After reading several enticing newspaper articles, the blog was frantic to get to the new Lissara Lake development just outside of Lewisville. It turns out that the blog was likely among the first to visit (see photos). Several comments: first, this development is really, really huge; second, this development is aiming at an elite whose golden age may have already passed (for example, lot sizes of 30 acres and more are available); third, this development will test the marketability of Bob Timberlake. Do people who really, really love his work have this kind of money to spend on real estate? Timberlake, by the way, is lending more than his name to the project, as he is designing the entrance, street signs, and lodge.This is going to be interesting to watch. The blog feels as if it has a front row seat. The article in the Winston-Salem Journal that first alerted the blog to this development contained some useful data.
"A Forsyth County Housing Report complied by Jud for the Triad MLS showed that 34 homes priced between $300,000 and $499,000 sold in the first quarter of 2010, down from 40 in the fourth quarter of 2009. In the $500,000 and above price range, 12 homes sold in the first quarter of 2010 compared with 16 in the fourth quarter of last year."
Who is Jud? According to the Journal, he is "Don Jud, a professor emeritus in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNC Greensboro...he said he hopes that the developers' evaluation of the local economy is correct. He described their plans as courageous."
Comparing Q4 sales to Q1 sales isn't the best comparison. Jan & Feb have been the slowest months of the year every year since 2005. You also had the tax credit for homes under contract before the end of April, so April was probably much busier than March. The better comparison is 1Q10 to 1Q09. At least nationwide, across price points, sales were better in 1q10 than 1q09
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