The Arcadia, elacora’s new show home, is open at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach.
Located at 105 Hollyhock Lane, the home was furnished and decorated by Barbara Ondo Design Group with an airy palette of soft grays, blues and greens.
The home embraces a coastal transitional style with cool granite countertops, gray washed cabinets and 7-inch-wide gray washed oak wood flooring.
A gourmet kitchen opens to the living room and features a center island and cafe, walk-in oversized pantry, butler’s pantry, wine storage, stainless farmhouse sink, Bosch stainless dishwasher, gas cooktop and oven and granite countertops.
The owner’s suite features a large walk-in closet that opens into the laundry room.
The show home highlights many of the options available for the Arcadia plan, including an extended lanai, dual master suites, an upstairs game room with a full bath and walk-in closet and a Florida basement, offering extra storage options.
The Arcadia is among four plans offered by elacora at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach. The company also has move-in-ready homes available. Elacora homes are priced starting at $549,900.
Amenities at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach include an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay, a tennis center with seven Har-Tru tennis courts.
A private beach club with a junior Olympic-size swimming pool is a 10-minute bike ride from the front gate.
NAR says first-time buyers continue to decline
The share of first-time buyers declined for the third consecutive year and remained at its lowest point in nearly three decades.
That’s according to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
The survey also found that nearly 90 percent of all respondents worked with a real estate agent to buy or sell a home. FSBO transactions fell to their lowest share ever.
The annual NAR survey evaluates the demographics, preferences, motivations, plans and experiences of recent home buyers and sellers.
The survey found the overall strengthening pace of home sales over the past year was driven more by repeat buyers with dual incomes than by first-time buyers.
The share of first-time buyers declined to 32 percent, down one percentage point from a year ago. It’s the lowest rate since 1987.
The housing recovery’s missing link continues to be the absence of first-time buyers, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun observed.
First-time buyers reported that debt had delayed saving for a down payment for a median of three years. Most who identified saving as their most difficult task blamed student loans.
The median amount of student loan debt for buyers was $25,000.
FHA eases some condo loan rules
The Federal Housing Administration announced it would change rules that have made it difficult for homebuyers to qualify for condo loans.
The rules have kept condo projects from becoming recertified as eligible for FHA financing on individual units. Over 15 years, the number of FHA mortgages for condos has dropped by more than two thirds.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ed Golding in November announced FHA would change:
• The lengthy and complex condo association recertification process
• Owner-occupancy requirements
• Limits on the types of property insurance that are considered acceptable coverage.
He made the announcement at the National Association of Realtors’ November conference in San Diego.
National real estate columnist Ken Harney, though, said the news amounted to more sizzle than steak.
The reforms FHA outlined don’t address the key reasons so many condo associations no longer are certified and why so many first-time buyers and minorities have been shut out, Harney wrote in The Chicago Tribune. The FHA still needs to address:
• Spot loans, which are loans made on individual units within an uncertified complex
• Rules on budgets, reserve, lease approvals and limits on commercial space, and
• Transfer fee restrictions, a capital improvement fee condo projects charge when a unit sells.
Golding said policy changes on owner occupancy, commercial space percentage, FHA concentration and spot approvals would be addressed in the near future.
NAR has long advocated for broad improvements to FHA’s condo rules, arguing the existing policy is overly restrictive and keeps many consumers from buying and selling a home.
Berkshire Hathaway has new marketing tech tool
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty introduced its agents to a new automated marketing technology, Florida Network Realty Marketing Concierge powered by Imprev.
The platform provides the company’s Realtors with customized automated marketing materials for promoting their listings.
Agents have access to a full menu of digital and print marketing services that are fully integrated with social media, including automated virtual tours, single property websites, newsletters, brochures, flyers, postcards, YouTube videos and more.
To access the packages, agents enter the property information and photos into the Multiple Listing Service. The platform automatically creates and delivers marketing materials to the listing agent via email.
If changes to the listing are made, such as a change in price, all of the marketing materials that were created are automatically updated and redeployed.
The platform also includes a built-in phrase library, making it possible for agents to enhance the automated creative materials with their individual, personal style.
The new service will give agents marketing capabilities unmatched in the local market, said Christy Budnick, Berkshire Hathaway executive vice president.
Elacora has quick move-in options
Elacora is offering 12 move-in-ready homes at Madeira near St. Augustine.
The homes provide an option for buyers who cannot wait several months for their home to be built, said Victoria Robbins, exclusive agent for elacora Northeast Florida.
The largest move-in-ready home is elacora’s Catalonia. Priced at $428,885, the Catalonia is a 2,860-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath home with a three-car garage.
The two-story home is on a conservation homesite and has an open floor plan that includes a gourmet kitchen flowing to a family room, that overlooks a covered lanai.
All of elacora’s homes at Madeira include advanced energy-efficient standards, such as solar panels on concrete tile roofs and tankless gas hot water heaters.
Elacora offers two home collections at Madeira, ranging from 1,797 to more than 3,300 square feet. The prices start in the mid-$200,000s.
Madeira’s amenity center includes a pool with lap lanes, clubhouse, fitness center and outdoor gathering areas. The community is off U.S. 1, just north of St. Augustine.