The Village at Aversboro in the News

• WakeMed to expand to Garner with a $26.4 million dollar hospital http://www.garnerclayton.com/home/story/1061.html

• Home sales may have tempered, but Garner retains draw
  Main article below.
• The Triangle is considered among the best areas for business & economy.
  Read what national publications have to say.
• A Silver Lining
  As homes go unsold and developers plan fewer projects, a ray of hope for the depressed housing market is emerging: grandma and grandpa...  Since opening last year, more than half of the homes have sold in The Village at Aversboro, a Garner community that caters to the 55 and older crowd. (Click the title to read the entire article)

Home sales may have tempered, but Garner retains draw

Triangle Business Journal - by Amanda Jones Hoyle

GARNER - Home sales in Garner have cooled since 2006, when both the number of new residential units approved and the number of issued construction permits touched record levels.

Still, the town continues to attract home buyers and families seeking moderately priced homes located a short distance from downtown Raleigh and Cary.

"We might not have gotten the Wakefields, but that’s not a bad thing," says Tony Beasley, director of economic development for the town of Garner, referring to the Wakefield luxury housing and golf community in north Raleigh. "We are still getting a lot of middle-grade houses at a time when upper-end housing is being affected most. We haven’t seen the casualties that other towns have seen either."

Eagle Ridge, the town’s largest golf course community, has seen steady construction since 1999 with homes priced from the $230,000s to the $500,000s. The 627-lot community still has about 60 vacant lots.

In 2008, the number of single-family home starts in Garner dropped to 93 from the 286 recorded in the previous year. That number also was a sharp decline compared to the peak of 488 home starts recorded in 2006, according to the town’s planning department.

The average home sales price also dipped from $188,261 to $179,898 in 2008. The only category of homes that saw an increase in the mean sales price was homes less than 2,200 square feet, which saw a 6 percent increase from $131,476 in 2007 to $139,649 in 2008.

A total of 442 homes in Garner were sold in 2008, almost 47 percent lower than the 829 houses sold in 2007, according to the Wake County revenue department.

NEW RESIDENTS
Despite the slowdown, home sales have remained steady at one of Garner’s first active-adult communities, The Village at Aversboro near Lake Benson Park. The community has sold 36 of 73 homes in its first phase of construction. Twelve more brick, ranch-style homes are available, and another three homes are under construction. The community will include nearly 150 home lots when completed, says Jean Stevens, a real estate agent with Fonville Morisey Realty.

Mary Jo Godwin and her husband, Charles, were among those who moved into the community last year. They relocated to Garner after realizing that they were spending too much retirement time driving from their home in the Fearrington Village retirement community in Pittsboro to events and stores in Raleigh.

"We needed to be nearer to Raleigh," she says. "Plus, we both grew up in small towns in eastern North Carolina, and Garner still has that small-town feel. I think it’s an undiscovered jewel in Wake County."

Godwin says the couple also looked at buying a condo in downtown Raleigh, but they couldn’t find a large enough house at an affordable price.

The Village at Aversboro has six floor plans, ranging from 1,675 square feet to more than 2,400 square feet. Homes are priced from the $260,000s to the $340,000s. The community’s proximity to downtown Raleigh and other Triangle amenities has helped attract buyers, says Stevens.

GREEN ADDITION
Most of the early buyers at The Village were Triangle residents who wanted to downsize and move into a maintenance-free community of their peers, but many potential buyers lately have been couples from other parts of the country who retired to the Triangle.

"We have the small-town feel, but it’s close to the amenities Raleigh has," says Stevens. "It’s about two hours to the beach, and you can still make a weekend trip to the mountains."

Plus, homeowners’ dues are $100 a month, and the nearby Rex Wellness Center waives the enrollment fee for the community’s residents.

Also coming up nearby is Garner’s White Deer Park, a 96-acre community park that is expected to open this summer. The park will feature a 2,500-square-foot nature center, two playgrounds and five picnic shelters, as well as two miles of paved walking trails, a mile of greenway space, wildflower meadows and an arboretum.

Despite some advantages, Garner’s real estate market remains tough for many new communities.

Sutton Springs, a luxury community planned near N.C. 50 and New Bethel Church Road in southeast Garner, is off to a slow start. The neighborhood’s road and utility work is complete, but construction of the first home in what is planned as a 92-lot community is yet to begin. Homes here are expected to be priced from $500,000 to more than $1 million - a price range that has seen slowing sales across the Triangle. "It’s still going to be a premier subdivision... but that market hasn’t come back yet," Beasley says.