By CLARICE DOYLE
April 07, 2008 08:28 am
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“What the national news media reports, and what it says about real estate is not true in Claremore.”
Johnny Leonard, a 40-year real estate veteran in Rogers County, makes that observation, echoing facts and figures issued by the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors that indicate the area housing market is healthy and growing as opposed to the national trend.
Bettie Sue McCaw, a broker associate of Coldwell Banker RaderGroup in Claremore, offered a similar perspective on the county and metropolitan-area real estate market in a story printed in the Daily Progress Edition March 30.
“The picture one gets on the national news doesn’t come close to painting a true portrait of what is happening on the local level,” McCaw said.
While the Multiple Listing Service of the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors shows a slight decrease in homes sold during 2007 compared to 2006 (three percent), the average home sale price increased three percent in Rogers County and nearly five percent in the Greater Tulsa area.
Leonard’s not surprised at those facts and figures.
“In the (19)70s late and early (19)80s, we would see people hitchhiking outside our office here,” he said. In those days, the hitchhikers were traveling Route 66 from out east to wherever they could find jobs.
Much like today, “Nationally, we were fighting a bad economy due to the oil prices and high interest rates,” Leonard said. However, in Oklahoma people were still working, houses were being built, bought and sold, much like today.
Leonard remembers former
county planning commissioner Bud Williams referring to the postive
economic environment of Rogers County and the surrounding area as “The Golden Triangle.”
It still is today, Leonard said.
Rogers County households earn one of the top median incomes in the state, outpacing the national household earnings estimates, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Census estimates and projects show population growth could possibly continue to outstrip available housing.
“There is already a housing shortage in Claremore and approximately 3,000 new jobs going to come into this area in the next few years,” Leonard said.
He doesn’t believe that should be perceived as a problem, but rather a business opportunity and good news for the real estate buyers and sellers.
“We’re already in a housing crunch,” Leonard said. “We’re just not producing enough housing for our children and grandchildren ... Right now, we’re 250 to 300 apartments units short.”
He sees a need for more investment in housing developments which he said take about three years to get off the ground and if started today would be ready just in time to capitalize on the growth.
“You got to have enough grits to get out their and develop these subdivisions,” Leonard said. “When the green grass comes, and the sun starts shining, we are going to be out of houses if we don’t.
“My motto is, if you’re not doing it when it’s not happening, you won’t have it when it is happening.
“Besides, I’ve done enough wrong to know not to do things wrong,” Leonard said. “We’ve not seen anything yet. Whenever you see these jobs, things will blow wide open.
“I’d like to be around to see what Claremore will be like.
“This area here, it’s a wonderful city — a great place to raise children.
“The Oklahoma Plaza development, what they’re doing out here, is really, really positive,” he said. Leonard is referring to the $110 million investment by Resource Development Inc. in south Claremore where it is building a combination retail and housing complex.
Leonard isn’t just speaking from a personal point of view when he talks about the market potential in the area. His comments are supported by hard-fact research.
He points to market research utilized by the Claremore Industrial and Economic Development Authority that shows Claremore has had as much as $600 million annual retail sales leakage, that’s money city and county residents are spending outside the area in places like Tulsa and Owasso.
There’s also medical leakage, Leonard says. Seventy percent of the market for medical services goes out of town.
“Doctors stimulate the economy,” Leonard said. Patients come into town to see the doctor, they also eat, visit friends, utilize the hotels and motels, shop while they are here and more.
Just more opportunity, he said, for investment, growth and progress.
Contact Clarice Doyle at 341-1101 or e-mail editor@claremoreprogress.co.
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