Housing market in Fayetteville

[mzweig]

Quick update (and I hate posting over my own last postings).....

We are continuing to sell houses in this market. My current project at 432 N. Willow Avenue went under contract before it was even under roof (and it wasn't listed). It is a 2152 square foot, three bed/three bath house on a small lot (carved a lot off of it). Selling price is approximately $487.5K. I am also going to be building a new two story crafttsma styled rock and shingle house on the lot we carved off (address is 305 E. Maple) and it, too, is under contract without being listed. It will be about 1375 square feet and have two beds sitting on a 4900 square foot lot and is selling for about $300K.

The only property I currently have for sale is my old personal house at 59 E. Prospect St. It has nearly 6000 square feet of space, four cars of garage, pool, studio, and guest house and is listed for $995K. Buyers will get a new 2010 Mustang GT convertible in their choice of color and options up to $45K retail price thrown in for free. Giving new cars away to home buyers is not new though it is new to this area.

My next project will be located on the corner of W. Lafayette and Rollston. It is a small house that will be completely gutted and redone and will have two beds and two baths.

[marmot]

Quick update (and I hate posting over my own last postings).....

We are continuing to sell houses in this market. My current project at 432 N. Willow Avenue went under contract before it was even under roof (and it wasn't listed). It is a 2152 square foot, three bed/three bath house on a small lot (carved a lot off of it). Selling price is approximately $487.5K. I am also going to be building a new two story crafttsma styled rock and shingle house on the lot we carved off (address is 305 E. Maple) and it, too, is under contract without being listed. It will be about 1375 square feet and have two beds sitting on a 4900 square foot lot and is selling for about $300K.

The only property I currently have for sale is my old personal house at 59 E. Prospect St. It has nearly 6000 square feet of space, four cars of garage, pool, studio, and guest house and is listed for $995K. Buyers will get a new 2010 Mustang GT convertible in their choice of color and options up to $45K retail price thrown in for free. Giving new cars away to home buyers is not new though it is new to this area.

My next project will be located on the corner of W. Lafayette and Rollston. It is a small house that will be completely gutted and redone and will have two beds and two baths.

Your houses are the exception to the rule. You have created a unique reputation and niche for yourself that goes beyond the traditional market.

[slyder1]

It will be about 1375 square feet and have two beds sitting on a 4900 square foot lot and is selling for about $300K.

I hope it's nice cause that is a ridiculous price for a 1300 sf. home.

[mzweig]

I hope it's nice cause that is a ridiculous price for a 1300 sf. home.

It's really nice--the best quality in any new house at that price (or any price, for that matter) that one can buy in this area. Wood windows, cedar shingle siding, all rock fireplace, solid wood doors, mosaic tile, super efficient HVAC, exposed ag driveways and patios, sprinkler, etc. Small but good is what a certain buyer wants. The basic approach used here by spec builders is do everything as cheap as you can. Our approach is to do everything as well as we can.

Mark

[mzweig]

This weekend I just sold the sixth house in a row either before we started renovating it or immediately after gutting it. There definitely is a healthy in-town market. My broker told me today that the first two months of 2010 were horrible--way off due to bad weather (our assumption)--but the "pending" sales are way up right now. I think that, along with fears about the non-renewal of the $8000 tax credit at the end of June--will fuel the market for a few months at least.

Mark

[mzweig]

I hope it's nice cause that is a ridiculous price for a 1300 sf. home.

One of my current projects that went under contract about a month ago is a 1000 square foot house on a less than 4000 square foot lot and is selling for over $296 a square foot. There is a reason people pay that. Compared to a condo that sells for $500-$600 a square foot and has a cheaper interior build-out, the buyers see it as a bargain. Mark

[aerotive]

Buyers will get a new 2010 Mustang GT convertible in their choice of color and options up to $45K retail price thrown in for free. Giving new cars away to home buyers is not new though it is new to this area.

Does this really work? If it does there are some incredibly naive buyers out there.

[mzweig]

Does this really work? If it does there are some incredibly naive buyers out there.

We aren't doing it now. It is really just a PR ploy--tho some with enough cash seemed to like the idea.

Mark

[thewizard16]

Good news out of the UofA's business research center: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=122239.54928.134381 . It appears that things are balancing out in the NWA housing market. The figures on unoccupied housing is particularly encouraging.

[Mith242]

Good news out of the UofA's business research center: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=122239.54928.134381 . It appears that things are balancing out in the NWA housing market. The figures on unoccupied housing is particularly encouraging.

Yeah I read that earlier today. I think it mentioned this was the first since since the Skyline Report started that the housing market was balanced like this.

[zman9810]

With the low prices out there right now if a person had the cash it would still be a perfect time to invest in residential real estate. Even though there seems to be less supply and more demand it hasn't translated into higher prices. I guess the number of foreclosures has something to do with that and also the government program.

[Mith242]

With the low prices out there right now if a person had the cash it would still be a perfect time to invest in residential real estate. Even though there seems to be less supply and more demand it hasn't translated into higher prices. I guess the number of foreclosures has something to do with that and also the government program.

Just as long as we don't have the overbuilding and speculation that helped cause this problem in the first place.

[mzweig]

With the low prices out there right now if a person had the cash it would still be a perfect time to invest in residential real estate. Even though there seems to be less supply and more demand it hasn't translated into higher prices. I guess the number of foreclosures has something to do with that and also the government program.

The low prices and foreclosures are really out there in subdivisions and rural areas, not the downtown area. I have sold my last seven houses either before I started them or before I even owned them for record high prices. Look around the downtown area (walk to campus) and you will see the properties are selling quickly. The last house I sold has a recorded sale price of more than $305 per square foot. As I said some years ago on this forum--there's more than one market here in NWA--there are many micro markets.

FYI, we have our next 6-7 projects lined up right now. Check out our facebook fan page for more info. Search under "mark zweig houses" if you want to see what we have coming up.

Mark

[Mith242]

Glad thing are going well for you Mark.

[wmr]

Yeah Mark, I really admire all of your projects. You're making this city more beautiful every year.

[mzweig]

Yeah Mark, I really admire all of your projects. You're making this city more beautiful every year.

Thank you. That is really nice of you to say. I certainly have my critics, tho! Some people don't like any change at all it seems!

[Mith242]

What people in Fayetteville who don't want change? Surely you must be talking about Fayetteville, NC not here.

[wmr]

What people in Fayetteville who don't want change? Surely you must be talking about Fayetteville, NC not here.

I think there's a large element in Fayetteville who fear that it will become an enclave of the rich at some point. These are the same people who make all the noise about "affordable housing" in our city when there is plenty of what I consider to be "affordable housing" all over town. The idea some of these people seem to have is that they should all be able to buy a nice home in the center of the city while intermittently waiting tables and working on their art projects. Its a real disconnect with what drives any economy--the creation of wealth.

I wish the city expended as much energy on economic development as it does maintaining the status quo. We're a long way away from any situation in which we have a true "affordable housing crisis." My assumption is that some of these people view Mark's wonderful renovations as pricing them out of the central Fayetteville market and so they demonize him in a way.

I see only beautful re-uses of historic homes and wealth creation. Mark's homes are each works of art aesthetically and, economically, they are investments into the central city which will ensure that it remains active and attractive for many more years to come. How anyone could find fault with that is beyond me. Its not like he's scraping historic structures and building McMansions. He takes care of Fayetteville well with his projects, even though it would probably be more profitable to scrape and start over in many instances.

[Mith242]

I think there's a large element in Fayetteville who fear that it will become an enclave of the rich at some point. These are the same people who make all the noise about "affordable housing" in our city when there is plenty of what I consider to be "affordable housing" all over town. The idea some of these people seem to have is that they should all be able to buy a nice home in the center of the city while intermittently waiting tables and working on their art projects. Its a real disconnect with what drives any economy--the creation of wealth.

I wish the city expended as much energy on economic development as it does maintaining the status quo. We're a long way away from any situation in which we have a true "affordable housing crisis." My assumption is that some of these people view Mark's wonderful renovations as pricing them out of the central Fayetteville market and so they demonize him in a way.

I see only beautful re-uses of historic homes and wealth creation. Mark's homes are each works of art aesthetically and, economically, they are investments into the central city which will ensure that it remains active and attractive for many more years to come. How anyone could find fault with that is beyond me. Its not like he's scraping historic structures and building McMansions. He takes care of Fayetteville well with his projects, even though it would probably be more profitable to scrape and start over in many instances.

Yeah I have to agree with you. I'm not saying I want Fayetteville to eventually become something like Santa Fe, where only the wealthy can afford to live. But you do have to think that the city would actually probably be better off if it spent a little more effort as you said with 'creating the wealth'. Rather than focusing so much on affordable housing. No matter what the city does, the market is what's going to drive housing prices. I don't want it to sound like I'm kicking the poor here. It's nice Fayetteville does seem to be trying to do something about it. But in the long run I don't think the city can focus so much on that aspect. Otherwise I think you'll simply see more of the affluence leaving for Benton County. Leaving Fayetteville in a position of not playing a major role in NWA.

[thewizard16]

I favorite-d your page, I always enjoy seeing how your projects turn out. I'm all for your house rehabs and renovates in the downtown area, even as someone who can't currently afford them. I think downtown Fayetteville has a lot of faded glory in some spots and needs to have a high-end but historic feel. I am perfectly fine with not being able to afford to live downtown if it means that downtown is a desired area to live in. If the houses are nice and the people living in the area are well off, then downtown will continue to thrive and be well off. I'm tired of people flocking to yuppie Mc-Mansions on the edge of town like pretty much everything in Goshen, or the Shadow Valley and surrounding area in Rogers, etc. Those developments may have some nice houses, but they do little to nothing to contribute to the core of a city, you end up killing off the core of the city because it's no longer an appealing area to live (and then the residential areas become run down, causing it to become an unappealing area to do business, causing the whole place to die off) and end up with sprawl areas of generic housing and strip malls like Harber (or even Wedington, for that matter, and I lived out that way recently). So, I wish Mark continued luck and success with his projects. I am perfectly okay with you making downtown into an aesthetically pleasing, higher end housing area like it should be. Maybe in a decade I'll move back to Fayetteville and buy one of your places at that point in time .

[Mith242]

I favorite-d your page, I always enjoy seeing how your projects turn out. I'm all for your house rehabs and renovates in the downtown area, even as someone who can't currently afford them. I think downtown Fayetteville has a lot of faded glory in some spots and needs to have a high-end but historic feel. I am perfectly fine with not being able to afford to live downtown if it means that downtown is a desired area to live in. If the houses are nice and the people living in the area are well off, then downtown will continue to thrive and be well off. I'm tired of people flocking to yuppie Mc-Mansions on the edge of town like pretty much everything in Goshen, or the Shadow Valley and surrounding area in Rogers, etc. Those developments may have some nice houses, but they do little to nothing to contribute to the core of a city, you end up killing off the core of the city because it's no longer an appealing area to live (and then the residential areas become run down, causing it to become an unappealing area to do business, causing the whole place to die off) and end up with sprawl areas of generic housing and strip malls like Harber (or even Wedington, for that matter, and I lived out that way recently). So, I wish Mark continued luck and success with his projects. I am perfectly okay with you making downtown into an aesthetically pleasing, higher end housing area like it should be. Maybe in a decade I'll move back to Fayetteville and buy one of your places at that point in time .

Yeah, got to agree with you. Even if I can't afford any of his houses, doesn't mean I can't appreciate them or know they do a lot more for the city than our suburbia.

[mzweig]

Yeah, got to agree with you. Even if I can't afford any of his houses, doesn't mean I can't appreciate them or know they do a lot more for the city than our suburbia.

Guys--thanks for the kind words here. I really appreciate it. I don't think the objection to what i do is so much about the gentrification aspects of redevelopment as much as it is some people don't like my designs. They think I use too many cedar shingles or don't like the fact that I don't do all-white houses and somehow think that this is not historically correct. The fact is cedar shingles were a material used like mad around here in the 1880s-1930s and houses only started being painted all-white during the religious re-birth of our country in the early 20th century. Victorians weren't painted white. Arts and Crafts and Craftsman houses weren't painted white. Heck, even Colonial-era houses weren't painted white (not that we have a lot of them around here!) until the early 20th century, My architecture and the fact that we clean up ALL overgrowth and deterioration are seen as negatives by some. Rest assured, however, that no two of my houses are alike, I use many different materials besides cedar shingles (cedar clapboards, natural fieldstone, antique brick, etc.), and we always try to consider the original architecture of the house and what is appropriate for its date of construction (though many have, of course, been heavily modified over the years--as they should be!), as well as the context (what else is next door/nearby for color selections.

In any case, I do it for fun and gratification, not profit. Our business just gets by but is in a building mode. The most important thing to me is quality, not profit, so we can establish a good reputation that people can trust!

Mark

[zman9810]

The low prices and foreclosures are really out there in subdivisions and rural areas, not the downtown area. I have sold my last seven houses either before I started them or before I even owned them for record high prices. Look around the downtown area (walk to campus) and you will see the properties are selling quickly. The last house I sold has a recorded sale price of more than $305 per square foot. As I said some years ago on this forum--there's more than one market here in NWA--there are many micro markets.

FYI, we have our next 6-7 projects lined up right now. Check out our facebook fan page for more info. Search under "mark zweig houses" if you want to see what we have coming up.

Mark

Oh yes, the downtown area is a niche market that is still doing well. There are more 'for sale' signs around there than three years ago but they seem to sell quickly. Yikes...$305 per sq. ft.? That is pricey but I am sure it is well worth it or you couldn't get it.

[mzweig]

Oh yes, the downtown area is a niche market that is still doing well. There are more 'for sale' signs around there than three years ago but they seem to sell quickly. Yikes...$305 per sq. ft.? That is pricey but I am sure it is well worth it or you couldn't get it.

I have another for sale right now priced at $305/foot. It is 413 N. Willow. I sold it for $280/foot in 2008 and the buyers just traded it in on a larger house of mine. It is priced high--no question about it--but it has no peer for the quality of the place that I am aware of. Multiple stone fireplacces, each of three beds has its own bath, premium appliances, wine cooler, heated bath floors, full AV/central sound system, handmade cabinetry throughout, transom windows with handblown glass, and even a compact boiler for domestic hot water and heat. It's all new and done as well we can do it in a solid, not gaudy fashion.

M

[aerotive]

It's very, very good to be the Washington County Clerk these days:

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/oct/03/clerks-clean-foreclosures-20101003/