Verandah sales jump 130 percent in first quarter

COURTESY PHOTO The sales center at the Verandah in east Fort Myers. Sales in the Bonita Bay community are up 130 percent for the first quarter of 2008 compared to last year. Bonita Bay Group reported a total of 46 sales through the first quarter of 2008 at Verandah, the 1,456-acre community along the Orange River in Fort Myers.

The sales - representing a 130 percent increase over first-quarter sales in 2007 - included single-family homes and homesites, villas and coach homes and generated a sales volume of more than $15 million.

"We continue to see more buyer demand with a 99 percent increase in visits to our sales center during the quarter, which included 76 percent more first-time visitors during these first three months," said Gary Dumas, regional general manager for Bonita Bay Group. "We're very encouraged."

Dumas attributed the significant increases to a number of factors, including buyer incentives that include golf, sports and social memberships.

"We've had a well-received incentives program that expires at the end of April, coupled with good mortgage rates and a pent-up demand from buyers who have been waiting to purchase," Dumas said. "All these market conditions resulted in our strong sales right from the beginning of the year and continue to influence our customers' buying decisions at Verandah."

COURTESY PHOTO Verandah River House. Buyers are more selective than ever, said Kelli Eastman-Billings, Verandah's director of sales. "Communities like Verandah that offer a broad range of home designs and price points, with unique amenities that showcase the community's beautiful setting, are a natural choice for those who want to enjoy the Southwest Florida lifestyle now."

Verandah was created by Bonita Bay Group as an environmentally friendly and sustainable community and has earned environmental accolades for its emphasis on green building and preservation, its respect for the land and its comprehensive approach to sustainability. Since being named Florida's first green land development by the Florida Green Building Coalition in April 2003 - two months after sales began - Verandah has received the Council for Sustainable Florida's 2007 Best Practices Award for green building, the Florida Urban Forestry Council's Trees Florida 2007 Award, Project EverGreen's Because Green Matters Award, and the Florida Association of Realtors' 2006 Environmental (ENVY) Award.

The 1,456-acre community, located along a 1.75-mile stretch of the Orange River in Fort Myers, has also been named by Where to Retire magazine as one of "America's 100 Best Master- Planned Communities" in 2007 and was the Lee Building Industry Association's 2005 Community of the Year. Whispering Oak, Verandah's second 18-hole championship golf course, was named by Golf Inc. magazine as one of the top five new private courses in the country in 2007.

Verandah offers estate, custom and traditional single-family homes, villas and coach homes with home and homesite packages priced from the low $200,000s to more than $1 million. The Verandah Sales Center is located two miles east of I-75 on State Road 80, or visit www.Verandah.com