South Carolina's Reserve at Lake Keowee offers a 4,000-acre community with 30 miles of shoreline and plans for 1,600 homes.
By Deborah Huso
Waterfront real estate remains in demand, and options abound for home buyers. Here's a tour of well-established and on-the-rise lake and river properties.
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Tennessee's Rarity Bay is nestled in the Smokies' foothills on the shores of Lake Tellico. |
While developers and real estate agents in the waterfront markets of the Southern mountains have seen sales take a mild slide in the last year and a half, they're quick to point out that there are silver linings for buyers and that interest in shoreline properties remains strong.
"Sales are not where they were in 2005 and 2006," says Michael Agee, director of marketing for The Reserve at Lake Keowee in western South Carolina. "But we had more leads in 2008 than in 2007," he adds. "There is not a decrease in interest, just a decrease in decision-making."
B.J. Swinehart, president-elect for the Tennessee Association of Realtors and also a broker with ReMax Preferred Properties in Knoxville, which is surrounded by lake communities, says there is plenty of reason to maintain a positive outlook. She says housing prices have not fluctuated dramatically in the mountain and lake areas of east Tennessee.
"We have been very fortunate compared to the rest of the country because our housing tends to be fairly affordable and stable with regard to prices anyway," Swinehart says. "Since our prices didn't go up as quickly, they didn't go down as quickly either."
Comparing Knoxville area real estate sales in 2008 to those in 2007, Swinehart says they dropped about 12 percent. "The good news is it's a great time to be looking for property," she adds. "There is a lot on the market."
For buyers, that not only means there are more properties available than ever, but slower sales also leave more room for negotiating than prospective vacation and retirement homeowners have seen in years. Agee says consumers can benefit from large and diverse inventories. At Lake Keowee, for example, home sites are available in prices ranging from $200,000 to $800,000, making the market a good one for folks of various income levels and budgets.
"It's a buyer's market right now," adds Ron Willard II, vice president of The Willard Companies at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. "Buyers have more choices, and people are realizing that now that property values are on the lower side, there's an opportunity to see appreciation in the long-term."
Willard says consumers have overreacted to the drop in real estate sales and prices. "Comparing now with how things were in 2006 just isn't realistic," he points out. And areas that didn't have overly inflated home values haven't seen plunging values either.
"If you have a good product at a good location," Willard adds, "it's going to hold its value." Overall, he believes waterfront communities demand higher prices and hold value better than other types of vacation properties.
Today's buyers are more cautious, however. Agee says most prospective home buyers are intent on finding developers with credibility and want to purchase where amenities are already complete.
"The confidence in the developer is back in vogue," Agee points out. "Developers have to earn the trust of buyers again."
That means veteran developers and their communities tend to be faring the best in the current market. Greenwood Communities and Resorts, the developer of The Reserve at Lake Keowee, has a 30-year track record of putting community amenities in first, and Agee says customers really respond when developers are willing to make that investment.
"If people are going to buy into an amenity community," Agee explains, "then they want to get as much as they can for their dollar."
Buyers are also interested in the regions that surround waterfront properties. Most are seeking access to towns or cities with a lot of cultural offerings, dining and shopping as well as continuing education opportunities and outdoor recreation.
"There is significance to a destination beyond the community itself," Agee reminds buyers and developers alike. "We need to remember that and reinforce the offerings of the areas in which we live."
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Rarity Bay features home sites from one-half to two acres and opportunities for lake views, mountain views, golf views or all three in one lot. |
Rarity Bay, Vonore, Tennessee
Situated on a 960-acre peninsula in Lake Tellico in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Rarity Bay is part of Tennessee's well-established Rarity Communities begun in 1994 by Maryville native Michael Ross. With developments all over the lake region of East Tennessee, Rarity Communities is one of the best known developers of residential properties in the mountains and foothills of east Tennessee. The company has nine communities in development.
Rarity Bay resonates with buyers because it offers lakefront property as well as mountain views and golf course views, sometimes all in one lot. The dominant architectural style of this 500-plus-home community is French Country. Condominiums and villas are available, as are custom-designed estate homes. Home sites range from one-half to two acres, and residents enjoy an 18-hole golf course designed by D.J. DeVictor and Peter Langham, as well as an equestrian center, clubhouse, boat slips, and walking trails.
Home sites start in the low $100,000s and go up to just over half a million, while home prices start at $200,000, going up to more than $1 million with more than 5,000 square feet of living space. At press time, Rarity Bay had nearly two dozen homes and home sites available for sale.
For more information: 888-293-2070, raritybay.com
The Reserve at Lake Keowee,
Sunset, South Carolina
The Reserve at Lake Keowee is unique among mountain lake communities in that it was actually begun by a group of non-developer investors who wanted to build their own homes on the shores of this scenic lake in western South Carolina. They turned the creation of this nearly 4,000-acre community over to Greenwood Communities and Resorts, which helped them design a plan for around 1,600 homes, about 450 of which will be lakefront. Greenwood has a 30-year history of community development.
To date, 133 homes have been built at Lake Keowee with 53 under construction. With 30 miles of lake shoreline, more than five miles of blazed hiking trails (with more in the works), and a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, The Reserve is all about enjoying the beautiful outdoors. For three years running, The Reserve at Lake Keowee has been named one of America's Top 100 Golf Communities by Travel + Leisure Golf.
Agee says many families who buy at The Reserve are drawn to the region's easy access to Asheville, Greenville and Clemson University, as well as to the quality of the water in Lake Keowee, which is fed by mountain rivers and the waters of Lake Jocassee.
Owners at Lake Keowee will enjoy a host of already completed amenities, more than $100 million worth, in fact, including a 200-slip marina and boardwalk, 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, a village center with Orchard House dining, market, post office, pools and playgrounds.
The Reserve at Lake Keowee currently has a large inventory of home sites available, ranging in price from $200,000 to $800,000. Completed homes range in price from just over $900,000 to $4.5 million. As of press time, there were 20 completed homes available for sale.
For more information: 877-922-5253, reserveatlakekeowee.com
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The Water's Edge at Smith Mountain lake offers EarthCraft townhomes. |
The Willard Companies, Moneta, Virginia
The Willard Companies is the best-known developer of waterfront communities around 22,000-acre Smith Mountain Lake and began with Ron Willard Sr.'s establishment of The Waterfront in 1976. The Waterfront also featured the first golf course on the lake, though The Willard Companies have since added two more at the newer developments of The Water's Edge and The Westlake.
The lake and the communities' golf courses remain the biggest draw, and Vice President Ron Willard II says the waterfront communities have drawn buyers from 40 states, though most come from within a six- to eight-hour drive, many of those from the D.C. metro area and Raleigh-Durham.
Last summer, The Willard Companies opened The Farm, a new 120-acre waterfront community designed to minimize environmental impacts. The new development has 63 properties available, 13 of which are estate properties and 17 of which are on the lake. Willard says all of The Farm's lakefront homes will be built to the green building standards of the EarthCraft Virginia program.
The Water's Edge also has 10 new EarthCraft Virginia-certified townhomes on the lake, selling for $1.8 to $2.2 million and featuring around 5,000 square feet of living space each. Available real estate at Smith Mountain Lake starts around $50,000 and ranges up to nearly $5 million.
For more information: 800-858-4653, smithmtnlake.com.
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