Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 26, 1990 TAG: 9007260258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
It was a tough decision, but he and his wife, Jean, thought their timing was good, with the AT&T plant in Fairlawn apparently going strong.
A real estate analyst told the Yoders they would have no trouble selling their home in the upscale Stroubles Mill section of Blacksburg. Figuring the house would fetch a good price so they could move to Tennessee, they put it on the market for $219,000.
Three weeks later, AT&T announced it was closing and would phase out operations over the next year.
The Yoders suddenly found themselves trying to sell in a buyers' market.
With "For Sale" signs popping up all around the neighborhood, Yoder lowered his asking price to $210,000, then to $205,000. Now he's down to $195,000, and he finally has some interested lookers.
But the Yoders' house is competing with about 17 others in Stroubles Mill - three times the number Yoder has seen on the market at any one time since he moved to the neighborhood six years ago.
And the signs keep sprouting in front of luxury homes in and around Blacksburg. The number of houses in the $150,000-and-up range coming on the market continues to increase. Stroubles Mill - a sort of upscale ghetto for AT&T executives - has been hard-hit.
Real estate agents, homeowners and builders concur on the reason - AT&T's gradual shutdown, which eventually will send more than 100 executives out of the area.
And there's a hiring freeze at Virginia Tech, the valley's biggest employer, which has stymied the building and sale of top-end speculation houses.
Fewer professors and other people are moving into the area, said Randy Gardner, listing agent for Montgomery County's Preston Forest subdivision, where several homes are for sale.
Georgia Anne Snyder-Falkinham, president of the New River Valley Homebuilders' Association, said the construction industry is preparing for a slowdown by cutting back on costs, even laying off employees.
She said the slump may last 12 to 18 months - or until Tech's state funding increases or a new industry moves into the AT&T plant.
Data compiled by the New River Valley Board of Realtors indicate that the valley's real estate market is stable overall, or at least no worse than in the rest of the country. About 14 percent, or 73, fewer houses sold this year than last year in the New River Valley.
In Blacksburg, where the third-largest market is for homes $150,000 and up, 37.5 percent fewer houses sold in the first six months of this year than in the comparable period last year.
The average price of houses for sale rose from $85,000 to $119,000 - indicating that more expensive houses are on the market, but fewer are selling.
"I really don't think we needed the double whammy," from AT&T and Tech, said real estate agent Kay Stratton, who has several homes in Preston Forest.
She said some of the Preston Forest houses have had "price adjustments" and are now in the $130,000 to $200,000 range.
Not only are there fewer people to buy those houses, the buyers just aren't buying.
Ed Fast, president of the New River Valley Board of Realtors, said he hasn't seen evidence of wide-scale price slashing or people keeping their houses off the market.
Still, after several years of brisk home building and selling, Fast said, the market has flattened out and likely will remain so for a while.
by CNB