HERE.

The article goes on to note that Mr. Cernuto owns the land on which the park will be built, so obviously, he has good cause to have an interest in it.  Any kind of land development is especially difficult in our current economic environment, so it’s not surprising that at least part of the reason for the change has to do with financing issues.

We certainly hope the new partners will be successful in bringing the park to fruition, given the large positive impact on our area around Mooresville and Troutman.  It does serve as a warning though that when we read about the grand plans of various developers about their plans for wonderful new developments that will be a boon to the area, we can be sure we’re not let in on the whole story.  Developers need buy-in from many different kinds of people.  Certainly those who can help finance a project must be comfortable with it, but the process also involves local and state government plus the sentiment of local residents in order to make the project work and get all the necessary approvals.  Developers will always describe a project in the most positive light in order to help get that buy-in.  I certainly don’t blame them, since the success of many projects will also bring economic benefits to many other residents of the area.  We just need to read news of such projects through a filter of a bit of skepticism.

I’m a card-carrying skeptic, so that’s not a problem for me.

Nowadays home buyers frequently choose to get the home they want to buy tested for radon.  The test is provided by all home inspectors with results back within a couple of days of the test.  If you’re not buying a home and getting a home inspection, you can buy do-it-yourself kits from home centers for less than $15.  Right now, the NC Radon Program website hosted by the NC Department of Health and Human Services is offering FREE radon test kits.  I love the word FREE, don’t you?  The link to get the free kits is a bit slow, so just have patience for it to open up.

The good news is that if your home has a too-high concentration of radon,  there are plenty of ways to clear it up that don’t cost too much.  The idea is to have an air handling system that sucks up the problem air, often in a crawlspace or basement, and blow it outside so that the gas doesn’t have a chance to concentrate in the house.  Outside, it is dissipated so that it’s not a problem.

The NC Radon Program site has lots of information about radon, the effects of different levels, and how to get rid of it.  It even has a NC zone map to give you a bit of an idea of how often this is a problem.  The fact is, though, that your neighbors house can test just fine and yours show concentrations about a safe limit, so doing the test is the best approach.  I’ve ordered my free kit and will run the test as soon as I get it.

If you’re outside of North Carolina, check your state health department for radon info, or you can go to a comprehensive site run by the EPA here.

Fortunately, our inventory is also going down from 12.5 months of inventory in December of 2010 (at then current sales rates) to 9.1 months of inventory in December of 2011.  As inventory goes down, we will eventually get to an equilibrium point where there is balance between buyers’ market and sellers’ market.  Historically that has been at 5-6 months of inventory. Only then will we likely see an overall increase in prices.  Another question for which there’s no easy answer is that of how many foreclosure homes will be added to the market over the next few years.  Lenders don’t want to dump all of their inventory on the market at once since that would dilute the prices of all homes on the market.  Foreclosures are currently down to 2007 levels according to a report on MSN Real Estate HERE, but the article explains that there are underlying issues that could change the rate of foreclosure in the future.

One reason for encouragement here in the Lake Norman NC area is that according to recent reports, North Carolina is one of the top five destinations for people moving from other, largely northern, areas.  See the article about this HERE.  Real estate agents in our area can attest that many of the buyers they are working with are from northern states, and many of them have come at the recommendation of friends who’ve already made the move.  As they move to our area, they will help to reduce the excess inventory and finally see some increase in home prices.

I keep an eye on expert opinion on the economy from many sources.  We don’t yet have full agreement that things are turning around, but I certainly see more positive than negative outlooks now, and that’s encouraging.  For homebuyers, that positive sentiment and confidence in the future is key to their willingness to sign on the dotted line.

I’m up for any recognition I can get.  The best recognition though, is when I get a call from someone who asks me to work with them based on the recommendation of one of my prior clients.  Word of mouth advertising is the most highly favored and most productive advertising for any business.  It’s especially important for people who want to buy or sell real estate because it involves such a large part of their assets and is not something people generally do often enough to feel comfortable on their own.

I work very hard to give my clients the confidence that their real estate transaction will be completed to their best advantage with as few bumps in the road as possible.  When there are bumps in the road, I’ll do everything I can to smooth them out.  I’ve been doing this for quite a few years now, and have lots of experience and resources to help me help my clients.

Lots of people like to live right in the city or a close suburb, and that’s great (I’ve done both).  Others like to live close enough to the city to enjoy the amenities of a metropolitan area without having to live in the city full-time and battle traffic and other irritations unless they do it by choice to visit the city.  Mooresville is close enough for one to drive to most parts of Charlotte within 30-45 minutes on the weekends.   Daily commutes to downtown are not too bad unless someone makes an “oops” up ahead and slows traffic, but you’ll find that anywhere.  I talk with and work with a lot of people moving to our area, and most find it a great place to live.  They like the Mooresville area’s slower pace and the recreational benefits of Lake Norman.  They also like being a only a couple of hours from our mountains and four or so hours to our coast.  Life is good here in the Charlotte/Lake Norman area!  If you want to find out more about it, check out the Relocation link on the right side of this page.

Take a look at the Kiplinger article HERE.

I’m too much of a gearhead/gadget guy to think that I’ll stop appreciating well-designed gizmos, but the older I get, the more I just enjoy a good meal with friends.  I’ll still happily rip open a Christmas package containing pajamas, a tie, a sweater, or other traditional goodies.  I’ll really appreciate them, and my bride will enjoy me looking a little less out-of-style. But just understand that if you’re looking for  the really unique gadget that will make me feel all twelve years old again, apart from going nuts in the Brookstone store/catalog, it’s going to be tough, but good luck!

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Hope you get what YOU want.

Sonya Leonard

Last week, Realtors from the Charlotte Regional Realtor’s Association’s Northern Region (Iredell and N. Mecklenburg) enjoyed a holiday luncheon at the Statesville Civic Center.  Along with our usual fundraising activities for the Housing Opportunity Foundation and bringing toys for donation to the Salvation Army, we had very special guests as speakers after lunch.  Sonya Leonard, an Iredell area Realtor, introduced Brenda Speece of Children’s Homes of Iredell County.  Earlier in the year, Sonya nominated Children’s Homes of Iredell County for one of the HOF’s Community Grants Awards, and they later became a recipient of a sizeable contribution from HOF.  Brenda was asked to speak to the group about the work of her organization.

Brenda described how they provide a stable home-like situation for local foster children, but the surprising thing is that they also have a remarkable transitional program.

Brenda Speece and Rayna

Think about what happens to a kid when he or she ages out of the foster program.  How do they then survive?  Do they even know how to survive without getting into negative circumstances.  The goal of the transitional program is to answer that need by giving them a place to live, help in securing employment, or even help in pursuing further education.  What a great way to improve the odds of these kids growing up to be positive contributors to the community!

At our luncheon, Brenda went into a bit of detail about their work, then invited one of the youth who’s been in program, Rayna, to come up a tell us what it meant to her.  Rayna was clearly very appreciative of the work of Brenda Speece and Children’s Homes of Iredell County and what it has meant to the quality of her life and future prospects.  The Realtors that day left with a greater appreciation for what they, and anyone, can do to put light into the lives of those who need a break.

You can help too, by contacting Brenda Speece at Brenda.speece@chomesofiredell.com, or call her at 704-768.2719.  They operate a thrift store at 224 N. Center St. in Statesville to provide employment for the kids and raise money for the organization.  From the photos I saw on their Facebook page (found HERE), it looks like they’ve got some great, high-quality items for sale.  I’d say it’s worth a trip or two or three, for a variety of reasons!

Real estate agents have to be very flexible, creative and understanding of everyone’s priorities in order to keep from going nuts.  They’ve also got to have those characteristics to keep their clients from going nuts, too!  I’ve often told my clients that one of the unappreciated roles of an effective real estate agent is to act as a “shock absorber” for their clients.  We know that clients, both buyers and sellers, are excited and somewhat anxious about making their plans work.  Good real estate agents put considerable effort into managing all the variables and surprises than can crop up to make the path to a closing a bumpy one.  We do our best to anticipate those bumps, but “stuff” does happen in spite of our best efforts.  That’s when a good understanding of the process and good relationships with our service providers can help smooth out those bumps.

I’ve had 3 buyer closings on the books for several months, and I took special care to spread them out on the calendar.  But “stuff” showed up on two out of three, and now this week I’ll have all three closings within two or three days.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m happy to have these three closings, but that’s not how I’d plan them.  We just have to take a deep breath, and do what needs to be done to make all clients involved happy.  If we do that and remain calm, the visit to the closing table will be a welcome finale to the long transaction process, and there’ll be no last-minute surprises.

Surprises are great for Christmas, but not for closings!

These calculations are done by pulling sold data from county tax sites.  Humans don’t look at it to check for accuracy or reasonableness.  These systems don’t have any idea of the condition of the houses for which they’ve pulled data.  They have no idea of how much updating may have been done.  They don’t know if the landscaping is better or worse than the neighborhood average.  In some cases I’ve seen price calculations for houses include prices for raw land in the neighborhood in addition to house sales which obviously draws down average and median prices of the sold houses.

The point here is that these tools can get you roughly in the ballpark, but they are not numbers that you’d want to try to defend in an actual home sale.  Those transactions which involve Realtors and Appraisers who have to put much more time and judgement into property valuation than can be done by a computer are going to be far more in tune with the actual market at the time of sale.  This is not to say that Realtors and Appraisers will always come out with extremely accurate predictions of eventual sale prices.  Real estate properties generally can’t be treated as commodities that all have the save value.  Since value is in the eye of the beholder,  some of that determination is dependent on what buyers happen to be in the market, what sellers (alternative properties) are in the market, and the motivation and experience of each.

Go ahead and pull up you property value to see roughly what it’s worth on one of these sites.  Just do so with your eyes open and understanding the relative accuracy of the valuation.  If you want to get a much more accurate valuation, call a human- like a Realtor or an Appraiser, and have confidence in the information they provide.

The good news is that our Charlotte regional area is still a very attractive place to live with a relatively strong economy.  Many people continue to want to move here to live and work, and low prices and low mortgage rates make it a wonderful time to buy homes.  Even through the winter we expect to see a steady influx of folks who want to make this area their home.  Also, people who need to up-size or down-size will find the current environment very attractive to making the move.