Local New Home Sales Trump Rest of Nation

There’s the national new homes sales market. Then there’s the local new homes sales market. And they’re quite different from each other. The Washington, DC metro/Northern Virginia new homes sales market is ahead of the curve and doing much better than the rest of the nation.

There have been many articles and media coverage of how new home sales have slowed down. In some areas, new home sales have “plummeted” and “almost completely dried up”. Builder Magazine just ran an article, “New Home Sales Decline, Prompting Predictions of Worst Year on Record”, which paints a very gloomy picture of the new home market.

But that’s the national market. What about the local market here in the Washington, DC metro/Northern Virginia area?

Builders with developments/communities in this area saw the worst of the local new home sales market 3 to 5 years ago. Things started slowly turning around about 3 years ago. Then, as of about 18 months ago, someone lit a match under the new home sales market and the market took off.

For example, in speaking with several folks who are in the construction business, both builder employees and subcontractors, work finally began flowing about anywhere from 12 to 18 months ago. Rather than looking for side jobs to make ends meet, they’re working full time building homes across the DC metro/Northern VA area.

Another example is builder sales centers. Instead of a lot of green dots signalling open lots and sales reps throwing incentives at buyers as if they were confetti, there are red dots all over the site maps and incentives are few and far between.

And the attitude of builder sales reps is quite different… A look of despair was hard to hide a few years ago while smiles and positive attitudes are the norm nowadays.

The most impressive example is the actual number of new homes being sold and the success of communities and developments throughout the area. At the top of the list is Brambleton (Ashburn, Loudoun County, VA)…

In 2010, Brambleton set a record for the most new homes sold in its’ 10 year history. On top of that…Brambleton has sold more homes January through July 2011 than it did January through July 2010.

The thing that makes that statistic even more impressive is that Brambleton is made up of not just one builder, but 7 builders. And they all build different products and appeal to different home buyer personalities, incomes and demographics.

Why is this information important to consumers? Here are a just a few of the reasons…

1. If you are only reading national headlines, you may get a rude awakening when you walk into a new home sales center and try to negotiate 10% off the base price, get another $50K in incentives and put down a deposit on that awesome lot that was available last week.
2. You may not have believed your Buyer’s Agent when they told you something similar last week or even 18 months ago, but here’s the thing…they were telling you the truth.
3. If you’re a seller, you need to realize that you don’t have just your neighbors’ homes to compete with. You also have nearby home builders to compete with. Buyers are not just looking at existing homes – they’re also looking very closely at what home builders have to offer. And what they have to offer is often very enticing.
4. Builders know that they have the market on their side so you have to be even more careful when working and negotiating with a builder. You should have a Buyer’s Agent well versed in new construction on your side. Remember, a real estate agent’s/broker’s commission is a already written into the sales price. And no, you don’t get that commission refunded to you if you don’t have an agent/broker. So why would you not hire an agent/broker, pay the commission anyway and pad the builder’s pockets with even more profits?

If you have specific questions about the local new homes sales market, new home communities, builders or the new home purchase process in general, email or call me any time.

 

Camberley Homes, Boulevard at Brambleton Homesites Released

There has been much anticipation about Camberley Homes’ Boulevard at Brambleton community and the release of their homesites for sale. Well, the anticipation is over… Camberley Homes is releasing 8 homesites tomorrow, April 8.

They will have 8 homesites available – 4 Wilshire models, 2 Ventura models and 2 Lakeshore models. Base prices range from $390,900 to $410,900.

If you are interested in knowing more about Camberley Homes’ Boulevard at Brambleton Community, check out the community or purchase one, click here to contact me. I have helped a fair share of buyers purchase a home in Brambleton and would be happy to represent and guide you through the new home purchase process as well.

Related Reading

Why You Need Representation When Buying a New Home

Loudoun County, Brambleton; Record Level New Home Sales

Despite new home sales being way down as a whole across the U.S., Loudoun County, particularly Brambleton is seeing record level new home sales. In fact, Brambleton is the 8th top-selling community in the U.S.

Yes, you read that correctly (and no, this is not an April Fool’s joke).

Brambleton sold 352 new homes in 2010, the most new homes sold in one year in its’ 10 year history. On top of that, Brambleton is on pace to break that record in 2011 – and that’s without the first-time home buyer tax credit being available.

What’s so special about Loudoun County and Brambleton in particular?

- This area has always been ahead of the curve and leads the country by about 6 to 9 months. We were the first to see prices going up during the boom, the first to see them starting to come down and the first to see signs of stabilization and possible recovery.

- A large local presence of national and semi-custom builders who survived the market downturn and had money to start building once the local market showed signs of life in the second half of 2009 and into 2010.

- A shift in builders’ product lines. Builders are building more affordable and attractive products. This is drawing buyers in that were once priced out of the market and/or weren’t fans of the “same ol’” style of homes or huge McMansions. Yes, you can still find new traditional Virginia colonials/town homes throughout the area. But you can see and feel an urban touch to some of the new product lines and community amenities especially in Brambleton – one example is the Boulevard at Brambleton, by Camberley Homes.

- The local economy is one of the strongest in the U.S. This includes employment rates, new jobs being created and incomes. This helps create a strong housing demand and one that is stronger than most other parts of the U.S.

- Brambleton is a really cool, well thought-out and well built community (and their staff is dedicated and hard working). It has won GALA’s Community of the Year and countless other awards over the years. If you haven’t been to Brambleton in person, you should check it out sometime. (Contact me for a free tour of the Brambleton including the eight different builders within the community)

The rest of Loudoun County is in similar shoes. Other communities and builders are also selling new homes at a pace not seen for years, if ever. In speaking with builders’ sales staff and selling new homes throughout Loudoun County last year, I noticed that the sales staff had a smile on their face and positive attitude about them not seen since the boom market back in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

If you’re considering a new home but think that it’s out of your price range, you may be pleasantly surprised. As I mentioned, builders have revamped their product lines and price points. Give me a call or shoot me an email and I’d be glad to tell you what’s available in your price range throughout Loudoun County and show you around.

Related Reading

General information on Brambleton, LoudounScene.com

Camberley Homes, Boulevard at Brambleton Starts Selling This Weekend

Camberley Homes, Boulevard at Brambleton will officially open their sales office this Saturday, September 18, 2010. I stopped by last Saturday while giving home buyers a tour of Brambleton. We had a chance to spend some time with Mike, the sales manager and get more of the latest details.

To go into detail would be a looooooong blog post so I’ll give you the short “in a nutshell” version here – email or call me for the details.

Camberley Homes, Boulevard at Brambleton

- Base prices range from $370K to $403K depending on the model
- There are four different models to choose from
- Two car garages are standard
- Much different layout than typical town home buildings
- Camberley Homes is more willing to customize than most builders
- Delivery of the first building and town homes in Spring 2011 (April/May)
- Some 3 bedroom models can be made into 2 master bedroom models
- One model has a rooftop terrace (they may offer the terrace on other models in the future)

There’s a lot of information about Camberley Homes, Boulevard at Brambleton’s models and features online on their site and blog. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

If you would like more information or to set up a time to check out the sales center or get a tour of Brambleton, click here to contact me.

And if you haven’t read this blog post about buying a new construction home, click here to do so now.

Brambleton New Home Model Home Map

Curious about new homes being built in Brambleton? Would you like to take a tour of the different builders’ models, but not sure where they are? Well, here’s a map of the various builder’s model homes and sales centers.

Note: Give me a call or email me before you check out the model homes so I can give you the inside scoop on each builder, models and their specific section within Brambleton.

Tex-Mex Restaurant and Margarita Bar Coming to Brambleton

All you Tex-Mex and margarita lovers stand up and do a happy dance – the space next to Fox Cinemas in the Brambleton Town Center will soon be a Tex Mex restaurant complete with a margarita bar!

The space was originally being built out as a Mexican restaurant by the name of Cantina Cove, but that fell through after the owner, Osama El-Atari, was brought up on fraud charges and became an internationally wanted fugitive. The space sat vacant for a while, but another local, and seemingly more legit restaurateur, took over the space and is turning into a Tex-Mex restaurant and margarita bar.

My sources tell me that there is no official name for the restaurant yet, but one should be coming out soon. They also say that the restaurant may be ready for operations and having a “soft opening” sometime mid-December. Having worked in the restaurant business in a previous life and seeing the progress (yes, I was snooping through the windows), I’d say a mid-December soft opening is optimistic. But then again, where there’s a will (and money), there’s a way.

Regardless of when it opens, it will be a nice and much needed addition to the Brambleton Town Center and for all those in the Brambleton community as well as Ashburn and Loudoun County in general.

Click here to see some photos of the exterior of the space (in case you want to snoop and take a peek through the windows as well).

Brambleton Wins “Community of the Year” Award (again)!

Congratulations to Brambleton for winning 5 GALA awards including  “Community of the Year” (for the 3rd year in a row)! The Great American Living Awards (GALA) awards celebrate excellence in New Home Architecture, Interior Design, and Sales and Marketing throughout Maryland, Virginia and DC.

The GALA awards are quite an honor because they are based on votes and recognition by your peers in the building industry.

The other awards Brambleton received were,

• Best Sales Office – Brambleton Welcome Center
• Best Website – www.Brambleton.com
• Best Community Land Planning (this award is based on the community landscaping and signage)
• Marketing Director of the Year (Kim Adams)

If you have yet to check out Brambleton in person, you should do so. I would be glad to show you around the community, introduce you to everyone at the Welcome Center and answer any questions you may have – just click here to contact me.

Related Articles

Brambleton Community Receives National Honors

Brambleton Quick Facts

Various blog posts about the Brambleton Community

***SEARCH FOR AVAILABLE HOMES IN BRAMBLETON***

Brambleton Sizzlin’ Summer Concert Series Around the Corner

Brambleton’s Sizzlin’ Summer Concert series is right around the corner… The concerts will take place at the Brambleton Town Center Plaza in front of Fox Cinemas on various Thursday nights throughout the summer.

Here’s the line up:

July 2 – Jah Works (reggage) I’ve seen Jah Works several times and they’re great. They play all over the DC metro area including the eastern shore during the summer months and have a huge following.

July 16 – Doug Segree (rock/modern rock)

July 30 – Crowded Streets (Dave Matthew tribute band) I’ve seen them once before and it’s hard to believe you’re not listening to the real Dave Matthews band

August 13 – The Reflex (80′s cover band)

August 27 – Junk Food (alternative rock cover band)

The concerts are fun and a great way to spend a Thursday night. And don’t worry…they’re not too crazy so it’s safe to bring the entire family (or not if you want to do a date night).

Brambleton Launches “Immediate Delivery/Spec Home” Blog Site

Brambleton has officially launched their new "immediate delivery/spec home" blog site. The site provides information about all the immediate delivery/spec homes currently available in Brambleton. The site is a great resource for buyers (and agents) looking at immediate deliveries/spec homes in Brambleton.

It's nice to see Brambleton and the builders within the community making it possibly for buyers and agents to get information on all immediate delivery/spec homes in one place. I hope other communities take notice and follow suit.

SEARCH FOR HOMES FOR SALE IN BRAMBLETON

Brambleton Community Receives National Honors

Congratulations to The Brambleton Group, LLC, the developers of the Brambleton community in Loudoun County for receiving several national honors, adding to its long list of awards!

Brambleton received a silver award from the National Sales and Marketing Council's The Nationals 2009 competition. The Council is an affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders, the largest industry association for building and associated industry professionals.

Brambleton's silver award was based on winning the categories of Master-planned Community of the Year, Best Web Site for a Community (Suburban), and Best Landscape Design for a Detached Community.

"With our innovative use of FiOS for residents and merchants, vibrant town center, and highly attractive landscape design throughout the community, we feel Brambleton is at the top of builder standards, quality, and appeal to Loudoun's homebuyers," Kim Adams, director of marketing for Brambleton, said in a statement.

Brambleton was among a field of 800 entries reviewed during a three-day judging process by a seven-member panel of industry leaders.

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Brambleton Quick Facts

New Brambleton Builder Showcase and Welcome Center Opens

***SEARCH FOR HOMES FOR SALE IN BRAMBLETON***

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