NVR Mortgage provides one-stop shopping for Ryan-built homes

A lot of people are wondering if this is the time to buy or build a new home. Tom Montgomery, the branch manager of the Crafton office of NVR Mortgage Finance Inc., is quite certain the time couldn’t be better. “The environment is just right,” said Montgomery. “Home price are reasonable, interest rates are low, and people who are credit worthy are going to be able to get financing.”

NVR Mortgage is the sister company of Ryan Homes. An in-house mortgage company, it offers comprehensive financing programs to customers of Ryan Homes, at competitive rates. “We offer a one-stop shopping approach to financing a Ryan-built home,” explained Montgomery. And that is done, he added, with an emphasis on personal service.

Originally founded in 1948 in Pittsburgh, Ryan Homes now builds in 22 metropolitan areas in 12 eastern states. The company has built more than 300,000 homes, and more are being built each day, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere.

Pittsburgh, in fact, has proven to be healthier than many other housing markets, according to Montgomery. “Our housing situation is considerably better than what national numbers reflect,” he said. “If someone is interested in buying or building a home, they shouldn’t wait for lower prices, lower interest rates, or better values because they will lose out on an opportunity.”

Pittsburgh’s immunity to the worst effects of the housing fallout hasn’t gone unnoticed. Various national publications have reported on the resilience of Pittsburgh’s housing market, which has demonstrated uncommon stability in turbulent times. Montgomery attributes much of this stability to a traditionally conservative approach to mortgage financing on the part of buyers, mortgage bankers and builders. As he sees it, the hardest-hit housing markets have now adopted Pittsburgh’s way of doing business. “Underwriting,” Montgomery said, “has reverted to the tried and true standard procedures instead of the free-lance, so-called ‘creative’ approach.” And it is these same tried and true procedures that have served customers of Ryan Homes and NVR so well.

Buyers of Ryan Homes are not obligated to place their financing with NVR Mortgage, but Montgomery points out that there are significant advantages to doing so. “The fact that we work exclusively with Ryan Homes,” he explained, “enables us to anticipate what needs to be done, and adds an efficiency factor to the process.” When building a home, Ryan finances the construction with its money, while the buyer secures permanent financing. Buyers are qualified in advance by NVR Mortgage, which offers the spectrum of permanent mortgages, ranging from conventional 30-year fixed mortgages with as little as 5 percent down to FHA financing with as little as 3 percent down.

Securing a permanent mortgage in lieu of a construction loan has benefits for the buyer. Construction loans, said Montgomery, typically require that the buyer start paying interest on the loan “from the moment you start digging the hole for the foundation to the day of closing.” A buyer doesn’t start paying on the permanent mortgage until the newly built home’s closing, when ownership is transferred.

While it has been business as usual for Ryan Homes, the builder has held the line on pricing. “Ryan wants to give the customer as low a price as possible,” Montgomery explained, “so we’ve sharpened our pencils to make certain the homes are priced attractively.”

In its ongoing effort to meet customers’ needs, Ryan Homes regularly solicits feedback from consumers as to what they want in a new home. Based on such information, the company recently developed a new floor plan, the Livingston, which is available at Belle Vue Park, in Cranberry Township. The Livingston is a cozy townhome featuring two or three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and a rear entry two-car garage.

A planned community, Belle Vue Park blends the conveniences of today with the small- town charm of yesterday. Features include tree-lined streets, a community clubhouse and a private walking bridge to Cranberry Township’s Graham Park. A good number of Belle Vue Park residents recently crossed the bridge to help celebrate the opening of Graham Park, which comprises more than 180 acres of green space and 13 lighted athletic fields. The fields include the Miracle League Field for special needs children. It is one of six ball fields. Four other fields are devoted to soccer, and three to football/lacrosse. Plans call for some 70 acres to be developed for recreational purposes, with the remaining acreage largely undisturbed.

Ryan Homes has also just opened a new phase at The Village at Pine, in Pine Township. Located in Wexford, The Village at Pine is a townhome community, easily accessible to downtown Pittsburgh, Route 19, I-79 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The community offers suburban charm combined with the convenience of city living, thanks to its nearly completed town square. The town square’s commercial venues put dining, shopping, recreation and everyday conveniences within walking distance of residents. Residents also have access via membership to the amenities of the nearby Oxford Athletic Club, which includes indoor and outdoor swimming pools as well as gym facilities.

Because the current environment is so right for buying or building a new home, Montgomery urges potential buyers to take the time to visit Belle Vue Park, or The Village at Pine, or any of the other Ryan Homes’ communities in the Pittsburgh region. It is, he said, the best way to make an educated decision about what to buy or build, and where to buy or build. What buyers shouldn’t be doing, Montgomery said, “is sitting on the fence.” It’s the wrong place to be when the time is so right to buy or build.