Posts Tagged ‘crozet’

The video below captures the progress made in Week 2 of construction. I was joined by Scott Carlson of Piedmont Realty of Construction to talk particulars regarding drainage, radon mitigation, waterproofing, and county inspections.

The video below is the first four days of construction of a home being built by Piedmont Realty and Construction. It shows ground breaking through basement wall completion and waterproofing. Scroll down for previous video or click on “Construction Video” category link for all videos to date.

Sometimes working with builders and developers affords me the opportunity of being a little bit ahead of the curve. Working with builders and developers, we are often trying to “find” the market. That is, what needs to be created to represent value in the marketplace as compared to all options new or otherwise. I often share that I think understanding the new construction market is vital to understanding the overall market. Working with Drew Holzwarth of Piedmont Realty and Construction, I think he has “found” a few of segments of the market in which the Piedmont offering has been well received by the marketplace.

In fall of 2009, Piedmont developed The Riverton for Old Trail’s West End Square. Single family homes (detached) under $300,000. This was the first time detached homes were availabe in this price point. Some of these lots are smaller and do not offer garage opportunity, but serve the buyer not willing to consider attached choices. What happened next is interesting to me. We immediately discovered demand for a little bit bigger home with garage and/or basement in the $350-$400k+ range. Piedmont’s semi-custom process allowed the flexibility to immediately adapt to the marketplace. As it turns out, Phase V of Old Trail offered 6 lots with room for garages and/or basements. When all of these lots were sold in short order I was disappointed, as this was such a perfect for this “new” real estate market.

And then came Village Commons, Old Trail’s newest phase. Adjacent to the town center, this phase offers more lots with room to add garage and even room to widen the footprint of the home. Streets are not in and there are no model homes yet, but the opportunity is there for those with vision. Last week we made the first sale of Village Commons. This buyer started with the Riverton, widened the home by 2 feet, and added a third floor for 4th bedroom and third full bath. They also added a two car garage with a finished room above for a perfect studio or home office.

What I’ve seen over the last year confirms many of my suspicions about the market. There are buyers looking for quality in the form of design, finish, and energy efficiency not present in the resale market. Why is that? Because at the top of the market it got to easy. Not everything built in those years is relevant now. One of the best ways to get exactly what you want is working with a semi custom home builder. I will explain more about this concept in coming posts.

I often meet people interested in new construction but not familar enough with the process to be comfortable. I am also meeting more and more people who have seen what is on the market and are deciding new construction may be the only way to get what they want at the right price. I am a huge fan of the new construction process and really love helping people explore the possibilites and navigate the process. It can be extremely rewarding. One key component is choosing the right builder. I will get into that topic in a later post, but I am watching people have exceptional experiences with Piedmont Realty and Construction. They have created a “semi-custom” process that really works well in this market. Since I am their Realtor Marketing Representative, I am going to follow a home they are building in Old Trail to try and shed some light on the process. One of the most important considerations when building is how the home is to be situated on the lot. The video explains this further.