When times are good, many of us tend to overlook the importance of land development, building and real estate industries to Harford County's economy.
With sales of new and existing homes falling, fewer new homes are being built, which impacts suppliers and contractors and ultimately leads to jobs being lost. And, where there's no demand for homes, new or old, prices fall and with them many families' net worth and their ability to borrow and save.
It's a vicious cycle with no particular upside for anyone. Real estate agents, who are on the front line of the housing industry in Harford County, feel the crunch first and often among the hardest. If they can't sell something, they can't eat. There's no guaranteed paycheck.
When the market is down, they also have to deal with clients who have high expectations of what their properties are worth. Gone are the days when a prospective buyer would walk in the front door and would be afraid to walk out the back without signing a sales contract because somebody else waiting at the front door could be expected to snap up the house.
Considering that BRAC is supposed to bring people from New Jersey who will find bargains galore — not to mention lower real estate taxes compared to what they pay up north — Harford's real estate market might actually be a bit better off compared to other areas of the region. Of course, this assumes the people coming from New Jersey will be able to sell their homes in this lousy economy without taking a bath financially.
One group of local real estate agents is trying the open house approach this weekend at The Residences at Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace. While it's a tried and true way of trying to drum up business in a cold market, this event is intriguing because of the timing and the location. For much of the past year and a half, when new home building slumped throughout Harford County, builders were still active in Bulle Rock. It also turns out many people who snapped up homes in the high end community never had any intention of living there.
One member of the Realtors group, Stephanie Gates of ReMax American Dream Realty, calls the Bulle Rock event a "blitz" and, while coming as it does in the throes of a terrible market for both new and resale houses, the event does not signal capitulation on the part of sellers, according to Gates.
"The market for Bulle Rock houses isn't as strong as the last few years, but it's still good," Gates said Thursday. The open house properties are a mix of single family homes and villas, both new and resale units. Many of the agents who are participating also live in the community, so in addition to having insight about the properties and the market, they will be able to share their own experiences with the Bulle Rock lifestyle.
All the 10 homes to be shown have spacious first floor master bedrooms, open floor plans and two-car, attached garages, according to a press release put out by the Realtors group, whose members encompass several companies.
Gates said one reason for this weekend's blitz is many people aren't aware of the resale properties available at Bulle Rock because signs are not allowed while construction continues on new homes. If somebody was just riding through the community and looking, they might not know exactly what is available, she said.
The Residences at Bulle Rock open house is Saturday and Sunday, March 15 and 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Residence Club tours will be given throughout each day, showcasing the 37,000-square-foot Club that includes a state-of-the-art gym, indoor and outdoor pools, billiards room and library. In addition to tours of the homes, there will be light refreshments, giveaways and raffles. For more information, call Gates at 443-693-2916.
None of the resale properties being shown by her group is owned as an investment/rental property, Gates said, although many of the homes in Bulle Rock, a Clark Turner Signature Homes community are being used as rentals, as The Record reported in a series of articles last fall.
Jay Bautz, head of planning and zoning for the city, said at the time that many people had bought Bulle Rock residences strictly as investment properties, intending to flip them for a profit, and he doubted many of the owners had ever laid eyes on the place. Some people who lived in the homes they owned were upset about the situation, saying the high number of rentals in what is supposed to be a high end community were devaluing their own properties.
Gates said people buy investment homes to rent them out or with hopes of flipping them for a quick profit, the latter which is "never a good idea," in her opinion. "I think what people claim they make from flipping gets blown way out of proportion," she added.
Gates doesn't deny some of the homes in Bulle Rock are investment properties with absentee owners, but she says it's been a good community with stable values that are holding, despite the downturn housing prices are experiencing in many other areas of Harford County.
Bulle Rock's marketing slogan has been "Life Imitates Vacation." Hopefully for Gates and her group — and for Realtors throughout Harford County — the local housing market will soon start imitating the one of two years ago.
|
