Friendswood Development News

Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention

Please join Village Builders in Heritage at Towne Lake on Tuesday, October 13 for affordable, painless ultrasound tests of your arteries and bones. Unfortunately, insurance companies typically won’t pay for ultrasound testing unless you have symptoms. But, 50% of sudden cardiac death victims and 80% of stroke victims have no symptoms. That’s why a preventive screening is so important to keep you and your loved ones healthy and independent.

Three Tests for $130.95
These painless tests often cost more than $1,000 in hospitals.

Stroke / Carotid Artery Disease Test
80-85% of strokes result from clots that break off, traveling to smaller arteries in the brain. Carotid Artery Disease is a leading cause of these clots. We use ultrasound to identify dangerous plaque build-up.

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State Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and State Representative Allen Fletcher (R-Tomball) were the keynote speakers at the Focus on Government Day event held Saturday, September 26 at the Lodge in The Heritage at Towne Lake.

Focus on Government Day began at 10 a.m. and concluded with a lunch sponsored by Friendswood Development Company, at 1:00 p.m. The event, which focused on issues of concern among citizens in their district, topics related to the growing active adult market and what the lawmakers say did not happen in Austin during the past legislative session.

“We’re honored that these two important members of our state government came to this event,” said Christine Draughn of Friendswood Development Company and  Marketing Director for Heritage at Towne Lake. “We had a great response.”

The  Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) is a membership community for seniors age 50 and up, and focuses on enriching the lives of empty nesters and active senior citizens by providing useful classes, seminars, social activities and skills development and opportunities for personal growth. The event was free and open to the public.

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Hundreds of Realtors from around the Houston area learned a lot more about social media networking at a recent event hosted by Friendswood Development Company in Heritage at Towne Lake on Thursday, July 30. The social media event gave Realtors in attendance the opportunity to gain more knowledge on the importance of social media and its role in marketing real estate, and the change to implement the concept into their own businesses.

Nearly 500 Realtors from Conroe to Clear Lake attended the event, which included two informative and educational sessions presented by Poetic Systems and Boe Creative Services, a session on setting up Facebook pages for business, YouTube filming and catering by Pierre and Candy Massoud, was praised among all who attended. The event also offered insight on the growing focus of social media networking in business, and was represented by agents who ranged in age from their 20s to their 60s. Twenty agents won Flip cameras at the event, in addition to a dozen other door prizes donated by the developer's builders.

An album of photos from the event is posted on the company's Facebook page.

“We received a lot of positive feedback from the Realtors who said that in addition to having the opportunity to tour our new Lodge facility in Heritage at Towne Lake, they were able to participate in an event that offered them so much value,” said Tim Fitzpatrick, Community Development Manager for Friendswood Development Company. “The presentations were excellent and offered a lot of insight on the global approach in which real estate is being marketed.”

Poetic Systems has also redesigned and launched new websites for Friendswood Development Company and each of its Houston area communities which include Fairfield in Cypress, Graystone Hills in Conroe, Lakemont in West Houston, Lakes of Savannah in the Pearland area, West Ranch in Friendswood, Oakhurst at Kingwood and active adult communities that include Heritage at Towne Lake in the master-planned Towne Lake community. Heritage at Towne Lake is designed for buyers age 55 and over.

The significant investment Friendswood Development Company has made in the new sites has also includes a very focused, intensive Search Engine Optimization program with blogs updated regularly and a presence on popular social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. “Friendswood Development has a great story to tell – a long history of success and great master-planned communities,” said Cheryl Boe-Perry of Boe Creative Services, which hired Poetic Systems to implement the new websites. “The Houston real estate market has become a place where international buyers realize a wonderful investment and marketing must now be tailored to reach the global market.” Since the debut of the new sites, Friendswood Development Company has seen a significant increase in traffic on the sites, and interest from potential home buyers both locally and internationally.
 
“Our communities overall are performing very well,” Fitzpatrick said. “Summer has been particularly strong, with sales and traffic ahead of our projections.”

Friendswood Development Company hosted the event to show its commitment to its Realtor partners, offering them information that is timely and extremely important. “Realtors have always been a part of our success, and this event offered them information that can help them in their own businesses and help us all market and sell more new homes,” Fitzpatrick said.  “The internet has become the most powerful tool in marketing real estate. People are online networking with other consumers about homes, communities, builders, schools and amenities, and it’s more important than ever that we become a part of that conversation.”

The developer plans to post the seminars on its websites and YouTube, offering agents who could not attend the event, the opportunity to view it.

In addition to being hosted by Friendswood Development Company, the event was also sponsored by Houston Eflyer, CasaNuevaGuide.com and Houston Newcomer Guides.

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We would like to thank all of the realtors and sponsors that made yesterday's Social Media event a success!

Realtors from around the Houston area gathered to learn from experts about how they can utilize social media online to further their business. We covered networks like Facebook, ActiveRain, and Twitter, and talked about the importance of being effective "community members" online. After our two classes, Realtors could visit with Social Media Experts (a huge hit!) and get answers relevant to their own unique situations.

Realtors also enjoyed dancing to music played by the excellent Doppelganger (a nine-piece variety dance band), food, martinis, candy, and a FlipCam giveaway.

We will soon be posting a video with highlights from the event, so look out for that article soon!

If you were unable to attend this Social Media event, you can still view the handout provided by PoeticSystems with a list of a few references to get you started.

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Social networking on the Internet has become one of the most powerful tools in marketing real estate today. Helping Realtors to use and understand the importance of social media to expand their business has become an industry-wide outreach campaign all across the nation. Now, Friendswood Development Company is again setting a precedent in how we market and work with our Houston area master-planned communities and Realtors.

On Thursday, July 30, Friendswood Development Company will host an event that promises to be the first of its kind in Houston. For Realtors city wide, it will focus on helping them to gain a better understanding of social media in their business, offering them the latest trends in social media marketing. The event will also have industry experts on hand who can answer questions and offer valuable information on everything from setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts to posting a YouTube video.  Realtors in attendance will also have the opportunity to learn about various aspects of website effectiveness, including tips about the latest gadgets that will help them enhance their business.

“The Internet has become the most powerful tool in marketing real estate,” said Tim Fitzpatrick, Community Development Manager. “People are online networking with other consumers about homes, communities, builders, schools and amenities, and it’s more important than ever that we become a part of that conversation.”

As an extra special feature, we will be giving away 20 FlipCams as door prizes. This new flip video camcorder has become one of the newest and most effective tools in social media/Internet marketing. FlipCams will also be used at the event that will be captured on YouTube.

The FlipCam was a significant device in helping to promote this event, as seen from the YouTube video link, a personal invitation from the Friendswood Development team. “This was another way to show the effectiveness and ease of using tools like the FlipCam and YouTube, and we want the agents to see how they can implement this into their own businesses,” Fitzpatrick said. Realtors, who account for more than 70 percent of new-home sales in our communities, have enjoyed a lasting working relationship with us. “Realtors remain a strong partner for us, and we want to continue to be a strong partner for them,” he said. “A part of that relationship is offering Realtors the tools and support they need to successfully sell new homes in our communities.”

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One of the many advantages offered to residents in Heritage at Towne Lake is the community’s close proximity to Lone Star College Cy-Fair. Located less than one-half mile from The Heritage at Towne Lake, Lone Star College has a wealth of resources, activities, events and opportunities for students of all ages to expand and enrich their academic life.

In addition to a broad curriculum of courses, Lone Star College Cy-Fair offers residents in the area to join the Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) - an organization for active, older adults (50+) offering classes and social activities for continued intellectual and personal growth. Learning is a lifelong pursuit that opens minds, enriches lives This Academy is a membership-based organization for active learning adults and offers a program of special events, informal activities and classes right here in the community. The Academy for Lifelong Learning focuses on the mature learner and is actually managed by members of the community who want to be involved in an important and stimulating pursuit.

The required membership fee is just  $10 and entitles members to:

• Take Academy for Lifelong Learning courses at LSC-CyFair free of charge or at a reduced fee;
• Participate in social activities;
• Share a love of learning with people who will broaden their lives;
• Study under the guidance of members who represent a wide range of expertise and life's experiences;
• Share their avocation or formal training as an ALL instructor;
• Develop friendships within a diverse group of people; and
• Be a part of a collective voice of active adults in the community.

“An increasing number of residents in Heritage at Towne Lake are actively involved in this wonderful organization,” said Christine Draughn, Marketing Director for Heritage at Towne Lake. “It’s the perfect compliment to the active lifestyle that is attracting more and more new-home buyers in growing market.”

The Heritage at Towne Lake features new homes priced from the $180,000s to the $300,000s by Village Builders and Four Seasons by K. Hovnanian. Decorated models and sales offices are open daily in the community, representing the wide variety of luxury, low maintenance patio homes that are now available.

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An integral part of the Heritage at Towne Lake, the community created for new-home buyers age 55 and up, is the clubhouse which is the focal point of community activity. Available exclusively for the residents in this new community, the new lodge-style clubhouse is a place where residents can meet, visit and participate in a wide range of activities.

The new 16,000 square-foot multi-million dollar facility decorated in a rustic, welcoming lodge style, offers a well-planned design that features rooms for a wide variety of activities. A library with built-in shelves houses a number of different books and offers an ideal place for meetings, and a private business office offers residents the use of computers, internet and a fax machine. An open seating area in the front of the Lodge has plenty of room for small or larger groups and showcases a gas log fireplace and expansive windows offering views of the community.

A separate hobby room surrounded by walls of windows has a flexible design that accommodates a variety of hobby workshops or classes. The billiards room is spacious and includes pool and game tables and the fitness center, which is state of the art, also has separate access for residents who like to work out in early morning hours. This room also features views of the pool and lake.

The grand ballroom easily accommodates large groups and includes a stage and state of the art sound system, as well as access to the kitchen. Men’s and women’s locker rooms complete the interior of the facility. Outside are a resort-style heated pool and spa and extensive seating and gathering areas. Complimenting this facility is=2 0an on-site staff that includes a full-time activities director who works closely with residents and coordinates a monthly calendar of events and activities.

“The residents truly enjoy this facility and take advantage of all of its benefits,” said Christine Draughn, Marketing Director for Heritage at Towne Lake. “This facility is the focal point of Heritage at Towne Lake.

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The National Association of Home Builders reports that builders catering to the 55 and up market are seeing a continued increase in traffic and that traffic during the first quarter of this year is up. The report came from the 55+Housing Market Index (55+HMI).

The story from the NAHB further states, “A strong and growing number of retirees and empty-nest households are interested in either downsizing or moving to a more user-friendly home – especially if it’s near their existing community,” said David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist. “But the current market still presents significant obstacles to homeowners who need to sell an existing ho me before buying a more appropriate one. That situation is holding many mature consumers back from moving.”

The 55+ HMI is a diffusion index, derived from quarterly surveys of builders and developers designed to study builder sentiment on single-family housing and both multifamily condo and rental conditions. The survey asks builders to rank their perceptions of the current sales conditions, prospective buyer traffic, and market expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair,” or “poor.”  The responses are used to create a scale of 0 to 100, with a rating of 50 generally indicating that the number of positive responses is about the same as the number of negative responses.

Despite difficult market conditions, builders who specialize in this sector are seeing more prospective buyers coming through their doors according to the survey. Builders exhibited guarded optimism as they look forward six months, with the six-month expectation index number rising from 24 to 26 for single-family sales, and the condo sales index number rising from 17 to 20.

Friendswood Development Company, the Houston-based developer which pioneered the concept of master-planned communities in Houston and is also developing active adult communities focused on new-home buyers age 55 and up, has also seen an increase in traffic and sales in its Heritage at Towne Lake and BellaVita communities.

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The highly anticipated clubhouse in Heritage at Towne Lake is now open. The 13,000 square-foot facility in the Heritage at Towne Lake community celebrated its grand opening and is now open daily for residents' use. The Lodge features a ballroom and stage, billiards/game room, a craft/hobby room, a fitness center, a library, a catering kitchen, a business center with computers, printer and fax services, a large sitting area, and a resort-style pool and cabana overlooking a beautiful lake.

The clubhouse will also be the focal point of social activity for residents with a slate of activities planned each month by a full-time activities director.

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