‘Real Estate Weekly’: Lakes of Magnolia Trace back on track

The Lakes of Magnolia Trace was once a wasteland of discarded trash, tires, and burnt couches and mattresses: little more than a dump site and breeding ground for snakes finding habitat in waist-high grass. Yet today, the property is clean, three families live in homes in the subdivision, and 16 more houses are under construction, according to D.R. Horton Inc. The national homebuilder bought the subdivision in March 2012 and built a 3,179-square-foot model home by November. “Sales have been brisk since our opening in June,” says D.R. Horton sales counselor Jessica Herry. The homes range in size between about 2,000 to nearly 3,200 square feet and are priced between $240,000 and $320,000. The current activity is a far cry from the abandoned development that infuriated neighbors. “The grass got real high, I mean super high,” says David Guillory, interim director of the Department of Public Works, of the former state of the 81-lot subdivision off O’Neal Lane. “It was really too big to maintain.” It remained desolate for about three years after roads and sidewalks were paved, underground utilities were laid into place, and streetlights were installed in 2008; not a single house had been framed on the lots—priced between $120,000 and $180,000. By October 2011 the 60-plus acre development was foreclosed upon. —Adam Pearson Read the rest of this story in the new Real Estate Weekly e-newsletter here.