The annual Parade of Homes shows how a steady stream of affluent home buyers are changing Hernando's market.
By WILL VAN SANT
Published March 22, 2004
When Cheryl White's sister moved to Hernando County 25 years ago, she bought a house for $50,000.
Saturday, White and her husband Robert drove north from New Port Richey, where they live, for the annual Parade of Homes, a Hernando Builders Association event that allows prospective buyers and the curious to check out what's on the market.
White, 55, found herself at the year-old Hernando Oaks development on U.S. 41. The development offers homes that start at $150,000, but Hernando Oaks officials expect to build some in the $800,000 range. The thought of a nearly $1-million home in the county where her sister once found such modest prices surprised White.
"Who would have ever thought? In Hernando County?" she asked. "How much higher is it going to go?"
While inexpensive homes are still widely available and land relatively cheap - both key factors fueling the county's current building boom - Hernando now attracts buyers with deeper pockets who are looking for something a bit more extravagant.
The change is reflected in the county's median home price, which rose 37 percent between 1998 and 2003, going from $76,000 to $104,000.
This year's Parade of Homes, which continues through Sunday, is a departure from the past practice of confining the event to a single development. Instead, builders are showing 29 model homes at three subdivisions: Glen Lakes off U.S. 19 north of Weeki Wachee, Pristine Place at Spring Hill Drive and Barclay Avenue and Hernando Oaks off U.S. 41 south of Brooksville.
Twenty-nine other home models are also open to view on or near Spring Hill Drive, between Deltona Boulevard and the Suncoast Parkway and near the Mariner/Cortez Boulevard intersection.
Some 25 builders are showing models; prices range from $100,000 to $400,000.
The parade this year comes at a time when home construction is surging. According to the county Planning Department, the pace of housing development rose 66 percent between 2000 and 2003. Last year, according to the department, 2,266 new single family homes, apartments or mobile homes went up.
Builders and industry observers credit much of the growth to an influx of Tampa and St. Petersburg residents who, thanks to the Suncoast Parkway, can work in the city but live in Hernando where housing is cheaper.
In keeping with the idea of the county as an oasis apart from urban life, the parade's theme this year is "Hernando: The Natural Choice."
For Russell Muli, 60, who was looking at models at Hernando Oaks Saturday, the climb in home costs and growth in new construction is a concern.
"I hope it doesn't get as bad as Tampa," said Muli, who has lived in the county for 21 years. "I like it a little rural. I like driving to work and seeing cows and horses."
Anthony Bozzi, vice president of Bozzi Builders Inc. in Spring Hill, agreed that a stream of relatively affluent home buyers is making its way north from Tampa and St. Petersburg, but cautioned that Hernando is far from becoming an upscale "suit and tie community."
The county lacks truly competitive schools and higher paying industry jobs that could transform the community, he said.
(And while Bozzi did not mention it, we should remember that crews for the television show The Simple Life, which features two wealthy young women roughing it in the country and at times making fun of rural life, are at work in Hernando.)
This is the first year that Bozzi Builders took part in the parade, and the company went all out. At its models on Spring Hill Drive on Saturday, home shoppers could admire vintage cars and feast on free hotdogs and hamburgers.
A DJ played rock and Motown tunes and an Elvis impersonator beckoned drivers to pull in.
Palm Harbor residents Bill and Bonnie Perkins were there, and although they are undecided on where they eventually will retire, the couple came up for the Parade of Homes to take a look at what's available.
Bill Perkins, a 64-year-old semiretired financial consultant, plans to stop working completely in about a year, and the couple are on the hunt for a smaller home that has a single common area, rather than separate living and dining rooms.
"We haven't decided on a location, just looking for housing ideas," he said as he stood in front a Bozzi Builders creation. "We have learned something in every house."
The Hernando Builders Association Parade of Homes is being held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
For information and to get further site information, call the Hernando Builders Association weekdays during business hours at (352) 596-1114.
- Will Van Sant can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com Information from Times files was used in this report.
