Branson New Home Construction: No building code, No Problem?

As a Realtor who sells Branson  new home construction, I always do a double take when I see a new house going up.  Sometimes I’ll even stop and look around.  I work primarily inTaney County,MO which has no building codes

.  They do have a Certificate of Conformity Permit, which is little more than an inspection to make sure the home is habitable, but outside of that, no one is checking to see if  the builder has gone about the systems or the structure properly.

Once I showed a (supposedly) completed branson new home to some prospective clients and I’m not joking, it looked like a large monster had scared off the subcontractors.  There were tools and lunch trash laying everywhere in the yard, the front door was left wide open and there were footsteps embedded in the concrete floor of the garage.

Further inspection revealed that there had been no box or ridge venting to the roof, and the drain for the main level laundry drained right onto the floor of the basement.  It had not been connected at all to the plumbing system.  Imaging, doing a load of laundry after you move in and you are in the basement working on a nice scrapbooking project. The next thing you know,  a soapy shower is raining down on you’re your many pages of grandmas 80^th’ birthday party from last spring…ruined, and darn it, now those die cut wood trees that you put down with dazzle tac glue are warped and just won’t stick anymore.

Just yesterday I saw a small 1400 sq ft home going up in a nearby neighborhood and they had all the forms up for the concrete slab.  There was no footing.  Now, I’m not a builder or an expert by any means, but that seemed like a cut corner to me.

I took a builder, from a development I had listed, out to look at the property and said, “Is this right?”  He gave me the thumbs down  but I still wasn’t satisfied. I had to know why.  Further research revealed that a Slab on Grade foundation is ok for areas where the ground doesn’t freeze, but here inMissouri, it does and therefore a T-Shaped footing is recommended to prevent frost heave.  Wow…seems like the corner wasn’t cut, it was totally hacked off.  All homes are built by humans and will have mistakes, or what builder like to call “character” but if this home is starting out this way, it’s going end up being Jim Carey by the time the roof goes on.

 

Branson new home construction at Branson Canyon

The builder I took over there cut his teeth on the strict and rigid building codes of Kansas City so he is was used to doing things a certain way, even though it is not required.  That’s the kind of gusto you want from your builder. Conversations about building codes or at least what your builder is used to…is a MUST, especially if you are building a home in Branson or Taney County, Missouri.

Contributed by:

Jeramie Worley, GRI

Broker /  Associate

The Community Real Estate Group, LLC

140 Canyon Crossing,Hollister,MO65672

417 336 4200

Author = Worley and Associates

Branson Vacation Rentals are in Demand in 2011 and Beyond

Somewhere between your last vacation and your next one, you’ll probably considerBranson,Missouri.  It is the third largest vacation destination in the United States, just behind Orlando, FL and Las Vegas, NV, and is reported by the Branson Chamber of Commerce to get anywhere from 7-9 million visitors per year.

 

Some people still choose to stay in hotels, but a growing trend is moving toward privately owned vacation rental homes.  Free from slamming doors and coffee pots in bathrooms, the large spacious vacation homes can accommodate an entire family with large, fully stocked kitchens and multiple living areas for room to spread out.  When a family pools their vacation resources, the cost per family per room is a huge savings.  One poplar rustic resort near Branson charges $165 per night for a one bedroom hotel room while you can spend only $350 per night atBransonCanyonand sleep 14.  Also, when you decide to cook a few meals at home instead of giving Joe’s Crab Shack a weeks pay for one family meal, the vacation home really starts to pay for itself.  Aside from the time when my brother-in-law embarrassed our entire family at a steakhouse inSanibel Island,FLwith a loud body noise, our most memorable times are around the table at home. When we cook and eat together, those are the best vacation memories aren’t they?

 

Look at some numbers.  If you are headed toOrlando,FLand go to a site like Homeaway.com to find a vacation home, you’ll find over 4000 vacation rentals to choose from, however, if you are headed to Branson, you have just over 200 to start with.  Then break it down to 4-6 bedroom homes and the list starts to get pretty small. 

 

With a growing trend of families using vacation home instead of hotels and growing trend of families pooling their resources to vacation smarter and furthermore, a supply this small compared to other vacation markets, now is an excellent time to buy a second home in Branson and rent it out when you are not using it.  Interest rates are still very low and purchase prices are still reasonable here in the Branson Real Estate Market.

 

Branson Canyon has become successful enough that people have decided to stay here full time.  In 2011BransonCanyonlaunched “Branson Canyon Reserves” for full time living where no vacation rentals are allowed. 

 

There is something for everyone here, but if you are smart, you’ll take the opportunity to get in now, before I succeed in letting the rest of the world know how great of a placeBranson Canyon really is.

 

Contributed by:

Jeramie Worley

Broker

The Community Real Estate Group, LLC

140 Canyon Crossing,HollisterMO65672

jerworley@bransoncanyon.com

Branson Vacation Homes: when is the best time to buy?

I get asked this question all the time and there is only one good answer – Now!

Before you dismiss me as sleazy salesman, please know, that this is my area of expertise and I sell more vacation homes in Branson than anything else.

This info is a compilation of real stories from my clients.

The 4-6 Bedroom Nightly Rental home is still very in demand in the Branson Real Estate market and key to when to by, falls in the good and bad of our own human nature.

Branson Canyon Vacation home with 6 bedroom, 5 bath

Branson Canyon Vacation Home with 6 bedrooms and 5 baths. Perfect for vacation rental.

There are two types of people: procrastinators and planners and both can help you succeed with a Branson Vacation Home.

With limited properties in the area, than can fit your whole family together in one place, many responsible planners look ahead to find a properly with the availability they need.

The people with this kind of mindset are smart, and instead of calling everyone in the family, they wait until the Thanksgiving – New Year holiday season to talk to everyone and find out everyone’s availability.  When people are together, they search properties online, look a pictures, get more info, and make a decision.

This is why many Branson Canyon owners see a surge in booking activity for the summer months, during the December, even January time frame.

If you waited to buy or build until May, which is right about the time the Season kicks off, you could have missed out on all of those potential bookings.

However, the procrastinators (or folks with last minute vacation plans) need a place also and they don’t want to let everyone down since they’ve been trusted with the job of finding the home. As they start searching for a place, they see that almost all of the properties are booked. Hmmm…what are they going to do? So, when you introduce your property to the market with open availability, you will get a flood of activity and can probably get a better price.

At BransonCanyon, spring and fall bookings tend to come in more last minute (less than 30 days out) but the summertime and holiday dates get booked up quite a bit in advance.

The key is not when to buy, just buy and get your property available to the Branson Vacation Home rental marketplace.

With interest rates low and building costs going up…don’t wait.  Get your Branson Vacation Home on the rental market.

Don’t forget to schedule some time for yourself.!

 

Branson Vacation Homes: when is the best time to buy?

Contributed by:

Jeramie Worley, GRI

Broker / Associate of the Community Real Estate Group, LLC

And owner of Vacation Rental Propery inBranson,MO

 

Three reasons to own a second home in Branson in a community

Aside from being a great way to start a great thriller, owning a second home (especially a vacation rental) in an isolated part of the Ozarks, may not be a huge advantage.  Consider these tips when you are looking for a vacation rental in Branson or any other Branson Real Estate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.  You are safer in a community – Not just you personally, but your stuff is safer.  When there is constant activity and people watching out for each other, it helps keep the boogie man away.  AtBransonCanyon, we’ve even installed a video surveillance system on some of the common areas to further increase security.

 

2.  You get the spill over – One of the largest benefits to owning a vacation rental home atBransonCanyonis the repeat business.  Many people who come to Branson are now looking for Branson Canyon Homes on VRBO.com and Homeaway.com.  Last year they may have rented from your neighbor but by the time they called, your neighbor is booked up.  They are ready to book with you because you are available and have a rental home atBransonCanyon.

 

3.  Amenities – One of the largest benefits to a community is the pool, clubhouse, hiking trails or whatever else might be offered.  If you rent a home off by its lonesome you may get a really cool fire pit and tell some crazy late night stories…but you may get the beast that goes along with them!

 

This article was contributed by:

Jeramie Worley, GRI

Broker / Assoc

The Community Real Estate Group, LLC

140 Canyon Crossing,HollisterMO65672

471 336 4200

Branson Real Estate Values Going Up in a Shaky Market

Amidst the mega golf communities inSouthwest Missouriand the multi-million dollar timeshare enterprises. BransonCanyon is an underdog.  It’s a smaller development with limited marketing resources and a small team of dedicated souls who show up at the office daily and refuse to buy into the mentality that “The Sky is Falling”  We sell homes here, not timeshare you get to own a piece of the Ozarks and we don’t fluff it up.  People will always want new, cutting edge, upscale rustic lake homes and that’s what we do best, period.

 Our weaknesses are our strengths.  We don’t have an airport but we are only twelve minutes from one and, by the way, we don’t get the traffic or fuel trucks driving by.  We don’t have a golf course but we are only six miles from two great ones, but we don’t have outrageous homeowner’s association dues.  We have hiking trails, panoramic views, happy homeowners and the hippest styles around.  Seems to be working.

New Master Cabin Model at Branson Canyon

 With all of the foreclosures and low hanging fruit out there, the market in the Ozarks has seen a decline in the average home price since 2007, but that’s about the time Branson Canyon started selling homes.  Since 2007 the average home price at Branson Canyon has gone up 6% or more and there have been ZERO foreclosures or short sales in the community.  That is the major difference.  When the sales comparisons start to tank, so do the rest of the homes.  However, another benefit at Branson Canyon is that there have been very few resales.  There have only been four since 2007 and three of them were owners who upgraded to a bigger home in the same community.

 Why Bigger?  Spoiler Alert! Branson Canyon has a corner of it’s community where the owners can rent the home out on a nightly rental basis and, the fact is, a 5 bedroom usually rents more than a 2 bedroom.

 This gives people a chance to buy now.  One owner said that he hopes to retire here in five years. At that time, he wants to let the renters pay down his mortgage for him and take that and any other equity and finally retire.  He said, “We have one kid in college and one getting married and we didn’t want to miss all those years.  It’s our home, we don’t all have to be together. They can use it if they want to but It’s the most fun when we are together. “ 

 It’s not an anomaly, were just meeting the demand that is out there.

We build retreats for people who want to keep their loved ones together and we make them as maintenance free as possible. 

 Yankee Ingenuity, that’s all it is and those that have it are the ones that are going to lead us into a brighter tomorrow.

Click Here to see a short intro video to Branson Canyon.