| TRP Celebrates First Birthday |
What a year it’s been!
The first ad for Nichol Creek Farms ran in the Lakeland Ledger in October 2006 and the phones started ringing. Twelve months later, only 20 homesites remain in what has become one of the top-selling communities in Tennessee – and the phones are still ringing.
“We’ve grown from just one person handling the marketing to nearly a dozen working from both Tampa and Tennessee,” notes Dan Lewis, vice president of sales and marketing at Tennessee Recreational Properties. “Even then, we sometimes feel like we’re running as fast as we can, just keeping up with the demand for homesites on the Cumberland Plateau.”
Sales at River Park, where we celebrated three grand openings to accommodate the families who wanted to visit, topped 17 sites setting a new standard for communities designed exclusively for equine enthusiasts.
“Our founders are riders who have been all over the country with their horses, so they were very clear about the features that were important to them,” Lewis said.
While real estate sales across the country may be dropping, sales across the Cumberland Plateau have continued to climb -- in large part because buyers recognize the value of property here, Lewis said. “There are few places in the country where you can buy three to five acres from just $345 per month with 20 percent down – much less a developed homesite with roads, electricity and water and spectacular mountain-top views.”
From a value perspective, Tennessee also offers residents a cost of living that’s 17% below the national average, with rates for property taxes and insurance that are among the lowest in the nation. |
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Plateau Bucks National Trends
Visitors, Sales Increasing Steadily! |
If you’re reading a newspaper in any major US city, you know that the real estate market is in its worst decline ever – unless you’re reading about Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau.
Across the region, business is booming and our sales have gone up every month this year, with 29 contracts since May, including 11 in July.
“We honestly didn’t know what would happen here, but our sales have surpassed all expectations,” said Blaine Farr, director of sales for Tennessee Recreational Properties. “As sales in other parts of the country decline, we’re seeing significant increases in both visitors to our properties and contracts signed.”
Land prices in Tennessee never stopped rising, adds Dan Lewis, TRP vice president of marketing. “If you look at historic land costs for property on the Cumberland Plateau, they were never inflated so they aren’t declining now. A long-time southerner looking at this market would probably say we’re sitting in the catbird seat, which is a great place to be.”
Baby boomers, in particular, are looking at TRP homesites with an eye to their future retirement, notes Farr, a native of the Cumberland Plateau who has been a broker for several of the nation’s largest land developers over the last 30 years. “From a lifestyle perspective or from the standpoint of affordability, there’s nowhere else like this. It’s the most beautiful land in the world, but it also has one of the lowest costs of living in the nation.”
Property taxes, for instance, are only about $500 a year for a $100,000 home and there’s no state income tax, he said. The region’s outstanding school system is funded primarily through a state lottery that directs nearly all revenues back to education. Excellent roads are less expensive because they’re not subject to extreme weather conditions.
The only problem with Tennessee could be that demand for new construction is beginning to outpace the region’s labor market, said Scott McIlravy, president of Fortune 7 Homes. “We’re suggesting that people start looking about two years out if they want a truly custom home. We’re still getting clients in new homes in about 16 months, but that timeframe is starting to stretch and we don’t want people to arrive here expecting to see cookie-cutter homes they can move into tomorrow.”
For more information on TRP, or to schedule a complimentary vacation in Tennessee, call 800-936-1840 today! |
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