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Clearing the Record
This article on new-home sales incorrectly said there was only one such development in the Garnet Valley School District. Martin's Court in Concord Township also is offering newly built homes there.
When all else seems to fail, the tried and true often succeeds.
So perhaps it's not surprising that even in this tough real estate market, what's selling new houses is what always sells them:
Location.
At scattered spots in the Pennsylvania suburbs, there are new developments that prove the point, including:
Woodmont in Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County, where 17 homes sold between Jan. 1 and the end of June at prices up to $900,000.
Athertyn, an over-55 community on the former Haverford State Hospital site. Pohlig Builders sold 16 of the 198 units planned between January and May.
The Estates at Garnet Valley in Glen Mills, Delaware County, where 47 single-family homes are planned with prices starting at $776,000. Four contracts were signed in the last month - though the first model home had not yet been completed.
Individual builders may be negotiating slightly different paths through the current housing malaise; for example, the "lifestyle community," which offers low maintenance and amenities such as a pool, a clubhouse and retail.
Yet location is still the secret to success, observers of this real estate market say.
Woodmont is what's known in new-home lingo as a TND, for "traditional neighborhood development." It's considered a "strong performer," said Wayne Norris, regional sales manager of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, which tracks new-home sales.
Since 2005, 85 of Woodmont's 120 houses have sold, said Jason Duckworth, vice president of Arcadia Land Co. of Wayne, the community's developer. "I'd like to take credit for success, but it was the location," said Duckworth, whose company contracted with four builders - Pulte, Gigliotti, Masterpiece and NV Homes - to construct the houses on 6,000-square-foot lots. The price range is $500,000 to $900,000.
Schools in the Lower Moreland district are a huge draw, he said, as is the easy commute to jobs in eastern Montgomery County and Philadelphia.
For Craig Chernoff, "the school district was the key."
Chernoff, 31, a lawyer, and his wife, Deborah, 31, who works in a deli, moved into their house in June 2007 with daughter Paige, now 3. They had been living in a townhouse up the street and watched the residences rise.
"I was obsessive about it," said Chernoff, who drove by Woodmont on his way to and from his office in the city.
Many builders have adjusted to the economy's current conditions "by bringing product to market that meets the shift in demand," Norris said. Some new developments, including Woodmont, offer smaller houses with many upgrades that are designed to be attractive to first-time buyers, he noted.
The trend to smaller houses appears to be a national one, and they are generally selling better, said Bernard Markstein, senior economist at the National Association of Home Builders.
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