Representatives from the North Carolina community of Brights Creek make an appearance at Live South shows. The Brights Creek course is a fine layout by Tom Fazio.
I flipped page by page through Southern Living magazine's February 2009 issue the other day. I didn't find a single ad for a southern U.S. residential community. A year ago, there were a dozen or more per issue. My recent visits to many golf community web sites reinforced the notion that marketing spending has almost ground to a halt; the sites look as they did a year ago.
Cash strapped or not, these communities still must find a way to drive the dwindling number of purchase-ready customers into their arms. The way for many is the residential real estate show, and the biggest of these is Live South.
The Live South Real Estate Shows are the live-and-in-color versions of one-stop shopping for those
The Live South web site indicates that 45 communities are participating in the shows this year, down from the 70 or so I recall just a couple of years ago. Apparently those communities that have dead-stopped their magazine advertising in recent months believe that the $5,000 or so booth costs is the best investment they can make in these times of significant budget cutbacks.
On the buyer side, Live South is an efficient and inexpensive way to find in one place a lot of information about southeast communities, although no one should mistake the promotional for objective and unbiased information. Admission tickets, which carry a silly face "value" of $15, are free; just visit the Live South web site or contact one of the participating communities (there's a list of exhibitors at the web site). I received a half-dozen free tickets in Friday's mail alone.
The process at the shows is pretty straightforward. When you check in at the front desk, you are handed a couple of sheets of perforated labels with your name and address on them. As you show interest in a particular community, the representatives at the booth will ask you for one of the labels which they affix to a book with all the others they've collected. They will give you whatever materials they have on hand, but expect your mailbox to fill with postcards and DVDs and glossy marketing booklets in the following months.
In the past, the show has included seminars that regaled the glories of moving south and offered some
But at the Live South Show, Savannah Quarters is just as good as its fellow exhibitors or, rather, as good as their marketing materials. For educated opinions about the communities at the trade show, especially before you commit to a personal visit, engage an unbiased, objective third party, like a trusted local real estate agent or -- here comes a shocker -- ME. (As ever, I do not charge for my research and other work in your behalf, and there is no obligation to you whatsoever.) Below is a list of Live South communities I have personally visited and reviewed.
This year's Greenwich, CT, show, will include a presentation from Ideal Living magazine called "Choose The Right Place and Lower Your Cost Of Living." That is essentially the same topic Live South impresario Dave Robertson has presented himself at past shows. It is a helpful primer about balancing your lifestyle priorities with what you can afford, a necessary first step to identifying the communities that best suit your lifestyle and pocketbook. Of course, a home outside a community might fit some of us the best, but you will have to do that research yourself (or, again, contact me and I will help).
Missing from past Live South shows was any advice or help for those who need to sell their primary
Live South can be a helpful venue for both browsers and serious lookers. Novices can pick up an armful of materials about the specific communities and start to consider what amenities are necessary to them, and what are not. (You pay for what you get, and if you don't ride horses, beware of the communities with equestrian centers, for example.) For the more experienced shoppers, the shows offer an opportunity to ask the communities' representatives some hardball questions about fees, about the workings of the homeowners' associations, about the condition of the golf courses...in short, the questions you should ask if and when you visit any community. Their responses at the show can help you decide whether to visit...or not.
Note: Not all 100 communities that Live South promotes are at every show. Here is a list of the Live South communities that I have personally visited. I would be happy to provide anyone with my unbiased and objective opinions of them: Albermarle Plantation (Hertford, NC), Brights Creek (Mill Spring, NC), Brunswick Forest (Leland, NC), Brunswick Plantation (Calabash, NC), Cedar Creek (Aiken, SC), Farmstead (Calabash, NC), Ford's Colony (Williamsburg, VA), Grande Dunes (Myrtle Beach, SC), The Landings on Skidaway Island (Savannah, GA), Rarity Bay (Vonore, TN), Reserve at Lake Keowee (Sunset, SC), River Landing (Wallace, NC), Savannah Quarters (Savannah, GA), St. James Plantation (Southport, NC), Wintergreen Resort (Wintergreen, VA), Woodland Valley (Loris, SC) and Woodside Plantation (Aiken, SC).
Ford's Colony in Williamsburg, VA, another Live South exhibitor, features 45 holes of golf in the largest community in the historic town.