Business matters: NWA sales of 150,000- homes "through the roof"

[KJW]

Business Matters, an in-newspaper tabloid published Sundays in the Demo-zette, had a front page story yesterday on how sales of $150,000 or less priced-homes in NWA are exploding. If someone can find a link to this, thanks...I can never locate stories from that magazine on the Web.

That would make a bit more sense as to why Village Lumber Company bought Pea Ridge's Easley Hardware earlier this year. Driving a short cut from my house to Springfield a couple of weeks ago, I went straight through Pea Ridge from west to east. It's amazing...there appear to be these low-cost homes going in for 1-2 miles north and south just as you enter the city limits from the west, and there are many that have been built on that town's east side as well. Lots of lumber being used.

These same type of homes (not the most aesthetically pleasing to many observers, but quite beautful to the homeowners, I'm hoping) are stretching for miles between west central Bentonville and Centerton as well. (The article said they're being built in the Fayetteville area as well...all the homes targeted for workers earning in the 18,000-19,000 per year range.)

Wonder how many we'll end up with, and how those neighborhoods will evolve over time?

[mcheiss]

I've heard in a number of years that the stretch between Bentonville and Pea Ridge will be filled with these kinds of homes.

[nj829]

The low cost homes are starting around $116,000 (of which only a couple are left) and up to the mid 120's between Bentonville thru Pea Ridge if you stay on 72....There is another sub division called Given's Landing or Place or something, which is a development that not only has some basic houses, as well as modular homes in it that max out around 105 I believe.

[Aporkalypse]

I've heard in a number of years that the stretch between Bentonville and Pea Ridge will be filled with these kinds of homes.

As sales of more expensive homes stagnate you would expect builders to start building cheaper homes that have a lower margin but are less likely to sit on the market a while. I bet we'll see a lot of this.

[edensfall]

It would be nice to know that I might be able to afford a home around here one of these days

[Mith242]

I still think there's growth in the housing market up here if developers would build more of the houses people want and can afford. Maybe they're finally realizing that the $350,000 homes just aren't going to sell like they were.

[mcheiss]

It would be nice to know that I might be able to afford a home around here one of these days

I wouldn't worry about that. With all of the $180,000 homes up here, developers will realize that the only way to sell them is to lower the price.

[Mith242]

Another thing that maybe I should mention here. I think it's feasible to put in some denser housing that way allowing developers to still make money and also not use quite as much land and keep down sprawl at least somewhat. Of course it would be even more preferable to me if they could do some infilling and not put all of this on the outskirts of the cities.

[Aporkalypse]

Another thing that maybe I should mention here. I think it's feasible to put in some denser housing that way allowing developers to still make money and also not use quite as much land and keep down sprawl at least somewhat. Of course it would be even more preferable to me if they could do some infilling and not put all of this on the outskirts of the cities.

I agree with that. The other problem that I've noticed in NWA, as well as some of the outskirts of DFW, is the use of tract housing where all of the homes are very similar (or exactly the same) in the cheaper demographic. It isn't attractive and those homes won't appreciate at the value that other new homes would. Hopefully as new projects come up they'll be built with this in mind.

[edensfall]

Its almost ridiculous driving around and seeing a ten story building next to farmland, then you drive a mile and see a three hundred home subdivision, Springdale needs infill so badly, if you google earth it you can see all the open fields that dot the landscape, but keep in mind that sattelite picture is pretty old on google earth for NWA, they need to update it.

[Mith242]

Its almost ridiculous driving around and seeing a ten story building next to farmland, then you drive a mile and see a three hundred home subdivision, Springdale needs infill so badly, if you google earth it you can see all the open fields that dot the landscape, but keep in mind that sattelite picture is pretty old on google earth for NWA, they need to update it.

I don't know if it will be updated anytime soon. To be honest that's probably the most up to date part of the state on Google Earth.

[dimebag1980]

I don't know much about prices in your region... I design homes, I don't sell them. But I do know that the $110-$150,000 market is one I had a MAJOR hard time buying in here. I bought my home one year ago for $130,000 and it's appraising a bit higher than that now, which is great. But when I bought, I had to come way out here to find a home in a decent neighborhood for under $150,000. There are tons of homes from $75,000-$110,000 but they're all in lesser desirable neighborhoods, and I still wanted to feel safe so there was no way I was going to buy one. It seems many cities are lacking in this particular price range of "affordable" homes so it's good to hear of more popping up. What I found mostly inside the city limits was $155,000-$350,000 and that's just a market I wasn't in. I could have gone $160,000 but that would have been pushing it. I like to have plenty of money to enjoy my life as well... I certainly don't want every dime going into my mortgage payment.

[Aporkalypse]

Its almost ridiculous driving around and seeing a ten story building next to farmland, then you drive a mile and see a three hundred home subdivision, Springdale needs infill so badly, if you google earth it you can see all the open fields that dot the landscape, but keep in mind that sattelite picture is pretty old on google earth for NWA, they need to update it.

Springdale has the worst city planning of any community I've ever been to. It's just getting worse as time goes on and Rogers and Bentonville learn from their mistakes. I don't understand it.

I don't know much about prices in your region... I design homes, I don't sell them. But I do know that the $110-$150,000 market is one I had a MAJOR hard time buying in here. I bought my home one year ago for $130,000 and it's appraising a bit higher than that now, which is great. But when I bought, I had to come way out here to find a home in a decent neighborhood for under $150,000. There are tons of homes from $75,000-$110,000 but they're all in lesser desirable neighborhoods, and I still wanted to feel safe so there was no way I was going to buy one. It seems many cities are lacking in this particular price range of "affordable" homes so it's good to hear of more popping up. What I found mostly inside the city limits was $155,000-$350,000 and that's just a market I wasn't in. I could have gone $160,000 but that would have been pushing it. I like to have plenty of money to enjoy my life as well... I certainly don't want every dime going into my mortgage payment.

In all fairness there are plenty of homes in Shreveport or Little Rock for under $80,000, they just aren't in neighborhoods you or I want to live. NWA is a little different, but the one thing it has is an AMPLE supply of land. There's no reason houses less than $150,000 can't be abundant.

[Mith242]

In all fairness there are plenty of homes in Shreveport or Little Rock for under $80,000, they just aren't in neighborhoods you or I want to live. NWA is a little different, but the one thing it has is an AMPLE supply of land. There's no reason houses less than $150,000 can't be abundant.

The one thing about a possible slowdown that might be nice is home prices dropping and getting at least some of the speculators out. I think that hasn't helped matter up here as well. That and I wouldn't put it past anyone that some developers aren't taking advantage of the hot housing market and are overpricing their houses because they can get away with it.

[Aporkalypse]

The one thing about a possible slowdown that might be nice is home prices dropping and getting at least some of the speculators out. I think that hasn't helped matter up here as well. That and I wouldn't put it past anyone that some developers aren't taking advantage of the hot housing market and are overpricing their houses because they can get away with it.

Are you kidding? Of course that's what going on. Why else do you think new home prices in NWA have risen so much when places like DFW, LR, and Tulsa are stable?

[mzweig]

The one thing about a possible slowdown that might be nice is home prices dropping and getting at least some of the speculators out. I think that hasn't helped matter up here as well. That and I wouldn't put it past anyone that some developers aren't taking advantage of the hot housing market and are overpricing their houses because they can get away with it.

It's the land prices that are driving housing prices up, folks. They aren't making any more of it -- at least land that's close in. There are no buildable lots in Fayetteville, good or bad neighborhood, for less than $50-60K. Take a look on a realtor's site and see if I am right. And the ones that do pop up are not actually in Fayetteville--they may be in Fayetteville schools but may not be also--the realtors deliberately misclassify them.

I can build a nice house in BV for $155-160K--I own a lot of lots there. It would be quality, not a tract house, but instead a nice rustic retreat with full front porch and 40 foot long kitchen, dining, and great room. No garage, tho--just a rear entry carport.

[dimebag1980]

Are you kidding? Of course that's what going on. Why else do you think new home prices in NWA have risen so much when places like DFW, LR, and Tulsa are stable?

That's exactly what came to mind when I read Rod's post. There's no doubt that's what is going on. I can see it from the outside looking in. Home prices just don't spike like that without some kind of artificial inflation. My boss is renting a home somewhere in NWA right now because he knows the prices won't stay that high forever. He just moved back up there from here and he was extremely disappointed in the prices there. And he's a millionaire... but the man just can't see paying the prices they're asking up there. He knows it's expensive to rent, but he's okay with it since he knows the prices will drop and he'll eventually be able to find something like what he had here for a reasonable price.

[masons_dad1]

That's all nice on electronic paper, but the fact remains that even those "under $150K" homes were appraised at only $80-90K 5 or 6 years ago. A friend of mine bought one of those new homes in Pea Ridge for $89K 6 years ago and it was appraised last year for $125K. No doubt his next appraisal will be closer to $150K. It's a little box that has some nice-looking faux brick on the outside, but not really even worth $89K, although it does have a substantial yard. It won't be anytime soon that a homebuyer will get even remotely their money's worth in a NWA home. I'm looking into other options outside of buying an inflated priced home on an way over inflated piece of dirt.

[Mith242]

I was just throwing out some possibilities. I admit I'm no expert on all of this.

[KJW]

I was at Gravette this morning and pulled over to look at a house in the new subdivision immediately north of the new high school there. (They're working on the big football stadium next). Gravette's interesting because in some ways it seems to be trying to be a reflection (which it doesn't need to) of Bentonville...the mascot for the schools is a lion (compared to B'ville's tiger mascot), this subdivision was built around "Lion" boulevard, etc. In this subdivision seem to be some of the houses of the type (which have also been built in the town's southwest area south of the old hospital) profiled in this Business Matters article, but they're mixing in a two-story here, a bit bigger floor plan there.

The subdivision is a bit nicer than the other ones I've seen in Gravette and Pea Ridge because it has A) trees to the west (where the downtown is) and B) bucolic views of pastureland (and llamas) to the east and the big valley between there and Decatur to the south where you can see all the way to the Gentry power plant. However, it highlights some kind of stark differences as well...downtown Gravette has these old fashioned looking, sculpted street signs with somewhat scalloped edges, but the new subdivision has street signs with lettering in a thick font reminiscent of ones I've seen in Orlando, FL, plus the streetlights are those midwestern-looking poles that one sees on interstate highways in Missouri and Illinois. (To be fair I've seen them in Georgia as well.)

Anyway, what these new homes are doing is not only extending the Benton County metro horizontally (the joining of Bentonville and Centerton) but vertically as well.

Rogers city limits (city limits will seem less and less as this metro progresses) used to end at where the pb2 companies building is now on the north*.

Now, north of that you've got the growing airport, which to the east has an ever growing new subdivision of new 200,000 range homes, lots of them. North of that a few miles you've got Pea Ridge which is growing in all directions but most starkly north to south on the city's western edge. (That sounds kind of silly to say. )

*(Mith or Matt, have you guys mentioned or had a thread on the pb2 building in far north Rogers? That's an interesting complex and unusual looking for that part of town.)

[mcheiss]

I was at Gravette this morning and pulled over to look at a house in the new subdivision immediately north of the new high school there. (They're working on the big football stadium next). Gravette's interesting because in some ways it seems to be trying to be a reflection (which it doesn't need to) of Bentonville...the mascot for the schools is a lion (compared to B'ville's tiger mascot), this subdivision was built around "Lion" boulevard, etc. In this subdivision seem to be some of the houses of the type (which have also been built in the town's southwest area south of the old hospital) profiled in this Business Matters article, but they're mixing in a two-story here, a bit bigger floor plan there.

The subdivision is a bit nicer than the other ones I've seen in Gravette and Pea Ridge because it has A) trees to the west (where the downtown is) and B) bucolic views of pastureland (and llamas) to the east and the big valley between there and Decatur to the south where you can see all the way to the Gentry power plant. However, it highlights some kind of stark differences as well...downtown Gravette has these old fashioned looking, sculpted street signs with somewhat scalloped edges, but the new subdivision has street signs with lettering in a thick font reminiscent of ones I've seen in Orlando, FL, plus the streetlights are those midwestern-looking poles that one sees on interstate highways in Missouri and Illinois. (To be fair I've seen them in Georgia as well.)

Anyway, what these new homes are doing is not only extending the Benton County metro horizontally (the joining of Bentonville and Centerton) but vertically as well.

Rogers city limits (city limits will seem less and less as this metro progresses) used to end at where the pb2 companies building is now on the north*.

Now, north of that you've got the growing airport, which to the east has an ever growing new subdivision of new 200,000 range homes, lots of them. North of that a few miles you've got Pea Ridge which is growing in all directions but most starkly north to south on the city's western edge. (That sounds kind of silly to say. )

*(Mith or Matt, have you guys mentioned or had a thread on the pb2 building in far north Rogers? That's an interesting complex and unusual looking for that part of town.)

^ Is it that proposed 10 Floor Building suppose to be built near the Rogers Airport.

[KJW]

^ Is it that proposed 10 Floor Building suppose to be built near the Rogers Airport.

Matt, if that's a proposed project, no. This one's already built, and the people pictured on the front of the web page I linked to are standing in front of it, I believe.

It's got some interesting enough light fixtures, and looks (to me) like a big library of some sort. There are also other buildings on the complex.

(EDIT: There's a picture of it on this page.)

[Rardy]

Matt, if that's a proposed project, no. This one's already built, and the people pictured on the front of the web page I linked to are standing in front of it, I believe.

It's got some interesting enough light fixtures, and looks (to me) like a big library of some sort. There are also other buildings on the complex.

(EDIT: There's a picture of it on this page.)

I find it hard to believe that an architectural firm would design a building that looks like that...

[mcheiss]

Matt, if that's a proposed project, no. This one's already built, and the people pictured on the front of the web page I linked to are standing in front of it, I believe.

It's got some interesting enough light fixtures, and looks (to me) like a big library of some sort. There are also other buildings on the complex.

(EDIT: There's a picture of it on this page.)

There was plans about 2 years ago for an unknown company to build a 10 Floor Building near the Rogers Airport. I guess PB2's office is in that general area, isn't it.

[Mith242]

*(Mith or Matt, have you guys mentioned or had a thread on the pb2 building in far north Rogers? That's an interesting complex and unusual looking for that part of town.)

I haven't, but to be honest I can't recall hearing much about it. Maybe someone mentioned something and I've already forgotten about it.