An English Village in Boise.

Every now and then (like after you’ve developed several hundred homes), you get an itch to break out and try something different, to let loose and let the imagination guide the project. This actually happens to me every few years and one of those developments is underway at Ambleside. Ambleside is located next to my offices in the Steelwood Enteprise Center at Fairview Avenue and Wildwood Street.

About three years ago I partnered with some other people on a land purchase and I came out of it with 6¼ acres, a few hundred feet from Fairview and next to some homes. We could have put a typical “Tuscan” themed development but we wanted to build something new and different, something that had not yet been done in Boise.

Ambleside is basically an English village in Boise. Inspired by the art and architecture of the Georgian period, this sixty-seven townhome development is the result of a commitment to capturing the essence of the most beautiful towns in England. We had a general idea of what we wanted to do but we at first had trouble finding an architect/planner locally who could pull this off. After some referrals, we met Sherry McKibben of McKibben+Cooper Architects. This company is very highly regarded for urban planning and sustainable building design and Sherry is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of the University of Idaho’s Urban Research and Design Center in Boise.

After a short discussion at her downtown office, Sherry showed us the book “The Most Beautiful Country Towns of England” and the illustrations showed us pretty much what we wanted to do.
After Sherry drew up some detailed conceptual drawings we were ready to move forward. We are now putting people to work building the development.

When you enter Ambleside, you will notice a “mansion” at the far end. This really isn’t a mansion, but a townhome building that will be disguised as a mansion and it provides a visual anchor for the rest of the development. Less elaborate (but still attractive) townhome buildings will start at the entrance and buildings will become more ornamented as one progresses to the back. This is fully in keeping with the feel of an English village. Having a grand entrance and focal point is a time-honored tradition in urban planning and we are pleased our development will feature it.

Ambleside will have all the modern conveniences, however, including a 2,500-square-foot clubhouse with fully equipped gym and pool. Buildings will have dormers, porches, siding, chimney pots. Rear-loaded garages mean no garage doors face the street. Homes range in size from 1,500 to 1,950 SF and start in the low $220’s. Each home will have a rear-loaded two-car garage, concrete slab storage room, barbecue-ready balcony, landscaped front yard with patio, fireplace, high ceilings, master suite, and more.

This is typically the kind of development you might see in the North End, Southeast Boise or other upscale areas. Fairview Avenue may seem like an unusual location for Ambleside, but we think attractive development will be supported wherever it is. We even got an unexpected endorsement: Bankers are a pretty conservative group and, like any developer, I have to justify the viability of my project to them to get funding. While we were giving them a tour of the site and explaining the development, one of the bankers said, “Wow, now I want to live here. I believe in this.”

Our end-of-the-year clearance sale

This year, 2008, has been a year the likes of which has not been seen for a long time. It has presented our company with challenges, opportunities and surprises. Notwithstanding the slowdown, Ted Mason Signature Homes is on track to close 40+ homes this calendar year.
Unfortunately we have had to make staff changes and other adjustments, but we continue to see an active market for our homes and we continue to prudently plan and build for our homebuyers.

We have opened three great new communities this year: Walnut Creek in Kuna, Chatham Towne in Boise, and Ambleside in Boise. These bring to 11 the number of communities in the Treasure Valley. As we introduce new homes in new communities and move into new areas of established communities we retire some model homes and furnish new models.

This year for the first time we are holding a year-end model home clearance sale. The homes are offered directly from my office and all contracts will be written by me personally. Naturally the Ted Mason Signature Homes 3 year warranty is on every home. We look after the folks that put their confidence in us. If you are interested, please visit our website and click the Year End Model Home Clearance area.

Thanks for visiting Chatham Towne

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Chatham Towne bazaar! It was a great way to start the holiday season. Around 500 people came during the two days. By the end, we were very tired, but we really enjoy putting on events and look for similar events in the future.

And have a great Thanksgiving!

Join us Friday and Saturday at Chatham Towne

If you're like me, you really enjoy Christmas and holiday season. This year, we have a couple of surprises for Boise.

For starters, we'll be holding a holiday boutique featuring holiday and everyday home decor, gourmet foods, ornaments, spa products and jewelry, all produced by local artists. The boutique will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday at Chatham Towne. The Pie House will be offering free homemade pie and warm holiday drinks.

More importantly, Chatham Towne is a bold stylistic statement in the Boise market. We have modeled Chatham Towne on classic New England design principles, much like the kinds of homes seen in a Pottery Barn catalog. In fact, we didn't stop there - the Pottery Barn has accepted our inviation to furnish the model homes. If you've ever looked at a Pottery Barn catalog and wondered if you could live in a home like that, well, now you can.

Creating the Pottery Barn vibe is a matter of re-arranging details, not necessarily doing anything more expensively, and townhomes are priced competitively at $179,000 and $159,000 for three- and two-bedroom units. It consists of 15, two- and three-bedroom townhomes at the northeast corner of Meadowlark Drive and Five Mile in Boise.

Builders in this area tend to be pretty conservative and I'll admit the black doors took a little getting used to. Stylistic touches include built-in dining areas with upholstered bench seating and table; wallpapered areas; built-in entertainment center with LCD HDTV; shelving along the tops of the walls; trim; and beadboard paneling. There will be two model homes staged with Pottery Barn furniture. One model will have mint colored walls with white trim and black doors and white cabinets; the other model will have black cabinets and chrome hardware.

Designers, artists or related companies sometimes partner with or even design housing developments. More recently, Thomas Kincaid, the famous "Painter of Light," lent his name to a Northern California development. Chatham Towne homes carry the standard three-year warranty on his homes, longer than any other builder in the area.

I invite you to visit Chatham Towne this Friday and Saturday. At the very least, you'll get a jump on Christmas shopping and you might find a great place to live.

Getting by in tough times

A few weeks ago was the worst week in Wall Street's history. I thought it was a sign that things had dried up for a while. Given all the problems facing the housing market these days, sometimes it's hard to stay optimistic.

Then I came into the office Monday morning and there sits a contract to purchase a home that had been slid under my door sometime over the weekend. It was a good way to start the week and a reminder that no matter how bad things might seem in the financial markets, we're in the business of meeting a crucial need of good people.

I got another reminder later in the week. A retired husband and wife were to meet me at 1:00 pm for a walk-through of a home they were purchasing. Ten minutes passed... then twenty minutes passed and they still hadn't shown up. I began to worry that, amid all the news of financial disaster, they had had second thoughts and weren't interest at this time. To my relief, in walked the couple about thirty minutes late. In talking with them, I learned that a Ted Mason home is a way to for them to save money. For 18 years, they had lived on a half-acre in a large family home and they were looking to downsize, yet live in a community that took care of the yard work and snow removal.

Times are tough for all developers. In a typical month, I sell 10 to 12 homes. These days I'm doing about half that, which is enough to get by in a down economy. TMSH is in a good position to make it.

Due to retirement, health changes, economic conditions, or personal choices to simplify their lives, more people are drawn to smaller, well-built homes close to transportation corridors, employers, and shopping facilities. There are not a lot of builder/developers that offer what I do: lawn service, snow removal, three-year warranty, high quality construction and homes under 1800 square feet. As I told The Idaho Statesman, I have a niche that's managing to hold its own in this down market.

As long as we continue providing a valuable service to society, I believe people will continue to place their trust in us.

Wii have a winner!

Lisa Vanderwiel of Eagle is the winner of the Wii given away after the St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration! At the Virtual Home at last month's Women's Show, we invited people to fill out a raffle form and the Fitness Celebration staff pulled Lisa's entry at random out of a bag containing all 1,500 entry forms. Lisa is a Mortgage Loan Officer with US Bank and we hope she enjoys her Wii and Wii Fit package.

Congratulations, Lisa, from all of us at Ted Mason Signature homes!

See Spot Walk was a blast

Aside from block parties at my communities, I haven't sponsored events. In the last month, Ted Mason Signature Homes been a major sponsor of two: The St. Luke's Women's Fitness Show and See Spot Walk.

See Spot Walk is a major fundraiser for the Humane Society of Idaho and was held at July Davis Park last Saturday. Lisa Sawyer of DIY Planning and Consulting and friends made a human-size doghouse, which drew about 1,000 people during the day. I and other company representatives greeted people, gave them a dog biscuit, a chip clip and information on TMSH. Dogs are popular with our buyers and our developments have sidewalks, pathways, parks and fenced yards to make them pet friendly, so See Spot Walk was a great fit for us.


Doing events and meeting people is lots of fun. Here, Elle Starr with Alexander and Associates marketing helps me find enough chip clips.

I have built around 800 homes since 1991, but this is my first dog house!

Vinny Johncox helped lure people inside the house to pick up their dog bone.

Happy to be in Kuna

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Walnut Creek grand opening last week! About a hundred people, maybe more, came out during the afternoon to enjoy free food and classic country music by the Dan Sevy band of Marsing. We were able to show off our two model homes. Kuna has been trying to attract a more diverse selection of housing, especially homes a notch above the typical starter homes, and we are proud to be building in Kuna. The Kuna-Melba News also has a great story on the event here.


Our ribbon cutting included (from left) myself, Steven Schrader of TMSH, Kuna Councilman Richard Cardoza, Chamber of Commerce President Nicola McIntosh and Kerri Avery, a Kuna Chamber board member.

It was a great day to hold a block party.

Kuna High School cheerleaders entertained between music sets.

The Dan Sevy Band is from Marsing.

Our Coldwell Banker Realtors helped out with preparing and serving food and organizing.

Kids enjoyed simple carnival-style games and prizes.

"Mark to Market" affecting the economy

There have been a number of stories in the local media lately about favorable signs in the local housing market. Among other things, home prices gradually are starting to increase, mainly because construction has slowed significantly the demand is starting to absorb supply.

Still, there’s a huge problem that needs to be resolved in the national economy, and soon.

“Mark to Market” works like this: most assets held by financial institutions need to be repriced constantly, to reflect the value of those assets if they were dumped on the marketplace. MTM is intended to avoid the excesses of the 1980s, when banks were loaning much more than what things were really worth and enjoying, for a time, increased returns.

But in the current climate, MTM is causing severe damage in the housing market and development industry. Let’s say a developer is building a subdivision for $10 million. Typically, banks can’t have more than 80 percent equity, so they loan the developer $8 million and he has to come up with the rest. As long as housing prices increase or at least remain stable, this works fine and everyone earns a fair profit

But if market values have declined – let’s say the subdivision is now worth $7.5 million – the bank could have more than 100 percent equity. Under Federally-enforced MTM rules, the bank must reassess the value of the subdivision and demand the developer pay them enough to bring the bank’s equity back to 80 percent. If the developer can’t pay up (a common problem when people aren’t buying homes), the bank must seize the property and sell it for whatever it can get, to cover its losses. The developer just loses his subdivision and the bank loses its investment.

This is good if you’re looking to buy cheap land, but it’s disastrous for the developer and the housing market. These fire sales drive down the market price of land even more, forcing banks to revalue other developments for even lower prices. In theory, the downward spiral would continue until no one had any equity or value left.

Banks don’t like doing this either, as they know they’re cannibalizing the housing market and destroying their future returns. However, banks must enforce MTM to satisfy Federal Trade Commission requirements.

One solution is for people to by more homes. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has lowered the auction rate, but mortgage rates haven’t fallen in return. In some areas of the country, regulators are aware of the problem and are hesitant to enforce the letter of the law at this time, as doing so would severely damage the development industry, the banking industry and impair national economic recovery.

There are some regionally owned, privately-held banks with strong capital positions who are not forcing MTM because they know what they could trigger if they do. But if a builder has multiple banking relationships, he could be vulnerable. If banks are publicly traded, they’re under more scrutiny and may feel compelled to enforce MTM as failing to do so could violate their covenants.

We’ve heard about the federal government loan hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out financial markets. In the case of Mark To Market, however, a bailout isn’t the solution. The market may be able to take care of itself with sensible enforcement of rules.

Come enjoy the party at Walnut Creek

One of the more fun parts about my job is hosting community events such as block parties. This Saturday, Sept. 27, we're holding Family Fun Day, a grand opening for the Walnut Creek development, complete with prize drawings, bouncy jumps and a Dad's Football Throwing Contest. We will also have free food, including walnut apple pie at 3 p.m. The Dan Sevy Band of Marsing will provide live classic country music. We have also invited local school groups to sing and a Scout Troop to lead us in the flag raising. Everything is free and open to the public.

Walnut Creek is on Heartland Street, which is off Ten Mile Road, between Hubbard and Deer Flat roads, on the east side of Ten Mile, and the fun lasts from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Two homes have been constructed (one outfitted as a model home) and tours of the 58-lot development will be conducted.

We're happy to be in Kuna and Kuna is happy to have us. In researching Kuna, I found there's not much there for people who are ready to move up from a starter home and Walnut Creek is intended to meet that market demand.

Up to this point, I have focused on building smaller homes and most buyers are single people or older people looking to downsize. We had several families approach us who wanted to stay in Kuna, but couldn’t find anything a step above a starter home. There are people looking for this opportunity and we want to capture that market. But the homes will still have our signature warranty and quality.

Walnut Creek has a country cottage/farmhouse feel, with bold Craftsman-styled homes. It will have four acres of open space, consisting of greenbelt and neighborhood parks large enough for a pick-up game of baseball or soccer. It’s off of Ten Mile Road about four miles south of Interstate 84 and construction on an interchange is set to begin there in 2009.

Walnut Creek is a change for us. We’ve been doing downsized products for a while and due to Kuna’s minimum home and lot sizes, Walnut Creek homes are at least 2,200 square feet (and most will be larger) and lots are at least a third of an acre. But this is a good niche and I wanted to build in Kuna because it’s a Main Street America type of place. It’s a great town with a strong feeling of community – people rally around the sports teams and there’s a lot of focus on making Kuna a nice place and we want to be part of that.

A story of courage

As you know, we are a major sponsor of the St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration. We are very happy to host a presentation by Anne Audain, one of the founders of this event 15 years ago.

Anne has an amazing story. After having reconstructive surgery on her feet at age 13, she went on to win more road races than any other female distance runner in the 1980s and has remained an advocate of fitness. Audian will be speaking Thursday, September 11 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Coronado Room Courtyard Marriott Meridian, 1789 S. Eagle Road. You don’t need to be a runner to appreciate Anne’s determination. I invite you to hear Anne’s amazing story. Light refreshments will be served.

UPDATE: Anne's talk was truly inspiration. Thanks to all for turning out!

EnergyStar!

I’m pleased to say that Ted Mason Signature Homes are now EnergyStar certified.

EnergyStar certification is an important goal for many builders, who use it in marketing to show their commitment to energy efficiency. To date, more than 5,000 home builders have partnered with EPA to construct more than 840,000 Energy Start homes. By the end of the decade, more than 2 million homes are expected to earn Energy Star.

However, while EnergyStar is a great program, we have been doing many of the things required by EnergyStar, some of which are law under national building codes. We go the extra mile by reinforcing the insulation in crawl spaces, for example, and using 93-percent-efficient furnaces, compared to the old standard of 80 percent. EnergyStar’s extra requirements, however, ensure our homes will meet the highest standards of efficiency.

Compared with standard homes, Energy Star homes use substantially less energy for heating, cooling, and water heating-delivering $200 to $400 in annual savings. Over the average 7 to 8 years you may live in your home, this adds up to thousands of dollars saved on utility bills. Additional savings on maintenance can also be substantial.

Properly installed energy efficient improvements deliver better protection against cold, heat, drafts, moisture, pollution, and noise. An energy-efficient home helps ensure consistent temperatures between and across rooms, improved indoor air quality, and greater durability.

Support the St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration

It's a time-honored tradition for businesses to sponsor public events. Typically, the business wants to reach people who are interested in the event's demographics.

That's the idea behind our sponsorship of the St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration (www.celebrateall.org). This event, from Sept. 18 -20, includes a two-day Women's Show and a 5K Run, Walk and Stroll for women of all ages and all abilities. Founded in September 1993, the Celebration 5K has grown each year as more and more participants share the event with their families and friends. At the Women's Show, to be held inside the Boise Centre on the Grove, we'll have a 250-square-foot "virtual home" designed to show what it's like to live in one of our homes. The home will be interactive, with actors "living" in the home and ready to answer questions, and it should make a fun stop along the way.

The St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration is a good fit for our company and I encourage you to attend it. Women purchase the majority of our homes and many of them are interested in the fitness amenities our homes offer, including parks and walking/jogging pathways. Our company believes in sponsoring community events like this and if you have an idea for one, please contact me.

Economy favors infill

Developers and builders are often asked to prognosticate, especially in these difficult economic times, and I plan to do that periodically.

The economy is especially tough in the real estate market. But these conditions, I believe, are permanently changing the market.

I think infill development is poised to really take off. Fuel, energy and materials costs are skyrocketing, while inner-city land costs are falling. Combined with local government policies favoring urban renewal, I believe we will see less development outside of city limits, particularly planned communities.

“Infill” is small-scale development next to existing development, either on vacant or developed land. Infill has some drawbacks for developers: land costs have been higher, there may be contamination issues and the parcel may be oddly-shaped. On the other hand, infill takes advantage of existing sewer, water and streets. Infill development – especially when it’s done on a scale of several acres or more – also renews the housing stock of a city.

For the past few decades, however, developers have gravitated toward greenfield development. Building on farmland has been cheap and easy and local governments have been willing to extend services, making suburban homes lower in cost but farther in distance.

Things are different in 2008. While a home in Caldwell is cheaper, it’s costing around $10 to $17 per hour to drive, so a 2-hour commute to Boise comes to at least $400 a month. That’s at least $4,800 a year just for work commuting, making an infill location with a ½-hour commute start to look like a bargain.

Also, sheetrock, stone, metal and appliances are much more expensive than they were just a few years ago, as is energy to heat and cool a home. So, a smaller home on a smaller infill lot is more economical to build and maintain.

I think these trends are here to stay, permanently favoring infill. Of course, I have a bias here. Ted Mason Signature Homes has been doing infill projects since 1991. After building hundreds of such homes, we know how to profitably build high-quality infill homes at various price points.