Before any structures had come out of the ground, Realtor Don Harris already had a list of people who want more information about a neighborhood of patio homes coming to Echo Farms.

When finished, Echo Farms Village will consist of more than 90 patio homes, for which lawn maintenance will be taken care of by the neighborhood’s homeowners association. 

Such homes often appeal to a particular demographic, said Harris, an Intracoastal Realty agent who is marketing Echo Farms Village. 

“We’re seeing a demand for them primarily because we’re a retiree destination place because of our culture and our weather,” Harris said.

The homes at Echo Farms Village will be constructed by Hardison Building and American Homesmith, the same companies creating the dwellings in WyndWater, a new Hampstead subdivision currently underway. The floor plans in Echo Farms Village will have floor plans like those of WyndWater.

“What we are finding in the early comments about [WyndWater] is that early retirees are wanting to come. They want a smaller yard, low maintenance and a good location, and of course that’s a good location in Hampstead on Sloop Point Road,” said Tim Milam, president of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage. 

A group in Milam’s company, Christina Block & Associates, is in charge of listing and marketing WyndWater. 

Milam said a factor that’s helped sales of patio homes and local sales overall continues to be that potential buyers have finally been able to sell their homes in other states.

“In the Northeast for years, one of the things that was slowing down our market was the fact that they couldn’t sell their home in the Northeast, and now we’re seeing that they are. I think people realize what their values really are and a lot of people will sell their houses in the Northeast and come down here and pay cash” for a new home, Milam said. 

They also like the fact that in some ways, they’re paying less to live in the Wilmington area, he said.

“Taxes are so low as compared to other parts of the country, so that’s something that helps us tremendously,” Milam said.

Brunswick Forest, a master-planned community in Leland, is among the other areas in the Cape Fear region where patio homes are under construction. A neighborhood that includes patio homes there is Parkway Crossing by Tribute Homes, which launched in April, said Jerry Helms, Brunswick Forest’s director of sales. Helms said another is The Woodlands by Logan Homes.

Helms said patio homebuyers are often trying to simplify their lives by moving from larger homes where they had to keep up lawns themselves to a patio home. They want to spend more time being active, traveling and socializing, he said.

In Brunswick Forest, some of that socializing can mean smaller meetings more often, with friends moving from one home to the next, Helms said.

“It’s much more informal social gatherings every day as opposed to these big events,” he said. 

Harris said while patio homes are often smaller than the homes the buyers lived in previously, they are by no means small. In The Village at Echo Farms, the homes will range from about 2,000 to 2,800 square feet with open floor plans and first-floor master bedrooms among the options.

“That’s what people over 55 are looking for,” Harris said.