Belle Creek sales center closing?!?!? New Town Builders

[denverian]

Where is Belle Creek? Sorry to hear the situation is so bad there. New Town builds here at Stapleton and just completed new models, so they must not be doing too bad here. I love their houses, but they do have a reputation for poor customer service once you move in.

My part of Stapleton is complete, but I'd say things have slowed down. North of Central Park is where the current big push of building is going on, but I'm not too worried about this development. Prices are still holding here as well.

[Noahma]

Belle Creek is off of 104th and hiway 85 in Henderson Colorado

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Noahma

Belle Creek is off of 104th and hiway 85 in Henderson Colorado

Thanks. Never heard of the place, or Henderson, until now. From what I've heard in the news, the more out on the edge of the metro area a new housing development is, the more likely to experience these problems with the down housing market. Of course the builders themselves are probably to blame as well, sucking in people who couldn't really afford their houses with shady financing/ARMs. I could see this coming 4 years ago, based on people buying condos in my complex in California who obviously couldn't afford a fixed rate/money down mortgage paying sky high prices. Now prices in that complex have dropped about 25%.

[steveindenver]

I have heard of similar situations with other developments well outside of the city core (in particular to the southeast).

In the end Denvarian this has to affect those of us in Stapleton eventually. We moved into the southwest corner of Stapleton (John Laing) in October. My block is still only about 40% complete, and JL is not building until they have a deposit for the remaining lots. One block up there are at least half a dozen vacant McStains which have been that way for months.

[hyssop]

I am really sorry to hear what is happening in Belle Creek. I really like that neighborhood. The one fault I would find with it, is that there was only one builder, rather than multiple builders. Unfortunately, Belle Creek is not alone, there are a number of developments that are unfinished and struggling with sales. I know that New Town has pulled out of a couple other developments as well, but this is hardly unique to New Town.

My personal opinion, is there will be another builder or two that will pick up the lots and finish out the subdivision. If the design guidelines are strong, and the developer believes in the overall vision, then the new builders will build to complement the existing development. Of course, I have seen it go the other way too, which I think is always a tragedy. I would not look for new builders this year, as most people in the industry don't expect the market to start rebounding until later this year, with 2009 being on the upswing.

If I was building in the Denver market, I would to build in Belle Creek, but alas that is not the case.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by hyssop

I am really sorry to hear what is happening in Belle Creek. I really like that neighborhood. The one fault I would find with it, is that there was only one builder, rather than multiple builders. Unfortunately, Belle Creek is not alone, there are a number of developments that are unfinished and struggling with sales. I know that New Town has pulled out of a couple other developments as well, but this is hardly unique to New Town.

My personal opinion, is there will be another builder or two that will pick up the lots and finish out the subdivision. If the design guidelines are strong, and the developer believes in the overall vision, then the new builders will build to complement the existing development. Of course, I have seen it go the other way too, which I think is always a tragedy. I would not look for new builders this year, as most people in the industry don't expect the market to start rebounding until later this year, with 2009 being on the upswing.

If I was building in the Denver market, I would to build in Belle Creek, but alas that is not the case.

If you are looking to build, please by all means do it. Prices are very good at the moment. Belle creek itself is not doing great as far as values. The home we were having built out there is still on the market, and listed at 187,000 which is down from the contract price of 207,000.

I design homes here in Colorado. The custom stuff is chugging along, but the small spec builders are getting hit hard.