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Posts Tagged ‘Iredell County Real Estate’

Real Estate Market Update for Lake Norman NC Area

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, Lake Norman, Mecklenburg County, tagged , , , , on August 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

We’ve been seeing some recent statistics in the national and local news about some improvement in the real estate market.  I can say that from my observations and activity, that’s true.  Buyers are buying, sellers are pricing more realistically and builders are building new homes- even some for inventory.  So, there is reason for cautious optimism.  Still, you should understand that when we say sales are up, that means up from the last year, not from any longer perspective.  That also doesn’t mean that prices are going up in any substantial manner.  I’m hopeful for the return of a strong real estate market because 1) I earn my living selling homes, and 2) It is somewhat of a predictor of the direction of the overall economy.  However, I’m a believer in everyone having a realistic set of expectations.  So, to give you some perspective, here are some of the latest charts showing different measures of the real estate market.  They show that month to month, things have jumped around quite a bit, so answers depend on when you asked the question and compared to when in the past. (All data from Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. Powered by 10K Research and Marketing.)  Click on each image to bring up a larger one.

So, are things picking up?  Sorta.  You be the judge.

By the way, if you’d like some additional similar info like average or median prices, months of inventory, broken down by price ranges or towns or zip codes, let me know.  I’ll be happy to work up some charts for you.  We have some pretty cool tools to measure the numbers in real estate in our Multiple Listing Service.  The above is just a small sample of what I can do with our system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Big Changes in Real Estate Offers to Purchase

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Real Estate, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Change is good.  Right?  Well then the NC real estate community is having some good times learning the ins and outs of a substantially revised Offer to Purchase and Contract form that was officially put into play on January 1, 2011. Contract The most significant change from the previous way of doing things is that now we are using an approach that has been standard procedure for the commercial real estate market.  It is that when you make an offer on a property, you will be expected to pay the seller directly a “Due Diligence Fee” that in effect buys the buyer time to do all of the things he needs to do to be sure he’s happy with not only the terms but also all aspects of the property and financing details.  During that time, the buyer will apply for financing (in most cases), get inspections done and repairs negotiated, check on insurance costs, get a survey, review deed restrictions and HOA rules, and do anything else that he chooses to decide if he wants to follow through on the purchase.  If somewhere during that due diligence period, the prospective buyer decides against the purchase, he can formally advise the seller that he won’t close, and any earnest money that the buyer put up initially will go back to the buyer.  However, the seller gets to keep whatever amount he was given initially as the Due Diligence Fee.  How much is the Due Diligence Fee?  There’s no standard rule, and other states that have used this system have evolved a number of approaches.  Certainly, the buyer/seller environment will have lots to do with this.  In a buyer’s market, the sellers are going to be really happy to receive an offer, so they probably won’t press for a very high fee.  However, to some extent, being under contract does reduce the likelihood of the seller receiving another (backup) offer during that time, and there’s still the chance that the buyer under contract will back out before the end of the due diligence period, so the seller rightfully should receive something for the potential lost market time, particularly if it’s in a time of the year when the sales rate is highest.

There are some other details about changes in the offer process that I won’t bore you with here, but if you’re interested, give me a call or email.

It will be interesting to see how these negotiations turn out as people make offers this year.  As time goes on, we’ll establish a feeling for what’s “normal”, but right now that’s a work in progress.  We may even see differences between what’s done in the Charlotte / Mecklenburg / Iredell market versus what’s done elsewhere, but you know what they say, “real estate is local” so the norms we develop here will be most important to those who live  here or want to live here.

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Charlotte Region Real Estate Stats for October

Posted in Catawba County, Charlotte, Cornelius, Denver, Huntersville, Iredell County, Lake Norman, Lincoln County, Mecklenburg County, Rowan County, tagged , , , , , , , on November 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Just released by the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association (CRRA):

Note: This data reflects activity in Mecklenburg and Iredell Counties and parts of all surrounding counties.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association reports on the residential real estate market in this region based on Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. (CMLS) data.  The number of closings for October 2010 (1,695) decreased 23.3 percent compared to October 2009 when closings totaled 2,210.  Compared to September 2010, closings increased 2.2 percent.  The average sales price for October 2010 ($202,840) is up 3.4 percent over October 2009 ($196,204), but was down slightly, 0.5 percent, over the September 2010 average sales price ($203,799).  The average listing price of homes sold in October 2010 ($231,491) was up 6.2 percent compared to October 2009 ($218,050), and was nearly unchanged, down 0.1 percent, over last month’s average listing price of $231,678.

The residential pending contracts figure for October 2010 (1,617) was down 32.6 percent compared to October 2009 (2,400), and was down 2.5 percent over last month (September 2010) when pending contracts totaled 1,658.

New residential listings in October 2010 totaled 3,875.  The average number of days a property was on the market from the time it was listed until it closed (list to close) was 148, which is about a day longer than last month.  The average number of days a property was on the market (days on market), excluding the days the property was off the market or pending, was 112.5 days, which is nearly unchanged from last month.

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See my recent post on September stats for selected individual counties in our MLS HERE.  These will give you some perspective on the above overall numbers.  Some counties are up and some are down.  Each local market is different and each does have some level of buying and selling activity.

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Struggling with List Prices

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, tagged , , , , , , on July 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I withdrew one of my Iredell County listings today by mutual agreement with my seller clients.  We had put the house on the market last spring, and priced it according to what little history was available in the community for similar houses.  We agreed that if the house didn’t get some showings, the sellers would agree to lower their list price.  Time passed, and we did get a few showings, but no offers.  It tried to get them to reduce their price to get more traffic through the house, but they felt at that point that they couldn’t do it.  In the meantime, houses in their neighborhood were being sold as foreclosures or short sales for much lower prices than what we would have previously expected.  Those sales have pulled the “comps” down to the point where our listing was getting no attention whatsoever.  The sellers don’t have to move and decided to just pull the house off the market and wait for better times.  I cautioned them that per the economic gurus’ recent statements, those good times will be several years into the future.  One economist said yesterday that the glut of foreclosures will not be absorbed by the market until sometime in 2013.  Of course, things can happen that the economists don’t foresee that could improve the picture sooner than that, and I hope they will.  I’ve seen that happen in the past, but it’s not something you can count on.  Real estate sales prices in our area continue to be soft and continue to drop in some areas.  If you don’t get ahead of that curve with your list price, the market will ignore you.  It’s a tough lesson, but true.

This is a time when sellers who need to sell and are able to sell can find buyers, but at much lower prices than in the past.  If they do that and then become buyers of their next home, they can come out “smelling like a rose” because they’ll buy the next house at a similarly low price and at 50 year low interest rates.  If you don’t need to sell or the numbers don’t work for your sale, then you may as well stand pat.  It serves no value to the seller or the listing agent to try to market a property that is priced above market.  Marketing has its limits, and no amount of marketing will cause a person to pay a too-high price when there are better valued alternatives available.

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Good Schools’ Connection to Good Economy

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, Quality of Life, Real Estate, tagged , , , , , on June 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Iredell County is fortunate to have two excellent public school systems- the Iredell-Statesville Schools and the Mooresville Graded Schools.  Both rank very highly compared to other schools in the state and region.  Both are populated with dedicated, motivated professionals working in schools that offer an environment that is conducive to learning.  The fact that we have such great schools is noticed by many who are considering a move to our area.  Particularly important to all of us is that current and future employers know that good quality employees demand good quality schools for their children.  So, even if you don’t currently have kids in our schools, you enjoy the benefits of our good schools through maintaining a healthy local economy, either directly through your employer or because those employes and businesses spend much of their money locally.

I point all of this out because earlier this week at a meeting in Mooresville, I heard Dr. Kenny Miller of the Iredell-Statesville Schools talk about the challenges our schools face now and in the future due to reduced tax revenues that pay for their operations.  Dr. Miller noted that Iredell-Statesville Schools some years ago were only middling in performance, but have in the intervening years become one of the top systems in the state.  They’ve managed to do that while their spending is among the lowest levels per student in the state.  He asked all at the meeting to keep this in mind when the various governmental bodies talk about how taxes should be spent and where to make cuts, or even if taxes should be increased in order to maintain our schools’ performance. 

It’s ironic that if we reduce spending on schools to help balance the budget, the eventual result could be to cause businesses to leave or not move here. By doing so, that would reduce our local tax revenues and put us in worse shape than before.  Sometimes you have to focus beyond the short term to keep from “shooting yourself in the foot.”

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Remodeling Statesville, NC

Posted in Iredell County, Statesville, tagged , , , , on June 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I recently mentioned our city and county planners meeting with Iredell County Realtors to tell us about their plans for improving the area.  One of the most interesting parts of the presentation had to do with tuning up Statesville, both in the downtown area and in the “gateway” area of Shelton Avenue.  I knew that Statesville movers and shakers have been working on this for some time, including an extended visit to Greenville, SC a couple of years ago where they’ve transformed the downtown area into a wonderful destination.  So the Statesville gang has developed a good idea of what those improvements may look like.  You can see more about what they are thinking by going to the Downtown Statesville Development Corporation website HERE to download their reports and plans.  At the Realtor meeting, we were told that the Statesville city government is looking at ways to get some of this work funded.  Ultimately this would necessarily be a partnership of public and private interests working together for the common good, but Statesville’s initial investment would show good faith and help to jump-start the revitalization of what can be a very handsome city center and gateway area.  Statesville has some great historical architecture that can serve as the basis for these improvements.

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There’s Life in the Real Estate Market

Posted in Finance, General Real Estate Market, Real Estate, tagged , , , , on May 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

People are always asking me if I think the real estate market is coming back.  Since I just came back from my third real estate closing of the month (woo hoo!) (two in Troutman, NC), I’d have to say that yes, there is some reassuring activity out there.  None of these closings were motivated by the first time or repeat buyer tax incentives, but in terms of the overall market, I’m sure that those incentives had some positive effect.  But the fact that there are ready, willing and able buyers out there who simply have a change in their lives that dictates a move should make us feel better about future prospects.  Granted, this is talking about the number of sales.  There is still a lot of downward pressure on prices nationwide and locally- good news for buyers, not so much for sellers.  Still, sellers should keep in mind that if they take less in selling their property, they will likely pay less for its replacement.

An interesting development in favor of continuing improvement in the real estate market is that until recently, for a variety of reasons we expected the mortgage rates to start edging up.  However, the European debt problems have sent investors back to our shores in such a way that the outcome is a continuation of low mortgage rate availability.   With reasonably good income and credit numbers, 30 year fixed rates can still be had under 5%.  Don’t know how long that will last since the expectation is that the financial gurus will come up with a plan that reduces the stress from that “crisis.”  If that happens in a few weeks, then we’d expect the rates to get back to an upward creep.  If you’re thinking of buying, many lenders have programs that allow you to lock in a low rate for a reasonable period of time so that you have time to work through a transaction.

I think that we’re in recovery, but it will be slow and come in fits and spurts.  That’s better than none at all.

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Iredell Arts Council

Posted in Entertainment, Iredell County, Lake Norman, Mooresville, Quality of Life, Statesville, Troutman, tagged , , , on January 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

During our meeting of the Iredell Concert Association last night, we spent a good bit of time talking about upcoming collaboration with the Iredell Arts Council.  The ICA receives some funding from the Arts Council and have members serving on both boards.  It reminded me that many readers might be surprised at the level of arts activity in Iredell County.

Fortunately, the Iredell Arts Council has a very good web site that presents calendars and links to many arts groups operating in and around Iredell County.  I recommend that you take a look at their web site HERE.

Spend a little time exploring their site, and you’ll come away with the realization that you should never say, “there’s nothing to do around here.”

What are you going to do this weekend?

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Grey Hair and High School Reunions

Posted in internet, Iredell County, Mooresville, Quality of Life, Statesville, Troutman, tagged , , , , , , on November 10, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Young people don’t understand how you could use the words “grey hair” and “high school” in the same sentence.  However, if it has been 41 years since you finished high school, then you understand.  Last Saturday night, my South Iredell High School Class of ’68 had our 41st reunion at the Black Angus in Statesville.  Although the turnout was only about a third of the original class, we did have a few that came considerable distances to get together and talk over old times and catch up on the latest.

In preparation for the reunion, I got out my old blue and gold Vikings annual to try to jog my memory.  I have to say, it was a shock to see all those bright young faces looking back from the pages.  At that point in our lives, we had the world by the tail and nothing could stop us, or so we thought.  Now, just a change in the weather can bring out old Arthur Itis to slow us down.  This time it has not been quite the surprise to get news of many of my old friends.  Lots of them have discovered Facebook, and others are surely going to join soon since we FB members are encouraging them.  One night is a short time to catch up, and unless you brought a bag full of photos, illustrating what’s happened in your life was pretty tough that night.  Facebook allows us to have  sort of an ongoing reunion complete with photos and running commentary on what’s happening with each of us.  Some FBers are frequent contributors, and others do so only occasionally.  Then, there is that other class of members called “lurkers” who join and friend people but only read what others send.  Hey, whatever floats your boat, but it’s more fun to share at least the censored parts of your life with other folks in exchange for their latest news.

I hope we South Iredell alumni will continue to stay in touch through Facebook or other means.  It’s somehow gives me comfort to see that for so many people, life has turned out OK.  We’ve all had our ups and downs, but that’s really just another part of life that we’ve shared, and makes us all feel a bit closer after all these years.  We’ve survived!South Iredell Class of '68

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First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension?

Posted in Finance, General Real Estate Market, Real Estate, tagged , , , , , , on October 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

News reports are telling us that the Senate has agreed in principle to extend the first time home buyer tax credit, allowing it to act as an incentive to first time home buyers who go under contract by end of April, 2010 and close by end of June, 2010.  They’re also working on the possibility of further extending an incentive to existing home buyers who have been in their homes at least 5 years.  They maximum credit for them would be $6,500.  The House had already agreed on the value of extending the tax credits.  Now, the Senate is working on details of a bill to move this along.  HERE is a USA Today article with additional details.  So, now we’ll have some more time through the Spring of next year to see if these tax credit incentives have been an important catalyst for healing the economy or just a crutch to keep it from sinking further.  It may be that the tax credit extension is the necessary bridge to a time when employers can start hiring again, since there is some evidence that the business to business spending levels are starting to increase.  HERE’S some further detail in The Charlotte Observer on the state of the economy overall and predictions for recovery.

Wondering where all that government recovery money is going?  You can go to http://www.recovery.gov to see.

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