ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602040001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN STAFF WRITER
From lawyers and stock brokers buying their $350,000 dream houses to young couples stretching to buy their first home, local families took advantage of low interest rates to buoy the New River Valley's real estate market this past year.
And in 1996, real estate agents are counting on these lower rates to make this one of the best years ever for home sales and new home construction in the valley.
"One single economic factor controls everything. It's called an election," said Joe Jones, president of Raines Real Estate Inc./Better Homes and Gardens. "In 25 years, I've never seen interest rates go up in an [presidential] election year. I think it will be a wonderful year for people to buy."
Despite cutbacks at Virginia Tech and Radford University, whose growth had helped fuel the area's home market, sales stayed healthy this year driven largely by local families buying and selling.
"If there's a baby born, you need to buy a house. When a person dies, you need to sell a house. When you get married, get divorced - every time there is a change in your life, it precipitates a a change in your house," said Bill Bondurant, associate broker with Bondurant Realty of Radford.
Bondurant said this was his best year ever in real estate.
These strictly local sales, especially, speed up as interest rates plunge.
As rates dipped into the 6 percent range for fixed-rate mortgages in 1995, Bondurant saw young families in Radford move out of apartments into their first homes.
Well-heeled professionals, thriving on the nation's healthy economy, have also used the lower rates to buy colonial- and Victorian-style mansions in the area's most expensive developments such as Deercroft in the Ellett Valley, Diamond Pointe in Christiansburg or the new Wyatt Farms development in Blacksburg.
Although nine fewer houses sold in the New River region last year, the average price of the houses rose almost $4,000 to $91,537.
Sales in this high-end of the market have been strong for agents such as Dan Dodson of Blacksburg, president and owner of Townside Inc. Realtors.
"We have broken a couple of new highs on the resale end," said Dotson, referring to several houses in Deercroft. "Four have sold that have all been in the $347,500 to $420,000 range."
But perhaps the busiest local market has been for the moderate houses going up one after another in expanding Christiansburg subdivisions such as Vistavia and Windmills Hills. New subdivisions also continue to spread in Montgomery County's farm country in the Riner area.
Lucy Draper, who has also had a strong sales year with Owens and Co., mentioned the brisk construction and sales of houses in the $95,000 to $115,00 price range. She described 1995 as "an absolutely marvelous year" for builders such as Roger Woody, who is constructing entire streets of moderate-priced homes in Vistavia subdivision off Franklin Street in Christiansburg.
Woody said he sold over 70 houses in 1995 in Vistavia.
Nearby, adjacent subdivisions such as Windmill Hills and Ridgeview continue to spread out over rolling hills off Cambria Street behind the Farm House restaurant.
In Ridgeview, houses with three to four bedrooms, built with Thermastructure walls manufactured by Radva Corp. in Radford, sell rapidly in the $100,000 to $137,000 range.
Jeanne Stosser, the subdivision developer, and Pat Collins, who is marketing the development, describe their houses as "affordable" and have sold over $1 million worth of homes since July to a mix of young and middle-aged, even retired couples.
"The majority [of the buyers] are 35 to 55," said Collins. "They are people who want a good quality new home. ... They don't want large yards. They want a good location to get on the interstate to get to work in Roanoke or Pulaski or even Christiansburg."
Stosser and Collins' next project will be entry-level homes in the $75,000 to $90,000 range in a new 75-lot development called Warren Heights in Christiansburg off Radford Road. "We are trying to do things that will create housing for everyone," said Collins.
Townhouses, such as Oakmanor and Haymarket Square in the Hethwood development off Prices Fork Road in Blacksburg, have also been strong sellers this year, according to Dodson of Townside Inc. Realtors.
These homes, which five years ago often sold to first-time buyers for $50,000 to $60,000, have broken the $80,000 range this past year, he said.
Some of the area builders are also successfully appealing to first-time homebuyers with lease/purchase duplexes, which sell for about $75,000 for a 3-bedroom, 21/2-bath home, said Draper.
In Blacksburg, subdivisions such as in Countryside Estates off North Main Street have sold ranch-style houses as quickly as they were built.
Across the street, Wyatt Farms, a planned community that will have 30 of its 100 acres dedicated to walking trails, ponds and open space, is selling lots for $38,000 to $48,000. Already one street sprouts $225,000 to $375,000 houses with imposing colonial facades.
Jones of Raines Real Estate, who is coordinating the development of Wyatt Farms for the landowners, has sold eight of the 23 lots now available even thought he said he has seen some slowdown in this upper range of housing.
The slow spot in the Blacksburg/Montgomery County market has been for 10- to 15-year-old houses in the $225,000 to $275,000 range, according to local sales executives. These houses, in subdivisions such as Blacksburg's Stroubles Mill, popular with both university faculty and former Hercules executives, have had to compete with newer houses in the same price range.
"If the home doesn't have a lot of the features of newer homes, such as tile baths, 9-foot ceilings, more windows and a light, airy look, larger closets, custom kitchens," then it will probably take longer to sell, said Dodson. Prospective buyers also start fantasizing about building their own home once they hit the $240,000 to $250,000 range, he said.
In Pulaski County, the number of homes sold in 1995 was about the same as the previous year although the average sale price increased from $63,000 to $67,440.
Jim Owens, the broker/owner with Century 21 Old Virginia Ltd. in Dublin, predicted that economic development in the Dublin area will drive home sales in the county this year. The economic activity around Dublin includes business development and high-tech training at New River Community College as well as construction in the new Dublin Town Center.
For his own firm, he predicted the increase could be as much as 20 percent.
In Dublin, a scarcity of listings held back the market in '95, Owens said. "Because it is a small market, we are starving for good listings."
Although the county has not seen a lot of new residential construction, Owens said, modular housing has sold well, such as the new homes in the $75,000 to $100,000 range in Parkview subdivision near Pulaski County High School.
Realtors across the New River Valley expect the market to sustain itself this year on the strength of low interest rates and a state budget that will be more generous to the local universities, the region's economic engines.
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Signs of growth: More houses go up atby CNBthe Vista Via subdivision in Christiansburg. color. Graphic: Chart:
New River Valley home sales.