What's new from Curtis

December 4, 2019

I trust everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving.

A week prior to the holiday, my family and I returned from a Disney cruise.  We had a wonderful time, save the stomach bug that stayed with us through Thanksgiving. Before our cruise, we stayed at a large rented home in Kissimmee, FL, just outside of Disney World.  There were 16 of us in our multi-family group.

Being from the Northeast (South Jersey), I was utterly amazed at the pace of homebuilding within Orlando and surrounding communities.  Development after development in some state of construction.  Granted, home building in Orlando is fairly unique due to its geography to Disney, but the amount of new construction was spectacular.

My daughter is now pen pals with a little girl she met on the cruise.  Her pen pal lives just outside of Boise, ID.  I had time to chat with her father, who’s a realtor in the Boise area.  He reaffirmed that homebuilding was off the charts in his area, too, as coastal populations race inland for greater purchase value and less burdensome tax liabilities.  He was planning to staff significantly for the upcoming year.

Wall Street is taking notice.  Valuations of home builders and the industry as a whole continue to climb.  Likely not a surprise to anyone, I would encourage mortgage executives to seek out branch purchase opportunities in 2020.  The improving housing starts are no longer paper tigers -- we’ve long moved to feet on the ground.  I hope the linked news article is helpful as you plan for the upcoming year.

Best –

Curt