San Antonio’s soggy summer has put a damper on the local real estate market
Author: boored
Category: Real Estate
Did raindrops keep falling on your house hunt?San Antonio’s soggy summer has put a damper on the local real estate market, leaving builders well behind on their construction schedules thanks to the uncooperative elements.
San Antonio has had so many days of rain this spring and summer that if you’re waiting for your new house or for landscaping work such as pools or patios to be completed, well, try to remember that patience is a virtue.
“We’re running 60 to 80 days behind,” said Becky Oliver, executive vice president of the Greater San Antonio Builders Association. “I’ve gotten phone calls from consumers about delivery issues. I tell them that there’s not much the builder can do about it. Everybody is behind.”
And it’s not just the new-home market that’s taking a hit.
Industry experts think at least part of the slowdown in existing-home sales can be blamed on the recent stormy weather, although tightening in the mortgage lending industry is also to blame.
June-to-June sales of existing homes were down by 17 percent this year.
And the number of pre-owned homes on the market has soared to 12,190, a 72 percent increase in listings since this time last summer.
“I think the wet spring and summer have had an effect,” said Travis Kessler, CEO of the San Antonio Board of Realtors.
What to expect
Buyers of new homes, in particular, should anticipate some delays before closing.
The only work that builders have been able to do without interruption this summer is inside a home: plumbing, electrical, cabinetry, carpeting, tile, countertops and the like, work that gets completed after the walls are up and the roof can keep the house dry.
Exterior work has not been so easy.
“We would have had more houses started and sold if it weren’t for the rain,” said Randall Allsup, manager of the San Antonio division of Metrostudy, a housing research firm.
And even though builders have had a break from the rain recently, it doesn’t mean they and their subcontractors can return to work immediately.
“On the East Side of town, the soil has heavy clay,” said Michael Moore of Ironstone Development, first vice president of the Greater San Antonio Builders Association. “It may take three to four days to dry out enough to put equipment on. Heavy equipment sinks in the wet ground.”
That means that everything from digging a trench for utility lines in the beginning of the development process to pouring driveways and sidewalks in the final stages of home construction has been delayed.
To make up for the lost time, builders are getting crews out on the weekends and evenings.
“It’s only compounded the difficulty of building,” said Adam Monaco, president of Monaco Homes. “We get a little bit of dry weather and then it starts to rain again. The subcontractors can’t get motivated.”
Finishing touches
Even if a new house looks finished, you may not be able to close on it.
That’s because it’s been difficult for builders to complete fences, lay sod and pour driveways and sidewalks.
“Driveways, masonry work, landscaping — all of these kinds of things can be impacted,” said Cathy Teague, spokeswoman for KB Home in San Antonio.
Intense rainfall in San Antonio and in the rest of Texas has meant that some sod farms can’t get their equipment onto the fields to be able to cut and to deliver grass for new homes.
So much rain can be too much of a good thing for new yards.
“You may have sod and topsoil, but then you get a gully washer. Drainage and grading has to be redone,” Teague said.
Buyers of new homes should be on the lookout for excessive soil runoff because of all the rain this summer, Moore said.
“Even if they had partially established grass, if it gets too much rain, the runoff will damage what’s there,” he said. “The lender doesn’t want them to close until everything is complete, including the sod. How do you install sod when you can’t get in to do it?”
Centex Homes has closed on some homes for buyers who must move, even if it means returning after the sale to finish the landscaping.
“We’re having a hard time putting a yard in,” said Keith Fahey, vice president of marketing for Centex. “We’re having to close and put the yard and the fence in later. You have to clear all of that with the title company, but some buyers have to be in the houses so we write it into the contract.”
Ripple effects
Allsup expects an upswing in the number of vacant lots and new homes ready for sale in the second half of the year, a time when housing construction generally slows.
“We’re going to see more development and lot delivery in the second half of the year than we normally do,” he said.
And despite the rain, foot traffic through model homes hasn’t tapered off this summer, Allsup said.
“That’s a good sign that the traffic is steady even when the weather is horrible,” he said. It means there’s still plenty of buyer interest for new homes in San Antonio.
Another bright side: House hunters who have braved the rainy weather this summer mean business.
“If someone is coming through the door in weather like this, they are a serious buyer,” Teague said. “Early on people may huddle up. Then they say, ‘I have to live my life.’”
The same goes for sales of existing homes, Kessler said.
Source:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/realestate/stories/MYSA080407.01G.SoggySummer.2724b55.html
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