Bracket Buyers
Targeting younger and older buyers brings success in Raleigh.
TWO OR ONE: Traditional two-story homes and ranches sell well in Southern Oaks.
Credit: Courtesy Royal Oaks Building Group
Tapping into the first-time buyer and the down-sizing buyer market has helped make Southern Oaks a success story for the Royal Oaks Building Group.
It was a challenge to appeal to one without alienating the other, says company president Richard Van Tassel. So, in a subtle play for downsizing older buyers, he added a single-story ranch plan to his offerings in the community as well as first-floor master suites in some of the two-story models.
He closed 51 homes in the community last year, and almost half were single-story homes or downstairs masters. But that’s not the only reason the community has continued to sell well for five years through the downturn. Pricing his houses in the middle of the market has helped too—the average price of a home sold at Southern Oaks was $192,000—and so has the option of increasing square footage by finishing out attics.
The community’s Fuquay Varina location, close to the pricier and trendier Cary area, is also a draw, catering to “the people who would love to live in Cary, but they don’t want to pay the prices or can’t pay the prices,” says Van Tassel.
“[Southern Oaks is] doing well for myriad reasons,” Van Tassel adds. “You have got to have all the boxes checked these days to be successful.”
Project: Southern Oaks
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
Builder: Royal Oaks Building Group, Raleigh
Rate of sales: 4.25 per month
Price range: $170,000 to $220,000
Product type: Single-family detached