Waukesha County Home

C O N T E N T S Spring gardening made less hectic 15 landscaping do's and don'ts from NARI Surge protection for the electronics in your whole house A publication of the Waukesha Freeman and Oconomowoc Enterprise • APRIL 2018 Spring Home & Garden Special Edition By Catherine Jozwik Special to Waukesha County Home Frustrated with competing with multiple buyers in today's robust real estate market, some people are considering a different option. They are deciding to have their homes custom-built. The lack of available housing has spurred a demand for newly constructed homes in the last year, David Belman, land develop- er and president of Belman Homes, said. "This year has been quite a bit busier than last year. Lots of peo- ple are building or considering building," he said. "People are moving a bit faster and taking advantage of lower interest rates." He added a five- or six-month supply of homes available for pur- chase is the sign of a healthy real estate market. The market now supports just a three- to 3.5-month supply, about half the market needed for the industry. Potential buyers are writing multiple offers for homes, which are selling extremely quickly. John Stoker, president of Victo- ry Companies Inc., and co-owner of Allan Builders, LLC, has wit- nessed a "15 to 20 percent uptick in demand for new homes." Stoker and Belman are members of the Metropolitan Builders Associa- tion of Greater Milwaukee. "If people can't find what they want, they build," Stoker said. Belman Homes builds about 40 homes a year. Material costs, such as lumber and steel, along with land, permits and construction, can cause expenses to mount. "By the time you start to build, you are at $150K-$250K, due to land costs alone," said John Stok- er, president of Victory Compa- nies, Inc. and co-owner of Allan Builders LLC. Land value a big deal Many factors affect prices of home-building materials. In today's tight housing market, people turn to new homes Photo courtesy of Belman Homes See NEW HOMES/Page 7 This new Waukesha home, built by Belman Homes, is typical of what clients request. One builder is seeing '15 to 20 percent uptick'

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