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BUILDERS RESPOND TO BUYERS' DESIRES
 From TheSunNews.com website (6/12/2010) by Adva Saldinger:
Developers are starting to build model homes to show off their new products now that the real estate market is improving.
New model houses have popped up in developments along the Grand Strand, and some of the builders said that the new designs are a direct response to what they perceive buyers are looking for - ease and affordability.
Sterling Homes recently completed a new model at Waterford Plantation in Carolina Forest - the three-bedroom, two-bath house is smaller and more energy efficient than the houses the company was building during the height of the market a few years ago.
"During the boom, everybody was just ready to go and we had so many houses under construction ... and we could take them through," said Clinch Heyward, a partner at Sterling Homes. "This house was designed for today's market and we felt like we had to build it to show them the difference."
Several years ago when business was booming, buyers wanted bigger homes and could get the financing to buy them, he said. But with the recession, the housing market's struggles and the turbulent stock market, buyers now have less money and are looking for value in their purchases, Heyward said.
The easiest way to cut cost is to build a smaller home, so Sterling Homes decided to design a smaller, lower-cost home that would maintain the quality and look big but save the buyer money, Heyward said.
"As a builder you need to provide what the market desires," he said.
While most of the homes it used to build cost more than $300,000, this new model comes in at about $279,000.
Sterling Homes last built a model home about five years ago. The market is starting to show signs of improvement, so it was a good time to have the model ready to show potential buyers.
"You build a model in anticipation of something good happening," Heyward said. "You want this model to be there at the turn of the market."
Click here to read original full article (link).
Click here for Model Home Virtual Tour.
Click here to visit Waterford Plantation website.
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