New homes are purchased for a median $829,000 in Orange County, Calif., but luxury builder New Home Co. is getting ready to sell a handful of newly built homes in the county for only $350,000 in November.
Of course, there’s a bit of a stipulation, according to the O.C. Register. Only 10 of the homes in the 80-unit Azure project at Rancho Mission Viejo will sell at that price, and they are one-bedroom, 707-square foot townhomes with a one-car garage.
But, the rest of the project will feature homes priced well under the local median: 20 slightly larger 1,158-square foot townhomes in Azure will sell in the low-to-mid $400,000s, and the rest of the units will start in the high $400,000s.
The financial secret sauce is a fast turnaround. More expensive housing projects have fatter profit margins, yet it can take years of costly planning and marketing to cash in on pricey lots. Time is money, especially when the financial backers of homebuilding efforts want solid returns on their money. … Larry Webb, New Home Co.’s chief executive, thinks relatively uber-low-end homebuilding is a growth opportunity, and not just in Orange County.
PB Topical Ref
