A few select quotes and my response and comments-

My quote about suburban land development-

“There’s a high demand for land – it’s at a premium”, he says. “This is an area [Bonsack and parts of Southwest County] previously unconsidered because of the terrain. Fifteen years ago it would have been undesirable.”

Bill Hart of J.M. Turner Homes had a different but not unharmonious take on it-

“As population increases, property closest to the city is in high demand,” he says, adding that geology and terrain have never been a deterrent. “People start to spread out as they look for cheaper land. It’s just a matter of supply and demand.”

While I agree with Bill on supply and demand, which is very close to what I was asserting with the idea that the best land is taken first, I have to disagree that geology and terrain have never been a deterrent. If geology and terrain were not a deterrent then that horrible hill (among many other places in the Valley) just across from the Tanglewood Mall exit on US-220 would have been developed long ago because of it’s great location. However, the terrain long delayed its development and even now there’s not much going on there due to the very steep terrain.

On second home purchases in South Roanoke and Old Southwest Roanoke-

[Marty] Martin cites the older neighborhoods in South Roanoke and Southwest as often the target of this demographic [Babyboomers]. “People who buy in [these neighborhoods] are not first time buyers, they’re more established”, he says.

And of course, the last word-

As time unfolds to continue the story of Roanoke Valley’s housing market, residents will observe increased suburban growth that will keep choices diverse and widespread. Renovations within [Roanoke] will also keep its housing competitive.

“Look at the upturn in downtown Roanoke,” Martin says. “The Candy Factory on Salem Avenue is being converted to condos and there’s the Campbell Garage Lofts. I wouldn’t consider that major growth, but it’s certainly worth mentioning.”

There’s a lot of other stuff in this article on Roanoke real estate I’ll blog more on soon. Richard Wells had a great block on taxes in tax assessments in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County I’ll talk on next.

Since this is an issue that affects nearly everyone, I want to share news with you regarding the Appalachian Power rate increase.

Today, the State Corporation Commission announced a significant reduction in APCo’s rate increase request. APCo had requested a 25.4% increase, which we consumers have been paying since October of 2006. Today’s ruling will allow APCo to increase rates by only 3%.

The new lower rates must take effect within 30 days and refunds, with interest, will be made within 90 days.

Over the past few months, hundreds of my constituents shared their concern about this rate increase with me. Hearing these concerns, I contacted the SCC and encouraged them to consider a lower rate increase. I am very pleased with this ruling.

Warmest Regards,

Brandon

This is indeed good news for all of us paying exorbitant fees for electricity.  Chalk one up for the little people!

• Roanoke is ranked one of the top 5 most livable small cities in the US by America’s Most Livable Communities
• You can buy more house in Roanoke, Virginia (From The Richmond Times Dispatch: “They could have gotten more house for their money in Roanoke”)
• We have over 7 colleges and universities in the region including Roanoke College, Hollins University, Virginia Tech, Radford University as well as the Roanoke Higher Education Center and others
• Our advanced health care system
• Our award-winning school systems (in no particular order)- Roanoke County Schools, Roanoke City Schools, Salem City Schools, Botetourt County Schools, Franklin County Schools, Bedford County Schools
• Parenting magazine chose Roanoke as one of the ten best places to raise a family in the US
• Kiplinger Magazine rated Roanoke as one of the best 5 cities for retirees
• Our low crime rate
• Top notch Roanoke, Virginia real estate agent (Shameless self-promotion!)

Here are some other reasons to relocate to Roanoke. If you have more, add them to the comments!

Real estate agents sold 426 residential properties and 353 homes pending sale by the last day of April 2007. That is a decrease of fourteen percent over 2006 sales and a fifteen percent decrease from 2005. Some economists have blamed the slower April market on bad weather in February and particularly March.

The graph below shows the Roanoke area real estate market sales data from 2005 through the present:

To give you an idea of how unique the recognition is, there are thousands of real estate agents in the region and I am one of only 17 real estate blogs in all of Virginia (and the only one in the Roanoke Valley) to make the cut!

I received word from one of my best asset managers today that they will be putting quite a few properties up for auction very soon.  What does that mean for the opportunistic foreclosure investor?  It means the REO (foreclosing) banks don’t want to have to go to auction, they’d rather sell quickly!  I understand they will be accepting even lower offers than before in an attempt to avoid the auction process.  The only bad part is the deadline for these deals is May 1st and only applies to properties on the market for a longer period of time!

If you’ve been thinking of investing to flip or rent a foreclosed home in Roanoke, now is the time to give me a call (397-0014) for a complete list of affected homes.

Here are the total statistics for residential sales in the Roanoke Valley for March-

• 450 homes sold ( 24% increase over February )
• $87,086,523 total dollar volume sold
• $156,000 median sales price

Rather than just say I think it’s hype in the Roanoke market though, I’d like to present some figures to back it up. Take a look at this chart. The data on this chart was obtained from reputable sources, namely the Virginia Association of REALTORS and the Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS who in turn collected this data directly from the MLS for the Roanoke Valley. Although not entirely representative of every sale, it is in my opinion the best sample of home sales around.

Disclaimer: I am not a statistician. :)

A few items to point out. The first thing you will note right away is the trend lines do not significantly deviate from each other. The reason? Because the data from year to year in total home sales is so close.

Now, on to a more detailed look. The orange line is data from 2004, the green line from 2005, the yellow line from 2006 and the blue line is data for 2007 through February. Let’s pull a couple of items out to compare and contrast. In December of 2005, there were 412 homes sold in the Roanoke Valley. In December of 2006 there were 381. That’s a difference of 31 homes sold or down about 7 percent. That’s hardly the bust we’ve been hearing about in Roanoke.

But maybe you say sales are always slow in December? Then let’s take a look at the prime selling season. The total home sales in July 2005 was 568. The total a year later in 2006 was 505. That’s a difference of 63 homes. A little more significant but still only down 11 percent.

Well you say…what about currently. Certainly after December home sales must be down. Actually they’re not. Sales are right in line in 2007 where they were in 2006 and higher than they were in all the previous years here.

Where is the dramatic bubble bust in the Roanoke Valley? It doesn’t exist I say. Roanoke hasn’t experienced the dramatic ups or downs the national and local media have been decreeing lately. We’ve remained pretty steady in our home sales from year to year.

So rock on, I’m looking forward to this year’s real estate season. The season? January through December.

Unusual weather patterns and problems in the subprime lending marketplace are creating challenges in assessing housing market conditions, but a recovery is likely this year, according to the latest forecast by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) today released revised housing projections for the 2007 real estate market. Below are a few highlights. You can view the entire report here.

• Existing median home prices are expected to rise 1.2 percent this year. “Although existing-home sales will be marginally reduced due to subprime lending restrictions, they should be gradually rising this year and next. However, total sales this year will be fairly close to 2006 because last year started high and ended low.”
• NAR predicts the problems with the sub-prime mortgage-lending marketplace will dampen the market but not spill over into prime market lending. (Sub-prime is for borrowers who have less than perfect credit.)

Google says it hopes laid-off furniture workers, most of whom never graduated from high school, will be among the 250 employees at two facilities on the 215-acre site, much of which was once a lumberyard.

The real estate market in Lenoir has already received a boost with properties long on the market now under contract as Google continues to build.