Avalon Building Corp's Brookland model is available in the Pasco County community of Seven Oaks.
Take Note: New-Home Community and Builder News
Avalon Building Corp. has started construction on a 3,654-square-foot model home in the Tampa" target="_blank">Pasco County community of Seven Oaks. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom Antigua design will house a study and a 15-by-30-foot bonus room as well as a leisure room with multiple sliding glass doors that open out to the pool and lanai. The model home will be Avalon’s first in Watermark, a gated, 76-home community that offers 90-foot-wide homesites. The home, which will be completed in February, is base priced at $474,900.
GREEN BUILDING
Tampa" target="_blank">Pasco County’s only certified-green community, Longleaf, recently was ranked No. 2 on the second annual list of the Top 10 New Urbanism Communities chosen by The Web site newurbanmom.com. Crosland LLC is developing the traditional neighborhood, which offers homes priced starting at $190,000. Florida was the only state to have two developments make the list; Baldwin Park in Orlando was ranked No. 1.
NEW COMMUNITIES
Sales are under way for 74 new conservation homesites offered by Engle Homes in Royal Oak Village at Live Oak Preserve, a 1,300-acre master-planned community in northern Tampa" target="_blank">Hillsborough County. The builder’s 2009 New Home Collection will offer floorplans that range in size from 2,096 to 3,336 square feet with four or five bedrooms and three-car garages. Prices will start in the low $200s.
Also in Tampa" target="_blank">Hillsborough County, Ashton Woods Homes says only 14 homesites remain for sale at the Riverview community of Camden Woods. The community, located off 78th Street, features homes ranging in size from 1,700 to 3,000 square feet. Floorplans offer three, four or five bedrooms and prices range from $179,900 to the mid-$200s.
D.R. Horton’s newest community, Whispering Woods, is located in Plant City, just north of Tampa in Tampa" target="_blank">Hillsborough County. The community will offer 143 single-family homes that back up to conservation areas and ponds.
After more than 300 new-home sales in the Tampa" target="_blank">Pasco County community of Seven Oaks, Standard Pacific Homes is down to its last 25 homesites. One is on a conservation area and four have pond views. Standard Pacific is building in the 96-home village of Knollpoint, where homes range in size from 1,570 to 3,368 square feet with prices starting at $209,900.
LUXURY HOMES
Is the luxury home market poised for a comeback? Yes, says Charley Hannah of Hannah Bartoletta Homes. Just look at the signs: Increased sales in recent months combined with more interested buyers and fewer contract cancellations point to a shift upward. The builder says by the end of the third quarter in 2008, Hannah Bartoletta had generated sales that exceeded figures for all 12 months of 2007. Those sales came not only from inventory homes but also from the all-important custom-built home segment, Hannah says. The number of custom-home contracts signed during the second and third quarters of 2008 resulted in the most robust sales figures since late 2006, which is encouraging, he says.
TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
The Tampa Bay Builders Association, which now includes Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, recently installed officers for 2009. Click here for a complete list of officers.
The Sales and Marketing Council of the Tampa Bay Builders Association recently presented Awards of Excellence to builders, real estate agents and on-site sales associates. Click here for a list of honorees.