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Regional Spotlight

Savannah, Georgia

The “Hostess City” is Primed for Growth, Perfect for Investors by Carole VanSickle Ellis In March 2020, the outlook seemed uncertain for the Savannah, Georgia, economy. Analysts looked at the city that is host to the largest and fastest-growing container terminal in America, the Port of Savannah, the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts USA, and home to the famous Savannah Victorian Historic District and wondered exactly what the emerging global pandemic would do to the city. At the time, the outlook was somewhat grim. Analysts at BestNeighborhood.org predicted severe economic damage both in terms of unemployment (a projected 9.9% loss of jobs, possibly permanently) and in loss of business, also potentially permanent. The port’s activity was also in question; although many port jobs were classified as essential, there was some concern that the flow of goods into the city and outward across the country might diminish permanently. “With production in the Chinese factories shut down or, at least, inhibited, then the goods and services just don’t flow,” warned Georgia Southern University economics professor Michael Toma at the time. Naturally, economists feared the worst for the local hospitality industry as well. Just over a year later, however, Savannah has proved itself once again among the most innovative, resilient, and recession-proof mid-size markets in the country. For starters, the city’s unemployment has hovered around 5%—lower than the state of Georgia’s average and the national average. With Roofstock.com calling Savannah a “market to watch” and home values projected to rise at more than 10% in 2021, the city appears to be coming out of a tough 2020 with flags flying. “Savannah was a good market before COVID, which is why we were embedded in the city long before the pandemic,” observed Charles Sells, CEO of Platinum Investment Properties (PIP) Group. Sells, whose boutique investment firm has been helping clients acquire properties in Savannah for decades, said this spring has been rife with stories of buyers missing out on Savannah properties simply because as soon as they are listed, they sell. PIP Group itself is buying “as fast as possible,” he added. “When COVID-19 hit, I felt like I had to put my money where my mouth was,” Sells explained. “I have always pushed Savannah as a recession-proof market thanks to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the Port of Savannah, the local army bases, tourism, and a lot of local employers that do not tend to be directly impacted by economic swings. The hardest thing right now is acquiring properties and then getting the work done on them to flip or rent.” The average wait time on permitting in the city at present is several months, and most contractors are booked at least nine months out. Because inspections must be completed after each phase of construction, investors must also factor in about a month delay after every completion of work, meaning that once the electrical work is completed, plumbing work cannot begin until the electrical changes have been inspected or approved—quite possibly a full month later. “We are so fortunate to have been established here already,” Sells said. “Other firms in the area are doing five or six deals a year right now. We are doing 80 and that is with really low inventory on the market.” He noted that currently most investors, including those with his firm, are paying close to retail prices for properties just to remain competitive in the market. However, investors must buy properties with room to force appreciation in order to make this tactic work; buying a freshly renovated property at market value leaves no room for the acceleration of equity. Incentives for Investment & Support for Success Savannah has long been dedicated to the success of local businesses and the growth of the surrounding community, and this mindset is also modeled by Georgia policymakers. “The State of Georgia as well as cities and counties within the state offer incentives to new companies and established businesses,” the World Trade Center Savannah describes the position on its website. “Therefore, even after established, you can still take advantage of incentives designed to help your company grow.” At present, the WTC Savannah identifies 23 distinct financial incentives and tax advantages available to businesses and, in many cases, investors in Savannah. “The Savannah metropolitan statistical area (MSA)…is an economic star…which includes tourist attractions, a major airbase, an aerospace manufacturing center, a modern deepwater port, and a regional hub for health and educational services,” writes GeorgiaTrend contributor Jeffrey Humphries. “[This combination] provides the foundation for Savannah’s continuing success.” While the aforementioned incentives are not new ones, Savannah did debut a timely new program in honor of the many changes going on throughout the nation as the pandemic continued to spread. The program, established by the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA), was dubbed the Savannah Technology Workforce Incentive. SEDA made no bones about the goals of the incentive: The program reimbursed moving costs for tech workers leaving other markets in order to create a new home base in Savannah up to $2,000. “The incentive is a great way for technology workers that can work remotely to think about relocating to Savannah as a permanent location,” said SEDA president and CEO Trip Tollison. “We know once these technology workers arrive, Savannah—and its diverse offerings and high quality of life—will sell itself.” Savannah was named SmartAsset’s top “City for Creatives” in 2019 and combined a tech-friendly location with low cost-of-living metrics and a made-to-order workforce for tech entrepreneurs thanks to SCAD, where students are already working on a variety of business solutions with companies and associations like Uber, Google, Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, and NASA, to name a few. SEDA also offers $12,000 toward office rental for technology firms creating a minimum of 10 new positions, and the High Wage Job Creation Grant offers $20,000 in cash grants for every five high-tech jobs a company creates and retains for a full year. SEDA also notes the substantial presence

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Davenport, Iowa

“Iowa’s Front Porch” Leaves the Light on for Investors  by Carole VanSickle Ellis Davenport, Iowa, also affectionately dubbed “Iowa’s Front Porch,” was on the rise in 2010. It was Iowa’s third-largest city (or maybe bigger, since the municipal government later appealed the U.S. Census count saying the bureau had missed a large section of residents), had dramatically upped its fiscal budget by $35 million thanks to rising property values and the associated property taxes, and was set to receive several recognitions for its “livability”. Things were starting to look a little bit brighter for a city that had struggled through the housing crash of the mid-2000s with some of the highest foreclosure rates in the area. A decade later, Davenport is definitely making good on that recovery. Prices are rising and, in conjunction with low interest rates, Davenport has become one of the most affordable cities in the country. That affordability does not necessarily mean it is easy to buy a house, however, and it does not mean that the city is not experiencing appreciation. Year-over-year, Davenport posted a nearly 12-percent rise in median list prices in February 2021, and median home values had climbed by nearly 30 per cent in the attractive $55,000-$110,000 range according to NeighborhoodScout.com. Home prices overall have risen in the region by just over 19 percent in the last five years. Local real estate professionals expect more appreciation and strong market growth in 2021. “Low mortgage rates have been the key reason for the housing market’s strong performance in the midst of the pandemic and high unemployment,” observed Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors in their Spring Forecast. The group predicted that interest rates could rise, and home prices would remain attractive. “The good news for buyers: more homes are likely to become available during the last six months of 2021,” they added. If Ruhl & Ruhl analysts are correct, that is, indeed, great news for buyers. At present, there is high demand for anything under $900,000, and a white-hot market for anything below $300,000. Caroline Ruhl, CEO of Ruhl & Ruhl, noted that overall inventory is down 19 percent year-over-year with only 3.5 months of housing inventory supply. This means that retail buyers and investors alike are competing fiercely for anything that goes on the market, with some homeowners reporting making an offer before ever seeing the property they plan to buy. “We’re so desperate for that inventory,” Ruhl said. “If you list it, it will sell,” agreed a local compliance officer in an interview with the Quad-City Times. The Quad Cities area is comprised of the cities of Davenport, Iowa; Bettendorf, Iowa; Rock Island, Illinois; Moline, Illinois; and East Moline, Illinois. Davenport is one of the original four cities that made up the region, and Bettendorf was added to the official list in the early 1950s although the community never adjusted the nomenclature (see sidebar for Davenport’s place in the Quad City region and local history). A Long, Slow Resurgence Comes to Fruition Things have not always been so hot in Davenport, however. In fact, after a significant bull run throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the city took a severe economic hit when pivotal employers like International Harvester, John Deere, and, later, Caterpillar scaled back or closed their doors in the area. Although not all of these companies were based in Davenport, specifically, they all operated in the Quad Cities area. This meant that the departures had a direct impact on the population of Davenport. (Investors should note that John Deere is presently the second-largest employer in the Quad City region once more.) Despite concerted and even award-winning efforts to revitalize Davenport, the city floundered until the 1990s, when the area began to achieve recognition for community-development efforts like the River Renaissance project, which, after some initial struggles, brought the Figge Art Museum and the River Music Experience to the formerly struggling downtown Mississippi Riverfront area. The $113.5 million project would ultimately provide a foundation for a thriving downtown area, including upgrades to the historic Adler Theatre and the debut of the Modern Woodmen Baseball Park, the Skybridge, two parking ramps, and a local-business support center. Bill Wilke, who served as chairman for the Downtown Davenport Strategic Plan Community Task Force, recalled trying to “figure out a way to bring some of the vitality back to the downtown that had been siphoned away by years of disinvestment and flight by businesses and workers.” The project ultimately received a $20 million grant from the Vision Iowa Board and massive local support from the residential population and, as a result, from businesses that chose to privately remodel, renovate, and upgrade properties in the area in conjunction with the River Renaissance. One developer, citing the concentration of effort in a small area, opted to invest $3.8 million of private money into an office condo development and another $2.5 million into a venture capital center that would be built nearby. He explained, “$113.5 million in investment: that is a huge amount in a three- or four-block area. It will look instantly different.” The Downtown Davenport Partnership reported once the project was complete, “The River Renaissance amenities served as a major catalyst for the growth downtown Davenport would enjoy in the mid-2000s and into the next decade. The city continues to enact highly effective community planning initiatives; its Davenport in Motion multi-modal transportation master plan is currently set for completion in 2025 and will create a “pedestrian-friendly, urban community where residents can access daily needs and activities by foot, bike, or transit”. “Gold Coin” in Rental Property Davenport’s track record of visualizing and then enacting large-scale, effective community master plans is a positive indicator for real estate investors. The city is clearly dedicated to its own growth and sustainability, and local planners and policymakers have demonstrated the ability to identify productive projects that will add value to properties in the area while attracting new residents. An unusually high number of these residents are likely to be renters, as well,

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Jacksonville, Florida

The City “Where Florida Begins” Remains a Bright Spot in 2021 by Carole VanSickle Ellis In 1901, Jacksonville, Florida, earned the dubious title of “home to the third-largest urban fire in the United States” when The Great Fire of 1901 sparked from a kitchen chimney, ignited a fiber factory, and destroyed a full 146 city blocks. The fire wrought about $15 million in damage ($2 billion today). Despite the fact that the fire left more than 8,600 residents homeless and the biggest attraction left in the area was an ostrich park, the southeastern city rebuilt with determination. The following day’s newspapers declared, “A Greater Jacksonville is in Sight,” and a number of prominent architects including Henry John Klutho joined forces to help rebuild. Six months after the fire, the city hosted the Florida State Fair. Fifteen years after the fire, the resultant boom was still going strong. Today, the self-proclaimed city “where Florida begins” continues in the tradition of turning negative events into positive results, and this is true for its real estate market as well as the broader economy. “The real estate market in Jacksonville remains a bright spot,” wrote Roofstock contributor Jeff Rhode in his 2021 forecast for the city. “The city’s business-friendly and pro-development policies strengthen the economy and create opportunities for both workforce and small-business creation.” A Prime Position for Recession Resistance and Economic Stability Sitting just north of the boundary between the Floridian peninsula and Continental North America, Jacksonville, Florida, has long benefited from a prime position in the U.S. import and export trades. Thanks to its two deep-water ports, the Jacksonville Port Authority and the Port of Fernandina, Jacksonville has been able to attract and retain international business from direct servicers to and from Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Although the shipping and logistics sectors are affected by economic volatility, the presence of ports like those in Jacksonville inherently creates recession-resistance in the local economy because American consumers still need access to essential products. The city has long been dedicated to maintaining its competitive edge in this sector, and Jacksonville’s regional economic initiative estimated in 2019 that “for every $1 invested in deepening [the ports], $24 will be returned to the economy.” That year, a single harbor-deepening project created 15,000 new jobs. Of course, access to deep-water ports is just one geographic advantage in the Jacksonville market. Others include a pleasant, subtropical climate that makes outdoor living an enjoyable option most of the year and no state income taxes. Although Jacksonville has long been considered an emerging tertiary market getting ready to boom, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lit the fuse in the local housing market. For many urban dwellers, the relatively “wide, open spaces” in Jacksonville that allow for high square footage and ongoing development make the area nearly irresistible. “The pandemic has caused mind shifts in what people want in their lifestyle and their home,” observed Melanie Green, communications director for the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. She noted that many buyers are looking for more room to accommodate remote work and virtual school as well as “a yard and more space for the kids”. Jacksonville’s relative affordability makes it an attractive relocation destination as well; the city’s overall cost of living is lower than both the state of Florida and the national average. Pro-Business in the Face of Pandemic-Related Challenges The state of Florida and Jacksonville’s city government both have shown a dedication to keeping the real estate industry running during the pandemic, making the area attractive to investors who want assurances that their projects will continue in the event of another shutdown. While nothing is ever guaranteed, precedent indicates this trend should continue. In 2020, the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, declared residential and commercial real estate both essential services. The state also declared “construction sites, irrespective of the type of building,” essential. Although not every city in Florida accommodated this classification, Jacksonville did so, keeping its builders, housing providers, and contractors in business throughout the worst of the nationwide shutdown. This pro-business approach kept Jacksonville’s unemployment rate below the national average for the duration of 2020, and that trend also appears likely to continue in 2021. When unemployment spiked in April of last year after a near-total national economic shutdown, Jacksonville’s rate was 11.2 percent, compared to nearly 15 percent nationwide. By December 2020, unemployment had fallen below five percent, compared to nearly 7 percent nationally. “Reopening efforts boosted the local labor force as well as hotel occupancy levels,” wrote Yardi Matrix senior associate editor Timea-Erika Papp in the Yardi Matrix Jacksonville Report for Fall 2020. She noted Amazon is also adding jobs in the area, saying that the company’s plans to add another 500 jobs in its $106 million Imeson Park fulfillment center slated to open later this year is “further underpinning the metro’s path to recovery.” Poised for Growth from Every Angle Conventional real estate investing wisdom states that if a market has a growing population, positive job growth, and a diversified economy supported by employers in growing industries like I.T., healthcare, and finance, then that market represents a great deal of potential for real estate investors. In Jacksonville, all of these indicators meet the parameters for future market growth. According to Forbes, Jacksonville currently ranks 22nd for best places for businesses and careers in the United States. The city was ranked 26th in the nation for job growth as well. Expansion Management magazine routinely lists Jacksonville as one of the “Hottest Cities in America” for business expansion and relocation, and BizCosts.com named Jacksonville the third least-expensive city in which to launch a corporate headquarters. WalletHub chimed in, ranking the city 12th in the country on its list of “Best Large Cities to Start a Business” in 2019. “In Jacksonville, the availability of jobs is set to increase by 42 percent in the next 10 years,” said Marco Santarelli, CEO of Norada Real Estate Investments. “A wise move by investors in the Jacksonville real estate

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Charlotte, North Carolina

Queen City Real Estate Ramps Up in 2021 by Carole VanSickle Ellis Charlotte, North Carolina, is probably best known for banking. Despite trailing 21 other U.S. cities in size and falling firmly into the “second-tier” or 18-hour city categories in economic parlance, the Queen City is the second-largest banking center in the United States (behind only New York City) and has been successfully luring major employers, including Fortune 500 behemoths like Honeywell, into the metro area for years. The results of this dedicated, pro-business approach in Charlotte kept the local economy on solid ground during much of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns and appear quite likely to solidify the city’s standing as a thriving, recession-insulated market in 2021. “Charlotte is a hot market for investors whether they want to renovate and flip, buy to hold and rent, or invest in multifamily properties,” said Marco Santarelli, founder and CEO of Norada Real Estate Investments. “Even with the short-term impact of the ongoing global pandemic that impeded real estate sales activity in the entire nation, in the long term, the Charlotte real estate market remains strong.” Santarelli added he expects housing demand in Charlotte to continue to outpace supply thanks to strong demographic momentum as young professionals move to the area for work, a high quality of life, relatively affordable cost of living, and a wave of conscientious redevelopment. A Near-Perfect Combination for Sustained Growth The Charlotte metro boasts the unique combination of being an attractive place to live, an attractive place to work, an attractive place to start or own a business, and an attractive place to retire. This is likely why Charlotte has grown faster over the past year than almost every U.S. city (trailing only Phoenix, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Seattle). The Charlotte housing market ranked ninth on PriceWaterhouseCooper’s “U.S. Markets to Watch in 2019” and fifth in 2020 on Forbes’ list of “Best Cities for Jobs”. 2020 also brought more accolades from U.S. News & World Report, including a sixth-place spot on the “Best Places to Live” list and a 23rd-place ranking on the “Best Places to Retire” list. Both of these rankings represent significant leaps upward, 14 spots and nine spots, respectively. “At the top of this year’s Best Places to Live rankings, we see a combination of metro areas that…offer a balance between cost and quality of living,” explained Devon Thorsby, real estate editor at U.S. News & World Report. Regarding the city’s sixth-place ranking on her publication’s “25 Best Places for Young Professionals” list, Thorsby cited competitive annual salaries, the city’s growing population, and “new construction in the area” including more stores and restaurants “attracting downtown visitors” as attractions for the city’s burgeoning millennial population. Investors should note that although the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic and associated health policies have affected Charlotte’s retail and restaurant scene, the city has made notable efforts to keep retail and restaurants open, albeit at limited capacity. The state remained at a state-delineated “phase 3” level of operation and imposed and extended a statewide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for multiple months. “I think [Governor Roy Cooper] is doing everything in his power not to shut us down,” said one Charlotte restaurant owner after Cooper extended phase 3 restrictions for a third time at the end of December 2020. The owner admitted gross revenues are down for his restaurant by 30 percent since he reopened in June 2020, but noted that weekends have been especially busy since he reopened. Charlotte’s relatively short winter season and humid, subtropical climate are conducive to outdoor eating and entertainment, a boon during a period when consumers are encouraged to socially distance and gather outside or not at all. Strong Fundamentals in the Queen City Although North Carolina was historically known for tobacco and textiles, Charlotte has been a force to be reckoned with in the financial and banking industries for years. Bank of America has been headquartered in the Queen City since 1998, when NationsBank and BankAmerica merged to form today’s BOA (see sidebar). Thanks to low taxes, pleasant weather, and what FIG Partners bank analyst Christopher Marinac describes as “progressive banking culture,” Charlotte is now home to Wells Fargo and Bank of America headquarters. BB&T and Suntrust (now Truist) moved their combined headquarters to the city in 2020. “Banking really is an ecosystem,” Marinac noted. “You see it in Charlotte pretty clearly.” Wells Fargo head of digital business development, Jonathan Hartsell, cited his bank’s presence in Charlotte as, in part, the result of a decision to work together with other banking institutions to “have a bigger impact”. He explained, “Growing fintech talent and resources within the region benefits all of us as we seek to accelerate innovation in our industry.” With more than two decades of major banking activity and a growing presence in the biotechnology, energy, and information technology (IT) sectors, Charlotte is perfectly positioned for 2021. While other areas of the country lost employers, jobs, and population, Charlotte welcomed two new Fortune 500 companies (Honeywell and Truist), retained 18 Fortune 1000 companies in the area, kept unemployment in the mid-range single digits (between 6 and 7 percent), and ranked 7th on SmartAssets’s “Best Cities to Work from Home” list. Even prior to the pandemic, Charlotte already was attracting companies and residents who valued the ability to work productively from home, making it an extremely attractive market in the pandemic and post-pandemic economies. The Charlotte economy is rounded out with a variety of other sectors, including energy-oriented industries that have earned the city the nickname, “The New Energy Capital”. Charlotte also serves as a major distribution hub for the east coast and is home to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Although NASCAR’s corporate headquarters are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, nine in 10 NASCAR teams operate within 75 miles of Charlotte. Dedicated Support for Local Employers Large & Small Charlotte’s determined support of local businesses, both large and small, has played a huge role in the city’s ability to

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Salt Lake City, Utah

The “Crossroads of the West” Boasts Enduring Strength at the Core by Carole VanSickle Ellis With a housing market holding strong in both single-family and multifamily sectors, an unemployment rate under half the national average in the last quarter of 2020, and an emerging trend in interstate “near-shoring” as West Coast businesses move operations inland to avoid high taxes and stringent health policy restrictions, the Salt Lake City real estate market is a shoo-in for “most likely to succeed” in 2021. However, as every real estate investor knows, the hottest markets do not always represent the best opportunities for investors who tend to operate on the age-old maxim of “buy low and sell high”. In Salt Lake City, as in many markets around the country, real estate investors must leverage market insights, creative deal structuring, and innovative strategies to continue to acquire and optimize assets in this thriving market. A Study in Resilience “The coronavirus economic shutdown sent home sales tumbling in April and May [of 2020], but the downturn appears to be short lived,” the Salt Lake Board of Realtors said in a late-October press release on the local housing market. The group reported buyers were taking advantage of record-low mortgage interest rates in order to move into the suburbs, and predicted the spring buying season would easily extend into summer and fall. Median home prices rose dramatically, up 10 percent year-over-year in Q3 2020 compared to Q3 2019. With housing affordability reaching all-time lows, that median home price is six times higher than the average Salt Lake City household is earning. Even with low interest rates, many residents are on the lookout for better living options that will enable them to remain in the metro area and take advantage of the booming jobs market. One local resident who recently relocated to the SLC metro area from Ontario, California, told a local newspaper there were 26 job openings in her specialty as an account manager when she began looking at making a move. However, with other areas of the country posting nearly 14 percent unemployment and the national rate hovering just over 9 percent (compared to Utah’s 4.1-4.5 percent unemployment rates in Fall of 2020), that individual was not alone in applying for jobs or once accepted, looking for somewhere to live. The housing inventory and home prices reflect that. “We are going to struggle to do deals because of a lack of inventory,” warned Mike Ostermiller, CEO of the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors. The Wasatch Range of mountains runs south of the Salt Lake City metro area and is a highly desirable place to live for people remote working or who plan on commuting into the city when their employers reopen office spaces. Ostermiller added that Utah and SLC had experienced nearly five years of rising home prices prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which an increasing number of economists are describing as a trend “accelerant” driving residents out of metropolitan areas and into suburban and rural settings. James Wood, a senior fellow at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, recently predicted Utah [and, by extension, Salt Lake City] would likely continue to see a “serious housing shortage” even as residents begin to experience housing instability because of long-term unemployment in certain economic sectors. New construction of single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments fell in 2020 due to COVID-related restrictions, thereby exacerbating the pre-existing 50,000-home shortage. Tracing the Near-Shoring Trend For real estate investors hoping to take advantage of Salt Lake City’s strong economy and jobs market by providing homes for sale or rent in the highly competitive market, the key to acquiring properties and making the most of every potential lead is definitely in the details. With a diverse economy, relatively strong success in containing COVID spread during the Thanksgiving holidays (the final verdict on Christmas is still out), and public schools that remain largely open, Salt Lake City is looking better and better to the newly mobile U.S. population. The existing local population is attractive to employers as well; SLC boasts the youngest median age talent pool in the country and a host of recession-resistant industries. “Utah is ranked the most diverse economy in America,” explained Colliers International-Utah chairman Brandon Fugal. “While most markets are certain to be impacted by the pandemic, Utah’s financial, technological, and health and wellness sectors should actually gather strength.” There is plenty of evidence to back Fugal’s predictions. Amazon, Facebook, and Tyson’s Foods are already expanding into the market, even pre-leasing office space in some cases. Other tech companies are following suit, snatching up industrial/flex space as fast as industrial developers can make it available. According to Adam Long, who serves as COO and director of special products for Colliers International-Utah, the strength of the local market stems mainly from an economic shift that occurred in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area in the early 2000s. “High tech, real estate, wellness, and manufacturing are eclipsing the previous economic drivers from 20 years ago…mining and agriculture, as the most prominent forces of expansion,” he said. Investors should track movement into Utah and into Salt Lake City and its surrounding suburbs by companies previously based in other states and by international corporations. Wherever commercial development attracts these entities, opportunities for residential development and residential real estate returns will soon follow. For example, in September 2020, Salt Lake City forged ahead with plans to open The New SLC, the city’s $4 billion international airport and, in the midst of the pandemic-induced recession, Salt Lake City posted the largest single-phase office transaction in state history. Long observed, “Even during COVID-19…Blackstone invested $4.7 billion to acquire Ancestry.com and SunRun acquired Vivint Solar for $3.2 billion…. There is a mutual understanding that Utah will come out of this stronger than before.” Ancestry.com is based just 25 minutes south of Salt Lake City, while Vivint Solar is headquartered in SLC itself. These tech companies and many others make up the “Silicon Slopes” population in

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Morris County, New Jersey

A Strong Market is Nothing New for this Northeastern County. By: Carole VanSickle Ellis Although many aspects of the 2020 U.S. economy are in limbo—if not all-out freefall—the residential real estate sector has remained on relatively firm footing. In markets in suburban and rural areas, single-family housing complete with a little personal space for “outdoor living” has become one of the hottest commodities in the country. This is particularly true in areas with highly concentrated populations, such as New York City, where there are many reports of suburban properties within driving distance of the city receiving dozens of offers within hours of going on the market. Some analysts have gone so far as to compare the current “urban exodus” as “reminiscent of the one that fueled the suburbanization of America in the second half of the 20th century,” wrote New York Times reporter Matthew Haag. While some markets in the area around the Big Apple are experiencing their initial taste of what it means for the community and housing prices when city residents start leaving the city, Morris County, New Jersey already had a pretty good idea of what kind of benefits being within driving distance of New York City but offering all the attractions of a more casual, laid-back lifestyle can bring. Morris County communities regularly make the lists for “happiest people” (White Meadow Lake and Succasunna, The Crazy Tourist), and “Best Places to Live in America” (Parsippany-Troy Hills, Money Magazine). On top of that, the county is home to 33 Fortune 500 companies including Honeywell, Colgate-Palmolive, Pfizer, Novartis, Verizon, and Bayer. So, yes, there is a “real estate frenzy” going on in northern New Jersey, but for Morris County, it just means the market is already prepared to welcome new residents to an established, attractive, and resilient set of communities. “Morris County has always had a good balance that attracts new residents,” said Carlo Siracusa, president of the residential brokerage at Weichert, Realtors. Weichert is a family of 18 full-service real estate-related companies headquartered in Morris County with more than 1,400 employees, and sales associates in 350 markets across 41 states. “The commute to New York City is phenomenal; pricing is just right, and there are lots of different property and lot sizes available. Morris County offers what people are looking for and what they can afford,” Siracusa added. A Strong Location for Commuting & Community Do not make the mistake of thinking the Morris County market is just a “bedroom community” for the Big Apple. Although the train ride from the county to the city is just about an hour and the drive is roughly half that, many residents stay local when they go to work at one of the nearly three dozen Fortune 500  businesses with headquarters, offices, or major facilities in the area. With three universities located in Morris County alone, more than half of the adult population holds a graduate degree, and the academic institutions and associated service sectors tend to insulate the local economy from most types of economic volatility. “This is a great place to work,” Siracusa said. “The companies based here made the decision to be here for specific reasons, including a larger hiring pool of qualified people and close proximity to the city.” Add in the high caliber of Morris County public schools and just how much more square footage a buyer can afford in Morris County compared to an hour away in New York, and the market was irresistible to many even before the “urban exodus” hit. Morris County’s public schools have significantly higher average proficiency scores than school systems elsewhere in New Jersey, and the school system overall ranks in the top 5 percent of New Jersey public schools. The county boasts one of the highest concentrations of top-ranked public schools in New Jersey. “This market offers something for everyone,” Siracusa explained. “Every township has its own flavor and personality.” The result is an array of options for buyers and renters fleeing the urban areas around New York City, which is probably why so many Morris County townships and neighborhoods make “top 10” lists for best places to live. For example, the borough of Madison was recently named one of the top 10 places to live in New Jersey “based on an influx of NYC buyers” according to New Jersey Business magazine. “We are seeing robust activity at all different price points,” observed borough historian and Madison agent Scott Spelker, citing the attractive downtown, train access, and proximity to highways as Madison’s big draws. New listings in Madison increased by nearly 54 percent year-over-year this past August alone. Of course, all work and no play makes a housing market a very dull place to be—especially during COVID-19 lockdowns. Fortunately, Morris County residents are a short drive to the Jersey Shore in addition to being in a prime position for occasional commutes to the on-site office. Furthermore, the county has a full 13,000 acres of land set aside for county parks. Across the 38 specific locations, visitors can enjoy more than 150 miles of hiking trails, multiple options for swimming, boating, fishing, ice skating, snow-shoeing, hunting (in certain designated locations), and even art walks and other local events. The park system also boasts three national historic sites: Cooper Gristmill, Fosterfields Living Historical Farm, and Historic Speedwell. Central Park, the county’s newest recreational development, is the first fully accessible outdoor athletic facility of its kind and includes two hockey rinks, a ball field, volleyball courts, a cross-country course, dog parks, accessible play areas, and more than 11 miles of natural trails. The Truth About the “Urban Exodus” to Morris County Perhaps most positive for real estate investors considering acquiring property in Morris County or transacting shorter-term retail sales, the “urban exodus” trend is definitely real and certainly not new. This is true nationally, but is of particular import in Morris County. “In many suburban markets, the pandemic has, ironically, accelerated a trend we were already starting to see: the

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