Yesterday morning was Realtor® Day at the 2010 BIA Parade of Homes at Ackerly Park in New Albany. Eight builders have homes in this year’s Parade. All of the homes have been built to conform with New Albany’s strict design style. This year’s builders are:
I was short on time but did manage to visit 7 of the 8 homes. I missed the Knight home and I didn’t visit the second floor of any of the homes. I did manage to take some photos for you.
Some of the differences that I noticed this year were the darker wall & wood colors and extensive use of decorating textures, mainly stone. Ceilings have become fancier and the flooring on the main level was mostly wood or very interesting tile. Countertops were either granite or the new concrete, which according to one of the builders, is similar in cost to granite. And yes, that IS a wood floor in that shower photo.
The Parade lasts until August 8. Visit BIAParade.com for more details.
The National Association of Realtors® recently released the results of their Buyer & Seller Profile Survey that was conducted in 2008. As agents, we like to know where buyers are shopping for homes (RESOURCE). It is also important to know how the buyers first learned about the home they actually bought (SOURCE).
No surprise, the Internet is growing in magnitude for its importance in the home search process at 87%. However, Realtors® are THE leading originator for the home the buyer actually purchased (34%). The Internet came in a close second at 32%. Here is a chart showing the NAR Survey’s findings. The yellow bars shows the various resources buyers used when they were in the exploratory stage. The dark brown bars show the source where the buyer FIRST learned about the home they actually bought.
Click to enlarge graph
You might be surprised that the Internet isn’t higher than Realtor® as a source for the home actually bought. What might be happening is that although buyers do so much web surfing for homes, those homes may no longer be on the market. That’s a major flaw to many of the web sites. Realtors® have access to the MLS which does show whether the home is an active listing or not. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the buyer’s Realtor® will continue to be a main source for ACCURATE info on homes.
The data also indicates why Realtors® no longer place ads in newspapers and why the home magazines have become thinner. Those media sell the agent, but don’t sell the home. The print quality of newspapers is so poor that it doesn’t compare well with the crisp photos on the Internet. The lead time on magazines is so long that the home may no longer be available. Although open houses are still conducted, they also are diminishing in favor due to security concerns and the known fact that they seldom sell the home held open.
If you are a home buyer, how do your habits compare to this National data?
In almost everything, there is some good and some bad. I try to find the “good” in what otherwise seems like a bad or at least, a not-so-good situation. Last Saturday, while driving around to take photos for my new photo blog (OlentangyLiving.com), it occurred to me that I was no longer sharing the side roads with the behemoth dump trucks.
If you have lived in southern Delaware County the past nine years, you know how prevalent these fully loaded – all axles down – trucks were. Speeding down the narrow back roads, to maximize the number of deliveries they could make per day to the local builders’ developments, they put other vehicles in peril that were near or in front of them.
However, with builders pruning their inventories in 2009, they’ve reduced the need for the loads of gravel or yards of concrete mix. So the number of encounters with these monster trucks has greatly lessened.
I’m torn between feeling sorry for the truckers, who likely have substantially reduced incomes, and yet relieved that I no longer have to worry about them crossing the center line, or being unable to stop quick enough for the traffic ahead.
I worked at the New England Homes model this afternoon at the Parade of Homes in Dublin. There were many people who walked through, often saying that it was their favorite model. I took photos of some of the models as well as a portion of the interior of the New England model.
This year’s parade included 11 homes. The styles are unique in that the Parade site developer requested that the homes resemble styles from the late 1700′s to early 1900′s. Many of them have been designed to look like the original home has been “added onto” with them being much deeper than they are wide. Several of the homes are already sold, but I’m 100% sure that if you want one, the builders will gladly build YOU a new one.
This weekend marks the beginning of the BIA Parade of Homes. It will be held at Tartan Ridge in Dublin and should prove to have the elegant homes of past years. There are eleven builders participating in this year’s event.
It’s always fun to visit the Parade to view new decorating trends or get ideas for our own homes. I suspect some “honey-do” lists get a little longer after the visits.
The Parade runs from July 11 through July 26. Hours are Mon-Sat 12pm-9pm; Sun 12pm-6pm. Tickets cost $12 and parking costs $2. Kids under 12 are free. Visit the BIA Parade web site for locations offering discounted tickets. Tartan Ridge is northwest of downtown Dublin, off Hyland-Croy Rd near Glacier Ridge Metro Park.
I’ll be there on July 18 working at the New England Homes model. This builder has won awards at past Parades, so be sure to visit it. If you’re there on the 18th, be sure to say ‘hi’.
EDITED:
I went to the Parade location today to pick up my pass to work the New England home. Here’s a photo of the New England Homes model where I’ll be on the 18th.
It’s very nice inside with a great floor plan. It’s already sold, but the builder can build one just for YOU!
This is the Duffy home model. I thought it was a very appealing style, especially with the copper roof. I haven’t been inside as there were many workers there today making last minute preparations for Saturday’s opening.
Aren’t you excited just looking at these gorgeous homes?
A recent CBR email contained links to a couple of interesting articles that I’ll pass along.
One link was to Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch article on the Top Ten metro areas for doing business. Columbus made it to the Top Ten this year. The article noted that Columbus has avoided the “Rust Belt” troubles of other Ohio cities, like Cleveland, but this has been the case for years thanks to Columbus’ more diverse economy. The article goes on to note that OSU is a primary reason, however, since the person making the claim is a dean at OSU, perhaps he’s not quite as objective as he should be. Being the State Capital with all the State government offices is pretty important and there are also a number of corporate headquarters located here as well. The quote from this dean, Steve Mangum, that many citizens would agree with is the personality of the city …
Locals like the intimate nature of the city. “It has a small-town feel to it, but it’s the [30th] largest city in the country,” Mangum said. “There’s something about the spirit of this place.”
26% expects to move in the future, with the majority looking for a single-level home. (Did they need to do a survey to learn this? It’s our creaky knees, folks!)
Boomer men are more likely than boomer women to believe they’ll move into a newer home (61% vs 42%).
Boomer women are more likely to think they will move into a smaller home (54% vs 41%). (Maybe this has to do with housecleaning!)
At one point the article says that boomers will “reflect the patterns of earlier generations and mostly age in place”. I think that’s what I’ll be doing … aging in place … and I’m sure my daughters hope that as well rather than moving in with them!
Helping home sellers & buyers with their real estate in Delaware & Franklin counties, including the suburbs of Powell, Dublin, Lewis Center, Galena, Worthington, Hilliard & Delaware.
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