Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506200004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
In Pulaski and Radford, the Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. expansion and other business investments have translated into quick sales for lower- to medium-priced homes this year.
"All in all I see people having a much more optimistic view - the general economics in Pulaski is much stronger," said Pulaski Realtor Betsy Mabry.
After a slow first quarter, home sales in the New River Valley are rising and are close to last year's figures.
But in and around Blacksburg, budget cuts and layoffs at Virginia Tech are shaking the confidence of some buyers, sellers and home builders.
Linda Rose, for example, has had her home in Laurel Ridge on the market for the past six months. Her house is selling on the higher end of most homes in Laurel Ridge - $359,900. She describes the market in one word: soft.
Rose and her husband, Milton, decided to move from their spacious 5,000-square-foot home set in the wooded hills northwest of Blacksburg closer in to town. Linda Rose said she's surprised at what they've experienced - both as buyers and sellers.
"I think that we're not getting shows because we're on the upper end [of the price scale]," she said. "But also, I've been looking in this market and even the houses that aren't as expensive are still sitting there, too."
The Roses are in business for themselves, and Linda said she's relieved they're not facing a time constraint to sell or buy a house. "...we would not be happy campers as slow as it's been," she said.
But looking strictly at numbers yields a more positive outlook for the area.
Sales started off slow, ending the first quarter at 137 homes sold - 18 down from last year, according to the Multiple Listings Service. By June 12, the gap had closed to within seven homes sold, from 204 in 1994 to 197 this year.
"Things are a lot better than some people are perceiving," said Joan Richardson, publicity chairwoman for New River Valley Association of Realtors.
So, why the concern?
Virginia Tech professor Kim Spiezio, just sold his house in the Woodbine subdivision in Blacksburg so he can move to teach at a private college in Pennsylvania. He blames what he also calls a soft market on the financial woes of Virginia Tech. "... the [Virginia Tech] budget's such a mess, you never know what's going to happen."
He predicted the market could get worse for two reasons: "One, so many people are leaving the university, and two, they're not hiring anyone in," Spiezio said as he sat with his 6-year-old son, Nick, on the front porch step of his modest split-level home.
Spiezio did manage to sell his house quickly. The real estate agent, a friend, showed the house before it was even on the market to a couple hoping to move into his Blacksburg subdivision.
"So we were lucky," he conceded. "We sold it in a matter of days at the highest price we were asking for."
That price, just over $100,000, seems to be the range selling most successfully.
"That's the odd part about this," said Radford Realtor Bill Bondurant. "This year, the $70,000-100,000 range has been dry. Very few have come up on the market and when they do, they're snatched up."
This turns areas of New River where homes are in the moderate price range into a sellers' market. Demand for homes is great and a large amount of the asking price - 96.6% in Pulaski County's case - is met by the buyer.
One theory proposed by Bondurant and other professionals involves the low interest rates of three or four years ago.
"People aren't moving up to the more expensive homes, perhaps because they might have refinanced when rates were low a couple years ago," Bondurant said. "Now they don't want to deal with closing costs and all that."
This hesitancy to move up, says Realtor Mabry, reflects a conservative trend across the country. "Since the recession, people are more conservative, choosing to modify existing homes rather than buy or build new homes," she said.
Mabry and others hope the latest downturn in interest rates will encourage potential home buyers to end their conservative streak.
Back in Blacksburg, it's the higher priced homes, like the Roses', and new construction that are having difficulty selling.
Thomas Triplett, president of Triplett Construction, said he's been disappointed with the prospects for home building this year.
"I'm doing OK, but I thought it would improve over last year," said Triplett, standing under the skylight of an open, modern wood home he's just completing in the Deerfield subdivision, which lies just east of Laurel Ridge. Homes in Deerfield range about $250,000-$350,000.
Triplett has two other jobs waiting for him in nearby Preston Forest, but he said he's usually already into five or six jobs by now.
Most of his business involves experienced home buyers who are moving up, and he says Tech is partly to blame for the slowdown in his business.
"People aren't moving up because they haven't gotten pay increases, and with the state budget cuts, people just don't know. It's definitely hurting."
Nick Romantini, president of the New River Valley Home Builders Association, concurred, saying that most home builders are not as busy as the past few years.
"Some were doing 20 last year, and now they're only doing four. But it's a cycle. It'll boom again," he said.
Neither the New River Valley Board of Realtors nor the MLS guarantees the numbers supplied for this story.
by CNB