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Home Shows - aka Homearama

Mal's thread on architecture spurred a thought about the annual tradition in these parts that's called Homearama. It's a home show where local custom home builders get to show off their wares. Typically there are 10 to 15 home builders that will build 5000 to 7000 square foot upscale homes that range in price anywhere from $1,000,000 to over $2,800,000 (this years top list price). And let me tell you ... in Cincinnati $2.8 mil buys one hell of a lot of house. The Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, for example, bought a home in the most exclusive part of the city and he could only spend $1.5mil.

The show runs for two weeks and for $10 you can tour each of these palaces and check out all manner of design style inside and out. Anything from landscaping to painting to paver stones to kitchens to media rooms to saunas and wine room and fully equiped work out facilties. The homes are extravantly decorated and lavishly furnished. An estimated 100,000 people will visit the show and I will be one of them.

Is this common in your area? Would you go to such a show?

Homearama Overview

Here are some sketches of this year's entries:

http://www.cincinnati.com/homearama/2005/img/1.jpg
http://www.cincinnati.com/homearama/2005/img/2.jpg
http://www.cincinnati.com/homearama/2005/img/5.jpg
http://www.cincinnati.com/homearama/2005/img/6.jpg
http://www.cincinnati.com/homearama/2005/img/14.jpg

Quote:

Cincinnati’s Homearama®
Leads The Way

By Jeanette McClellan

Though the average price of one of HOMEARAMA® ’s featured living spaces has increased over the years from $16,000 in 1962 in the inaugural season to $1.7 million this year, Cincinnati’s infamous home display remains the best there is.

With easy parking, concessions on hand, an exhibit tent full of useful information and, of course, a showcase of the latest products and trends in home building and design, HOMEARAMA® welcomes about 100,000 guests into its homes for the summer Luxury Edition show each year (there is also a city show and a fall lifestyle show).

“This year’s show will be one of the biggest ever,” says Stuart Cowan, chairman of HOMEARAMA® Luxury Edition 2005. “The homes range in price from $1 million to $2.8 million. The community, Long Cove, is a Florida-style canal type community with lakes behind the houses. All the lakes are interconnected, and designed so that non-motor boats can be used there.”

Cowan, who has been involved with the home show for 12 years, says it has grown significantly since he came on board, but that some things remain the same for the oldest home show in the country. “The original purpose of the show is a constant today,” he says, “and that’s to showcase builders’ homes in a singlesite location, and to feature the best products and the latest trends.”

In a dozen years, those trends certainly have changed a lot. Where buyers might have expected to see Corian countertops a dozen years ago, granite is now a staple. These changes in buyer expectations have also helped steer the quality and price range.

But no matter what the expectations are any given year, the show, produced by the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati, always has something for everyone. Visitors come each year for a plethora of reasons: to brainstorm about remodeling and redesign, to learn about the newest and greatest features that they can adapt to a smaller scale, to enjoy looking at the landscaping, or to actually buy a home. Others come just for the fantasy of imagining what it would be like to live in a home with every bell and whistle imaginable.

“Without a doubt, it’s a Cincinnati tradition,” says Cowan. “Some people even plan their vacations around it so they can be here every year. We have people who have been coming for 30 years, and have visitors from as far as Indianapolis, Columbus and Louisville.” That’s not including the regular stream of visitors from other home shows who want a fi rst-hand look at how Cincinnati does things. “Many cities handle their shows a lot like we do,” says Cowan. “They have their own associations, but they use our name and look to us to see what we are doing to put on a successfu l show. It’s not only about making sure the homes are top quality, but also making sure people’s experiences are first class.”

So whether you’re looking to see what kind of drapes would complement your living room windows or are in the mood to see amazing architectural design, HOMEARAMA® Luxury Edition 2005 is no different than what is has been for years—the one-stop place to go.

Neat! Asheville doesn't have anything like that, but basically if you go two seconds out of your way when you're driving around, you can see all sorts of nice houses (from the outside). And anyone can drive through Biltmore Forest (Tom Cruise and Andy McDowel both have houses there). Sounds fun!

On the California coast, they don't need to have shows like that. Everything sells. All the developer needs to do is put an ad in a few papers, and people show up. Sometimes there even have to be lotteries for the privilege of buying the house.

We have something very similar in the Seattle/Tacoma area that is called "Street of Dreams."

We don't have anything of that sort near here in Southern Maine... but that's because there are lots of those type of houses selling every day. $2.6 million is an average price for that type of house - many waterfront properties here go for $5 million or more. And the properties aren't even that large. You can pay $2 million for what is essentially a beach cottage in a cramped neighborhood in some of the wealthier towns.

It sounds like a great kind of event, I'd definitely go. I know my mother would LOVE it! The only thing similar I can think of is that some of the catalogue-house makers have little villages where they show off their most popular models fully furnitured so you can get a feel of how it would be to live in them, but it's more middle-class range than top of the line luxury. There's just not a big enough market for that in Sweden I think.

On a side note: do you get a lot of snow in Cincinatti? The houses all have so steep roofs!

Sage -- I was in Asheville a few weeks ago for a quick Saturday trip and I was amazed at how beautiful that area is. It was my first pass through that part of N.C. and I'm definitely heading back there for a weekender or maybe longer. I went to the Biltmore for lunch but they wouldn't let us in just to go to the restaurant. :D Lovely area...

MooseMan -- yeah I figued that along the coasts there wouldn't be much of a comparison. 6000 Sq. Ft monsters that are lavishly detailed like these aren't all that common around here thus the exhorbitant price. You can buy a 3500 Sq Ft home with a walk-out basement (so add a few hundred feet to the base) for anywhere from $300K to $450K depending on the neighborhood.

Pip -- I suspect we don't get as much snow as you get in Sweeden but we do get a fair amount on occasion. Every once in a while we'll get dumped on like last December when the "white death" dropped about 25 inches on us. Those events are rare though and we'll usually get the garden variety of 2 to 6 inches every once in while over the typical winter. Not too bad by snow standards really but it doesn't stop me from complaining about it :D The pitch of the roof lines on these houses is common around here. In some of the older suburbs maybe not so much but in a lot of the newer construction the roof lines offer a more dramatic effect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elphaba

We have something very similar in the Seattle/Tacoma area that is called "Street of Dreams."

Same in Portland. A few years ago the Street of Dreams was not too far from my own house in the suburbs, and boy, the traffic was awful. Uggh. Way too many people, not enough road.

In North central Wisconsin, we have just about the same thing. Its called the Parade of Homes. I went about 20 years or so ago with my parents. From what I remember, the houses were beautiful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooseMan3000

In Maine? I would have thought the cold would keep prices down.

How about Squirrel Island? I've got some relatives who own there. Ever heard of it? How are the values there?