Charlotte NC, Concord, Kannapolis Real Estate

I don't know if things are different in other parts of the country, my particular specialty is real estate in and around Charlotte NC.  But around here, part of the due diligence on purchasing a home is in obtaining a new survey.  We're old school here in North Carolina.  Our surveyors operate on the old method of metes and bounds.  And you need a new survey to know where your corners lie (you may want a fence at some point, a storage shed, a pool, etc).  Also, you need that survey if you want full title insurance coverage against future problems with encroachments and errors and such.

So we get after our buyers to get surveys-please don't regret trying to save $300 if you run into a problem down the road on this, one of your largest financial investments!

Anyhoo.  Got a call from one of our most trusted surveyors yesterday.  He was out looking at a parcel in an established neighborhood in downtown Concord NC, a lovely community called Beverly Hills that has been there for ages and always does quite well.  I'm representing the buyers in this transaction.  We have been anxiously awaiting the survey, since the sellers had lived here for over 20 years and they didn't have an old survey for us to consider (we only had the ballpark information available in the Cabarrus County GIS).  As the surveyor went back into the wooded back section of the lot (this is a heavily wooded parcel), he came across a surprise-a private enterprise, as it were.

Marijuana, mary jane, ganja, weed.  Happily growing in portable containers at the backside of the property.

Our surveyor immediately called the local police to let them know about this undocumented business venture.  Interestingly enough, the police department had already received a call that there was someone trespassing on this property!  Must have been the pot purveyors, worried about the safety of their product.  The surveyor wasn't trespassing, he was doing his job, and also doing his civic duty turning in the illegal plants.

Craziness.  Yet one more reason to order a survey...you might discover an alternative income source on the property!

(for more information on buying, selling, or investing in Charlotte NC or Concord NC area real estate, email or call Leigh Brown today, I'm always glad to help)

Why have real estate values held up in Charlotte NC?  This is a question that I am asked several times each day. Locals are curious, investors are deciding where to spend money, relocating folks want to know why in the world this real estate market isn't tanking like the one they're leaving.

First of all, you have to understand that Charlotte NC was never one of the 'bubble' markets.  We didn't have 20%, 30%, 40% gains year over year.  It just didn't happen here.  Why?  In a nutshell, new construction and available land.  Think about it-if you as a homebuyer are faced with two options which are very similar except that one is brand new and one is 5 years old, which will you buy?  The new one, if the prices are anywhere in the same ballpark.  In the Charlotte region, we have had an abundance of buildable, available land, inside of a 30-45 minute radius of uptown/downtown/center city Charlotte.  That's a reasonable commute time for just about everyone, so new construction has made sense.

We did see a pickup in the resale market after Hurricane Katrina, when the costs of raw goods skyrocketed due to increased demand.   The builders were just responding to cost increases for sheetrock, drywall, lumber, concrete, paint, etc.  And then resale became the much better value.  But a pickup in this area means 5-7% gains as opposed to 3% gains.   Still not in the region of 30% gains that were seen in California, Arizona, Florida.

So when the markets began to normalize-and that's the situation, not a tanking, a normalization- Charlotte NC stayed stable.  When you don't spike up, you don't spike downward either.  Thank heavens.

There are other reasons Charlotte's real estate market is stable.  We have a net population gain year over year.  We have low unemployment coupled with positive job creation.  We have a highly educated workforce and affordable, available ongoing educational programs in the area.   We have a low cost of living.  We have affordable housing for the most part.  We have strong public schools.  We have a temperate climate.  We have a favorable tax and political structure for businesses.

Add these things together and you can begin to see why I describe this market as a blue chip investment.  And blue chips are a part of any investor's portfolio.  Perhaps not the whole thing, but everyone needs something stable that is on a continuous increase.

Still don't quite understand?  Come visit us.  Once you see the area, experience the friendliness of the residents, enjoy the sunshine and the available activities, you might just understand why Charlotte is a smart place to buy right now or whenever the time is right for you.  Need more info or have more questions?  Email me, I'll be glad to help however I can with your buying, selling, or investing needs.

Selling a house is stressful.   I don’t think that anyone will deny that, if they’ve been through it.  No matter how great your listing agent is, and how perfectly your house is staged, and how low you’re priced…if you won’t let buyers in to see it, they can’t and won’t buy it.

Charlotte North Carolina’s real estate market is healthier than most.  We currently have about 5.5 months’ inventory available, market-wide (statistics courtesy of Carolina Multiple Listing Services).  Any numbers geek will tell you that this inventory level indicates a balanced market.  But let’s break it down into a number that means something to you.  As of today, 5 May 2008, there are 21606 active listings in our MLS.  Which means that if you’re selling a home in Charlotte NC, you have competition.

It also means that when you get a call from Centralized Showing Service (can I tell you how delightful it is, to have an MLS-wide appointment desk?   Woo hoo!), you need to allow that showing.  If you say NO to the showing, there is no guarantee that the buyer will come back.  When they have a ton of other choices available, it’s just not likely.  Now I know that each house is unique (I will not get on my soapbox about Vinyl Villages in this post), and that each seller feels they have the ONLY perfect house on the market.  But the fact of the matter is that when you have competition who are also well marketed, staged, and priced aggressively, you will lose out if the buyer can’t get in the door.

As an agent who works both sellers and buyers in Charlotte NC and surrounding areas (not on the same house, though, see my post about how much I don’t like dual agency if you’re curious), I can tell you that one of the most annoying phone calls to get back from the appointment desk is the classic: 

       “The seller has rescheduled your appointment from ….. to ….”

Ahem.  You don’t know my schedule, you don’t know my buyers, you don’t know anything about our planned day.  So why in the world are you so insistent that we change our tour to fit your schedule?  If buyers were plentiful and listings were scarce, it would be a different discussion.  But when I’m out showing property to buyers who must make a decision that very day, we don’t have the luxury of changing our viewing times for each house-otherwise, we won’t be able to see everything.

Case in point-I was showing property last week in the luxury home community of Highgate, in Weddington NC just over the Union County line (this is about 30 minutes’ south of uptown/downtown Charlotte NC).  My buyers were in town at the last minute, because their home in another state had sold and they were in panic mode, needing to locate the next house to complete one move.  I gave a day’s notice on showings-which is a lot of notice in this area.  One of the listings wanted to ‘reschedule’ my showing for later in the day.  The trouble was that we would have been done in Highgate by that time, and moved on to another community in the area.  So we had to cancel and could not view that home.

Within a short time frame, the listing agent had called to apologize for the seller, and was begging for us to come view it in our original showing window.  The seller panicked when the realization hit that we might not be able to adjust for their schedule.  We were already a distance away from the community at this point, and my buyer clients had already located three strong options, so they decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation to go back (yes, my buyers chose not to go back when offered that option).

What I’m trying to explain is that if you, Mr/Ms Seller, are not 100% on board and cooperative with buyer agents and showing agents, it’s hard for your house to sell. I know it’s a pain to keep that house clean, to get up and go cruise the area at the drop of a hat, to keep the kids from tearing the house up.  But if you truly want to sell-you have to adjust to the market.  Realize that your competition is also stressed out about showings, but they’re accomodating them.   Buyers are looking for motivation right now, and when you don’t want to cooperate for showings, it tells them that you are not motivated and not serious about selling.

Truly, I WANT to sell your house.  But you have to work with me on it.

If we put any credence to what some buyers think, there might be. 

Many folks hear about the great real estate values in the Charlotte NC area.  In their minds eye, they are picturing Tara (even though Gone With The Wind was set in Atlanta, some 4 hours south).  They see a full front porch, two-story home, on 5 acres, with a basement, a two or three car garage, fully updated, and in the best school district available.

Oh, and they want to pay $150,000 or less for it.

Then, when we cant find it (or anything even closely resembling it), were the bad guys.  These buyers ask if were SURE that their dream house isnt out there somewhere (well, maybe in Alabama but I cant verify that rumor). And cant we keep looking, since theyre just positive they saw something like it on the internet?

I promise, there is no conspiracy theory.  I am not hiding your perfect house from you.  Trust me-if I could find you that perfect house, why would I choose NOT to sell it to you?  Realtors who are working as buyer agents only get paid here in North Carolina at closing-after youve located a great house, passed inspections and appraisals, and the loan has been blessed.   Until then, were on the hunt.  If you go back to elementary logic, it makes no sense that we would be hiding a house from you which you might buy.

I know that you heard about our great values-and yes, when you take into account the positive job creation in Charlotte, the low tax thresholds, the strong public schools, the lovely four-season climate, the low cost of living-we ARE a great value.

Doesnt mean that houses are free, though.  The last thing I want to do is break your heart-so when I search and find nothing, then discuss with you where your compromise might lie, dont get angry with me.  My job is to find the best house within your budget and to be HONEST with you during the process.  Would you rather sit on the sidelines as the market continues to move up, as you search in futility for a house that doesn’t exist?

So you have a darling little ranch home in a very established and desirable community, just north of Charlotte NC in the little town of Harrisburg NC.  Folks flock to Harrisburg NC because of the low property taxes ($0.84 per $100 assessed) and the fabulous public schools and the mere 20 minute commute into uptown/downtown/center city Charlotte NC.

You put that lovely home in Harrisburg Park on the market.  It sells in three days (yes, some houses in our market still sell quickly, if you want to buy a home in Harrisburg NC you need to be ready to make a decision).

And then, one week before closing, that call comes in.  You listing agents out there know THAT call.  The one that reminds us to tell sellers NOT to spend their money until the deed has been recorded and the check has cleared the bank.  Your heart sinks, because you have to call the seller and tell them that closing isn’t going to happen.

In this particular situation, it’s hard to be mad at the buyer.  See, she was separated from her husband, and they decided to put the marriage back together.  So that’s a happy ending for the buyer-it’s always good to see a family that decides to give it a fair shake!

Luckily, we had two buyers in the wings who were hoping against hope that the house would come available again (there is very rarely anything on the market in Harrisburg Park and when something comes up, it gets snapped up FAST.).  Both of them came out at the drop of a hat last night.  Of course, they both wanted the house.

So less than 24 hours after the original buyer termination, we had two new offers on the table.  And the seller is quite happy with the outcome.  She didn’t sleep much last night, neither did the potential buyers, but we now have a patched-up marriage, a happy buyer who got the dream house they had been wanting, and a seller who didn’t skip a beat in her move.  One sad buyer who lost out in the multiple offer situation, but we will find them another great home.

All’s well that ends well in Harrisburg NC.  If YOU are thinking of buying or selling a home in Harrisburg NC, you know who to call.  Leigh Brown knows the area-lives here, works here, shops here-and she can sell your home, too.

***Caveat-this is not a normal situation and we can not guarantee that you too will have multiple offers on your home. We’ll try our darnedest but we just can’t make the darn crystal ball work all the time!***