| MAY
10, 2007
Lake Oswego-based Renaissance Homes
has just completed the best quarter in the history of
the 23-year-old company, according to its president
Randy Sebastian.
During the first three months of 2007,
Renassance Homes sold 117 homes worth $67 million, an
average sales price of $573,000. This eclipsed the old
company record set during the first quarter of 2006–100
homes worth $55 million.
“We’re feeling pretty good
about our sales so far this year because we did better
than the same period last year, which was at the height
of the hottest sales market I’ve ever seen,”
said Sebastian, whose firm sold 307 homes in 2006.
Renaissance sales were strong throughout
the metropolitan area and “we even met our projections
in Bend, where the market has been a little slower to
recover than here,” said Renaissance Sales Vice
President Kim Whitman.
Following a state-wide slowdown in
sales last fall, activity, particularly in the Portland
area, began to pick up in December. Heightened activity
spilled over into January to the point that Renaissance
neighborhoods in Happy Valley, Wilsonville, Sherwood
and Beaverton are nearly sold out.
February 2007 was a record sales month
for the company with 48 homes sold. January saw 27 sales
for the company. There were 41 in March. While these
figures represent sales rather than “closings”,
Renaissance officials are confident their record will
hold.
Portland’s west side has been
particularly strong. By early May, Whitman said there
were only three still available in the firm’s
Richen Park in Sherwood, one home still to sell in Wilsonville’s
Canyon Creeek and two at Renaissance Pointe in Beaverton.
Renaissance racked up 20 sales in Bend
during the first quarter, “which met projections
that we thought might have been a little optimistic
since the cold winter weather there generally causes
sales to slow way down.”
Even with the strong first quarter, Renaissance hasn’t
increased its Bend prices because the market “remains
a bit soft” there, compared to Portland, Whitman
said.
Renaissance recently opened new neighorhoods
in Forest Grove and West Linn which were strong contributors
to the record first quarter, along with a pair of adjacent
townhome neighborhoods in Vancouver. The firm’s
Peterkort Woods townhome neighborhood off Barnes Road
in Southwest Portland also continued strong sales during
the period.
“We recently opened two special
neighborhoods on this side of the river. Pacific Crossing
in Forest Grove and Rosemont Pointe in West Linn. Sales
have been brisk at both,” Whitman said.
He described the 300–home Pacific
Crossing as having a “beautiful setting in a charming
community. We knew sales there would be good because
Forest Grove is a college town and a remaining piece
of nostalgic Americana.” A particularly good price
for the land also has allowed Renaissance to offer base
prices on some more popular models significantly below
comparable homes in its other neighborhoods.
Rosemont Pointe is a more sophisticated
setting with some views. Prices range from $689,900
to $1,029,900. Many buyers at Rosemont Pointe have been
familiar with Renaissance homes and Whitman said “many
have lived in one of our homes before and they were
anxious to see the next level.”
The Lakes and Hiddenbrook, two townhome
neighborhoods in Vancouver’s Fisher’s Landing,
recently opened and also have shown early strength,
he said.
Although Whitman thinks many large
builders in the metropolitan area are doing better than
their national counterparts, he said Renaissance finish
details and its use of green building practices could
be part of the explanation for its particularly strong
start this year.
“I know some other large builders
don’t feel that their buyers are willing to pay
for green building. Because this is the Pacific Northwest,
we enthusiastically embraced ‘green’ building
practices and systems several years ago, including use
of the Rain Screen siding system which we use in the
damp western Oregon climate. We’ve even appointed
a director of building science and will be adding some
new ‘green’ features in the near future.
I think this has struck a responsive chord with many
of our buyers,” Whitman said.
Renaissance Homes
16771 Boones Ferry Road
Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035
Voice: 503-636-5600
Fax: 503-635-8400
Emergency Service: 503-496-0711 or 866-567-6225
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