WilmingtonBiz Magazine - 2019 Residential Real Estate Issue

Wilmington B iz 2 0 1 9 r e s i d e n t i a l r e a l e s tat e i s s u e

M A G A Z I N E

the new

HBORH NEIG OODS THE RISE OF THE PLANNED COMMUNITY

JODY WAINIO TACKLES AFFORDABLE HOUSING REAL ESTATE MARKET SNAPSHOT Published by

Greater Wilmington

BUSINESS JOURNAL

SPRING 2019

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR SOUND OFF BEHIND THE NUMBERS THE DIGEST THE TAKEAWAY

F E AT U R E S

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14 26 30 32 34 37

COVER STORY: MASTER PLANS TECH TRANSFORMATIONS IN PROFILE: JODY WAINIO REAL ESTATE TRENDS IN PROFILE: CYNTHIA WALSH MARKET SNAPSHOT

ON THE COVER

30 PHOTO BY T.J. DRECHSEL

RiverLights on River Road in Wilmington, where nearly 340 of potentially 2,300 homes have already been built, is one of many planned communities in the Cape Fear region.

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MORE THAN AN APP An app runs on code.

A REALTOR® stands by one. In our code of Ethics, we promise to put people first. And there’s no download button for that.

WE FIGHT FOR PROPERTY OWNER RIGHTS. 2018

Total Volume Most EVER!

up 4% over 2017

3.3 Billion

2018

Closed Sales

BEST in 13 yrs!

2nd Highest EVER! up 1% vs 2017

11,376

2018

Avg Price

Highest in 10 yrs! up 4% vs 2017

2018

Lowest in 10 yrs! down 6 days vs 2017

$291,855

W( iPender, l m iNew n gHanover, t o n and B iBrunswick) z M A information G A Z I N E the North Carolina Regional MLS LLC. Data based on Tri-County Area from

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Days on Market

33 days

THAT’S WHO WE

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

THE R E B U I L D I N G

S

P R O C E S S

everal years ago, I interviewed Tarboro residents about their recovery process in the decade after Hurricane Floyd flooded the Edgecombe County town.

After the Tar River crested from Hurricane Floyd’s rains in September 1999, homes were inundated with water, merchandise floated inside shops and the entire town of neighboring Princeville was submerged.

Something that stuck with me from that visit was Floyd’s role as a chapter mark for the town, even years after the storm.

“It’s always ‘before the flood’ or ‘after the flood,’” one resident told me.

For many in Southeastern North Carolina, last September was a similar benchmark in their stories.

Just two days shy of 19 years after Hurricane Floyd’s landfall in the region, Florence arrived.

By now, everyone knows either through firsthand experience, unfortunately, or from friends and colleagues about the havoc rising waters and tree-punctured roofs had on the region’s businesses and homes.

“What we’ve observed in New Hanover County most of the damage was due to wind and trees, while in Pender and Duplin, where we also work, it was flooding,” said Steve Spain, executive director of Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity. He pointed out that for many homeowners, wind and hail insurance coverage helped offset those damages, but a number of those without flood insurance are still struggling six months later.

“That’s where we’ve really seen the longlasting and devastating effects,” he said. “We suspended our regular building operations right after the hurricane and just worked on helping people who needed emergency help.”

That included getting out to muck-and-gut about 30 flooded homes – “all of those in Pender, along [highways] 53 and 210 corridors. It was pretty extreme in some cases.”

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While the group has resumed its regular homebuilding program for about a dozen new houses this year, it also plans to add in another eight to 10 new homes and 25 major repair projects because of those impacted or displaced after Florence.

For the overall market, home sales in the tri-county area ended 2018 pretty much flat (up almost 1 percent) with 2017, according to Cape Fear Realtors. And that was despite essentially a pause on real estate deals in the storm’s aftermath.

But what the storm really did was strain an already limited inventory for those in need of affordable housing.

“I’m kind of a glass-half-full type person, but I honestly see it taking the next three to five years of working really hard to get back to where we were,” said Spain, who adds that where we were before already wasn’t that great when it came to affordable housing.

As roofs and homes continue to be rebuilt, the challenge will be deciding what long-term direction to take – after the flood.

VICKY JANOWSKI, EDITOR vjanowski@wilmingtonbiz.com

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CONTRIBUTORS

M A G A Z I N E

2 0 1 9 R E A L E S TAT E I S S U E – $ 4 . 9 5

J E N N Y CALLISON JENNY CALLISON is a former Greater Wilmington Business Journal reporter who continues as a freelancer with the Business Journal and WILMA. Before moving to Wilmington in 2011, she was a university communications director and a freelance reporter. Callison looks at the various planned communities in the region combining traditional housing neighborhoods with the proximity of stores, restaurants and offices (PAGE 14).

Publisher Rob Kaiser

rkaiser@wilmingtonbiz.com

President

Robert Preville rpreville@wilmingtonbiz.com

A s s o c i at e P u b l i s h e r Judy Budd

jbudd@wilmingtonbiz.com

Editor

Vicky Janowski vjanowski@wilmingtonbiz.com

A s s i s ta n t E d i t o r Cece Nunn

cnunn@wilmingtonbiz.com

JOHANNA C A N O JOHANNA CANO is a reporter for WILMA and the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, covering the local tech and startups beat. She graduated from UNC where she worked at The Daily Tar Heel and at the News & Observer’s College Town NC online publication. Cano details some of the disruptors in the real estate industry in “Real Estate’s Next Tech Leap” on PAGE 26. She also breaks down some of the current housing trends on PAGE 32.

Reporters

Christina Haley O'Neal chaley@wilmingtonbiz.com

Johanna Cano jcano@wilmingtonbiz.com

VP of Sales/Business Development Melissa Pressley

mpressley@wilmingtonbiz.com

Senior Account Executive Craig Snow

csnow@wilmingtonbiz.com

Account Executive Polly Holly

pholly@wilmingtonbiz.com

K Y L E HANLIN KYLE HANLIN spent 17 years in communications and team operations with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes before relocating to Wilmington in 2017. He is a graduate of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (now School of Journalism and Media) at UNC and owns and operates Envision Communications. He profiles Brunswick County Association of Realtors’ CEO Cynthia Walsh in “Details & Data” (PAGE 34).

Business Manager Nancy Proper

nproper@wilmingtonbiz.com

Events Director Maggi Apel

mapel@wilmingtonbiz.com

E v e n t s / D i g i ta l A s s i s ta n t Elizabeth Stelzenmuller

events@wilmingtonbiz.com

D e s i g n & M e d i a C o o r d i nat o r Molly Jacques

production@wilmingtonbiz.com

Content Marketing Editor Hilary Snow

T. J .

DRECHSEL T.J. DRECHSEL of Drechsel Photography is a Wilmington-based photographer whose work has been featured in WILMA, Greater Wilmington Business Journal, Wrightsville Beach Magazine and North Brunswick Magazine. He specializes in wedding and landscape photography. Drechsel shot the cover and “Taking up Residence” (PAGE 14) as well as downtown Wilmington’s northern riverfront for “Developing Differently” (PAGE 20). tjdrechselphotography.com

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hsnow@wilmingtonbiz.com

Contributing Designer Suzi Drake

art@wilmingtonbiz.com

C o n t r i b u t i n g P h o t o g r ap h e r s River Bondurant, T.J. Drechsel, Kevin Kleitches, Michael Cline Spencer

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BizBites SOUND OFF |

HOME SIGHT

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

|

THE DIGEST

photo by RIVER BONDURANT

It’s hard to miss the custom-built home off Wrightsville Beach’s Causeway Drive, where construction is almost finished. Incorporating more than 170 tons of structured steel and 167 concrete bridge pilings, the house is built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, said Chris Parker, founder and principal engineer of the civil construction and engineering firm Parker Group. Ipe hardwood lines the exterior of the four-bedroom house, surrounding oversized windows that were custom made and provide sweeping views of Banks Channel. “There’s over a million dollars in glass alone in this house,” said Parker, who also served as the developer on the project and went through the permitting process with multiple agencies. Other touches include a 25-meter lap pool, cast-in-place concrete elements and a 17.5kW solar system as well as geothermal heating and cooling. “This is like a modern luxury ski resort in Wrightsville Beach,” Parker said.

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SOUND OFF

BizBites

FINALLY, SOME ACTION…OR IS IT?

M

Y ROOTS RUN DEEP IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING. IN 1978, MY DAD DEVELOPED, AND MY MOM WAS THE ON-SITE MANAGER FOR THE FIRST APARTMENT COMMUNITY FUNDED IN NORTH CAROLINA BY USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT.

I grew up in and around the communities they created. I chose a career, civil engineering, that would keep me in touch with housing. In 2004, I joined my parents on the development side. Ever since then, I have immersed myself in the funding, development and management of apartment communities for low-income seniors and working families. It is my purpose and my passion.

There are many forms of “affordable” housing. The type of housing we develop is funded through a competitive application process that uses the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and is regulated by the N.C. Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) on behalf of the IRS and HUD. This funding mechanism is a public-private partnership created with the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in Section 42 of the IRS Code. Ronald Reagan was president, Republicans controlled the Senate, and Democrats controlled the House … a true, bi-partisan agreement.

The tax credits generate equity from investors that fund about 60 percent of the development cost of a new-construction apartment complex.

The remainder (gap) funds are loans from a combination of sources – private banks, local governments

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S T E P H A N I E L. N O R R I S or NCHFA. The gap funding is where municipalities, especially areas with higher land costs like Wilmington and New Hanover County, can really make a difference to create affordable housing on a consistent basis. Constructing a 72-unit complex in Wilmington is more expensive than in Fayetteville. Naturally, building in a hurricane zone increases the material and insurance costs.

In the case of our Lockwood Village property, on South College Road near Monkey Junction, we also had the added expense and time of installing 628 pilings to support the buildings.

Call it divine intervention, or design and construction that is more scrutinized … We are fortunate that our entire portfolio, which is predominately Fayetteville and Raleigh eastward, did not suffer the damage that hundreds of market-rate apartments in our community did as the result of Hurricane Florence. If we had vacant units, we were taking in families referred to us by NCHFA or HUD. The NCHFA competitive application process limits awards to no more than one project, and no more than 84 units, in a non-metro county each year.

Since 2014, New Hanover County has received two awards – in 2016 (Woodridge Pointe, 80 units) and in 2018 (Bennett Village, 72 units). The total application and development time, can be two-and-a-half to three years (without storm delays).

Currently, we are pushing our arM A G A Z I N E

chitects, engineers and lenders hard to close on Bennett Village and start construction this year with the expectation of a construction completion in July 2020. Once the property is placed-inservice, our management team will certify every applicant to not only ensure they meet the income qualifications but the criminal and credit requirements as well. Because of the various funding sources, all of the units are inspected multiple times per year by our management team, NCHFA staff and our equity providers and lenders.

At the end of a tenant’s lease period, they must go through a recertification process to confirm their current income, and criminal background checks are assessed again.

As an industry, we are more heavily regulated and know more about our tenants than a typical market-rate apartment manager or owner. Yet our communities are targeted by NIMBY-ism more often than not. Unfortunately, this bias from both neighbors and local leaders can influence zoning decisions.

Our typical tenant-base includes: seniors living on social security or disability income; single moms who work the cash register at our grocery stores; day care workers who take care of our children; school bus drivers who take our kids to the elementary school just down the street; an elderly mom taking care of her disabled, adult son; sanitation workers who pick up our trash every week; and cooks, dishwashers, waiters in the restaurants we frequent.

These are people like you and me, who simply need an affordable home that is clean and safe. They earn between $15,180 a year (30 percent of Area Median Income for a one-person household) to $35,580 a year (60

percent of Area Median Income for a four-person household; i.e., two adults plus two children).

Our properties meet handicapped accessibility needs. If you think a homeowner renting their garage apartment is the answer to our affordable housing needs, then you do not understand the true definition of affordable housing or its intent. You are discounting and ignoring an important, and large, sector of our community.

My hope for our community is that the City Council and county commissioners finally get serious, find a way to work together and create a funding stream that can help LIHTC developers bridge the funding gaps. We are not proposing another Dollar General or another luxury apartment community. We are creating housing that addresses a community need, which deserves consideration by our governing officials, many of whom campaign on the need for more affordable housing but then fail to support it.

Recently, city and county officials moved forward with some recommendations a city-county panel made two years ago. It’s a nice first step on their part after two years of doing nothing; however, it will still be slow-going to get a new committee in place, a new staff person up to speed with what they can/can’t do and to hire a consultant for a study … all things that could have happened within six months after the findings were presented.

Wilmington and New Hanover County need new, affordable housing units annually, not every three to four years. For almost a year now, a private developer has pledged $500,000 toward a housing trust fund, and the city cannot figure out how to set up a trust fund. Find a way to make this happen, and we will be a stronger, more united, community for it.

Stephanie L. Norris is a tax credit developer for Terroir Development LLC and an engineer and a broker based in Wilmington.

BizBites

CROWDSOURCING REACTIONS, OPINIONS AND QUOTABLES FROM OUR ONLINE SOUNDING BOARDS

O N FA C E B O O K . C O M / W I L M I N GT O N B I Z

WHAT PART OF TOWN IN THE AREA DO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN WHEN YOU RETIRE? “ DOWNTOWN. I would be there now if they had more units for sale and not rentals.”– JASON DOHERTY “JUST WHERE WE ARE after a full house renovation” – JOAN LOCH “WANT-BEACH Actually-Leland” – GRANT DEATON “SOUTHPORT” – @DOPEITSDUNDEE

“SOMEWHERE ON THE ICW with my own private access” – @MATTLAPPIN “REALTORS WATCHING this thread are like ...” – DAN KELLER

T W I T T E R P O L L : @ W I L M I N GT O N B I Z

IF YOUR HOUSE SUSTAINED HURRICANE FLORENCE DAMAGE, WHERE DO YOU STAND ON REPAIRS? STILL WAITING TO START 14%

THEY'RE UNDERWAY

ALL FINISHED

57%

29%

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READER REACTIONS

“HOPEFULLY, WE CONVEYED that a majority of the incomes and wages in the Wilmington area don’t equate to the cost of housing – both homeownership and rental – in the area. This is the gap.” - PAUL D’ANGELO, FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE CAPE FEAR HOUSING COALITION, ON A RECENT AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRESENTATION “WHILE I DO AGREE that both the city and county are growing and housing is the pressing issue, I would hope that the explosion of developments will also include conservation of our resources and preservation of our environment. Building without regard to these key issues will negatively impact us all in the long term.” - READER NANCY DOWNING GAINER ON NEWS THAT NEW APARTMENTS ARE BEING PROPOSED FOR SOUTH COLLEGE ROAD, CAROLINA BEACH ROAD AND COLLEGE ACRES DRIVE “THE LUXURY MARKET – like the rest of the real estate market – was likely on track to outpace past years’ sales. However, Hurricane Florence put a temporary damper on what would have been a banner year for the luxury market.” - LAKE SLACUM, INTRACOASTAL REALTY’S VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING, ON A REPORT THAT SHOWED 134 LUXURY HOMES ($1 MILLION+) SOLD IN THE TRI-COUNTY AREA LAST YEAR SIGN UP FOR DAILY NEWS UPDATES AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE GREATER WILMINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL AT WILMINGTONBIZ.COM

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BizBites

BEHIND THE

NUMBERS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’ PREDICTION FOR

2019

MORTGAGE RATE HIGH

5.5%

EXPERTS SAY RATES WILL CHANGE, BUT NOT TOO DRAMATICALLY BY JENNY CALLISON WHEN MELANIE WELSH THINKS ABOUT MORTGAGE sales for the coming year, two words come to mind: supply and affordability.

Welsh, vice president and mortgage sales manager for SunTrust Bank in Wilmington, keeps her eye on the number of homes for sale – a limited inventory recently. And she is well aware of how rising mortgage interest rates change a home’s affordability.

“Every 1 percent increase in rates equals a 9 percent decline in affordability,” she said. “So you would need a 9 percent increase in your income to afford the same house. If your income is, say, $68,200 and the mortgage rate is 4 percent you can afford a $250,000 home. If the rate goes to 5 percent you would need an income of $74,270 to afford that same home.”

Welsh does not foresee a dramatic change in rates this year, however.

“The increase should be steady and slow, as opposed to last year. We’re at 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent now; it’s possible we’ll see 5 to 5.25 percent as we gradually go through the year,” she said in February. “The good news is the economy is strong, unemployment is low and the labor market is good. I think people will still want to move to this area.”

Adam Slack, at Guaranteed Rate Mortgage in Wilmington, cautions people not to assume that mortgage rates are going up just because the Fed raises the prime rate.

“First, mortgage rates are based on supply and demand, kind of like the stock market,” he said. “We pay more attention to the comments the Fed makes; it’s less about what the Fed does today and more about the future and whether they are dovish or hawkish about the economy.”

Second mortgages and home equity lines of credit are a different matter, Slack explained. Those loans are affected by LIBOR, a benchmark rate that represents the interest rate at which banks offer to lend funds to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans.

Slack noted that mortgage rates have come down more than a half a percent since hitting a high of 5.125 or more in August and September.

And the current attractive rates are fueling buyer activity. “I had 20 loans in process last week,” he said earlier this year. “Usually January and February are slow. I have never seen demand like it is right now.”

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NEW HANOVER COUNTY 2018: MOST POPULAR MONTH FOR HOMESALES

AUGUST

5,463 HOMESALES

WILMINGTON CURRENT APARTMENT OCCUPANCY

93%

BRUNSWICK COUNTY 2013

$

2018

+ 20%

$

AVERAGE NEW HOME SALE PRICE NEW HANOVER COUNTY

29% OF HOMEOWNERS HAVE DIFFICULTY AFFORDING THEIR HOME

Sources: Cape Fear Realtors, Real Data Apartment Index, Brunswick County, N.C. Housing Coalition

BizBites

DIGEST THE

A R O U N DU P O F R E C E N T R E S IDE N T IA L R E A L E STAT E NE WS

B R U N S W I C K CO U N T Y | Y E A R - E N D H O M E S A L E S B Y V O LU M E $300M 2014

$600M

$900M

$1.2B

$1.5B

$723,378,729 $880,067,365

2015

$917,621,000

2016

$1,212,047,561

2017

$1,307,842,000

2018

SOURCE: BRUNSWICK COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

HOME SALES BOOMING IN BRUNSWICK COUNTY While the local housing market held its own in 2018 throughout the tri-county region of New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, Brunswick County racked up a higher sales volume for the year.

Brunswick’s residential real estate market recorded its highest annual home sales volume in 14 years, according to statistics compiled by the Brunswick County Association of Realtors.

The number of units sold last year in the three-county area as a whole was nearly flat, rising just 1 percent, according to Cape Fear Realtors statistics. New Hanover County showed a less-than-1 percent increase, while Pender’s number of units sold was down nearly 4 percent.

Brunswick County saw more than $1.3 billion in total sales in 2018,

compared to a little over $1.2 billion in 2017, a 7.9 percent increase. The number of units sold in 2018 increased 3.1 percent from 2017, from 4,613 to 4,758, while the number of new listings dropped 3.7 percent, falling from 6,233 to 6,011. The average sales price last year was $273,435, the highest level since 2007. It represented a 4.4 percent price increase from 2017’s average of $261,925.

“Brunswick County surpassed $1 billion in total sales volume for the second straight year … a remarkable achievement given that we were essentially shut down for a month due to Hurricane Florence,” said BCAR CEO Cynthia Walsh, in a news release.

Leland was Brunswick County’s top performing market in 2018 with $292.9 million in sales, followed by Southport with $172.8 million in sales.

WATERSIDE PROJECT TAKES NEXT STEP Plans for a development in the Pender County town of Surf City are moving forward with a nearly $21 million loan to develop 415 single-family homes at the intersection of Belt Road and N.C. 50.

Surf City Properties LLC borrowed $20.8 million from Trez Forman Capital Group to pay off a previous loan provided by Trez Forman for the land purchase and to cover development costs, a news release stated.

Surf City Properties bought the 197 acres for the development, known as Waterside, for $7 million in May. Homebuilder D.R. Horton has a contract to buy 170 of the single-family lots.

THE DISTANCE WITHIN WHICH A LOCAL OPERATOR SHOULD ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE FOR A SHORT-TERM RENTAL INVOLVING AN ENTIRE HOME IN THE CITY OF WILMINGTON

25 MILE S

– CECE NUNN

ACCORDING TO NEW RULES CITY OFFICIALS APPROVED THIS YEAR

TO STAY IN THE LOOP ON THE LATEST REAL ESTATE HAPPENINGS, CHECK OUT THE WEEKLY REAL ESTATE UPDATE EMAIL. SIGN UP AT WILMINGTONBIZ.COM.

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TAKING

UP

RESIDENCE

BY JENNY CALLISON

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P H O T O S B Y T. J . D R E C H S E L

PL A N N ED CO M M UNIT IE S S H A PE T H E R E G I O N

R

iverLights, bordering the Cape Fear River in New Hanover County, is the latest example of development that has become increasingly popular in the Wilmington area: a planned residential community with adjacent commercial development.

Since developer Newland Communities first offered RiverLights lots for sale a few years ago, 340 have been purchased. That’s according to Jim Henry, Newland’s vice president of operations.

Although some of RiverLights’ amenities – the marina, for example – are still to come, the community boasts a village center with two

restaurants, a beer and wine bar, 8,000 square feet of ground-level retail space and 43 second-story apartments. One more restaurant will be added to the mix.

“We have what everybody wants: a walkable community,” Henry said. “We have walking trails, and residents can walk to our clubhouse, restaurants and shopping.”

RiverLights developed about the same time as The Pointe at Barclay, 1.5 miles away, so its residents also have easy access to shopping, entertainment and restaurants there. At the same time, RiverLights’ new indoor golf facility and its restaurants, especially its popular

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Smoke on the Water, bring in people from other areas.

“Our main amenities are wide open to the public,” Henry continued. “We have business coming from all over Wilmington.

We’re part of the midtown revival; people are discovering this part of town.”

Glenn Harbeck, Wilmington’s director of planning, development and transportation, says RiverLights has done a good job of planning its mix of services and has developed a “great system” of trails.

“They’ve done a super job designing and landscaping the parkway, and using roundabouts (to keep traffic moving),” he said.

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Marina Village at RiverLights, a commercial and residential component of a planned development on River Road in Wilmington, includes apartments, restaurants, an indoor golf venue and a beer and wine bar.

HO U S E S , T HE N STO R ES

“Commercial development follows residential development,” said David Swain. He should know.

The longtime real estate developer, then living in Mount Airy, North Carolina, purchased a Landfall lot in 1985, building a home there several years later. In 1999, he bought 35 acres along a rural, two-lane Military Cutoff Road at what he considered an “exorbitant” price because he kept hearing demand for upscale retail and restaurants.

“As I lived in Landfall, I got acquainted with the neighborhood and my neighbors,” he recalled.

“They said, ‘Our wives get on planes and go to Chicago, New York, Charlotte and Raleigh to buy their wardrobes. There is nothing in this area. Can you do something about that?’”

From his experience building shopping centers all over the state, Swain knew the kind of center he wanted to create adjacent to Landfall would need specialty shops.

“Wrightsville Beach, Landfall and

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Figure Eight – that was my market,” he said. “I wanted retailers who would provide something special, would call their customers by name and understand their desires. I went to Charlotte and Raleigh and picked the best (independent) merchants and enticed them to come down.”

the only viable way to develop is to create multi-storied mixed-use communities, developers say. Swain’s upcoming CenterPoint development near that intersection will blend retail, restaurants, entertainment, office space and apartments in a pedestrian-friendly landscape.

T H E LANDFALL E FFE CT

FLOCKING TO BRU NSWICK

Across from The Forum, Hyman Brody and the Zimmer family led another major mixed-use development that rose from farmland owned by the Parker family. That commercial center, Mayfaire, has become a regional draw, Swain said.

“Military Cutoff would never have been developed had it not been for Landfall,” he continued. “Landfall has an income group that attracts higher-end retail.”

The Landfall effect also influenced the creation of other planned neighborhoods as well as specialty retail and restaurants along Eastwood Road. Vacant land near the Eastwood-Military Cutoff intersection is now so limited that

M A G A Z I N E

Meanwhile, planned residential communities are booming in Brunswick County.

In the 1990s, local developer Bobby Harrelson took the planned community concept across the river to Leland. He created the golf community of Magnolia Greens, followed that up with Waterford, and, more recently, Compass Pointe. Each of the two older communities has businesses at its front door, with new commercial development expanding choices for residents and visitors.

At the same time that Harrelson was reshaping the small town of Leland, a mammoth development in south Brunswick County was

taking shape. St. James Plantation, first developed in 1995, “changed the landscape of Brunswick County all by itself,” said Dan Kingsbury, broker in charge and vice president of marketing and sales for the development.

The 6,000-acre community, which has become its own municipality, continues to be one of the top-selling areas in the county.

While St. James residents enjoy their amenities and activities, they also give back to the community, Kingsbury said, with charity and economic benefits.

“You put in 7,000 residents who have a lot of spending power, who are retirees with discretionary income, and it’s shocking what it’s done for Southport,” Kingsbury said. “There have been tens of millions of dollars of economic impact.”

HUND RE D S O F HOME S A YE AR

Up U.S. 17 in Leland, Brunswick Forest continues to expand the residential and business options available. Situated on more than 5,000 acres, the development is keeping up a steady pace of about 350 sales each year, said director of sales Jerry Helms.

At present, Brunswick Forest has about 2,500 homes, with a probable final capacity of 4,000 to 6,000.

The community’s commercial village, which fronts U.S. 17 adjacent to the community entrance, sits on land owned by the developer. That fact has enabled Brunswick Forest to control the mix and the look of the businesses there, Helms said.

“We are very keen to attract businesses that will best help our efforts to serve our community but also will be good for the area,” he said. The area is about halfway developed, so there is room for more.

“I do believe communities like Brunswick Forest – starting with Magnolia Greens and Waterford – have created a huge economic impact in northern Brunswick County,” Helms said. “There is a mass of people that want (upscale) goods and services. Southport used to roll up its sidewalks after tourist season. Now it has good restaurants and w i l m i n g t o n b i z m a g a z i n e . c o m

An aerial view of RiverLights shows existing homes and some of the community’s areas that have yet to be developed.

LOTS LEFT?

businesses open year-round.”

O N TH E H ORIZON

Examples of planned community sizes and how many homes currently exist:

Looking ahead, there may be more planned residential communities in store for the three-county area. But such developments are likely not going to happen in the city of Wilmington.

“Given that the city of Wilmington is pretty much built out, we really aren’t seeing any significant new bedroom communities being developed within the city limits,” Harbeck said.

There is, however, still about 100 developable square miles in northern New Hanover County, according to Kate Murphy, the county’s communications and outreach coordinator. She said that the county planning department has approved a project called Blue Clay Farms, just off Blue Clay Road, that will combine residential and supporting retail development.

No planned communities are in the approval pipeline for the roughly 50 undeveloped square miles in southern New Hanover County, Murphy said.

On the drawing board in Pender County is Blake Farm, planned for 1,300 acres in Hampstead. Development has paused because of litigation, but the concept has not changed.

“Their ultimate plans are to provide amenities on more of a regional scale, also incorporating multiple housing types such as senior living, multifamily, single-family, etc.,” said Kyle Breuer, Pender County’s planning director.

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TOTAL HOMESITE CAPACITY

HOMES BUILT OR UNDER CONSTRUTION

NE W H A NOV E R CO U N T Y AUTUMN HALL

200

HELMS PORT

159

LANDFALL

150 159

2,000 1,780 PARKSIDE AT MAYFAIRE

104 101 PORTERS NECK PLANTATION 800

RIVER BLUFFS

625

RIVERLIGHTS

2,290

TIDAL WALK

200

770 145 338 180

B R UNSW I CK CO U N T Y

BRUNSWICK FOREST

6,000

2,500 COMPASS POINTE

2,000 850 ST. JAMES PLANTATION 5,100

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A LO O K AT TH E AR EA’S H O M E B U I LD I N G I N D U S T RY BUILDING INSIGHTS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY

(910) 762-2225 www.GoMajestic.com

[ Discussion Moderator ] S COT T BY E R S President and CEO Majestic Kitchen & Bath Creations

JAS O N AK I N S President & General Contractor 16 Pointe Properties

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TO M CA N A DY President Barker & Canady Custom Homes

C R ESS B E LL President Bell Custom Homes

C E E E DWAR D S President Markraft Cabinets

B I L LY E L M O R E Director of Build Operations Riptide Builders

PJ K E L LY Vice President Logan Homes

AS H L E Y K E N T Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Kent Homes

DAN K E N T Founder & President Kent Homes

CH R IS SM I LES Build Superintendent Riptide Builders

S U SA N S T E C K Area Manager Level Homes

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A

ll in all, 2018 was not the easiest year for homebuilders in the Cape Fear region. Between torrential summer rains, Hurricane Florence in September, ongoing labor shortages, and a sudden spike in interest rates toward the end of the year, keeping up with the steady demand for housing in the area was a challenge.

Despite those challenges, Scott Byers, President and CEO of Majestic Kitchens and Bath Creations, believes there is no more exciting industry to be in – and, perhaps, none more vital to the local communities it serves.

For more than 25 years, Majestic has served the building industry and, with more recent acquisitions of companies like Builders Glass & Hardware Inc. in Wilmington, has positioned itself to support builders across the Carolinas.

As part of Majestic’s commitment to the industry and desire to be the most professional trade partner in the Carolinas, Byers recently invited 10 representatives of the area’s homebuilding companies to share their struggles, successes and outlooks for 2019.

HOW WAS THE LOCAL INDUSTRY IMPACTED

BY HURRICANE FLORENCE, AND WHAT EFFECTS, IF ANY, ARE YOU STILL EXPERIENCING? TOM CANADY: Well, there are still blue tarps on houses, and it’s been a while since the hurricane.

The hurricane knocked all of us out for two or three weeks, and it didn’t just knock the builders out. I had sub-contractors who were going to the grocery store by boat for several weeks. It shut them down, too. They couldn’t work on the jobs we had under construction or the 150 homes in one of our subdivisions that needed water repairs. Catching back up from that takes a while.

Storm-wise, we had very little damage. The storm just pushed all our processes back, in terms of the day-to-day.

BILLY ELMORE: The residual effects of Hurricane Florence trickled down to production. And a lot of out-of-town sub-contractors and roofers came in and started picking up business from locals, so that became an issue.

JASON AKINS: I am a smaller custom homebuilder so, luckily, we only had three homes under construction and didn’t have significant damage. But we had the same issue with labor; none of my sub-contractors could get into work.

One good thing that I saw come from the storm was that suppliers like Majestic and Markraft were calling me and asking, “What do you need right now?” They were looking out for the local building companies because they knew we’d still be around in six months when some of these other out-of-town businesses had left. It was

We’ve had to come up with different ways to attract younger installers because the current ones are aging out.

Cee Edwards President Markraft Cabinets

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nice to see the people here sort of take care of their own.

CEE EDWARDS: The way we approached it was to just separate hurricane-related work from our normal day-to-day operations. We’re up to about 73 hurricane-victim customers that have either come in the showroom or called us. That’s a pretty substantial amount.

The unfortunate thing for them – and the fortunate thing for us – is that waiting on the adjusters and insurance claims and things like that has kind of staggered the installations and the needs. So, that’s helping us with the labor aspect of it.

I think we’re going to see people still coming in because they’re waiting on insurance money or waiting to decide what to do with it.

PJ KELLY: From a building company standpoint, the hurricane has pushed processes back, but we were fortunate. We had 135 homes under construction and none of them sustained any significant damage. We have a lot of good sub-contractors who wanted to get back to work and get back to normal. And our customers who we were building for were more than understanding about any delays.

We try, as best as we can, to treat our tradespeople like family, and I think it has made a positive difference.

Dan Kent Founder & President Kent Homes

DAN KENT: I found the whole year to be kind of a triple whammy. First, we had the trade shortage. Then, during the summer, it rained almost an entire month, so we couldn’t get anything done outside. Then, we had the hurricane.

When you combine those three things, that really slowed us down. We were scheduled to close 85 houses and in 2018, we could only produce 80 percent of that.

CRESS BELL: We had 104 inches of rain in a year, when our average is 57. So, on top of everything else, you just couldn’t get things going or keep them going last year. You were just arm-wrestling the market.

2018 was one of those years you hope you don’t repeat because it was just the perfect storm, no pun intended, of obstacles. And I think Florence inflated a problem we had before the storm – a shortage of qualified labor.

DO YOU THINK THE LABOR SHORTAGE WILL CONTINUE TO BE AN ISSUE FOR OUR AREA? CHRIS SMILES: We all share a lot of the same sub-contractors. So, we’re all jumping up and down right now, trying to hire sub-contractors that are in a position to leverage competitive pay. That means I’m going back and forth constantly trying to keep everything on an even keel.

Wilmington is such a destination area, and people really want to be here.

PJ Kelly Vice President Logan Homes

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One issue, for me, is the cost impact on a project over the long term. For example, we have a handful of home models that we use, and we use the same company for framing on each of them. Even though it’s the same company, there are new and different people coming in all the time. So, in retraining them on what a house is supposed to look like, the next thing I know, I’ve got $3,000 or $4,000 more in supplies on this house than another house just like it. It is critical to have professional trade partners today.

CANADY: That continual cycle of new workers is a big problem, and it’s not likely to change because a lot of people don’t want to stay in the trades.

AKINS: The biggest issue I have, honestly, is finding people who care about the work they’re doing. They just show up and do a job.

Some of the more experienced sub-contractors still care but maybe we are lacking some necessary training for the younger, newer workers. Insuring trade partners have systems and processes to deal with these challenges is crucial.

SUSAN STECK: When I came to this area in August after spending most of my career in the Myrtle Beach market, I literally had to replace 80 percent of our trade partners. It was a necessary evil, unfortunately. And what I said to the trades I had to let go of was, “When did you stop caring about what you do?”

Maybe we need to find a way to start attracting more

qualified labor here to Wilmington.

BELL: There’s a stigma about using your hands and being out in the field, and that’s not easy to change, but you can make a really good living doing a trade now.

It’s interesting – there’s almost more work than people to do it in our market. There’s a natural supply and demand, and there’s more demand than supply with our current labor force.

What concerns me in the bigger picture is value. Companies with good crews are paying to keep them, so that eventually trickles down to the end user.

ASHLEY KENT: With business being so good right now, I think trade partners may be overcommitting on jobs. They’re taking on more work but it’s taking twice as long, so it has become harder to get quality work or to get that work done under a good production timeline.

KELLY: About a year and a half ago, we started having meetings with our trade partners to check in and see what they need. I’m not saying that solved all our problems, but it has gone a long way to retain some of our long-term sub-contractors.

DAN KENT: To piggyback on what PJ said, all my employees are instructed to treat the tradespeople differently than regular employees because without the tradesmen, you can’t do anything.

We try, as best as we can, to treat our tradespeople like family, and I think it has made a positive difference.

Over the last six months, we’ve seen an increase in the number of second-home buyers.

I feel like Wilmington is insulated from some of the housing industry issues.

Billy Elmore Director of Build Operations Riptide Builders

Jason Akins President & General Contractor 16 Pointe Properties

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To some extent, reality home improvement shows give a false perception of what we do.

Ashley Kent Vice President of Sales & Marketing Kent Homes

Has it completely solved the problem? No. But I think our tradespeople are more loyal because they feel like we care about them.

WHAT OTHER SOLUTIONS ARE THERE TO IMPROVING THE LOCAL HOMEBUILDING LABOR MARKET? CANADY:People used to go to a community college to learn a trade, but that kind of education doesn’t seem to be as sought-out now, even though I think it’s what’s needed.

BELL: To that point, I am on the board of directors of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association, along with PJ [Kelly], and education is one of our pillars. It’s how we focus on what kind of legacy we want to leave. We’re working with Cape Fear Community College [CFCC] on getting those old-school shop classes back in place for specific trade categories.

But that’s on a micro level. The stigma about labor is global, and there is no quick change with that. What might make the change is the wage level some of these skilled workers can achieve.

STECK: Letting young people know about the median income for trades would be a great thing to do. It could change the minds of some people, who may be currently sitting behind a desk with a four-year degree not making as much money as they’d like to be.

EDWARDS: We have this discussion on a daily basis at

2018 was one of those years you hope you don’t repeat because it was just the perfect storm, no pun intended, of obstacles.

Cress Bell President Bell Custom Homes

Markraft, because installers are a dying breed. We’ve had to come up with different ways to attract younger installers because the current ones are aging out.

We recently partnered with a construction management class at CFCC and talked to them about how they could make a good living as a cabinet installer.

From there, we put together an apprenticeship program. We have a graduate of CFCC’s construction management program apprenticing with us now. We pay him a full-time hourly wage and we are teaching him everything we can about the industry. We also implemented an intern program for a current CFCC construction management student who can work part-time, and we pay him the same way.

We’re trying to train them while they’re in school and coming out of school to let them know they can make a good living with us.

WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING WITH HOMEBUYERS? KELLY: Wilmington is such a destination area, and people really want to be here. We’re seeing the timeframe for people planning to relocate here shrink from three to five years to one to two years. And in the last couple of years, we’ve seen more people willing to buy a spec home rather than go through the building process.

People are coming here; they want to be here. We recently participated in a trade show in Long Island and came home with the most leads we’ve ever had. I’ve

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done trade shows for 17 years and this was the best turnout I’ve ever seen. A lot of the customers I deal with that are retiring can sell their house in New Jersey, then come down here and buy one of our houses with cash and still put some money in the bank and have a good life.

CANADY: I think what you are seeing now is the Baby Boomer generation starting to retire in larger numbers.

They got pushed back a little bit by the recession in 2006 but now they’re ready and able to retire and buy a home here.

AKINS: I feel like Wilmington is insulated from some of the housing industry issues. I get calls weekly, if not biweekly, from people wanting to build down here. This area is just a destination for so many people.

…We’re all jumping up and down right now, trying to hire sub-contractors that are in a position to leverage competitive pay.

Chris Smiles Build Superintendent Riptide Builders

STECK: Interest rates are coming down, which is a good thing. Let’s hope that trend continues, because I think it’s going to spur the ones who had missed buying when interest rates were low the last time around and decided to rent instead. People get scared by interest rates, especially with the price range in Wilmington always creeping up because of land costs. So, hopefully we’ll get renters into their own houses this year.

SMILES: A lot of our buyers are second-home buyers who are buying here now – but not coming here yet – because they want to go ahead and buy at the current price.

ELMORE: The activity, as far as showings, dropped a little bit when the interest rates popped up just a bit at the end of 2018. What is unique with us is that we have so many cash buyers – people moving here from other locations – that interest rates don’t really impact us too much.

Over the last six months, we’ve seen an increase in the number of second-home buyers. We still have a lot of retirees who are buying here as permanent residents, but a lot of those second-home buyers are planning on moving here permanently in a few years, as well.

People used to go to a community college to learn a trade, but that kind of education doesn’t seem to be as sought-out now, even though I think it’s what’s needed.

Tom Canady President Barker & Canady Custom Homes

ASHLEY KENT: Something I’ve seen from the sales side of this industry is people want what they want – they watch HGTV and think they can renovate a home in a week within a certain budget.

To some extent, those shows give a false perception of what we do. People have very high expectations – they want what they want and want it at a low price.

WHAT KINDS OF HOMES ARE PEOPLE SEEKING? BELL: When I came back to North Carolina in 2011, I decided to bring a little bit of a West Coast design aesthetic,

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and we got immediate attraction from that empty-nester retiree who wanted a bolder and more creative house.

I thought that was interesting because, at the time, I was holding my breath not knowing how it would be received. I think some of these new trends, like the modern farmhouses, really aren’t designated to a certain age.

People just want something different that they’re proud of and will love to show off.

That has been fun for me as a builder. I’ve put a lot of time into design and trying to do things differently, and the market has reacted really well to that.

ASHLEY KENT: You see those new trends more so incorporated into neighborhoods, where a few years ago those kinds of houses were so rare.

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE HOMEBUYING AND HOMEBUILDING PROCESS? AKINS: People come in with a million pictures on their Houzz.com account. They don’t always know exactly what it is they want but they come with lots of ideas about what they like and don’t like.

STECK: I think most buyers are doing a lot of shopping and research on the internet first. And if they’ve showed up to us for a tour, I look at that as positive feedback because they’ve already researched online what we have to offer.

In terms of our marketing, geo-targeting and geo-fencing are working very well for us. You can target an entire neighborhood you want to reach, so that they see our ads when they go online. That has been a great tool for us, since we’re so new to this area.

KELLY: From a building perspective, we don’t even take

invoices from sub-contractors anymore, for example. I can pay a sub-contractor from my phone and automatically generate a check; I don’t ever even see an invoice.

ASHLEY KENT: I think, across the board, people are really savvy with technology now. They get on Facebook and NextDoor [private social network for communities], so customers will post questions about what they should have in their new home to see what their connections on these social media sites have to say. Then, they’ll come in to see us with a list of 50 bullet points of features they want or think they should have.

BELL: Where efficiency gains are possible, we absolutely employ technology. But we try to stay somewhat oldschool, too, so that it’s easiest for our end users – the trades people and suppliers.

You can have too much technology and try to do too much with it. We have a scheduling program that is a 30-day outlook in a spreadsheet that everyone can use, and I get more traction out of that than some massive schedules that can take several hours just to update.

BUILDING INSIGHTS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY MAJESTIC KITCHEN & BATH CREATIONS, A PROUD MEMBER OF ARTISAN GROUP. Artisan Group is an elite network of independent countertop professionals that have achieved full accreditation with the Marble Institute of America through rigorous testing on quality, safety and service. This extensive network of members allows the organization to offer the highest quality granite, marble, soapstone and wood surfaces imported from the best sources around the globe.

People get scared by interest rates, especially with the price range in Wilmington always creeping up because of land costs.

Susan Steck Area Manager Level Homes

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REAL ESTATE'S NEXT TECH LEAP

by JOHANNA CANO

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TECHNOLOGY

HAS CHANGED, IN MANY WAYS, WHAT SHOPPING LOOKS LIKE. INSTEAD OF PILING YOUR FAMILY IN A CAR AND DRIVING TO THE NEAREST MALL, SHOPPING CAN NOW BE DONE WITH A FEW CLICKS ON A SMARTPHONE.

Technology has also been increasingly implemented in homebuying and selling, one of the largest transactions most people will make in their lifetime. Additionally, there are also more technology-based options for managing homeowner associations and connecting real estate investors.

With more technology platforms in the market, those in the industry are keeping an eye on them and recognizing it is important for Realtors to work with technology and not against it, said Tony Harrington, president-elect at Cape Fear Realtors.

“It’s vital for Realtors to be cognizant of technology in the marketplace,” Harrington said. “We know clients in this age will go to the internet first to explore.

We are always watching the industry and trying to continue with the trends and stay on top so that we can continue to be that important piece of the puzzle in transactions.”

Zillow, a real estate database company based in Seattle, launched Zillow Offers in 2017 where homeowners could get a cash offer and sell their homes to Zillow. Initially it launched in test cities Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, and has been expanding its footprint since, including into parts of North Carolina.

When asked earlier this year if Zillow Offers would ever come to the Wilmington area, Jeremy Wacksman, president of Zillow Group, said it is a possibility.

“I would say eventually yes, but you’ll see us open in metropolitan

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service areas that have a lot of density where we can develop the operation and then we’ll think about how we regionally scale from there,” he said. “The great thing about Zillow Offers is we think it can be taken to many cities around the country.”

Because Zillow Offers has not opened in a market like Wilmington, it is difficult to gauge how it could impact the area, however, real estate agents will always be part of the deal, Harrington said.

“Our opinion in the world of Realtors is that the Realtor will always be center in the transaction,” Harrington said.

“With technology coming in and being more prevalent in our society our goal is to continue to educate the public.

We are hands-on, and we are educated professionals connected to the industry.

You don’t necessarily get that off the internet.”

What Zillow Offers is bringing to the real estate market is an easier and faster way to sell homes, Wacksman said.

“Real estate is still a really complicated process, fraught with risk and hassle,” Wacksman said. “That’s what led us down this path of, well, couldn’t we make selling your house as easy as the press of a button?”

With Zillow Offers, homeowners interested in selling their homes can type in their address, input basic information such as square footage, photos and recent repairs. Within 48 hours the homeowner receives two home values, one from the pricing team at Zillow and another from a local real estate agent.

If the homeowner chooses to move forward with the Zillow offer, an evaluator goes to the house and does a free home inspection, where the offer will be re-evaluated, and the homeowner receives a final cash offer. The homeowner can pick a closing date as soon as five days or 90 if they need more time.

Zillow offers a fair market value for the home, and a fee is charged for renovations and holding costs, which falls in line with the fee a real estate agent would charge, said Jordyn Lee, communications manager at Zillow.

Zillow Offers launched in Charlotte last year and in Raleigh in January.

Zillow Offers has opened in markets

YOU’LL SEE US OPEN IN METROPOLITAN SERVICE AREAS THAT HAVE A LOT OF DENSITY … AND THEN WE’LL THINK ABOUT HOW WE REGIONALLY SCALE FROM THERE.

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JEREMY WACKSMAN PRESIDENT OF ZILLOW GROUP

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that have comparable homes, Wacksman said.

“We were looking for a lot of similar types of homes. Cities like Charlotte and Raleigh have a lot of single-family homes and condos of a certain type,” Wacksman said. “Right now, we’re starting at homes that look about like the median.”

Part of the Zillow Offers platform is its partnership with a local real estate agent who is present for either the sale or purchase of the home.

In Raleigh, Zillow has partnered with Quentin Dane, CEO of DASH Realty Group, a team within Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston.

Dane decided to partner with Zillow Offers because he had already been part of the Premier Agent program, where Zillow connected him with potential buyers.

“Now through the Zillow Offers program, they allow me to get in front of ready, willing and able sellers, which it was a natural fit,” Dane said. “This just was a natural progression for our business.”

While the Zillow Offers program is new in Raleigh, Dane has already seen its impact.

“It’s been overwhelming,” he said.

“January is typically a slow time in real estate, and we’re in the middle of our busiest January by far.”

Some Wilmington-based companies have developed products for other real estate-related sectors.

Vantaca, a software for managing homeowner associations, started in 2015 when its CEO Dave Sweyer partnered with two developers to create software that can be used by CAMS, a property management company also led by Sweyer.

“The HOA industry did not have a software solution that met the needs for our company, so we decided to develop our own solution,” Sweyer said. “We made several peer companies aware we were developing our solution and they expressed interest in purchasing, so we formed a company for the software and started selling to all HOA management companies.”

The software allows HOA boards to customize workflows, view and process banking transactions and communicate via email, text or alert.

Vantaca has a business intelligence tool that offers analysis to help HOA management companies understand customer and employee performance, Sweyer said.

“Our goal is to make Vantaca very intuitive,” Sweyer said. “User experience

plays a big role in software success, so we constantly get feedback from customers to ensure our software is easy to use.”

And when it comes to real estate investment, Wilmington-based Connected Investors has the goal to offer a social network platform for investors.

The company, founded by CEO Ross Hamilton, provides a platform for real estate investments where buyers and sellers can network and view inventory, and through its CiX. com website, users can meet with lenders to fund their investments.

In 2018, the company reported it had $10 million in revenue and planned on moving from tekMountain to a bigger office space in downtown Wilmington.

Hamilton said he was inspired to start Connected Investors after delving into real estate investment himself and realizing how important connections are.

“The second someone downloads our app, they can communicate with other real estate investors in town,” Hamilton said.

“Traditionally it would have taken years to meet those people.”

Real estate is traded in an inefficient market and new platforms have the potential to assist buyers and sellers in navigating around these inefficiencies, said Edward Graham, professor of finance at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

“A great many platforms, every one of which has a digital ‘core,’ have been developed to address this inefficiency, to improve the real estate market and to reduce the costliness of completing real estate transactions,” Graham said. “Most folks expected the evolution to a more streamlined market to occur quickly, but such has not been the case.”

While technology is offering new ways to do real estate transactions and manage information, there is still a need for trust and assurance within those tools.

“One of the things that has not changed in the 20-plus years the internet has been around,” Wacksman said, “is how often people want great agents and great advice in their transaction.”

w i l m i n g t o n b i z m a g a z i n e . c o m

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PROFILE

BY CHRISTINA HALEY O'NEAL | PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

AFFORDABILITY

ADVOCATE

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AFTER YEARS O F R A L LY I N G T O E X PA N D T H E A R E A’ S A F F O R DA B L E H O U S I N G, R E A LT O R J O D Y WA I N I O HOPES TO SEE SOME PROGRESS

B

orn and raised in Panama, Jody Wainio has a unique perspective on just how important housing is, regardless of income level.

“It’s a third-world country, and the affordable housing they have there is so much more substandard than what we are used to. And I think I have an appreciation for how working families struggle to make ends meet,” said Wainio, a local real estate leader and affordable housing advocate.

“I think once I got into it and understood the issues (in Wilmington), I just got more and more involved because I realized how critical it was in our community.”

Wainio moved to the U.S. in her late teens and came to Wilmington in 1982.

Affordable housing needs have been an ongoing topic among those in Wilmington’s real estate community, and Wainio has been a longtime voice in that discussion.

Wainio is the managing broker at Keller Williams Realty’s Wilmington office, where she helps a group of 180 Realtors. She is also owner/team leader of Buyer’s Choice Realty, which has two other agents. She has been in real estate for decades, joining KW in April.

She has paid attention to the area’s affordable housing issue for w i l m i n g t o n b i z m a g a z i n e . c o m

much of her 33-year real estate career.

As vice president of Cape Fear Community Land Trust, Wainio has had a hand in bringing affordable housing options into the community.

The organization helps keep property affordable for the homebuyers who purchase the house while the organization holds the land in a trust, removing land costs from the equation.

“It’s better than a rental, but it’s not the full home ownership,” Wainio said.

One of the trust’s more recent projects is its first new construction, slated to be completed in April. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 1314 Marsdon Ave. near downtown Wilmington is handicapped accessible.

The group has another property at 920 Meares St., with plans to start construction there this summer.

As active in the industry as she is now, Wainio hasn’t always been involved in real estate.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, she went to work for Corning, starting out as a measurements operator. After seven months, she was laid off.

“That’s when I went to real estate school and just decided to do something to keep my mind occupied while I was looking for a job,” she said.

In 1988, she was called back to Corning full time, but she also worked part time with Cape Fear Real Estate and Development, which changed names to Buyer’s Choice Realty in the early 1990s. While still at Corning, she bought Buyer’s Choice Realty in 1996.

“I think it hit home because at the time a lot of my peers from Corning were in an income bracket that could not afford the luxury market. So buying something for an average family … that’s what I focused on,” Wainio said. “And as I got more and more involved, I realized what a challenge it is for anybody who works as a police officer or a firefighter, a nurse or a teacher to be able to afford to live here affordably.”

Wainio was a work design facilitator when she was laid off a second time at Corning in 2001. She 2 0 1 9

then went into real estate full time and soon took on affordable housing advocacy roles.

Around 2005, she joined the Cape Fear Housing Coalition, as well as the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors’ (now Cape Fear Realtors) affordable housing committee, becoming its first chair.

Her current roles include what she is doing with the land trust, which has a goal to develop three to five new single-family homes a year.

Wainio also serves as vice chair of the Cape Fear Housing Coalition.

And she is also vice president of the Wilmington Realtors Foundation.

“We’re not talking about subsidized housing. We’re talking about … the people that are the backbone of the community that cannot afford to live here,” she said.

Hurricane Florence last year increased the overall awareness of the need for more affordable housing options, Wainio said. But funds are needed to provide them.

Wainio said her goal is to bridge the gap between public and private partners to bring about more housing opportunities for the area’s workforce.

That was the focus of her position as chair of a 14-member, county and city ad hoc committee formed in 2016 to improve workforce and affordable housing. That committee officially ended its meetings in 2017 with a list of recommendations.

Wainio said she has continued efforts from that committee by meeting with county commissioners.

She also gave a presentation to city and county leaders, who met for a special joint meeting in late February to discuss the topic.

More private partners need to get involved in the conversation, she said.

“My wish is that we get powerful partners at the table to create concrete plans for including affordable housing in every community moving forward,” Wainio said. “So any new development, in every development moving forward, I would love to see some inclusion of some affordable homes in the city and New Hanover County.”

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TO WATC H

TRENDS

TRENDS

s the Wilmington area continues to be a popular place to live, more residential real estate trends are emerging, including a rise in home prices that is expected to continue. Meanwhile, some of the latest industry buzz includes different types of housing and energy, as well as changing preferences among homeowners.

BY JOHANNA CANO

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HOUSING PRICES ON THE RISE

BUILDING POST HURRICANE

Home sales prices in the Wilmington area have been increasing since 2012, with the average sales price at $292,000 as of December 2018, according to a Metrostudy report.

In the tri-county area, Pender County saw the largest increase in average home sales price from 2013 to 2018. Existing home sales prices in the county, which don’t include sales of distressed homes, went up by 22 percent during those five years.

The Metrostudy takeaways suggest that 2019 will be a neutral year in the residential real estate market because higher construction, labor and interest rate costs have slowed the urgency to build and buy homes. It also stated that overvalued homes run the risk of creating price fatigue among buyers, especially if average mortgage rates go higher than 5 percent.

“It’s all based on supply and demand,” said Don Harris, broker and Realtor with Intracoastal Realty.

“Right now, we have very limited supply, prices won’t go up higher than a certain price, but we are not sure when that will be. The biggest thing is short supply, we have more buyers than houses.”

After Hurricane Florence, some local homeowners have made their homes hurricane-resistant. Spencer Rogers, coastal construction and erosion specialist with N.C. Sea Grant, said more homeowners should take advantage of incentives available to them.

“Many of these mitigation upgrades are not expensive,” Rogers said. “Both wind and flood insurance premium discounts are available to help offset the costs.

Most improvements are easiest for new constructions but there are sometimes good opportunities to upgrade later.”

For example, installing a hip roof or window protection offers a 4 to 5 percent discount on wind and/ or hail coverage cost.

One program homeowners can use is FORTIFIED Home from the Institute for Business & Home Safety, which features building methods that go beyond the required local building codes to mitigate damage from hurricanes.

“One study found repairing the water damage averaged three times more expensive than the roofing damage,” Rogers said. “Florence’s roofing damage gives many owners the opportunity to upgrade and reduce the potential for damage in the next storm.”

M A G A Z I N E

TRENDS

3

4

5

CONTAINERS CONTINUE

BRIGHTER MARKET FOR SOLAR

MORE AUXILIARY DWELLING UNITS

In 2018, construction was completed on nine “Live + Work” apartments made from shipping containers in what is known as The Cargo District on Queen Street.

The district is a mixed-use concept of upcycled shipping containers used to create a mix of retail, office and residential spaces.

It was developed by Leslie Smith of L.S. Smith Inc. and designed by Rob Romero of Romero Architecture.

The container apartments are all leased, and there is a waitlist for future tenants. The one-bedroom apartments are about 620 square feet and have original container flooring, European-style cabinetry and are designed to be functional and modern, according to the Cargo District website.

With the completion of the nine apartments, developers have plans to build two-bedroom container apartments that use 40- and 45-foot shipping containers, part of the Square 1 project.

Currently, developers are working on commercial projects, including a coffee shop, bottle shop, distillery and a new communal development of container office spaces and Queen Street Barbershop.

Cape Fear Solar Systems, a Wilmington-based solar system design and installation company, plans to build a new headquarters and solar complex at 901 S. Front St. With its new headquarters, the company plans on employing about 65 people, up from its current 22 employees, to meet the demand from local homeowners wanting to use solar energy.

The company has installed about 700 solar systems within a 75-mile radius of Wilmington and Raleigh.

“There are several factors affecting the growth of solar in our area. Utility electric costs are rising, and solar allows home and business owners to produce their own power, giving them independence from the power company and unpredictable rate hikes, and saving thousands of dollars,” said Forrest Sanderson, residential project developer with Cape Fear Solar Systems. “After Hurricane Florence made its way through the Carolinas, we have had an even higher interest in solar with battery storage solutions.

Area residents don’t want to be left without power again in this hurricane-prone area.”

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) were identified by Glenn Harbeck, director of planning, development and transportation for the city of Wilmington, as an option to help address the lack of affordable housing in the area.

ADUs are small residential units attached or detached from a single-family home. Examples include Granny flats, backyard cottages and mother-in-law suites.

In a presentation to the city council, Harbeck said some of the benefits of ADUs include no land cost, lower rent for renters, increased income for homeowners to offset mortgages and the fact that ADUs are usually not obtrusive, meaning construction is minimal and doesn’t impact traffic as compared to other developments.

ADUs are currently allowed in the city in R-7 through R-20 districts for attached units and all residential zones for detached units. Attached ADUs can be up to 800 square feet or 35 percent of the home and detached units can’t be larger than 1,200 square feet. Detached units can’t be taller than the home.

The presentation recommended changing some regulations to incentivize more development of ADUs.

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E A R LY TECH TRAINING HELPED STEER CYNTHIA WA L S H TO BCAR’S TOP JOB

BY KYL E H AN L I N PHOTO B Y MI CHA E L CLINE SPEN C ER

"T

PROFILE

he job kind of found me, actually.”

That is how Cynthia Walsh describes taking the first steps into a career that now finds her leading the Brunswick County Association of Realtors (BCAR) as its chief executive officer, a role she has held since 2015.

“My husband was a Realtor,” Walsh said. “He had just recently become one, and someone else said, ‘Hey, your wife knows about those computers, doesn’t she? They need help down at the association office.’”

That was in early 2005, and Walsh was waiting tables and bartending, having just wrapped up a years-long stretch as a stay-at-home mom.

“So I went down there and got hired because I knew about ‘those computers,’” joked Walsh, “and how to get ‘on the line.’”

C : \ CA R E E R\START

In 2005, the digital revolution was in full swing. Apple released an upgraded iPod with a color screen, digital cameras that shot at a whopping 4 megapixels cost just a few hundred dollars and more and more people were using PalmPilots instead of day planners and Rolodexes. Google had rolled out an invite-only beta version of its new email platform, Gmail, just a year earlier.

Two decades prior, Walsh was nearing the end of her high school career in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, and had dreams of being a teacher for deaf or blind children. But a school counselor’s suggestion about her likelihood of being accepted into that world led her down a different path.

“I had been accepted to all of these colleges, and I was completely defeated,” Walsh said. “My mother, in her infinite wisdom, she said, ‘Why don’t you go to the secretarial school?’

So I did.

“The secretarial school was in Boston. It was an all-girls school with dorms where you had to dress in business attire every day, and part w i l m i n g t o n b i z m a g a z i n e . c o m

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of the thing was that they taught you how to interview, and then there’s a placement process.”

Walsh landed in the commercial real estate division of the secondlargest bank in Boston. Newly minted in the business, she was presented with the latest and greatest tools of the trade.

“They plunked a computer on my desk, circa 1986 or ’87,” Walsh said.

“It was a big ol’ DOS-based computer with a 5¼-inch floppy drive that I had to put my DOS disk in to boot every morning. When I didn’t have things to do, I would read the manuals. So I became, ‘That girl is always reading the manuals. Ask her what to do.’

“Then, the first stock market crash back in the ’80s, I think it was Price Waterhouse that came in, and they installed the first network, with a piece of software for us to manage all of this real estate that we now owned.

They said, ‘Send her to school to learn how to install and put the network in.’

That’s how it started.”

Walsh took classes at Boston University, but between work and life, she never completed her undergraduate degree.

The lack of a formal degree did not stop her from advancing in the information technology world, and her employers relied on her to bring her colleagues up to speed.

“I became the girl that worked in IT that they could send out to talk and to teach,” Walsh said. “I knew enough, but I’m not nearly as IT-savvy as the guys you never send out to talk to people.

“It was weird to be a woman in that world at that time. There weren’t a lot of us. My next job was in IT with an insurance company running 13 networks across the country.”

T H E DU CH E SS OF DATA & DE TAILS

Walsh’s first role with BCAR was in membership, primarily taking in new members and maintaining databases of member-related information. But just seven months into her tenure, the holy grail of real estate fell under her purview.

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PROFILE

Susan K. Hill Estate Planning & Business Law

Call our HIGH PERFORMANCE LAW™ Team at

(910) 509-7480

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“I was handed the Multiple Listing Service to run,” Walsh said.

“Obviously, the MLS is a huge, massive database, and everyone wants to be able to list their homes and see what’s available. But it’s not only that.

It guarantees the members that are party to it the commission. That’s the big thing.”

Walsh managed the MLS for nearly a decade, during which time she also took on other roles within the association, everything from planning member events, coordinating continuing education and enforcing professional standards.

“There’s an entire process of enforcement to ensure that everyone is abiding by the code of ethics,” Walsh said. “So I started professional standards administration, which kind of led me into bylaws and policy.

“I’m very detail-oriented. I’m a list person with all of this creativity behind it too. I just kind of had done everything and they said, ‘Cynthia’s been in charge of that, Cynthia’s been in charge of that.’”

In early 2015, BCAR’s CEO Steve Candler announced he was moving on and felt that Walsh, with her professional background and more than a decade of experience with the organization, was the natural choice to fill the top slot.

“He and I had worked together for 10 years and had the typical workhusband, work-wife situation where we were kind of always with each other, helping each other out,” Walsh said. “He recommended that the board of directors give me a shot as interim, and they offered me the job within three months.”

Now with BCAR’s top job, Walsh remains committed to serving the association’s approximately 1,000 members.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re out there selling and what their sphere of influence is in the sales world,” Walsh said. “My job is to provide them services.”

M A R K E T SNAPSHOT W I L M I N G T O N A R E A R E S I D E N T I A L R E A L E S TAT E H I G H L I G H T S

1

2

3

TOP10 H O M E S A L E S 0 F 2 0 1 8 PRICE

1 2 3 4 5

$5,000,000

ADDRESS

407 BRADLEY CREEK POINT ROAD, BRADLEY CREEK POINT

SQ FT

6,506

6

$4,900,000

7521 MASONBORO SOUND ROAD, WILMINGTON

6,990

7

$4,450,000

6 BEACH ROAD S., FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND

4,922

7

264 BEACH ROAD N., FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND

4,898

9

24 W. SALISBURY ST., WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH

5,050

10

$3,600,000 $3,525,000

4

PRICE

ADDRESS

SQ FT

$3,519,838

2352 OCEAN POINT DRIVE, LANDFALL

5,851

7 SOUNDS POINT ROAD, FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND

5,394

310 BEACH ROAD N., FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND

4,092

8 SURF COURT, FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND

6,563

813 HOWES POINT PLACE, LANDFALL

6,740

$3,500,000 $3,475,000 $3,250,000 $3,050,000

SOURCE: N.C. REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE

w i l m i n g t o n b i z m a g a z i n e . c o m

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BY VOLUME

1

SIDES*

VOLUME $

AVERAGE $

5145

$1,324,981,185

$257,528

2895.5

$997,257,043

$344,416

KELLER WILLIAMS - WILMINGTON

1684

$414,910,463

$246,384

CENTURY 21 SWEYER & ASSOCIATES

1576

$347,355,334

$220,403

RE/MAX ESSENTIAL

1278.5

$308,475,311

$241,279

BLUECOAST REALTY CORP.

747.5

$191,470,409

$256,148

LANDMARK SOTHEBY'S INTERNATIONAL REALTY

325.5

$176,491,662

$542,217

MARGARET RUDD & ASSOCIATES

591

$130,711,631

221,170

BRUNSWICK FOREST REALTY LLC

326

$102,029,415

$312,974

RE/MAX AT THE BEACH

427

$98,056,465

229,640

COASTWALK REAL ESTATE LLC

312

$87,715,219

$281,139

COASTAL PROPERTIES

352

$87,688,180

249,114

D.R. HORTON INC.

353

$86,102,176

243,916

COLDWELL BANKER SLOANE

300

$65,536,207

$218,454

302

$64,592,411

213,882

COLDWELL BANKER SEA COAST ADVANTAGE

2

INTRACOASTAL REALTY CORP.

3 4 5 6 7 8

TOP15

RESIDENTIAL

REAL ESTATE FIRMS

MARKET SNAPSHOT

9

10 11 12 13 14 15

COASTAL ERA REAL ESTATE (FORMERLY WILKINSON ERA)

SOURCE: N.C. REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE FOR NEW HANOVER, BRUNSWICK AND PENDER COUNTIES IN 2018

* SIDES COUNT THE BUYING OR SELLING SIDE OF A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION

WI LMI NGTON, NC SA LES & DESIGN STUD IO KITCHENS

•

OUTDOOR KITCHENS

2705 Castle Creek Lane Wilmington, NC 28401

38

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•

BATHROOMS

910.793.0202

•

MUDROOMS

•

AND MORE

Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm After 5pm & Saturdays by appointment

TOP15

NEW HANOVER, BRUNSWICK & PENDER COUNTIES

1

JERRY HELMS

SIDES*

313.5

BRUNSWICK FOREST REALTY LLC

2

KEITH BEATTY

307.5

INTRACOASTAL REALTY CORP.

3

VANCE YOUNG

152

INTRACOASTAL REALTY CORP.

4 5

HANK TROSCIANIEC – COLDWELL BANKER SEA COAST ADVANTAGE

KIM ANDERSON

MARKET SNAPSHOT

AGENTS BY VOLUME for

ART SKIPPER REALTY INC.

VOLUME $

$98,966,915

$93,936,657

$91,832,325

SIDES TEAM KBT REALTY

6

KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY

7

INTRACOASTAL REALTY CORP.

8

INTRACOASTAL REALTY CORP.

9

BUZZY NORTHEN CARLA LEWIS

TEAM HARDEE HUNT AND WILL HARDEE HUNT & WILLIAMS

SHAWN HORTON

10

COLDWELL BANKER SEA COAST ADVANTAGE

11

COLDWELL BANKER SEA COAST ADVANTAGE

12

FRANCES WARNER REAL ESTATE GROUP COLDWELL BANKER SEA COAST ADVANTAGE

13

COLDWELL BANKER SEA COAST ADVANTAGE

JESSICA EDWARDS TEAM

CRONICK & ASSOCIATES

213.5

$47,506,975

14

MICHELLE CLARK INTRACOASTAL REALTY CORP.

214.5

$44,977,403

15

THE CHEEK TEAM – KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY-BRUNSWICK COUNTY

* SIDES COUNT THE BUYING OR SELLING SIDE OF A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION

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VOLUME $

190

$44,607,789

40.5

$43,894,074

103.5

$43,687,425

41

$39,383,750

102.5

$38,583,667

71.5

$35,787,420

86

$35,562,259

148.5

$35,169,449

83

$34,822,282

95

$32,032,600

SOURCE: N.C. REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE

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TOP

MARKET SNAPSHOT

COMMERCIAL + RESIDENTIAL INTERIOR DESIGN

Creating Experiences in Commercial Spaces

2018

HOMEBUILDERS

SOURCE: METROSTUDY, A HANLEY WOOD COMPANY, BASED ON RECORDED CLOSINGS IN PENDER, BRUNSWICK, ONSLOW AND NEW HANOVER COUNTIES, BUT NOT INCLUDING CLOSINGS UNDER ASSUMED NAMES, SPECIAL ENTITIES OR LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES WITH DIFFERENT NAMES

CLOSINGS

1 2

The Lodges at Lake Wylie, Charlotte NC

www.bigskydesignonline.com | 910-793-3992 | 4037 Masonboro Loop Rd

4 5

158 $195,163 STEVENS FINE HOMES

6

10 11 11

· ELIMINATE HARMFUL CANCER CAUSING UV RAY’S · ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL CANCER FOUNDATION

910-392-6960 | www.coastalglasstinting.com COMPLIMENTARY IN HOME ESTIMATES

40

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135

$275,225 H&H HOMES

107 $312,949 WADE JURNEY HOMES 99

$180,890 TRUE HOMES

97 $295,277 PULTEGROUP/DEL WEBB 96

$343,056 LOGAN HOMES

89 $365,641 MUNGO COMPANIES 68

$339,441 CP BRUNSWICK

13

68 $140,777 SOUTHERN HOMEBUILDERS

14

61 $243,191 HARDISON BUILDING CO.

14

55 $301,763 HUNTER DEVELOPMENT CORP.

COMMERCIAL

· ELIMINATE GLARE AND REDUCE FADING AND HEAT

BILL CLARK HOMES

212 $231,461 ATLANTIC CONSTRUCTION

9

RESIDENTIAL

$230,292

217 $325,100 A. SYDES CONSTRUCTION

8

B O AT

D.R. HORTON

3

7

AUTOMOTIVE

431

AVERAGE PRICE

55 $180,158 16 CAVINESS AND CATES COMMUNITIES 17

53 $289,664 AMERICAN HOMESMITH 44

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THE TAKEAWAY

ESTATE SALE The hand-painted walls of the Dudley Mansion, at 400 S. Front St. in downtown Wilmington, gleam as morning light streams through a window in the 10,000-square-foot home's front room.

The historic house, built in 1825 for North Carolina's first governor, Edward Dudley, is for sale for nearly $3 million. The listing agent is Jessica Edwards of The Carolinas Finest team of Wilmington-based Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage.

In the 1880s, the Dudley Mansion was purchased by Pembroke and Sarah Jones of Airlie Gardens fame and was also owned by cotton exporter James Sprunt, among other well-known North Carolinians. The current owner is Kimberly Hayden, who has lived there for about five years, moving in after a yearlong renovation project. photo by KEVIN KLEITHCHES w i l m i n g t o n b i z m a g a z i n e . c o m

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They’ve seen iT all— bull, bear, bubbles and Andy Basinger, CFP® | Managing Director Specialty: Comprehensive financial planning

boons. our advisors have been Through Their fair share of markeT cycles. leT Their experTise be your

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Live Oak Private Wealth provides the experienced guidance your family needs to feel financially secure and have peace of mind.

We know that it’s easy to get confused and distracted by media noise, which makes you feel unsure of your investments. At Live Oak Private Wealth, we’re focused on listening to our clients and helping them stay on the right path to meet their financial goals.

Learn more at liveoakprivatewealth.com Daniel Hughes | Senior Fiduciary Advisor Specialty: Trust and estate planning

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