When Searching for the "Right Home"...Is it Important to Search for the "Right Neighborhood" too?

Are you looking for the "right" home or "right" price? How about finding the right neighborhood too? It seems that many real estate agents and buyers visiting our communities in the past year are locked into finding the home with the best deal or best price. We like to remind them that they should also be looking for the "right" community! "Oh, you mean we should pay as much attention as to what the community offers as we do the house? What a concept!"

YES! In this price-conscious home buying market, everyone involved should also focus on finding the right place to live- that being the location or community. What should you look for in a planned community?

Prospective homebuyers generally decide within 30 seconds of driving into a community as to their potential interest in relocating there. When shopping for a new place to live, the first impression is vitally important. Which is why planned communities like The Riverfront at Harbour View, Gatling Pointe, Eagle Harbor, Liberty Ridge, and Founders Pointe in Virginia spend a lot of attention at the front entrance and streetscape architecture.

• Homebuyers today definitely appreciate a sense of arrival and they notice the meticulous landscaping and the seasonal planting found at the front entry monument.
• Distinctive architectural home styles and quality homebuilders are other important parts of distinguishing a neighborhood.
• Do the builders pay attention to the streetscape?
• Are the homebuilders sensitive to the buyers needs and how long have they been in the business? Do your Featured Builders have a proven track record and have good reputations?
• Are the homes unique enough yet offering a nice blend of architectural styles?
• Variety and pleasing color palettes are also important components in most planned communities.
• If you're selling an exciting "lifestyle community", then your amenities better have something worth selling the sizzle over. (Under promise and over deliver is always a good policy)
• The amenities need to appeal to the target market for the community.
• What do people want today? Are walking trails and parks more appealing to today's buyer than tennis courts? Surveys and focus groups can help you decide.
• Investigate the other communities a developer has done in your area if you're looking at a new neighborhood in the early stage of development.

Research and feedback from your present and past customers helps to guide us in our decisions of what to include and what to leave out in our new home communities. Every market is different, but there are trends as to what consumers value today than what they wanted 10-20 years ago.

Differentiation and an effective overall marketing and sales approach will help a community accomplish its goal- to develop and create a quality neighborhood that appeals to the appropriate target market and blends well within the local community. Developers and builders need to work together to offer the right product types for the buyers the neighborhood attracts. If the neighborhood is appealing to a wide market segment (like Founders Pointe, Eagle Harbor, or The Riverfront), then there needs to be a wide variety of home styles, sizes, floor plans, and price range.

East West Communities will often work closely with 5 to 10 builders in a single community. This allows an opportunity to offer an interesting diversity of home styles and also have strategic Featured Models for sale to appeal to the relocating buyer. It also helps to shape the "look" of the community and accomplish sense of community early on in the development stage of a neighborhood. The sum of all of the above elements helps to develop a community that will attract many buyers in the future and helps to give current homebuyers confidence in their resale value down the road.

What are some of the important features that you look for in a new home community?

Check out www.eastwestcommunities.com for information about our planned communities in Virginia and Florida.

Homearama Sales Update: Six of the Nine Homes are Now Sold!

Sales are up at this fall's Homearama event in The Riverfront at Harbour View community in Suffolk, Virginia. So far, six of the nine model homes are now under contract and sold non-contingent. That's an amazing number considering the time of year and the fact that the home show isn't over until tonight!

The Riverfront is a waterfront, golf course community in the North Suffolk area of Hampton Roads and features resort style amenities along the Nansemond River. Homes range in value from the upper $400's to over $3 million. Five other contracts have been written in the community as a result of the special promotion over the last couple of weeks.

This multi-builder, one-site home show has become a regional attraction offering visitors the chance to see what’s new in home design, interior decorating, landscaping, energy efficiency, and more.
These custom crafted homes are for sale – Come out today to experience “Life The Way It Should Be” in a Homearama home in The Riverfront.Today is the last day of Homearama which is open from noon until 9 pm. For more information, visit our website. The nine model homes are shown below...more information came be found at www.the-riverfront.com.

Model 2

ABT Custom Homes

Model 4

Sasser Construction

Model 5

Sasser Construction

Model 6

Stephen Alexander Homes

Model 8

Ore Builders

Model 9

Charlie Anderson

Model 3

Joey Corporation/Closet Factory

Model 7

ABT Custom Homes

       

The Last Blast of Summer at The Riverfront at Harbour View Swim Club

  Riverfront Swim Club Labor Day Fun

It was the last blast of the summer – and time for everyone to take a break from work, school and chores to enjoy the community’s annual Labor Day Celebration at the Riverfront Swim Club! A traditional All-American picnic with hot dogs, hamburgers & apple pie gave party-goers the energy to compete in a myriad of games and contests. The Bouncin’ Bronco, Tacky Tourist Relay and Giant Belly Flop contest took the prize for the most crazy fun, for participants and spectators alike. And, for the more relaxed in the crowd, simply lounging poolside, enjoying the sounds and the scenery, was just enough excitement on a beautiful end-of-summer day.

The Riverfront at Harbour View

The Riverfront at Harbour View is a waterfront, golf course community overlooking the Nansemond and James Rivers in Suffolk just 2 miles from the Monitor Merrimac Bridge Tunnel. Located in the heart of Hampton Roads, The Riverfront is mere minutes from Newport News, Hampton, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Norfolk, yet a lifetime away from the hustle of city living. The neighborhood is also hosting the 2011 Fall Homearama event.

Features Resort-style amenities with programmed activities. Some of the other community amenites are:

• Challenging 18-hole championship golf course designed by Tom Doak
• Elegant clubhouse with indoor and outdoor fireplaces, large plasma screen, and gazebo Cabana Bar
• The Riverfront Swim Club with Junior Olympic swimming pool, and 100 foot waterslide
• Two waterfront parks with piers and gazebos
• 43-acre lake with walking / jogging paths
• Two tennis courts and volleyball courts
• Lakefront amphitheater with gazebo and picnic area
• Two children's playgrounds
• Leisure / biking trails connecting lakeside amenities through an underground tunnel
• Meticulously landscaped medians with benches and walkways located throughout the community create additional park-like settings
• Full-time Activities Director
• Lakeside infinity pool, overlooking 26-acre Eagle Lake
• Village Square, a 2-acre landscaped park with waterfalls and babbling brook

Homearama Sneak Preview Weekend Brings Over 1,500 to The Riverfront at Harbour View

 

The main HOMEARAMA event does not start until next month (October 15th through the 39th), but The Riverfront at Harbour View community opened its doors this past weekend, and over 1,500 guests came out to preivew the nine new homes which will be completed within the next thirty days.
Interior decorators, furniture companies, and professional landscapers will help make the nine homes beautifully furnished model homes and they will all be open for a sixteen day period next month. The latest in new home trends and furnishings will be on display and prospective homeowners will come through to see the showcase homes.

This past Saturday and Sunday, prospective homebuyers got a chance to see the homes BEFORE they were decorated and furnished. Some came through to see the new homes available for sale- three have already been sold. the new homes range in price from $550,000 to $750,000. Check out the newspaper article below by Emily Collins with the Suffolk News Herald.



Homearama Gives A Sneak Peek

September 10th, 2011

Published in the Suffolk News Herald. Story by Emily Collins

With a little more than a month until the official opening of Homearama, several of the featured houses have opened their doors to hundreds of visitors for a sneak preview this weekend.

Residents from across Hampton Roads made their way to the Riverfront at Harbour View to tour the houses, which are still under construction, during the Dusty Boots open house Saturday, and more are expected as the event continues today.

“There is a lot of curiosity,” said Mark Edwards, the senior vice president of East West Communities, the developer of the Riverfront. “A lot of people like to see the houses at this stage. Without all the furniture and decorations, they can visualize their stuff in here.”

Of the nine homes that will be featured in Homearama Oct. 15-30, seven were open for the Dusty Boots tours. Two houses were not open to the public at the request of the owners.

While most of the major construction is completed on the homes, a lot of interior design and landscaping is not finished.

Guests made their way up makeshift plywood or mulch pathways to see the details of the home construction.

Many of the guests who attended the Dusty Boots preview came out to see the progress of the houses and get ideas for their own homes.

Realtor Cecilia Warren of All/Pros realty, which represents the builder for one of the Homearama homes, said she thinks people can see the specifics of the building better at the preview event.
“With a Dusty Boots event, they get to see the attention to detail,” she said. “They really get to see the quality of the home.”

Skip Stark said he visited the preview with his wife, daughter and grandson for that exact reason.
“We always come out for previews, because without the furniture and all the people, you can see the space better,” he said.

While most people came out just to look, the builders and the real estate agents made sure people knew the houses were most definitely for sale if they were interested.

Tony and Leisha Belk, of Yorktown, said they didn’t come out to buy a new house but were open to the idea if the price was right.

“If it jumps up at us and it’s a reasonable price, we might buy something,” he said.
Stephen Quick of Stephen Alexander Homes, one of the Homearama builders, said he was encouraged by the number of the people at the event, as well as by their attitude about the housing market.

“Everybody’s upbeat about the market, and they are realizing that Homearama homes are such good prices,” he said.

Houses in the show start at $550,000.

Although Brett and Cheryl Scudder don’t plan to buy a Homearama house, they wanted to see the details of the homes and get ideas for their house.

“We always comes to these,” Brett Scudder said. “We thought we’d get a jump on Homearama.”

For more information about the Homearama, visit www.the-riverfront.com.

The Riverfront | 6101 Walkers Ferry Lane | Suffolk, Virginia 23435 | (757) 638-9100

Get Ready to See the Best Model Home Show (HOMEARAMA) in the Country this Fall!

Homearama returns to The Riverfront at Harbour View

Tidewater Builders' Association has announced that The Riverfront at Harbour View in northern Suffolk, Virginia will host its Fall 2011 Homearama showcase of homes. The event, set for Oct. 15-30, will feature eight to 13 homes, with prices expected to start in the low $500,000s. The resort-style community, developed by East West Communities, last hosted Homearama in 2001, when it drew more than 110,000 visitors. "We feel extremely fortunate to work with East West Communities on another first-class event," said TBA President Bill Halprin. "Their communities are known for their beautiful landscaping and upscale curb appeal, as well as the resort lifestyle they offer. They created a beautiful setting for our first Spring Homearama at Founders Pointe last year and we know we can expect even more of the same at The Riverfront." The Riverfront is home to about 1,000 families, who enjoy the peaceful waterways and scenic views of the Nansemond and James Rivers and the community's convenient location in the midst of the shops, restaurants, grocery stores, movie theater and health & wellness facilities of Harbour View.  The Riverfront is just 15 minutes from downtown Norfolk, centrally located to the Southside and the Peninsula. The Homearama homes will all face a large center island park, over an acre in size, which provides scenic views from every front porch, and the perfect place for children to play and neighbors to gather. The community offers a long list of amenities which include golf, volleyball, tennis, two waterfront parks with piers, playgrounds, a lakeside amphitheater, walking and jogging paths, bike trails and a Swim Club with two outdoor pools, clubhouse & a full-time activities director. "We have enjoyed great success with Homearama, the builders and TBA in the past and we look forward to expanding on that success to make this the finest home show it can be," commented Branch Lawson, President of East West Communities. "We believe all the elements are in place for that to happen. Welcome back to Suffolk, and to TBA's first community inducted into their Hall of Fame for Excellence!" "We expect to see several Southern Living House Plans featured and they will showcase the latest technology, energy efficiency, and feature state of the art sounds systems," said Mark Edwards, broker for East West Realty. The Homearama sites are priced from $135,000 to $152,500, averaging a half-acre in size. A lot drawing for interested builders has been scheduled for noon on Tuesday, March 22, in the conference room of the TowneBank Member Service Center in Harbour View. To find out more about the Fall Homearama, check out the article in the Virginian Pilot. You can also visit www.the-riverfront.com .