The Woodlands Projecting Record 1,700 Home Sales for 2000

HOUSTON-Home sales champion, The Woodlands Operating Co. LP, hopes to set a new all-time sales record of 1,700 homes for this year. The Woodlands has been the number one in new home sales in the Houston region for more than a decade.

The 1998 record of 1,450 home sales has already been broken. TWOC has sold 1,496 units to date, and it keeps on selling. For the first time, new home sales have exceeded 100 each month for the first 10 months of this year. June’s sales 197 total represents the highest one-month total ever recorded for The Woodlands. The October total of 148 had topped a record-setting October 1998 tally of 121 sales.

To make sure it meets that 1,700 target by year’s end, the company has introduced a “New Home for the Holidays” promotion. A $1,000 Foley’s gift certificate and builders’ specials are being offered as incentives to buy a new home before Dec. 31. Registration is being done via the Homefinder Center.

President and CEO Michael H. Richmond told GlobeSt.com that “the great variety of new homes offered in The Woodlands – including affordable residences and those in neighborhoods designed especially for active adults – is a key factor in these record-breaking results.”

There are 36 homebuilders active in The Woodlands, offering new town homes, patio homes, family homes and custom estates priced from the $80,000′s to more than $1 million. “Excellence of schools, the wooded environment, places of worship, shopping, dining, recreation and entertainment amenities are among the advantages cited by buyers,” he says. Richmond also points to a new policy that calls for builders to have homes ready for move-in within 120 days of purchase. “People are no longer willing to wait extended periods of time for their new home,” he emphasizes.

The large number of new jobs being created by existing companies as well as those moving to The Woodlands are sparking the robust sales results, Richmond says. “These new residents are vital to making The Woodlands attractive to more and better retailers and they contribute to growth in the tax base that helps support community services,” he assesses.

The 1,700 mark may allow the community to move up in national rankings, where The Woodlands is currently sixth in the nation for new home sales at master-planned communities.