In the north east of Karkur, on private land, in a beautiful countryside area, and adjacent to existing construction of the attractive Koren neighborhood, at the corner of the Hameyasdim and Hagalil streets, Neve Gad company is currently constructing the "Yuvalim" project. "Yuvalim" is a completely new neighborhood, which once finished, in approximately five years, will be home for, according to our estimation about 400 families. The architect of the project is the architects' Office Bareli, Levitzky, Ksif from Tel-Aviv; one of the major Architects' offices in Israel, which specializes in residential projects planning in Israel and abroad.

The neighborhood is actually composed of two compounds: adjacent to the Yuvalim project, the administration of the residential projects (also known as "the administration") of the IDF's human resources department, builds the "Neot Yuvalim" project. The project includes 120 two family cottages, on plots of 250 m². Even if you are military career personnel there is no need to hurry: all the houses have already been sold "on the paper"; It's Sold Out! For the general public the Neve Gad Company builds 280, 6 room single family houses (villas) on plots of 400-500 m². The houses' surface is 150-185 m². One of the models is available with a basement. The villas' prices start at 1,239,000 NIS.

The Neve Gad Company, that constructs "Yuvalim", is entirely owned by Nechasim Vebinyan Company, controlled by Discount Investments which is controlled by IDB Development controlled by IDB Holdings controlled by Ganden Holdings which is controlled by the businessman Nochi Dankner. (Are you still with me?) Nechasim Vebinyan, by itself but mainly through Neve-Gad, Gav-Yam and Nichsey Hadarim, is engaged in the initiation, planning, development, construction and sale of residential units in projects and residential neighborhoods that it builds all over the country. As of 31^st of December 2005, the group owns approved construction rights for 3,855 residential units, 1,212 of them in various construction stages in the "Merom Nave" neighborhood in Ramat-Gan, in "Neve-Ganim" in Kiryat Motzkin, "Shderot Nave" in the Mashtela neighborhood in Tel-Aviv, in "Hakirya Hayeruka" in Givaat Shmuel, in the "Em Hamoshavot" and "Neve Oz" neighborhoods in Petah-Tikva", "Neve-Hapark" in Modiin, "Ganim" in Ganey Tikva, "Neve-Gad" towers in Rehovot, O.K project in Kiryat Ono, "Carmel Vayam" in the French Carmel, "Ginot Gad" in the Arnona neighborhood in Jerusalem and of course, in the "Yuvalim" project in Karkur. In order to get an idea of the extension of the group's activity, in 2005 the Nechasim group has sold 375 residential units and its revenue from the sale of residential units last year attained the amount of 480 million NIS.

Project Project!

The total area of the project (including the area of "Neot Yuvalim") is 220 dunam! Out of that area, 18 dunams were already allocated by Neve Gad to a park with sitting corners, playgrounds for children, walking circuits, bicycle riding circuits, squares and paved trails, gardening planned by landscape architects and more!  In addition, Neve Gad, in coordination with the local council of Pardes Hanna-Karkur, intends to build in the project's area an elementary school, a kindergarten, and a commercial center which will probably contain a supermarket. The environmental development done by the company in the "Merom Nave" neighborhood in Ramat-gan, is a typical example of environmental development that is planned by the company for the Yuvalim project. The project's streets are paved "Dutch Streets". Each house has a two cars parking. In the front of each house there is a brick made fence with an entrance gate. The technical specification is rich and at our visit to the exhibition house build by the company for the convenience of the interested buyers, we were very impressed by the construction quality and the quality of the products. The company equips each house with a security designed entrance door, concrete tiles roof in two colors, itung walls at a standard that is above the required standard for thermal and acoustic isolation, two color plaster on the exterior walls, designed interior banister, porcelain glazed paving, stone paving on the stairs, electrical shutters in the living room, aluminum profiles from the excellent 9000 series of the "Kalil"company, isolating glazing, choice between "Semel" or "Lugat" kitchen cupboards, choice of Caesar stone kitchen surfaces, bathroom cupboards, imported sanitary equipment, corner Jetim bath (Jacuzzi) in the master bedroom bathroom, wooden high quality doors, preparation for cable television and telephone in every room, preparation for alarm and sound system on the ground floor, for a computer network on the living floor, for air conditioning, and for a fireplace - including the pipe and the placement for the tank and more. Taste is something individual, but from our professional point of view the houses are beautiful, and the meticulous planning is obvious in the entire neighborhood, in the exterior appearance of the houses and also in the interior design. We were impressed and accord 5 stars to this specification.

Advantages

Karkur, in particular, and the localities nearby, in general, enjoy a high demand. It's not surprising; an Israeli family likes to work in the city and live in a village, and the Karkur region enables it to fulfill that desire. An excellent location, construction of high quality by a well established company with very good reputation and prices lower than parallel projects in the surrounding localities like Zichron Yaacov and Binyamina - what else may be asked for? Yuvalim is very attractive for families with children that want to improve their habitation. One of the significant advantages is the good education for Karkur's children. The opening of a new elementary school in the neighborhood's compound will be, for many parents, a dream that comes true. Yuvalim, like Karkur itself, is very accessible. Its location on the north eastern part of the locality makes for convenient entry and exit. The access of route 65 (Wadi Ara) and from there the Eiron Junction and route 6, is very easy. A short drive brings you to the railway station, located at the limit of Pardes Hanna and the industrial area of Caesarea, and from there...to the big employment, commerce and leisure centers of Israel, and to the Ben Gurion airport on the railway axis. With the opening of segment 18 of route 6 (crossing Israel), it will be very easy to drive to the Yokneam area, and some time later also to the areas of Kiryat Shmona and Neharyia on the future segments of route 6. The type of the proposed house (a villa) is also contributing to the attractiveness of the "Yuvalim" project: according to a recent review prepared by the Bureau of Land Appraisers in Israel, 44% of the Israelis said that their dream is to have a ground attached, single family house ("villa").

The prices in the project vary between 1,236,000 NIS for a 150 m² 6 room house (with an expansion option of 50 m² in the attic) on a plot of 450 m², and up to 1,710,000 NIS for a villa of 6 rooms and a basement with separate entrance, a bathroom and toilet which may be used as a separate unit. The overall surface of the house is 240 m². Additional expenses consist of juridical and registration fees of 1.5%, as is usual in new projects. Neve Gad holds the additional percentages of construction rights, if there are any, and the expansion of the house in the future may involve payment of an improvement tax. The prices are as of our day of visit at the project and for the current, first stage. All prices are attached to the construction index. The payment arrangements are flexible; include collateral as required by the apartments' sale law to ensure the purchaser's money, and the "Neve Gad" people adapt them to the reimbursement possibilities of the purchasers.

Special deal from Discount Bank of Mortgages

The Neve Gad Company and the Discount Bank of Mortgages (controlled by IDB and Nochi Dankner - you remember?) are currently offering an attractive mortgage to the project's purchasers and to the Yuvalim project. In this deal, each purchaser gets a mortgage attached to the index of up to 250,000 NIS at a fixed rate which currently stands at 4.8%, for 20 years, and the Neve Gad Company is paying the loan reimbursements to Discount Bank for the first three years! Here you can see how the Dankner family is moving the reimbursement money you were supposed to pay, from its left pocket to its right pocket and you benefit from it!

Who is buying

Neve Gad reports a strong interest in the project. The average age of the purchasers is 30 to 40 but there are exceptions. Most of the purchasers have an academic title. Most of the purchasing families have children. For most of the purchasers the house they are buying at "Yuvalim" is not their first house and they are habitation improvers. But what improvement! The project's sales began officially on December 2005, and since then purchasers show a lot of interest in the project. The fact that 120 cottages of the "Neve Yuvalim" project have already been purchased and are already in an advanced construction stage, gives an additional assurance to those purchasing now that this luxury neighborhood's vision will indeed be successfully realized and on schedule. For those purchasing now, the company promises population of the houses in October 2007, for houses that were already designated for construction and in 18 months from the reception of the right of construction for a house they will purchase.