Bella Vista Beckons Area Bargain Hunters

Amid the ever-increasing residential land prices of Bentonville and Rogers, the cities’ northern neighbor could be hiding a bargain.

Research indicates that some lots in Bella Vista may have only appreciated a few hundred dollars in its more than 40-year history as a Cooper Community.

In fact, Benton County warranty deeds indicate that lots sold in the early 1980s sold for the same price in 2003. Or in some cases, the lots sold for even less.

The Business Journal searched the purchase records of veteran builder Betty’s Homes Inc. of Bella Vista for an example.

Betty’s Homes bought Lot 9 in Dogwood Hills subdivision for $3,000 in 2003. In 1988, that same lot sold for $6,666. Betty’s homes bought Lot 23 in the Brittany subdivision for $2,000 in 2003. That lot sold in 1979 for $2,000.

Bob Abercrombie, owner of Betty’s Homes Inc., said his company sold about 38 new homes last year in Bella Vista and has more than 40 home sites in progress right now. Most of its lot acquisition comes from out-of-state owners, he said.

Abercrombie said the lot prices are a product of the market being oversold.

“Most of the lots we are dealing with today were developed in the ’70s,” Abercrombie said. “The price probably bottomed out in the mid- to late-’90s and it’s been on a steady incline since then.”

Appearances can also be deceiving. Just because a lot is cheap doesn’t mean its construction-ready.

Abercrombie estimates his company sometimes must invest an additional $18,000 to get a lot ready for home construction. Betty’s Homes houses range from 1,400 to 3,000 SF and sell from $130,000.

Even still, homes in Bella Vista are selling for less, and there are plenty of lots left for construction.

Bella Construction

The Bella Vista Architectural Control Committee in January said there were 37,116 assessed lots in Bella Vista, of which 10,907 include homes. The ACC issued 840 residential building permits in 2004, up 38 percent from 608 in 2003 and up 97 percent from 426 permits in 2002. Last year, Cooper Homes had the most permits issued of any single builder at 76.

Betty’s Homes was issued 42, and Larry Hurst was issued 23.

In all three years, the eastern part of the village was the most popular spot to build, accounting for 50 percent of all permits.

Information from the Northwest Arkansas multiple listing service indicates that the average selling price for a Bella Vista home was $144,000 in 2004.

Next door in Bentonville, homes sold during that same period for 29 percent more at an average price of $185,000. Rogers homes sold for $173,000, and the average Fayetteville price emptied wallets at $187,712.

Abercrombie said 98 percent of his home sales are to working people. Other agencies agree.

“The transition happened about three to four years ago when Wal-Mart started bringing in more vendors,” said Woody Barker, executive broker and vice president of A&B Village Realty in Bella Vista.

“When Wal-Mart started their great growth spurt, that’s when the younger market started coming up here. We have a lot to offer the homebuyer. It’s probably the best-kept secret on the market.”

Reva Henry, executive broker at Cooper Homes Realty, said there are really several different markets for homes in Bella Vista.

“We have the retiree,” she said. “We have the families, the younger families that are working that are in parts of Bella Vista, particularly in the areas where you can get into the Bentonville School District.”

Henry said the average age of Bella Vista residents used to be 65 to 67 and is now much younger than that. The 2000 U.S. Census estimates the population of Bella Vista to be 16,580 and the median age to be around 61.

Building permits from 2002 to 2004 indicate that an additional 1,874 homes began construction during that time.

Changing Face Of Cooper

John A. Cooper III, president of Cooper Communities Inc., said the company has about 3,000 undeveloped acres in west Bella Vista that it plans to develop upon the future completion of the U.S. Highway 71 bypass around Bella Vista. That’s in addition to the already established lots in Bella Vista Village.

Cooper Homes made its first Benton County move out of the Bella Vista home market in 2004 with the development of the 131-acre Cross Creek subdivision in Rogers. Home construction in the first phase began last summer.

Cooper said the founding father of Bella Vista has had to diversify from its flagship retirement operations.

He said Bella Vista is Cooper’s biggest community and probably has the biggest percentage of unimproved lots, or those that haven’t been built on.

“Bella Vista isn’t a flat community, as you go to buildable lots,” Cooper said. “It will become more difficult to find a flat lot and your foundation costs go up.”

He said its shear size, number of lots and population give it a few more hurdles.

“I think that Bella Vista will continue to grow as long as the value is still there,” Cooper said. “And by value I mean it is a beautiful place to live, as long as the infrastructure can keep up, the roads etc., that could suppress the growth.”

He thinks the price of lots in Bella Vista has improved significantly in the last decade.

“It used to be you could be on the courthouse steps [to buy a lot], but not any more,” Cooper said.

Cooper said lots on the resale market in Bella Vista could range from $100 up to $200,000 for a lakefront home site.

When asked about the number of empty lots in Bella Vista, Cooper said customers’ plans change.

“We sold these home sites to people that were hoping to retire and come to the community,” Cooper said. “What happens is that people get excited about the community, but their plans change.”

Cooper Communities changed its corporate structure in 1997 to create four subsidiaries: Cooper Homes, Cooper Land Development, Escapes! Inc., and Cooper Realty Investments. All four companies are under the holding company, Cooper Communities Inc.

Cooper said they see the most success in Bella Vista with home building and materials sales.

The company has about $3.5 million worth of commercial property holdings under management right now. Its vacation rental company, Escapes!, rang in about $30 million in 2004 sales from five different locations. It has an 80-unit project nearing completion in Galveston, Texas, and another under construction in Panama City, Fla.

“We’re not marketing to the retiree except for in time shares,” Cooper said. “We are not even really marketing specifically to the retiree on the time share.”

Cooper said the company is re-evaluating its formula going forward. “What has worked in the past might not work in the future,” Cooper said.

That’s because the retiree is changing, Cooper said, what the retiree was looking for in 1990 is different from what they want now.

“People that grew up in the 1960s, when they retire, their mindset is different.”

Cooper said the company used to market to metro areas to attract residents seeking a remote place to retire. Not anymore.

“When people are retiring now they don’t want to move 500 miles away from their world. They want to be two hours from their circle.”

Cooper said the active adult is smarter, more Internet-savvy, makes more intelligent purchases and seeks more SF for less cost.

Area’s Ownership Took Many a Turn

Cooper Communities developed the 36,000 acres of Bella Vista Village and all of the lots.

According to local historian Gilbert C. Fite’s book, “From Vision to Reality: A History of Bella Vista Village,” Cooper spent about $1.1 million for properties in Benton County totaling more than 7,000 acres.

The first lots sold in May 1965 in its first subdivision, Avondale, and the first membership lots sold for $1,200.

Bella Vista converted from a country club to a property owner’s association in 1973. Fite said home and lot sales in July 1967 alone exceeded $2.6 million, and by the end of the year, Cooper had sold 4,000 lots and 100 homes for gross sales of $15 million.

By 1970, Fite’s book stated, Bella Vista had 1,000 residents and 10,000 property owners.

The book said that Bella Vista was actually named by a Mrs. George Crowder of Bentonville in 1916, who submitted it for a contest.

Attempts to create a resort in the Bella Vista area were made in 1915 by landowners William and Mary Baker who then sold their more than 150 acres of land to a Mrs. F. Peel.

The price then was $100 per 0.9-acre lot on a total of 389 lots.

In 1917, brothers Clayton, Clarence and Forrest Linebarger of Dallas, bought the 150 acres of the original Baker property and another 50 acres, for which Fite’s book estimates they spent about $6,000.

The Linebargers opened a resort in June of that year that included a 30-room lodge with rates of $2 per day or $12 per week. The Linebargers then decided to get into lot sales in 1918 and sent salesman traveling as far as Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Texarkana and Dallas to sell lots for $150 up to $750 depending on the view.

The Linebarger lodge property, which included a dining hall and dance pavilion, had its heyday in the 1920s when bands from the University of Missouri and Washington University in St. Louis would come to the resort and play. By 1930, the Linebargers opened the Wonderland Cave nightclub in an attempt to fight off a sales slump caused by the depressed economy.

In 1952, Clarence Linebarger sold the resort to E.L. Keith of Cave Springs and Keith Lake fame for $56,000. Until 1964 Keith owned the 450-acre property.

Keith invested $300,000 in the resort but built only one new building.

Keith then sold 1,100-acres of adjacent land including the lodge property to Cooper Communities for $363,000 in 1964.