from The Tennessean

The signs of growth are hard to miss.

New housing developments are under construction in Franklin and across Middle Tennessee. A Walmart is going up in Spring Hill. Cranes dot Nashville’s skyline. And, of course, there’s plenty of traffic on the region’s roads.

New Census Bureau population estimates released today show Middle Tennessee cities among the nation’s fastest growing over the last year.

Clarksville was the nation’s fifth-fastest-growing city with at least 50,000 people. The Montgomery County city grew by 4.43 percent and now has more than 142,000 residents. Nashville ranked 15th for numerical gain, with more than 12,300 new residents calling Music City home between 2011 and 2012.

Nationwide, the fastest-growing large cities remain in the South and West. Seven of the top 15 are in Texas, according to the new census estimates.

Middle Tennessee also dominates the state’s list of the fastest-growing cities, the new census estimates show. Thompson’s Station ranked No. 2 in the state for growth rate. Mt. Juliet, Spring Hill, Franklin and Brentwood also showed gains.

A diversified economy, affordable housing and military spending are among the factors contributing to the region’s growth, University of Georgia demographer Doug Bachtel said.

“Those cities that have those high growth rates are probably growing from new people moving in,” he said. “That goes to the diversification of jobs.”

Bachtel said other factors contributing to a community’s fast growth are the quality of education and local leadership.

“People move to good education and they move away from bad education,” he said. “The wild card is the leadership.”

Starting July 1, the Tennessee Department of Revenue will use annual population figures to determine how to distribute state-shared tax revenue. The year-over-year population change will be a key factor in that distribution, according to the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee.

Building boom

Thompson’s Station Town Administrator Greg Langeliers said he isn’t surprised that his town grew so fast. The town increased its population by 4.92 percent, according to the census estimates.

“We have been issuing a lot of building permits here. Especially considering how we had basically nothing coming in for four or five years, it’s a big change,” he said. “So far, the population boost has not caused any problems. We have been able to keep up. But we may need to hire someone part time to help with building inspections.”

The town, with an estimated 2,366 residents, sits in a prominent transportation corridor along U.S. 31 and the newly completed State Route 840. It’s just a few miles away from Interstate 65, and working professionals can easily make it from there to jobs in Franklin or Nashville.

Mt. Juliet in Wilson County ranked No. 4 for growth in the state. The city now has 26,780 residents, up 3.97 percent from 2011 to 2012, the census shows.

“We’ve been growing rapidly each and every year for 10 years,” Mt. Juliet Mayor Ed Hagarty said. “It is driven by what it has always been driven by: extremely high quality of life, a very low crime rate, a very low tax rate, excellent schools.” Hagerty said the city has had struggles keeping up, particularly with roads.

“It is something you never claim victory over,” Hagerty said. “It is an ongoing struggle.”

Just south of Thompson’s Station is Spring Hill, another of Tennessee’s fast-growing cities. The city’s population estimate jumped from 30,108 in 2011 to 31,140 in 2012, a 3.43 percent increase.

Source: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130523/NEWS01/305230042/Growth-spurts-good-sign-Middle-Tennessee-cities?sf13133910=1

Home construction activity in Nashville continues to build momentum, according to a new report by research firm Metrostudy. 

“Builders continue to successfully sell their existing inventory and new starts. Even model homes are being sold as inventory tightens,” Jason Brown, director of Metrostudy’s Nashville region, said in the report.
 
During the 12-month period that ended in March, Nashville saw 4,763 new home starts, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. In that same period there 4,322 new homes sold, a 20 percent jump from a year ago.
 
The number of new lots delivered during the period was up 47 percent compared to a year ago. However, Brown said, “We are already seeing shortages in certain submarkets.”
 
With demand for new homes outpacing supply, Nashville’s stock of new single-family homes has dipped to a healthy two-month supply level, down from a high of 3.8 months three years ago, according to Metrostudy.
 
“These factors combined with continued steady employment growth, the area’s lack of new home inventory, for sale listings still showing a tight supply and home values remaining stable, Nashville should expect to see continued upward movement in the new home market through the remainder of 2013,” Brown said.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2013/05/nashville-home-construction-activity.html

Need to move soon? The Jones Company of TN has homes under construction and Ready Now! Click here for a preview.

The BUILDER 100+ Rankings List for 2012 were just released!

We’re proud to announce that we are ranked at #109 in the entire country! Out of the thousands of homebuilders (large and small) in the U.S…..this little ol’ Middle Tennessee, privately-owned JONES team ranked #109! 

 Just a testimony to the fact that we are here to stay…going on 85+ years! Way to go Jones team!

The BUILDER 100 is compiled from data collected by BUILDER magazine via direct survey of the nation’s top builders. The BUILDER 100 and the Next 100 lists are made up of private and public builders and identify the top home builders in the U.S. by annual closings and gross revenue, as well as information about where and what they build.
 
BUILDER magazine has conducted the survey and compiled the BUILDER 100 list since 1984. The BUILDER 100 and the Next 100 lists of builders are featured in the May 2013 issue of BUILDER magazine and on builderonline.com. This year’s honorees also will be recognized at an awards dinner at the 2013 Housing Leadership Summit in Scottsdale on May 14.

For more information about the 2012 BUILDER 100 and Next 100 rankings, visit www.builderonline.com/builder100/2012.aspx.

By Claire Gordon

It isn’t just singer-songwriters who are flocking to Nashville these days. So are engineers and nurses, accountants and developers, dental assistants and robot-designers. The country music capital led the nation in job growth last year, according to revised data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and reported by The City Paper. The formerly sleepy Southern town is now the nation’s brightest spot of opportunity.

Between 2011 and 2012, the Nashville metro area experienced job growth of 3.9 percent, more than any other metro area with a population of more than 1 million. Nashville’s music industry — the second largest in the country after New York’s — employs thousands, but that’s not what’s powering the boom. Rather, it’s the city’s flourishing health care sector, and a wave of companies that have packed up their headquarters and moved to the Tennessee capital.

Health care is the biggest industry in Nashville: The area is home to more than 300 health care companies, reported BusinessClimate.com, including the two enormous and enormously profitable hospital chains Hospital Corporation of America and Community Health Systems Inc. Nashville’s reputation as a thriving medical center has built on itself, with more and more companies in the industry gravitating to the Sun Belt city. There are currently over 800 health-care-related job openings in the Nashville area listed at CareerBuilder.com (an AOL Jobs partner).

Employers like the business-friendly climate: Businesses in an array of other industries have also made the southern migration. Citing the lower cost of doing business, Nissan Motor Co. moved its North American headquarters, and 1,300 jobs, from California to a Nashville suburb in 2006. Tennessee has no state income tax, cheap real estate and low living costs, and to seal the deals, Nashville has been exceptionally generous with the tax breaks and credits it offers companies considering a move.
The business-process-outsourcing firm IQT Inc. announced that it was relocating from New York City to Nashville in 2011, reported Area Development Online, having been tempted by perks like a grant to offset startup costs, and an additional grant for each job created. Company Co-CEO Alex Mortman also said that the city, which is home to dozens of colleges and universities, including Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University, had the “smart, educated, technology savvy people” whom they were looking to hire.

Nashville’s culture is also a major draw: “The food scene here, the entertainment scene, the people seem friendly, the employee base seems to be welcoming,” Hazem Ouf, president of national restaurant chain American Blue Ribbon Holdings, told WKRN-TV about the company’s decision to relocate last year. “Certainly you can feel the Southern hospitality here.”

While Tennessee’s unemployment rate is stuck above the national average, Nashville’s is more than a whole percentage point below. It seems that almost every day a major company is changing its tune about where to be headquartered, and that tune is increasingly being played on a fiddle.

Source:  http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/05/07/new-boomtown-city-nashville/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D309320&a_dgi=aolshare_email

Build your Jones Home Now and Get the FREE LUXURY BATHROOM PACKAGE.

Granite Countertops ~ Framed Mirrors ~ Upgraded Closet Features ~ Ceramic Tile Flooring ~ Recessed Lighting ~ Marble Tub ~ Marble Body Spray Shower ~Frameless Glass Shower Door

Learn more at JonesLuxuryBath.com

Offer subject to change without notice. Offer varies slightly depending on the particular home and community where you are building. See Sales Manager in the Jones community of your choice for details. Offer cannot be combined with other offers or exchanged for any cash value equivalent. Photos shown do not represent what is offered. Offer ends 5/13/13, and ONLY applies to NEW contracts dated 4/12/13 – 5/31/13.

from Tennessean

Builders concentrate on luxurious closets, fancy kitchens, ‘Woman Cave’

Oversized McMansions are history. Instead of big houses with rooms that might seldom — if ever — be used, builders are offering luxury amenities that add to comfort and enjoyment for years to come.

Builders in the Nashville region are raising the bar with imaginative new amenities. How about a Woman Cave? Other innovations include separate suites for in-laws or “boomerang” children who return home for a time after college or maybe a divorce, luxury walk-in closets and gourmet kitchens that make even a microwave dinner feel special.

“Two things sell homes — baths and kitchens,” said Peder Jensen, director of sales for the Jones Co., which recently introduced the Woman Cave.

The Man Cave has long been a retreat where men could watch sports and movies. The Jones Co. thought it was about time women had a space of their own, too. It comes with granite countertops, framed mirrors, ceramic tile flooring, a custom closet, recessed lighting, a marble tub and a marble body spray shower complete with a frameless glass door.

“The Man Cave has always been important, but a lot of time women drive the sale,” said Jensen. The Woman Cave has created “a lot of buzz.”

Men are welcome in the Woman Cave, which he calls “a nice place to shave.”

The Jones Co. is also offering kitchen upgrades that include slide-in ranges and double ovens. One oven is smaller and is the perfect size for heating a pizza or cookies, said Jensen.

Space that’s used
In Tollgate Village in southern Williamson County, gourmet kitchens and luxury closets are a hit.

“With the popularity of HGTV, everybody wants to be a celebrity chef,” said Pegan Sherick, on-site sales consultant for Dock Street Communities, which is developing the community.

“Where does everybody end up when partying with family or friends? The kitchen,” she said.

In addition to lots of granite, Dock Street offers kitchens with double ovens and gas cooktops. Master closets have a California Closet organizer.

“It’s sexy to have a nice master closet,” said Dan Kingsbury, project manager and principal broker at Tollgate Village. “It adds a ‘wow’ factor.”

Many homes in Tollgate Village have about 2,300 to 2,400 square feet of living space, but 10-foot ceilings and eight-foot doorways make interior spaces feel larger. The community also offers garages with extra storage space.

The goal is to offer amenities that homeowners actually use, said Kingsbury.

“Years ago it was all about square footage. The more the better. Now people want to downsize but upgrade,” he said.

Luxury bathroom? Make that a ‘Woman Cave.’ / The Jones Co. of TN

Suites for boomerang kids and in-laws are becoming a necessity in homes where two or even three generations live under one roof, said Randall Smith, president of Celebration Homes.

“The chance of kids coming back after college is increasing,” said Smith. “Suites for boomerang kids likewise can be used by an aging parent.”

Celebration is introducing its boomerang suites in Berry Farms, a new community on the southern edge of Franklin. The suites have a kitchen and 450 square feet of living space, about the same space as some downtown condos.

Having separate living spaces guarantees everyone’s privacy, said Smith.

Custom home builder Carbine & Associates understands that outdoor living is extremely popular. But what do you do when a townhome doesn’t have a large yard? The solution is to bring the outdoors inside.

The company’s newest townhomes at Westhaven in Williamson County will feature “accordion windows” that completely fold away.

“You’ll have a full 15-foot opening as if there’s no window,” said John Montgomery, the company’s president. “It’s like making the indoors outdoors.”

The townhomes will also feature a third-floor covered patio complete with an outdoor fireplace.

“The best views are up, from the third floor,” he said.

Source: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130428/LIFE04/304280025/Luxuries-more-important-than-size-new-homes

Downtown Franklin’s 30th annual Main Street Festival returns April 27-28, 2013!

The two-day weekend event will feature more than 200 artisans & crafters, three stages, two carnivals and an international food court. Click here for the entertainment lineup.

The free street festival will begin on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Fourth Avenue Street Dance will continue until 10 p.m. Saturday night.  Activities will re-open Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Main Street Festival is presented by First Tennessee and produced by the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County and the Downtown Franklin Association. Joining as a major sponsor this year is Mars Petcare and Pedigree pet foods.

WHAT TO EXPECT
The event is expected to attract more than 130,000 visitors to a full slate of family-oriented activities, non-stop musical entertainment and international flavors of more than 20 food vendors.

Handmade work to be exhibited includes original oil and watercolor paintings, pottery, jewelry, furniture, woodworking, ornamental iron, stained glass, photography, home and garden accents, birdhouses, leatherwork, and much more.

In addition to a juried arts and crafts show with more than 200 entries, the festival offers a special area of children’s activities on Third Avenue South between City Hall and the Old Courthouse.

ENTERTAINMENT
Free entertainment is offered continuously on three stages—the First Tennessee Stage on the Public Square, the Heritage Stage on Fourth Avenue North and the Beer/Wine Garden Stage on Fourth Avenue South.

There will also be a full-scale, traditional carnival at the silo property at First Avenue South, just outside the festival area. The carnival opens earlier than the festival on Thursday, April 25, and goes through Sunday, April 28.

Carnival hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Thursday nights and all day Sunday are “wristband” days at the carnival, during which a $20 wristband offers unlimited access to the rides.

FOOD
Three food areas offer a tasty variety of everything from roast corn on the cob and stuffed baked potatoes, Polish sausage, Greek gyros, and Asian and Mexican cuisines.  Southern fare includes barbeque, burgers and hotdogs, smoked turkey legs, funnel cakes, kettle corn and more.

TRANSPORTATION
To help manage traffic, a new feature of the event is a shuttle service offered by the Franklin Transit Authority, with free parking at Harlinsdale Park on Franklin Road and at The People’s Church on Murfreesboro Road. Shuttle rides to the event are $1 for adults and 50 cents for children and seniors. Both sites will operate on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.; only the Harlinsdale site will operate on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

SPONSORS
Major sponsors include: First Tennessee, Mars Petcare, Pedigree, Johnsonville Sausage, Vanderbilt, Williamson Medical Center,  Publix Super Markets, The Grove, Wyndham Resorts, and The City of Franklin, with supporting sponsors Fox 17, Clear Channel Radio, The Tennessean/Williamson A.M.,  Schroeder Chiropractic, Summerwinds Resorts, and FranklinIs.

The Main Street Festival is produced by The Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County and its division, the Downtown Franklin Association. Proceeds from the event go towards the mission of each organization, respectively: to protect and preserve the architectural, geographic and cultural heritage of Franklin and Williamson County, and to promote the ongoing economic revitalization of Downtown Franklin in the context of historic preservation.

The Main Street Festival is located in Historic Downtown Franklin, Tenn., exit No. 65 from I-65, three miles west to the Public Square.

Source: http://downtownfranklintn.com/mainstreet-festival/

Revamping your home decor needn’t always be a major project and you don’t always have to spend a king’s ransom to do it. Here are 25 ways to give your rooms a fresh look in record time, without breaking a sweat – or your budget.

By Martha Uniacke Breen

1. Update lampshades with new ones in more contemporary shapes or simply fresh white shades.

2. Paint is the classic makeover potion. Instead of repainting a whole room, just paint one wall in a focal colour or paint a contrasting rectangle over a sofa to use as a “gallery” space. You can also paint the insides of bookshelves in an unexpected colour or paint your ceiling a lighter version of the wall colour. Update your kitchen with paint or any other space in your home.

3. Update your window dressings. IKEA and other home stores have reams of readymade draperies you can hem to the right size (or leave to puddle on the floor), or you can make your own from sheets or lengths of designer outlet fabric. Hang from an attractive new curtain rod, also available in stock sizes.

4. Pull a room together by choosing two contrast colours – black and white, say, or white and one bright colour – and use them as a repeating theme throughout, such as a row of yellow and white pillows on a sofa, or robin’s egg blue walls and all-white furnishings.

5. A simple but effective tip: Edit your accessories. Too much of a good thing is too much. Try taking all your home decor accessories and putting them in a box, then putting them back one by one where they’ll have the most impact.

6. Take down all your paintings and other art and move them around to different walls or different rooms. It’ll be like seeing them for the first time.

7. A classic display scheme ever since Victorian times: Create a gallery wall of family photos and other small pictures in matching (or contrasting) frames, arranged in a collage on a large wall such as a stairwell or hallway. (For best results, first create a plan by arranging them on the floor till you find the right composition and “balance.”) The art of arrangement is always stylish.

8. Inexpensive frame mouldings from the box store can transform a plain wall or hallway into an instant paneled look. Paint the mouldings in a contrasting shade or white.

9. Replace overhead lighting with thrift-store (or box store) chandeliers. (Note: it’s recommended to hire a professional electrician to install them.) A dated-looking chandelier can be painted white. You can also add extra crystal drops, available at lighting stores.

10. Peruse Craigslist, eBay or freecycle.org regularly for finds. It’s amazing what shows up at a bargain or even free – but like any good flea market shopper, be sure to check regularly, as good things go fast.

11. Carpet stores often have remnants of high-end carpet at rock-bottom prices that make a great area rug. The store may bind the edges for you, or you can do it yourself with carpet binding tape and some tidy hand-sewing.

12. Some paint stores sell mixed paint for much less than custom-mixed paint because the colour was off or it was returned to the store. Great if you’re willing to experiment on the colour.

13. Re-tile kitchen backsplashes. Most backsplashes require only a few square feet of tile, so you can treat yourself to a fancy style or use plain porcelain tile for most of the surface. Then intersperse a few hand-painted or high-end tiles as accents.

14. Small details make all the difference: Beautiful coasters, interesting desk frames, a small but exquisite crystal vase filled with fresh flowers.

15. Buy a half-dozen four-inch terra cotta pots and paint in a trio of coordinating colours. Plant with herbs and line the pots up on a kitchen windowsill.

16. Big box stores have come a long way in terms of cheap and chic bathroom accessories and stylish storage options. For a fraction of what you’d pay in a high-end bath boutique, you can often get pretty designs in wood or china, or sleek modern accents.

17. A trick made famous by Woody Allen in Annie Hall: Change the lightbulb in your bedroom lamp with a pink one for a rosy, romantic glow. Or opt for a pink lampshade, which can produce something of the same effect.

18. Replace the drawer and cabinet pulls in your kitchen, bath, bedroom, or on a furniture piece. Inexpensive stylish options can be found at Lee Valley, Summerhill Hardware, IKEA or other big box stores, or you can scour a thrift shop or antique store for vintage ones.

19. Replace your bathroom shower curtain and curtain hooks, for an instant freshener for even the most dingy bathroom. Create a sparkling bathroom makeover.

20. You can now buy readymade slipcovers that with a few judicious tucks, fit much better than the wrinkly versions of yore. Or, for a little more investment, have loose-fitting slipcovers made.

21. Replacing an ugly old faucet with a new one is a relatively simple DIY project. Many big box store styles are designed for home installers and include all the fittings and instructions in the box.

22. Purchase an inexpensive but attractive frame, or rescue an old one from an antique store or your parents’ attic. Paint flat white and attach small rings to the upper corners. Place hooks on the wall to correspond and hang. Hang a couple of vintage plates or smaller framed pictures artfully inside, or leave the framed space as-is, for an artful and simple focal point.

23. Maximize light in a darker room by hanging a framed mirror directly opposite the window.

24. Take a walk in the park, woods or beach and pick up interesting (and free) seasonal accents for your home. A tray filled with pinecones, a tall vase of dried pampas grass stalks, or a bowl of colourful pebbles, beach glass or shells all make eye-catching home decor accessories.

25. Spruce up your entrance by painting your front door a cheerful colour. Pair it with a new lighting fixture, mailbox and house numbers – all available at the box store.

Source: http://www.styleathome.com/decorating-and-design/budget/25-fast-cheap-and-easy-decorating-ideas/a/41495/3

 Please join us for the Groundbreaking ceremonies for

LCpl Ben Maenza and SPC Andrew Wilson!

Join us as Homes for Our Troops pairs with the Nashville area community to break ground for these homes. This is a chance to learn how you, your family and friends can support this project throughout construction! 

LCpl Ben Maenza on Saturday,

April 13 at 10:00 am

5530 Kelly Road, Brentwood, TN 37207

www.homesforourtroops.org/Maenza

SPC Andrew Wilson on Sunday,

April 14 at 10:00 am

7008 Nolen Park Circle, Nolensville, TN 37135

www.homesforourtroops.org/Wilson

Written by Price Lechleiter

When real estate is discussed, the conversation most often turns to the number of homes sold, the median price in the area, available inventory or pending sales. All of those items and the trends they represent are important, but rarely does anyone take a look at the overall impact of the real estate market on the economy.

Economic development efforts sometimes overlook the key impact of the housing market.

Let’s take a look at the economic impact of single-family homes in Greater Nashville just so far this year (not even including condominiums) using the number of closings and median prices already reported. Based on the number of homes sold in the first quarter, at the median price reported in each of the first three months of this year, there have been more than $825 million in residential real estate sales in the Greater Nashville area.

In addition to that, whenever someone purchases a home, there is a significant amount of money put into the economy through the add-on purchases such as appliances, furniture, flooring, cabinetry, lighting, window treatments, landscaping, lawn service and much more.

There are several reasons this is so important. First, if there is not a healthy real estate market here, with meaningful inventory choices at a variety of levels, it becomes much more difficult to attract companies and families here. The choices are not just about price. Access to services such as transit, shopping, education and entertainment figures into the equation. Proper planning for housing location and services is critical.

Second, let’s consider the jobs created by housing activity. Realtors, mortgage lenders, builders and developers are all directly connected. But it is also important to remember the jobs related to the manufacture and sale of appliances, furniture and the other items mentioned earlier.

And we have not even mentioned the impact of property taxes as the main resource that funds many of our government services.

All of this is to say, while we enjoy our own homes or like dreaming about the one we want to purchase, the housing market has a major impact beyond the individual purchases. Keeping the housing market active and free of questionable choices by government (like decreasing or removing the mortgage interest deduction or ending FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) is important to all of us.

Read full article from The Tennessean: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013304090015&nclick_check=1