josie Ct, 3 bed 2.5 bath	$725,000	2,613	$277
Homes by Josh Doyle	Josie Ct, 4 bed 3.5 bath	$745,000	3,120	$239
Schumacher Homes	4 bed 2.5 bath	$850,000	2,833	$300
Weathered Oaks Custom Builders	6 bed 5 bath custom, 5,593 sq ft	not listed	5,593

Median of the thirteen priced homes: about $260 a square foot. The spread runs from $210 for the small Eagle Creek ranch to $306 for the Mavillino.

How does that compare with what new builds actually sold for?

This is the part the parade cannot tell you. Every new-construction closing in the NORIS MLS this year, January 1 through September 6, by town, next to resale in the same town.

Town, 2026 through Sept 6	New builds closed	Median price	New $/sq ft	Resale $/sq ft
Sylvania	19	$549,990	$220	$169
Monclova	16	$536,492	$243	$201
Perrysburg	64	$517,400	$218	$186
Waterville	16	$462,400	$236	$184
Whitehouse	5	$659,900	$216	$197

So the parade median of $260 sits $17 to $42 a foot above the median new build that actually closed in the towns where these houses are. That is not a knock. A parade house is the builder's best foot forward. Double-stacked cabinets, the pool, the man cave, whatever the builder thinks will make you call. You are looking at the top of the package, and the price shows it.

Two things the table does tell you. Perrysburg closed 64 new houses this year, more than Sylvania, Monclova, Waterville and Whitehouse put together, and did it at the lowest per-foot number of the group. If you want new and you want the most house per dollar, the answer on the record is Perrysburg, not the parade. And the new-over-resale gap is $30 to $50 a foot in every one of these towns. On a 2,000-square-foot house that is $60,000 to $100,000 for new, before the upgrades. That is the honest price of a warranty and a house nobody has lived in, and you should know it going in.

Which of these builders would I send you to?

Six of the nine are on my list already, and I said so in a video I have not posted yet, so here it is early. Josh Doyle on the design-build side. Mavillino and RF Moore for custom. Weathered Oaks, who have been at it since 2022 and have three parade homes' worth of proof. Doug Howard in Waterville. North River in Monclova and Sylvania. That is my Toledo custom and semi-custom list, and all six of them have a house open this week.

Weathered Oaks is the one to see even if you are not their buyer. The house on the parade is a custom build for a couple who met them at last year's parade, finished just in time, and the owners let it go on the tour before they moved in. That is what a parade is actually for. You are not buying that house. You are seeing whether you would hire the people who built it.

The three Josh Doyle homes and the two North River homes are where you learn what a plan looks like at two different prices. Same builder, $385,365 to $593,275 at North River, $644,900 to $745,000 at Doyle. Walk the cheaper one first and the expensive one second and you will see exactly what the money bought. That is worth ten dollars.

How do you walk a parade house?

Not with your phone out.

Start outside. Roof pitch, where the downspouts go, whether the grade falls away from the foundation or toward it. The prettiest kitchen in Lucas County does not survive water in the basement. Look at the lot next door, because that is what you will look at for twenty years.

Inside, ignore the staging and look at what does not change. Ceiling height. Window size and how many. Where the mechanicals are and whether you can get to them. Open the basement door before the pantry door. On a spec, ask which finishes are in the base price and which are the parade package. Every builder in this list will tell you, and the difference is usually five figures.

Then ask the question that decides it. Is this house for sale, is it a model, or is it a plan? A spec you can buy as-is, and a spec that has sat through the parade without an offer is a spec with room in it. A model the builder keeps, so what you are buying is the plan on another lot at base. A custom like the Weathered Oaks house is a portfolio piece, and the number to ask is what the owners paid per foot, which they may or may not tell you.

And bring your own agent. The parade is staffed by the builders' people, who are good at their jobs, which is selling that house. Your agent's fee is already in the builder's price whether you bring one or not. Walk in without one and the builder keeps it.

Send me your price range and which town you are thinking about, and I will send back the three parade houses worth your Saturday, what each builder charges for the same plan at base, and the resale comp in the same subdivision so you know what it is worth the day after the warranty ends. Start with a home search to see what new and resale look like side by side, and I will run it myself.

Related reading: the new construction buyer's guide for Greater Toledo, is new construction worth it in Sylvania, the new construction premium in Toledo, and is new construction worth it in Perrysburg.

Adam Geuy, Realtor - Blacktree Realty. ABR, PSA, SRS. Greater Toledo, Ohio. 419.540.8659.

Sources

• Parade dates, builders, towns, ticket price, North River and Weathered Oaks quotes: The Blade, September 11, 2026; hours, tickets and the home list with prices and square footage: Toledo Parade of Homes, homes and map. Price per square foot computed from the parade's listed price and square footage.
• All new-construction and resale closings, medians and price per square foot by town: NORIS MLS closed residential listings, January 1 through September 6, 2026, computed by Adam Geuy from MLS exports. Temperance and Lambertville are in Michigan and are not in NORIS, so no MLS comparison is offered for the parade homes there. Builder days on market is intentionally not reported.