Buyin' Ryan: Mega-builder claims 24% of home market  Ryan Homes
offers the region-hopping "Belvedere" model for around $280,000
in the Holly Hill development in Greene County.  Just when you
thought local builders were going to get the last laugh after
the first national mega-builder entering the Charlottesville
market failed to sell two of its big, high-end projects, Ryan
Homes has come back in a big way. According to statistics from
the Charlottesville-Albemarle Association of Realtors, Ryan now
builds nearly one out of four of the new homes sold in the
Charlottesville area.  At a time when local stalwarts like R.D.
Wade Builder and Church Hill Homes have fallen by the wayside,
Ryan's 24 percent market share of all new residential
construction in Charlottesville and its surrounding counties is
by far the largest of any builder in the area.  How does Ryan do
it? Economies of scale.  "They're like Wal-Mart," says Keith
Davis, a local realtor and real estate commentator. "Since they
are a big national company,