Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - (Page 25) areas of the country where there’s lots of unsold standing inventory.” Bottom Line for BuiLders Keep your powder dry and do your homework. If you’ve never done a highdensity detached community, you’ve probably got several years of work to do before you’re ready to tackle one. Start by contacting the design professionals who specialize in this work, many who are on the West Coast. Some of the architectural firms in California see this train coming and are already working not only on product design, but how to sell the concepts to municipalities. The pipeline of new designs will be bulging to overflow before you’re ready — or allowed — to build any detached product at 10 or more units to the acre, especially if your market is east of the Mississippi. Don’t be shy about advocating detached density. California consultant and Housing Giants columnist John Burns says one of the revolutions of the last few years is the number of municipalities that changed from enemies of high-density residential development to advocates. “A lot of them started turning down “You need a range of product sizes and densities. if everyone builds 900-square-foot houses, it’s a tough sell.”— Mollie Carmichael projects because they weren’t dense enough,” he says. “They all wanted to remake their downtowns into hip places, with lots of action. That’s one reason so much mid-rise got approved. They didn’t want 10 to the acre; they wanted 60! But now they’re worried about that stuff because nobody wants empty buildings. That does nothing for the tax coffers. You can sell high-density detached as a compromise solution.” This product will sell and bring people closer to that suburban downtown they want to promote as a people place if we can ever find a solution to the mortgage mess. HG www.Housinggiants.com 9.24.08.Housing giants 25 http://www.housinggiants.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 Contents Viewpoint News & Moves Process Bandwagon Effect Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 (Page Cover1) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 (Page Cover2) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 (Page 3) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 (Page 4) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Contents (Page 6) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Viewpoint (Page 7) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Viewpoint (Page 8) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Viewpoint (Page 9) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - News & Moves (Page 10) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - News & Moves (Page 11) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - News & Moves (Page 12) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - News & Moves (Page 13) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Process (Page 14) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Process (Page 15) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Process (Page 16) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Process (Page 17) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Process (Page 18) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Process (Page 19) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 20) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 21) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 22) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 23) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 24) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 25) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page 26) Housing Giants - September 24, 2008 - Bandwagon Effect (Page Cover4)
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