Housing market making a comeback?
By Frank Bradley Sentinel writer

FRANK BRADLEY/Sentinel Photo Tighe White (center) has started a new house in Riverwalk development in Hayesville. He believes the housing Housing market making a comeback? market is beginning to pick up.

New housing construction has begun to spring up out of a depressed economy like flowering crocuses and hyacinths poking their heads out of snow.

It is a welcoming sign which could lead to increased housing sales, putting more construction workers back on the job, and an improved economy for Clay County.

Tighe White, a developer of Riverside, a new senior housing community in north Hayesville, had his crew out Monday working on a new house, which will bring the number of houses there to 10. The first nine houses were completed last summer, and no more housing construction had occurred in the development for the past six months. That's when the local housing market started to bottom out. White has only sold two of those nine houses, although another one is under contract contingent upon the buyer sell his home in Florida, he said.

With the slow down in sales in Riverside, White has undertaken the building of two custom houses on private lots. He said the building slowdown had forced him to reduce his workforce by 30 percent.

"We started work on this new house because I had a buyer for it, who made a substantial down payment," he told me.

White said the owner recently sold another house he owned in the county. "He owns another house in Florida, which he is trying to sell so that he can be up here full-time," he told me. "Trying to get out of paying high taxes and high insurance."

White said he had two other couples who have contracts on lots in the development, again contingent upon getting their current house sold.

"One has a house on Elf and the other one's house is in Maryland," he said.

A condition for buying in Riverside is that one of the owners must be 55 or older, White said.

"So far all his residents as well as those with contracts to build in Riverside are retirees," White told me. He said what has surprised him is that they all seem to prefer a three bedroom house as opposed to two bedrooms.

"Three bedrooms are outselling two bedrooms," he said. "Even though we've mostly got retirement couples, they want a guest room and either another craft room or office. They usually bring a lot of stuff with them."

Of course, the value of selecting a lot at Riverside and having it built means the owner can get it customized to fit their particular need. White said his previous work has always involved building customized houses, so it is nothing new to him.

Regarding the costs of building, White said that the cost of lumber is down somewhat, although it is known to fluctuate. Wiring and copper are creeping up he said, and with the slower building activity, the cost of labor is remaining steady.

White said most of his houses are in the mid-range category.

"We're getting a lot of folks interested in buying here," he said. "The biggest drawback is not being able to sell the house they have now."

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