Club names membership director

Members of the Ford’s Colony Country Club have welcomed a new membership director, Tony Null. He comes to Ford’s Colony after working in Raleigh, N.C. for nearly a decade as director of communications and marketing for the North Ridge Country Club.

Null has a long Virginia history, however. He was raised in Newport News, earned a degree in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and is the former membership director at Kingsmill Resort. 

Ford’s Colony residents can reach out to Null for country-club membership information at 757-258-4100.

Ford’s Colony seeks new GM

Ford’s Colony Country Club will be getting a new general manager.

David Ford announced his resignation as of July 2 to become the regional general manager at River Creek Club in Leesburg, Va. In that capacity as Club Corp’s regional GM, Ford said in a letter to membership that he would make frequent return trips to Ford’s Colony.

While the club searches for Ford’s replacement, Mike Krick, Ford’s Colony’s director of operations, will serve as interim general manager.

Movie Night at the Ford’s Colony Swim & Tennis Club

 

Featured Film: The Big Sleep (1946). Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Malone, and Elisha Cook, Jr.

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“Raymond Chandler’s witty and convoluted whodunit comes to life under director Howard Hawks. Humphrey Bogart is private eye Philip Marlowe, investigating a wealthy family’s dark secrets, and Lauren Bacall is the sharp-tongued rich girl ensnared with him in a murderous web of deceit, blackmail and murder.” (Movies Unlimited)  

When: January 25 2013, 7:00pm.

Where: Ford’s Colony Swim and Tennis Club

Admission: FREE!

For more information contact Bob Zornetzer at 757-564-8505 or rzornetzer@cox.net.

The Ford’s Colony Country Club and it’s recovery

All parties involved in the Ford’s Colony Country Club Bankruptcy proceedings will report back to the Norfolk Bankruptcy Court on November 4, 2010 after a little over a 30 day mediation period. The parties last met at the end of September and the Judge hearing the case requested that parties consider mediation to avoid the process becoming further bogged down in legal processes. Club manager Steve Dreybus stated “we believe that our financial and operational plan is sound, viable, and in the best long-term interest of our membership and the property owners living in Ford’s Colony. It is important that our members stay involved and work through the Creditor’s Committee to ensure that your voices are heard and your interests are protected.” The ultimate goal, of course, is to secure a formal plan of reorganization. Once that has been determined then creditors can vote upon the plan. This has surely been a painful process for the Country Club and it’s members. The good news is that the Club and it’s creditors are working through the mediation process and will hopefully come to a resolution as to the best way to pull the Club out of the quagmire. As far as the neighborhood is concerned, it is surely important to distinguish the Ford’s Colony Home Owner’s Association from the Country Club. Unlike our neighbors in Governor’s Land, there is no mandatory social country club membership. The two groups (FCHOA and FC Country Club) certainly have some duplicate members, but the majority of homeowners in FC do not belong to the Country Club. For prospective residents the distinction is an important one.
The most important point to make is that of the “Big 3” gated and golf course communities in Williamsburg not one has been without an ‘issue’ of some sort over the last 12 months. Kingsmill has dealt with the uncertainties of the In-Bev acquisition of Anheuser-Busch and what will surely be the subsequent sale of the neighborhood. Governor’s Land has faced issues with their mandatory social country club membership and the dues associated with the membership. What to expect? A failure on the part of the Country Club benefits no one. Let’s hope that a prior statement made by Mr. Dreybus will hold true: “As mentioned in past updates, the Club and Prudential were close to an agreement at the outset of this process.” If they were close to an agreement at the outset, then surely an agreement can be reached during this mediation process that will allow for the Club to recover- in the best interests of the Club’s members and its creditors as well as the neighborhood as a whole.

So what REALLY is happening in Ford’s Colony Real Estate?

I hosted a seminar recently in Fords’ Colony that covered the most recent sales trends in Ford’s Colony. Home sales and home prices are always interesting and very useful information. Taken with a grain a salt, checking recent sales and comparing properties is as close as you can get to a “quarterly statement” on what could be your largest investment : your home. It is funny as I always hear people saying that they think that they are being “nosy” when they are curious as to what their neighbor’s home sold for, when in truth, you really should know the values around you. While you may not being selling your home right now, knowing the value of your home is just as important as knowing the value of your stocks/bonds or money market funds. The values of all certainly fluctuate but it is always good to know where you stand. 

  In our little corner of the world we have several items to contend with: the general state of the economy and housing, the end of the government tax credits and, finally, more specific to Ford’s Colony is the announcement on April 3, 2010 that the country club had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. I always emphasize that the country club and the home owners association of Ford’s Colony are two VERY DIFFERENT and UNIQUE entities.  The HOA in Ford’s Colony is alive and well and functioning as a very strong and healthy congruent group. 

 I took sales in Ford’s Colony for the prior 12 months (June 2009- June 2010) and studied  what had sold, how much had sold and compared those sales prices to  the assessed values.( I always tell folks that assessed value and market value are two different animals, however, it is useful to see how those two figures compare.) SO for purposes of not getting too long on evaluating numbers, I will divide my findings into a couple of blog posts. There are few folks that enjoy looking at numbers we all just want the bottom line! 

Grits and Grasshoppers:   

So the first question how were sales during the past 12 months and what was the impact on sales from the April 3 country club bankruptcy filing?   

 The months supply of inventory in FC went from 28.8 months of inventory to 24.8 months of inventory in 2010. So- while not a fun number to see 2010 IS better than 2009. Here is the most interesting statistic from the Months Supply of Inventory: during the month of April 2010, the months supply of inventory declined to 11.4 and then in May 2010 it declined to 10.5. In April there were 12 homes that went under contract and in May there were also 12 homes that went under contract. June saw a huge drop to 5 homes under contract. Those are VERY important numbers as the country club announcement of the bankruptcy protection plan was made on April 3! The numbers immediately following that announcement were the best of the entire 12 month time period. We do have to consider the tax credit stimulus during those months also which, in the short-term anyway, certainly gave a jolt of energy to sales. The tax credit ended April 30,2010. Home buyers had to be under contract by the end of April to qualify. We saw a lot of buyers rushing at the end of the month to be under contract which resulted in a ‘trickle around’ effect in May as those month-end April sellers then became our May buyers.

 Bottom line? Sales seem to be more affected by the TAX credit ending versus any perceived issues with the country club. This is good news in and of itself.   

 NEXT BLOG: ASSESSED VALUE TO SALES VALUES in Ford’s Colony    

 For more information here are the charts for you:     

Homes under contract June 2009 to June 2010 The graph is difficult to read: it does show the trend of sales over the 12 month time period. Inventory declined (albeit slightly) year over year.  

  NEXT BLOG:ASSESSED VALUES TO SALES VALUES in Ford’s Colony

For more information on Ford’s Colony and other neighborhoods in Williamsburg, VA., please visit my website at www.PremierWilliamsburgRealEstate.com