"Home" is the Nicest Word There Is!

 

Over the Back Fence

“Home” is the Nicest Word There Is

Volume 10

By Vicki L Bishop

 

When I was about four years old, my parents decided to build a house.  In this process, my dad would take me with him to visit the site to check on the progress.  I remember the different stages as the foundation was poured, then the framing, roof and various other components.  One day when we went to check on our new house, it was finished.  When I walked in, I discovered that I love the smell of a new house; there is nothing else like it.  It isn’t the paint or the carpet or any one thing, but the combined effort of all those new components that gel into one magnificent aroma.  A new house is simply one of my favorite things.

Driving through Dixon last week, I noticed something I have not seen in a long time—new construction—and a lot of it!  We have had some notable new construction within the city limits in the last two years, but suddenly Dixon seems to be the place to be if you are looking for new construction.  Everywhere you go locally, the store and the gas station and church, people are talking about Dixon’s new construction.

 According to one local real estate agent, since the beginning of 2024, a total of 17 new constructions have been built within the Dixon City Limits.  Six were completed and sold in 2024, and the remainder were either constructed or will be constructed in 2025--with ten currently in progress and in various stages.  The homes are a mixture of custom builds, spec homes, and investment properties.  

Within the Dixon real estate market (the Dixon School District), homes have a median sales price of $230,000 with an average of 53 days on market.  The list to sales price ratio is 100%, and in the last 12 months there were a total of 79 sales.  Currently, there are 19 active and 8 pending listings.

Within the corporate limits of Dixon, there were 31 sales in the last year, also with a list to sales price ratio near 100%.  The median sales price is $132,500; however, those statistics are recent and reflect the cold winter months.  The median sales price fluctuated from $166,100 about nine months ago and may enjoy more positive fluctuations as the summer months near.  Currently, there are 7 active listings and 3 pending listings within the city.

Most will understand that there are four stages to a neighborhood life cycle: growth, stability, decline and revitalization.  I am thrilled to see our town enjoying revitalization!

Why do we see this shift from what many believed would be a prolonged decline phase to revitalization?   My mother said it best all those years ago when she moved back to Dixon: “You will never find a place cheaper to live than in Dixon, Missouri.”  That may be a bit debatable, but she was right in the sense that Dixon is affordable when much of the rest of the world is not.  Prospective homeowners are finally realizing that the City of Dixon has a lot to offer.

As an example, the median sales price of new construction for the Dixon School District is around $245,000 with a range of $150,000 to $270,000.  Within the Waynesville School District, the median sales price of new construction is around $327,000 with a range of $249,000 to $402,000 (non-custom homes).

Best of all, the new growth is an organic, home-grown effort by builders and laborers who are almost all local!  There are no government projects or corporate (mass) builders.  According to one agent that I consulted, the majority of the new construction is being occupied by Dixon residents, mostly moving into town from unincorporated areas of Pulaski County. However, a few of the homes are from people relocating or retiring.  

No one person or group is responsible for these changes.  There are at least four different builders involved in the new constructions and several others that are tackling the renovations.

Many of the homes were built on vacant lots that had never been developed, and several were also built on lots where the former dwellings were in poor condition and were demolished prior to construction.  Several dilapidated houses have been removed, but there is still much room for revitalization within our community.

Aside from new construction, there is also a wave of renovations that have hit our community.  I do not have concrete numbers on this, and the renovations span from minor updates to major full renovations. However, these improvements are a welcome sight to see for locals.

Based on research and observations over the years, Dixon had significant growth in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.  With a cooling of the economy in the 1970s and 1980s, there was still growth, but on a lesser scale than in previous decades.  With the 1990s came another small burst of growth, but when the last major manufacturing jobs left our community, new construction mostly died, rarely to be seen again until last year.

If you have a residential lot or small parcel of land, or even a dilapidated structure within the City of Dixon that you would be willing to offer for sale, please contact a local real estate agent, as there is currently a shortage of building sites.  Let’s keep this momentum going!

What does such growth and change signify?  New construction is a driver of local economic growth, creating jobs, boosting local businesses, and improving infrastructure, a likely positive effect on property values.

There is truly nothing like new construction.  I love it just as much today as I did those fifty-some years ago when I was introduced to my first new house.  I still love how a new house looks so sleek, the smell, the feel of the new surfaces, the moment of its final reveal, the first photograph, all those memories that will fill the house for years to come.  It is a haven that will provide shelter from the storms of life.  The stories it could tell when its life cycle nears the end.  

“Home” is the nicest word there is…..Laura Ingalls Wilder.  

Go Dixon.