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Letter to the editor

Townhome sales take off

By BILL COATS AND ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published June 22, 2007

Karin Gay hated putting her kids on time-out when they got too noisy. Dylan, 9, and Victoria, 3, were just trying to play. It wasn't their fault they lived in an apartment.

The apartment was a temporary fix after Gay's husband, Jonathan, an Army officer, was transferred to MacDill Air Force Base from Texas last June. They didn't like the on-base housing. And the houses in good areas close to the base were too expensive.

So last fall, the Gays made a decision similar to several thousand other home shoppers in Hillsborough County. They chose a townhouse.

The new South Tampa Square development advertised townhomes in the mid $200s, in a quiet nook off of Interbay Boulevard. The Gays' townhouse will be ready this summer.

"We're really excited about moving in there, " Gay said. "It's a small subdivision. It's going to be quiet. We don't have to be considerate of the neighbors downstairs, because we are the neighbors downstairs."

Choices like the Gays' are driving a trend that runs counter to the broader pattern of local housing.

Sales of condos and free-standing homes, which mushroomed between 2003 and 2005, have plunged since then to pre-bubble levels. But sales of townhouses have marched onward.

Builders across Hillsborough sold an average of 199 townhouses a month last year and 224 through April of this year, more than in any boom year, according to Rose Residential Reports, a market reporting service for the home-building industry.

"Three to five years ago, it was really hard to find townhomes, " said real estate broker Brad Monroe, past president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. "They've really gotten to be a lot more prevalent in the last few years."

Townhouses may have been rare around Tampa, but they aren't new.

"We've built townhouses for eight to 10 years in Tampa, " said David Seidenberg, owner of Bayfair Properties, which recently finished 80 townhouses on Harbour Island. "More recently, the big boys have started doing it. That's why the numbers are so much higher."

Scott Campbell, the Tampa Bay president of Pulte Homes, estimated townhouses have risen to at least 40 percent of Pulte's local construction.

"We have seen some of our major competitors move in that direction, " Campbell said.

Pulte Homes is selling townhouses in south Carrollwood and Riverview. Lennar Homes is marketing them in New Tampa and Seminole Heights.

"They just realized this market was underserved, " Seidenberg said.

Filling a gap

Townhouses traditionally have been an urban concept. Marvin Rose, publisher of Rose Residential Reports, contends most still are developed within a few miles of a shopping mall or downtown. But they're also becoming a feature of many master-planned mixed developments going up in former pastures.

"Everywhere you look, there are townhomes being built, " said Monroe.

The rise in popularity of townhouses is caused partly by the rise in the price of houses. An explosion of investor demand three years ago jacked home prices out of reach for many would-be buyers.

Townhouses and condominiums filled the gap.

"Obviously, you're going to get a little more bang for your dollar, " said Greg Todd, who bought a townhouse at North Hyde Park City Homes, scheduled for completion this fall.

"The homes in South Tampa are even more expensive, and they're older homes, " Todd said. "This is a brand new project, and you can get good square footage for what you pay."

He's single, but he can still use the extra space for his gym equipment, home office and guest accommodations.

"A lot of the lower-end housing is being replaced by townhomes, " said Monroe. "You have lower land costs, and you can bring the product in at a lower cost."

"You can't find a single-family home here for much under $225, 000, " said Rose. "That's where you find the townhouses."

Sharing walls

Pulte's Campbell said townhouses were aimed at first-time home buyers who couldn't afford houses. They proved more popular than condominiums, because nobody lives above you.

Andrew Duncan, who has a 3-year-old daughter, wanted to leave behind the maintenance hassle of owning a home in South Tampa, but not the privacy. So he bought a townhome at the Villas of Westshore.

"Most of the condos in that area are condo conversions, where you share walls with everybody and you're limited in the amount of privacy you get, " Duncan said. "When you have a 3-year-old, you want to limit her interaction with strangers."

The condo market, meanwhile, has become glutted with apartments converted into condos. The new home market became glutted when investors quit buying. If there's a townhouse glut, it's smaller.

But there are signs. Mobley Homes recently advertised a "total appliance package" plus $8, 000 in closing costs at Stone Creek.

Eliane Balleza, a real estate agent based in New Tampa, said some townhouse developers have slashed prices in response to buyer offers.

"They're taking $25, 000 or $20, 000 off the base price, " she said. "It's really up to what people ask for."

More than price is attracting townhouse buyers.

Liz and Steve Lambert-Oswald, both 27, appreciate the low maintenance and newness of their townhouse in South Tampa Square. Because it was new, they didn't have to worry about old roofs or mold. And because it was a townhouse, they didn't have to worry about mowing the lawn.

"We wanted to stay in South Tampa, and we wanted to get something less expensive, " Liz said.

They'll move into a house when they have kids, Liz said. And when the kids are old enough to play in a yard.

But now, a townhome just feels right.

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 226-3354 or azayas@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 21, 2007, 07:42:38]