4 Resale Homes have already sold and settled in 2011 and 3 more are Under Contract.

Providence Homes has at least 4 homes in construction now and at least one that is Under Contract (our clients). New home sales are once again surging at Heritage Shores and it’s all good.

From just our personal experience, the tide has definitely turned in this community. Two of our own listings are now under contract with our buyers:

• 132 Widgeon Way, a single family home on a golf course lot was listed for $319,000 and it will settle this month.
• 52 Whistling Duck, an attached home on a golf course lot was listed for $199,000 and it will settle this month

In addition, our buyer clients have bought the single family home at 5 Canvasback which sold for $345,000 in  February, 2011. The property at 68 Emily’s Pintail is now under contract with our buyers and is scheduled to settle on October 7th.

In real estate we always say that a good property priced right for the market will sell. I think the numbers demonstrate the truth in that old adage!

Linda has been a Realtor in Maryland for many years and I am very pleased to announce that she will be joining the Active Adults Delaware team at RE/MAX Associates in April. Linda will help me with both buyers and sellers at Heritage Shores. Whether it’s a resale home or new construction, no one knows Heritage Shores better than the Active Adults Delaware  Team. Now that Linda is living in the community, she looks forward to meeting you and helping you with your real estate needs.

I think the first step is to find a good buyer’s agent, an experienced real estate professional that you can work with. Tell your agent what you like and what you hope for in your new home as well as in the community and surrounding area. Then let your agent schedule your visit so that you see multiple options before making a decision. If you only drive down by yourself to see that one community and find you don’t like it, then what would you do? You might decide you don’t like the whole area and miss out on some wonderful neighborhoods that would have been a better fit. Or, you might run into a great sales person in the first model home you see who works for the builder and make an impulse purchase decision!

Let’s take the community of Heritage Shores for example. When people ask me for floor plans, I ask them which floor plans they would like to see? There are several different builders and one of them, Lennar,  is no longer building new homes. We did manage to keep a copy of the two most popular Lennar floor plans and there are typically a few resales on the market. That can be very important because builders are not so anxious to build “spec” homes in this economic climate. If you know this is the community for you and you have already sold your home, a resale might be just right. But I digress.

Builders change their models and modify their floor plans to reflect changing buyers’ tastes and budgets. If you are adept at using the Internet, you can generally find builder’s floor plans online. So why do people send in requests for information and then add a notation “just send me floor plans and pricing”? I think it is really their way of saying “Don’t call me. I really don’t want your help. I just really like to pore over packages that the builder’s marketing department spent too much money producing.” Sometimes, I send out a package with floor plans if I have an extra copy, but most of the time I don’t. I am working with so many great people that do want a two-way communication, I don’t have the time to badger people that are sure they don’t need any help.

So, if you want to know what it’s really like here in Coastal Delaware and would like real help evaluating your options, this is what we do at the Active Adults Delaware Team. The only cost to you is the willingness to engage in a two-way conversation. Some take months and others take years, but we’re here for the long haul – talk to  us!

I read with interest this article in philly.com about the evidence of real estate and banking collapse in southern Delaware. I agree there have been painful times even here in Sussex County, Delaware, but I would much rather be here than in many other parts of the country. Things are much improved in many parts of Sussex County and one community this writer was criticizing, Heritage Shores, is actually a “bright spot in the county”, according to broker Tommy Cooper. As he pointed out, the community is well kept and

the community amenities are all built and open to the residents. The spacious clubhouse, the Fitness Center, Indoor Pool, Outdoor Pool, Tennis Courts, walking trails and the 18-hole Championship golf course are all functioning and running smoothly. What the writer of this article must not have noticed is that lots of the well-priced resale homes have sold this year. These buyers got a terrific deal and they’re feeling pretty good right now. To those who have been waiting, they may find that they have waited a bit too long when the resales are gone and the new home prices begin to rebound. Do you know anyone that moved to The Villages before 2000? At that time the Census showed just 8,000 people living there. It must have been a little quiet and maybe it felt a little remote. Today there are 80,000 residents in The Villages and it seems to be growing faster than ever.

Not all communities are so lucky and the fact is that back in 2005 and 2006 too many developers thought that a new community just like all the others already under construction was a great idea. They didn’t do their research and they didn’t offer anything remotely interesting. “Build it and they will come” turned out to be the wrong approach in a tough market.

But the real estate market is alive and well in many towns and communities in Coastal Sussex County Delaware. Every recovery begins at the beach and that has been true of Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. Buyers that had been priced out of the beach market when it was skyrocketing found that they could buy a home East of Route 1 and many did last year. There were some steals and many very good deals and most of them are now gone. Communities and neighborhoods closest to the most desirable areas have sold very well in 2010 and the sounds of new construction can be heard once again.

What this writer and many others don’t acknowledge is that the oldest Baby Boomers are not even 65 yet and most are not yet retired. Those who recognize opportunity will take action and buy now. I guess the rest will just stay where they are and continue to pay higher taxes and tell themselves how wise they are.

Ryan Homes Model Site at Heritage Shores

Today I discovered where the new Ryan Homes models will be built at Heritage Shores in Bridgeville, Delaware. The homes you see in the background were the models for Lennar, one of the original builders at Heritage Shores. This section used to be the parking lot and the Sales Center for Lennar. This will put the new Ryan models on the main road, just before the Providence of Brookfield Homes Sales Center.

Which models will Ryan be building? I’m on it and I’ll report the news on this site as soon as I obtain reliable information. Where will the first Ryan Homes be located? I found the sites on Ruddy Duck Drive, the road on which the last Lennar homes were built before they pulled out of Delaware. These sites are well located on the golf course – very desirable locations within the community, on a quiet cul-de-sac. Buyers interested in a premium active adult community that features golf, tennis, indoor and outdoor pools, a large Community Clubhouse and every imaginable amenity now have a choice of quality resale homes, new construction from a regional builder AND production homes from a national builder. Which ones present the best value? Let’s talk and I’ll help you evaluate your options.

If your idea of the perfect retirement home includes golf, socializing in a beautiful clubhouse, swimming year round, tennis, compatible neighbors and lots to do, this is the right time to take a look at Heritage Shores. I have been bringing buyers to this community since 2005 and many of my clients have become happy homeowners and just love living in Delaware’s premier active adult community.

Today, your choice of model homes for sale, inventory homes ready for immediate occupancy and better-than-new resale homes at terrific prices make this Buyer’s Market one for the ages. I know Heritage Shores and I will help you evaluate all your options and make the choice that is best for you.

Don’t delay. Call me to schedule an appointment before these homes are gone.

The good news for buyers keeps getting better. Today we learn that the interest rate could drop even further for home buyers. The rate being discussed, as low as 4.5%, would only apply to home purchases, not refinancing an existing home. We don’t know much more than that, but we do know that the support for buyers has never been stronger.

Be prepared to take advantage of these low rates by starting the process now. Have you decided that Heritage Shores is where you want to retire? Have you zeroed in on the particular house? The next step would be to obtain mortgage pre-qualification, get together with your Buyer Agent and make an offer. Once you have a contract in place that both you and the seller are happy with, your agent and your loan officer can help you decide when to lock in an interest rate. We find that most buyers in the 55+ market are well qualified and generally obtain the best mortgage rates in any market. That rate could be somewhere between 4.5% and 5.5%, depending on your particular situation.

If you’re not sure what is currently for sale at Heritage Shores, click here for the most current information.

When times get tough, builders get creative. In good times, premium lots can command a big premium. In lean times, those premiums disappear and upgrades can be negotiated. Because of that, many buyers believe they can get a better deal by negotiating with the builder rather than by looking at resale homes in the same community. In a new community a resale is only a couple of years old and may be in a prime location that is not available with new construction in the current phase.

Looking at the actual year-to-date sales at Heritage Shores, I found the following statistics:

• Four (4) new attached homes sold at an average sales price of $293,754
• One (1) attached resale was sold at $229,900
• Fourteen (14) new single family homes sold at an average sales price of $368,336
• Four (4) single family resale homes have sold at an average sales price of $328,750

What do these numbers indicate? You might be able to find the best opportunity in a resale home. To find out which is best for you, have your Buyer Agent show you resale homes as well as new homes in any community you’re considering.