Newly Formed Renovation Committee Seeks Members

Imagine visiting The Landings and searching for your “Dream Home” complete with open floorplan, low maintenance, outside living spaces, spa-inspired baths, and a gourmet kitchen. If these properties aren’t readily available, would you consider renovating a previously-loved property to achieve your goals, or do you instead turn to newer communities offering these amenities?

How does our community approach this issue? How does The Landings attract new purchasers who are open to develop an awareness of all the possibilities through renovation? The Landings Association is moving forward with the establishment of a platform for promoting revitalization of our existing housing stock through a newly formed renovation Committee.

The Renovation Committee will create and implement a platform for supporting Objective 2 of The Landings Association’s Strategic Plan, “facilitate a fresh, diverse housing stock for people at every stage of life who desire the ‘Landings Lifestyle’”.

To assist with this effort, The Landings Association is seeking highly motivated volunteers to serve on a Renovation Committee. It is no secret that The Landings is a unique community that is blessed to have many residents who give of their time and energy to make the community a better place to live, work, and play. Diane Thompson, Chair of the Renovation Committee is counting on this asset to assist the group’s efforts.

“We need five residents with backgrounds and experience in relevant professions including architecture, landscaping, building, and design to serve as members of the committee,” Thompson said. Interested residents can apply online (landings.org/committee-membership-application).

Thompson said she looks forward to hearing from resident volunteers to assist The Landings Association on revitalizing existing housing stock within the community.

 “As a community, we face a number of challenges in meeting the current demands of today’s prospective home buyer,” she said. “We need to be able to convert potential purchasers from turnkey structures to adopting renovation as a means to finding their dream home. Unfortunately, in our benchmarking of similar communities, we have not discovered another community that has addressed these issues successfully. However, I am confident that we have the talent and skills among our residents to be the leader in this arena!”

Landings Association General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Shari Haldeman said, “Some people build their dream home, while others search the market endlessly for the perfect home. Then there are those who create their dream home through renovation. Volunteers for the Renovation Committee are being sought to develop a platform and tools that help inspire people to see the potential, the possibilities, and the value equation that home renovation offers.”   

Suzanne Lin and Victor "Gus" Moore, IV with The Landings Company agree that forming a Renovation Committee is an excellent idea.

“As a 14-year resident of Skidaway Island, I believe life at The Landings is a blessing, and that there is no better place to live than here on our beautiful island," Lin said. "As a realtor at The Landings Company, I am privileged to help buyers find their dream homes and sellers move on to other chapters. With many new planned, amenity communities being built, renovations of our homes are vital to maintaining our property values and continuing to showcase our community as the only choice for island living along the East Coast. This will put our best foot forward and create better choices for the many people that are coming to our amazing community."

Moore echoed Lin's sentiments.

“The Landings is one of the most scenically beautiful and vibrant communities in the country, and with the adoption of The Landings Club’s $25M capital improvement plan, we are well on course to remain one of the most desirable places to live in the Southeastern U.S, " he said. "As a 12-year resident, I am proud to call it my forever home. But as lovely and well-run as our island is, Realtors still face headwinds selling an inventory of homes that is often seen as somewhat dated by many buyer’s standards - many of whom are looking at newer communities in comparison. There are few other communities anywhere that can compete with the amenities that The Landings has to offer; hence, TLA wisely decided to create a focus group of architects, community planners, Realtors, and others to envision what could be done when renovating some of the more senior homes on the island. Nearly all of these homes are very well constructed, and simply need some minor re-imagining and investment to become totally transformed show-stoppers. I am a veteran of four home renovations (two here on the island) and was very excited to have the opportunity to serve on the design concepts for the Renovation Committee to share my experiences, both positive and negative, with my colleagues. Our challenge is to find the right ‘formula’ of design, style, and budget to create the greatest return on investment for homeowners. We are hoping to spark a ‘renovation revolution’ when some of the first projects have been completed, that will inspire homeowners with sound concepts to renovate, creating equity in their homes and increasing property values on the island as a whole.”

Interested residents have until Tuesday, April 30 to submit a membership application to serve on the Renovation Committee.