Capstone Homes has reduced its pricing on most of the new Delaware Beach Homes in Holland Mills.

Capstone Now Has Homesites of the Month from $189,900

Capstone Homes Madison Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

Capstone Now has the Jackson Floor plan- Homesite of the Month from $199,900

Capstone Homes Jackson Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

The Greenville is now $219,900

Capstone Homes Greenville Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

The Hunter is now $224,900

Capstone Homes Hunter Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

The Taylor is now $229,900

Capstone Homes Taylor Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

The Dakota is now $239,900

Capstone Homes Dakota Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

The Autumn is now $249,900

Capstone Homes Autumn Plan- Holland Mills, Milton, Delaware

Available now- Capstone Homes has the best value in Delaware New Homes at the Delaware Beaches!  Don’t wait- with tax credits, low interest rates and great value from Capstone Homes- now is the time to buy a new Capstone Home!

Renderings are for illustrative purposes only.

Capstone Homes is all about value!  If you sign a contract to purchase a new single family home with Capstone in the month of February- Capstone is going to give you a NO CHARGE basement!

Think of the possibilities of all the space- space for storage, space that can be finished later!  What’s not to like?

A “free” basement is available for a limited time- and it’s subject to change without notice.  Don’t wait.  Think of the possibilities if you wait to purchase a home.

The winter is usually a slow time for sales- and we’re buried in snow.  Capstone Homes is going to heat this chilly winter up with a BASEMENT INCLUDED! Don’t wait- CONTACT CAPSTONE HOMES TODAY!!!

You DON’T have to use Capstone Mortgage to qualify for the incentive.  (There is no Capstone Mortgage).  We don’t care from where the money comes, and we accept small bills.  We’re a small builder of Delaware new homes- and we are flexible.

Fine Print:

This is good for Holland Mills and Cannery Village.  It also applies to selected lots in Bay Pointe and Estates at Carriage Springs. If you want an incentive on a Capstone Homes lot that will not take a basement, contact Capstone Homes and we will speak to you about what we can do to make your Delaware Beach Home dream become a Capstone Homes reality.

This is an article from CNBC that actually came from the New York Times.

The basic premise is that people who are underwater in their current mortgages are walking away from their homes.  Once their value falls below 75% of the amount owed on the mortgage- people walk.

It is a horrible thing for Americans to even have to consider things like this- and even worse that stories like this are common in modern media.

As is customary in America, there is always someone looking for the upside in the gloom of the current real estate market.

Enter the vulture- the bottom feeder- the person who isn’t looking to buy a property… the person who is looking to steal it.  This is the buyer who is looking at foreclosed property.

A person who is looking for a foreclosure isn’t usually a customer at Capstone Homes.  We only sell new homes at the Delaware beaches- and our new homes in the Milton area are typically built to the individual tastes of a specific buyer.  Someone who is looking to purchase bank-owned property isn’t going to be looking at Delaware new homes.

The catch is VALUE.  Someone who is looking at a foreclosure is someone who is (wisely) seeking a great value on a home.  That’s not a bad thing- Capstone Homes believes that our new homes in Cannery Village and Holland Mills are some of the greatest values in any Delaware Beach home you can find.  We think our combination of great floorplans, great communities, quality construction and energy efficiency is a winning combination.

Is a Capstone Home a better value than a foreclosure?  Who knows- what I do know is this…

If someone is going to walk away from a home- how well is that home going to be maintained?  A foreclosed property may have a low purchase price- but the cost of ownership may not be that low at all.  When you buy a home “as-is”- the cost of ownership could actually be much higher than a new home from Capstone Homes.

If you want a great value on a great house- come to Capstone Homes.  We don’t have prices like the foreclosures, but we do have great value.

This is going to get a little technical.

There is a great question going around now about whether or not it makes sense to purchase a new home (like, maybe, a Capstone Home) or rent a home.

It is the position of Capstone Homes that Delaware New Homes have come down very substantially in price over the last three years, and it is now more financially beneficial for someone to purchase a new Capstone home instead of renting.

Here’s my example- a new home in Capstone Homes’ Holland Mills community- which has new homes that are 3BR 2BA and start at $194,900.  Let’s say someone purchases a home in Holland Mills for about $230,000.  It may be the Jackson model with a bunch of options- something like 1800 square feet- with 9′ ceilings, energy star certification, lots of upgrades…

This home would rent for about $1,350 per month.

If a person uses FHA and rolls some closing costs- a $230,000 home will actually cost $239,200 to purchase.  If you subtract the 3.5% down payment required, then the new loan will be about $230,828.  At 5.5% interest, 30 year fixed, the payment is $1,310.61

Now the actual payment including taxes, HOA, and insurance, will be higher than $1,350 (which is the monthly rent), but the homeowner is paying the interest on the mortgage with pre-tax dollars.  If you pay 15% in federal taxes, you have to earn $1,552 income to pay $1,350 in rent.  That means that buying a home is no more expensive than renting.

None of this math includes the lifestyle- purchasing a home, living in a new home vs. something older, living in a new community… this is just about the dollars.

Here is a quote from Patrick.net about buying.  Patrick started one of the first real estate bubble blogs in the nation, and he has been extremely negative (and unfortunately accurate) about the national housing market for years:

“The only true sign of a bottom is a price low enough so that you could rent out the house and make a profit. Then you’ll know it’s safe to buy for yourself because then rent could cover the mortgage and all expenses if necessary, eliminating most of your risk.”

A new Capstone Homes in Holland Mills fits his model, and Patrick thinks the real estate market is going to continue to crash for years.  He lives in California (I think), and he’s probably right about Cali.  Capstone Homes builds Delaware Beach homes in low-tax, Sussex County, Delaware.  Patrick says it’s time to buy a Delaware Beach Home from Capstone Homes.

At Capstone Homes, we like to tell people that the Delaware beaches don’t seem to get as much snow as other areas of the mid-Atlantic region.

That was not true this weekend.  The Lewes and Milton area of the Delaware Beach, Sussex County area was slammed by much more snow that many areas of Wilmington, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

This isn’t usually the case for Capstone and the people who live in our Delaware Beach Homes.  The Delaware beaches make a great Delaware Retirement Community for people who are looking for low-tax, coastal living.  We just don’t usually get that much snow, and we almost never get more snow that places further inland and/or places to the north.

Most people don’t think that the Delaware beaches are a winter wonderland, but snow storms are very beautiful at the Delaware beaches!  For info about the storm, visit 92.7 WGMD’s page.

Nationally- the Washington Post says that new home sales were the worst on record- going to back to 1963.  Yikes.  The annual sales rate was 374,000 homes for 2009.  The historical average is 900,000 to 1,000,000 per year.

Nationally, that means new home sales are a complete disaster.

Capstone Homes, however, does not complete in the national new homes market.  We sell Delaware Beach Homes.  I don’t really have to wonder what the real estate market is doing “nationally”.

There is no market for new homes nationally- new homes are usually attached to a piece of ground, and people who purchase new homes are usually more selective about where that piece of ground is located.  I have never heard of any one who was looking “anywhere in the USA.”  By contrast- people want to come to Delaware because life is good at the beach, and a Delaware retirement community offers low-tax, coastal living.

I have been saying all along that there is no national real estate market.  There is a local real estate market, and I will tell you that the market for Delaware new homes is a whole lot better than it was one year ago.  Our December 2009 sales were up 300% over December 2008. Capstone Homes sold more homes in Holland Mills, Cannery Village, Bay Pointe, and Pemberton in 2009 than ever before- Capstone Homes‘ sales rose 100% in 2009.  Our sales are on track to have us grow another 100% in 2010.  How can this be?

Prices are low- interest rates are low, and new home inventory is dropping.  Capstone offers a great product that we are continuing to improve all the time.  Capstone Homes is looking to offer more quality and more value in its homes each day.

The Delaware Beach Homes market is picking up.  Some of the other builders are raising their prices in the market.  Now is an amazing time to purchase a new Capstone Home.

Green building- green everything- it’s all a person will hear today.  We need to do everything in a way that is gentle to the environment.

That’s not a bad thing, and Capstone homes embraces certain green building practices.  We think that new homes should be built in a way that causes the least environment impact.  It is a good thing to be a wise steward of the world upon which we live.

But seriously, can we just be honest for a second- some of this “green” stuff is just hooey.

Here’s someone who is making the case that vinyl siding is green (Link).  I don’t think she is really saying that vinyl is green- she is really saying that vinyl is the best of a bad bunch.  She is saying that most siding used in new homes isn’t very green at all, but vinyl is the most green- or the least damaging.

I guess vinyl can be recycled- but so can Uranium.  Maybe we should use Uranium siding.  It’s a very hard metal that resists corrosion.  Maybe not.

Somethings are green- and some aren’t.  Vinyl siding- which is made from oil- isn’t green.  Sorry.  Vinyl siding is great for new homes- Capstone builds new homes at the Delaware beaches, and we use lots of vinyl siding.  It’s great.  We just don’t call it green.

Sorry for being honest- that’s why we have a sales manager at Capstone Homes.  He does the selling.

It is the most common words we hear when we ask people at the Capstone Homes Sales Center about their timing for the purchase of a new home.

“We are looking, and we will have to sell our current home first.”  After that, we get the “why my home is different” story…

People who come in and look at new Delaware beach homes and say this stuff to us all the time. Capstone Homes has wonderful communities like Bay Pointe, Holland Mills, Cannery Village, Estates at Carriage Springs, and Pemberton- but the people who have a house to sell aren’t really buyers.

People- this is the GREATEST BUYING OPPORTUNITY IN REAL ESTATE IN YOUR LIFETIME.  Never again will you see depressed prices and low interest rates.  If your house isn’t on the market- it isn’t going to sell.  That means you won’t buy- and this market will change.

If you put your house on the market- I hope you get a Realtor like this- Click Here.  The agent isn’t afraid to be honest with clients.  Make sure you have an agent who wants to SELL your home- not LIST your home.

Get your house on the market and move to the beach.  Capstone Homes is waiting…

I just returned from the International Builder’s Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nevada is one of the epicenters of the real estate crash.  I picked up a real estate magazine at a shopping center, and it was full of listings.  The entire publication was bank owned property.  It blew my mind.

There are some great deals with bank owned properties.  A bank owned property is something that has been through the foreclosure process- and it is now bank owned.  The banks call this property REO- (“Real Estate- Owned”)- and there are deals if you can find them.

Short Sales are something else- this is where the bank is working with the homeowner to sell the property for less than the amount of the mortgage.  Banks will do this in certain circumstances to avoid the cost of the foreclosure process.  These can be great deals- but the process is challenging.  We recently spoke to a Realtor who put in a bid for a client on a short sale- the offer was rejected two months after it was submitted.  That’s tough- wait eight weeks only to hear that your offer is rejected.  Short Sales are very tricky.

If you are in the market for a new home- should you look at a new home?  Should you look something bank owned?  Short sale?

The answer depends on a few factors.  The first is the real estate market in which you are looking to purchase a home.  The number of foreclosures varies dramatically from region to region.  Keep in mind that 3rd quarter foreclosure rates for Nevada were 1 in every 23 homes.  The rate in delaware was 1 in 500 homes. The point is something this blog has said over and over- there is no national real estate market.  The only market that matters is the one in which you want to own property, and that market could be in much better or worse shape than what you hear on the news.

So, if you’re looking for a new Delaware Beach Home- or you are looking for a Delaware retirement community- foreclosures can be much harder to find than you might imagine.  Short sales can be a even tougher home to find.

Second- buyer beware.  Bank owned property is sold “As-Is”.  Chances are, the bank doesn’t know what’s wrong with it (if anything), and they aren’t going to sign anything that represents the condition of the home.  They also will not usually agree to a home inspection clause in the contract (which is standard in the Capstone Homes‘ purchase agreement).  If you want it- buy it cheap, but you get what you get.  It could be in perfect shape- or it could be a mess.  Sometimes the part of the home that is a mess isn’t easy to identify.  If something is wrong with a foreclosure, you will have no way of holding the bank accountable for the problem.

You are getting a great price- but along with that price comes the risk.  It’s simple risk and reward.

On the other hand- the real estate crash has brought home prices down considerably- builders of Delaware new homes like Capstone Homes are making deals that may be the best in a generation.  We build a high quality home, and we stand behind our new home.  Our homes are going to be some of the most energy efficient homes in the Delaware Beach area, and you have the opportunity to build your Capstone Home to your tastes.  A new Capstone Home may cost more than a bank owned property, but it can provide the exact home you want.  What’s the price of living in your dream home?  It might be a better value to purchase what you want from Capstone Homes.

We’re back from vacation.

Capstone Homes thinks there are two types of people in the world who become successful- people who work very hard, and people who are very smart.  Capstone Homes is probably the latter.

We sell Delaware beach homes.  We build great homes that are energy efficient for people who want the coastal living of the Delaware beaches and the low-tax retirement that is afforded by a Delaware retirement.

Something happened along the way- Capstone Homes kept getting requests for waterfront and water view Delaware beach homes.  People would come into the sales center or email us and ask about homes we could build that had a water view or even waterfront. Capstone Homes is happy to announce that we now have waterview and waterfront homes available in Capstone’s Bay Pointe Community.

Capstone has been able to reserve select lots in Bay Pointe.  These lots are feature pond front, wetland views, and a number of lots that are direct waterfront.

Capstone offers a number of it’s models in the communities, and Capstone also offers custom design/build services.  Capstone Homes start at $299,900 for the Hunter model- with a number of luxury features.  This is a great value for water front homesites in the Lewes area.  Bay Pointe is a luxury Lewes community that features waterfront lots and a community dock.  The community also features a luxury entrance, and the pool and clubhouse have been completed.

Contact Capstone HERE for more information about luxury, waterfront, Delaware Beach Homes by Capstone Homes in Bay Pointe.