Archive for September, 2008
It’s A Good Time To Move!
September 24th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home, Selling a Home
My wife and I moved early in July. It wasn’t a move of necessity. The place we had was adequate. We only moved 1.5 miles. But there were several things we had always wanted in our home and we decided to take advantage of some very attractive opportunities in the Wake Forest real estate market to get them.
Call us crazy, but we even went so far as to buy our new home before we sold the old one. We realized, of course, that the current market conditions would make it more of a challenge to sell our old home. But I determined that if I believed what I had been advising clients, this was the time to prove it to myself.
By the way, the home we purchased had everything on our wish list, then some. We purchased our dream home and were able to get an amazing price. So amazing in fact that it gave us a little financial space in case the sale of our old home took a while.
The good news is that we closed on our old home yesterday. We had to sell for a little less than we would have liked. But we bought for a lot less than we were expecting too.
The net effect is that we were able to use current market conditions to get the home that was right for us. And the bottom line is we did it while slightly improving our equity position. Not too bad.
Want to know if this strategy might work for you? There’s a good chance it can, especially if the buying and selling pieces are managed properly. Give me a call or email me and I’ll be glad to show you how you can use these unique market conditions to your advantage.
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Saturday Perspectives - Having Fun and Giving Back
September 13th, 2008 Categories: North Raleigh, Odds and Ends
Today was a really big day for lots of people. Most importantly, it was a big day for the countless number of families whose lives will be touched by North Raleigh Ministries in the coming year. North Raleigh Ministries is a faith based organization whose mission is simply to make sure no family in our community ever goes hungry.
It was a big day for lots of runners, serious and recreational. They got to compete and have a blast on a beautiful day.
It was a big day for kids who participated in the little guys 100 yard dash. They had a ball!
And it was a big day for a bunch of volunteers who got to see months careful planning and hard work come to fruition. I was one of those most fortunate people.
There is something to be said for doing something for another. It just plain makes you feel good. And it makes you feel good about the people you did it with too.
There is always something worth getting involved in going on in the Raleigh area. The North Hills 5K was held at Trinity Baptist Church today. I’m glad I was blessed with the opportunity to be part of it.
There are things happening every day all over our wonderful area. Things that help others while giving individuals a chance to do something of lasting value with their time. I hope all of you get a chance to be a part of something like this real soon. You’ll be glad you did, And I can guarantee there will be someone, somewhere, who will be grateful you did too.
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Latest New Homes For Sale In Heritage Wake Forest
September 11th, 2008 Categories: Heritage, New Construction Homes, Wake Forest
I haven’t written about Heritage lately. Maybe that’s because I have been so busy getting settled in my brand new Heritage home! That’s right. In the midst of the so called housing slump, I chose to move. Mainly because there has never been a better time to buy a home in the Triangle area at such a great price. And mortgage rates are very low now too. It just made sense to me.
One of the benefits of living in Heritage is that I can get a first hand look at what life here is like. Let me just say that this is one of the best, most well thought out communities in the greater Raleigh area. It’s just northeast of Raleigh proper and is full of all the amenities you could ever want or need in a planned community. But that’s for another article.
So what range of homes are available for sale in Heritage? Here’s a useful list of the neighborhoods that make up the Heritage community and the new construction opportunities that exist here.
ESTATE HOMES
Heritage Reserve
3,300 to over 4,000 square feet
Built by The Cunnane Group
From the low $500s
Heritage Overlook
3,000 to over 4,000 square feet
Built by Ammons Builders
From the $600s
Heritage Manor
3,700 to over 5,900 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the $700s
MULTI FAMILY HOMES (TOWNHOMES)
Heritage Trace
1,200 to over 1,700 square feet
Built by Robuck Homes
From the $160s
Heritage View Towns
1,500 to over 1,700 square feet
Built by Big C Construction
From the $190s
Heritage Spring
1,300 to over 2,200 square feet
Built by First Centrum Homes
From the low $200s
Heritage Landing
1,700 to over 2,600 square feet
Built by Centex Homes
From the $190s
Heritage Crest
1,700 to 2,600 square feet
Built by Legacy Custom Homes
From the $230s
Heritage Links Townes
2,400 to 2,700 square feet
Built by Homes By Dickerson
From the $250s
Heritage Place
3,000 to over 3,200 square feet
Built by Lichtner Construction
From the $440s
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Heritage Hills
1,900 to over 2,700 square feet
Built by Centex Homes
From the $280s
Heritage Gables
1,900 to over 2,500 square feet
Built by JVC Homes
From the low $300s
Heritage Meadows
2,300 to over 2,700 square feet
Built by Biltmore Homes
From the $300s
Heritage Knoll
2,000 to over 3,000 square feet
Built by Biltmore Homes
From the $300s
Heritage Links
2,500 to over 2,700 square feet
Built by Ammons Builders & Robuck Homes
From the mid $300s
Heritage Greens
2,400 to over 4,000 square feet
Built by McNeill Burbank
From the mid $200s
Heritage Glen
2,200 to over 2,500 square feet
Built by Preservation Homes
From the mid $300s
Heritage Trails
2,600 to over 3,000 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the mid $300s
Heritage Croft
2,600 to over 3,400 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the $370s
Heritage Dale
2,600 to over 3,400 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the mid $400s
Heritage Heights
2,800 to over 3,600 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the mid $400s
Heritage Midlands
2,600 to over 3,400 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the $400s
Heritage Ridge
3,100 to over 4,200 square feet
Built by David Weekly Homes
From the mid $400s
Heritage Shire
3,000 to over 4,000 square feet
Built by select custom builders
From the mid $400s
Want more details? Call me at 919-602-7000, send me an email, or click here to search all Heritage Homes for sale.
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Can The Government Takeover of Freddie and Fannie Be a Good Thing?
September 8th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home, Mortgage and Finance, Real Estate Market Trends
My first response is that the government taking over anything is not good. But considering that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are not your typical private companies, maybe this is the best we can do.
I just had a mortgage lender friend of mine tell be he thinks we are headed for rates well below 6% again. If you are in need of a mortgage, that is good news. Low rates always motivate buyers, so maybe the national housing market will get a little relief.
Here in the Raleigh area, our market has been doing better than most. But I would not be honest if I did not admit it has been very slow this summer compared to recent years. If my lender friend is right, and rates do take a significant drop, then an otherwise healthy housing market, like ours here in the Raleigh area, should see a positive impact.
Nationally, there is still lots that has to happen for the real estate market to stabilize and start to improve. Inventory has to be reduced. With foreclosures in many parts of the country offering attractive equity positions for buyers, and now with rates showing the possibility of declining, maybe this will help.
Being the stubborn, free market kind of guy that I am, I can’t help but wonder what the long-term cost will be. But for the present time, once again, if you need to buy a home, there has never been a better time.
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Saturday Perspectives - Rain Sustains Life And Can Wash Your House Away
September 6th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home, Home Inspections, New Construction Homes
What’s left of hurricane Hanna is blowing through Raleigh right now. I live in Wake Forest and we have had quite a bit of rain and wind. Nothing serious. The creek out back is a little swollen. The grass will be greener next week. This is very typical of what we get from hurricanes that make their way up the east coast of the United States.
Water is a fascinating substance. Without it, we cannot survive. Our bodies are up to 60% water. Our brains 70%. Our Lungs 90%. As necessary as water is, it can destroy your home, even in small quantities, when it gets in the wrong places.
I have a basement in my home. The front wall is solid, steel reinforced, concrete with a waterproof coating on the side exposed to the earth. In addition to all that, there is a drain that takes excess water away from the foundation wall of the building. Sounds pretty water tight, doesn’t it?
Well, we noticed water coming in where the plumbing pipes come through the wall about a month ago. It seemed to come and go with the rain. As it turns out, there was a tiny void in the packing material around the plumbing pipes that was allowing enough water to come in to wet the floor in a good sized area whenever we had a heavy rain.
Since we have a new home, and we managed our relationship very well with the builder, he gladly agreed to fix the problem. The plumbing crew had to come back and remove all the old packing around the pipes and re-seal it. So far the heavy rain we just had from Hanna has not made its way into my basement.
This basement leak was easy to spot since I can walk down into my basement anytime I want. I don’t have to crawl under the house to see what is going on. I don’tlike crawling under houses at all. Most people don’t ever do this no matter how long they live in a home.
Water is one of the most compelling reasons to have every home you purchase inspected. An inspector will crawl under the house. A good one will take photos of anything he sees wrong and include them in a detailed report. When buying a house, the inspection period is your chance to get the seller to fix small problems before they become big ones. It is also your chance to walk away without penalty from really major problems with a house.
Smart buyers have every home they purchase inspected. Even a new home. New homes typically need more repairs that used ones
The inspector for my new home did not catch the basement leak because it came and went with the amount of rainfall. But he did catch more than enough other items to make it more than worth the money I paid him. And throughout this process I was able to build a relationship with the builder that facilitated getting my basement leak repaired after we had already closed.
There are two morals to this story.
First, always have any home you are purchasing inspected. There are no exceptions to this.
Second, respect the relationship with the builder of any new home you are purchasing. Most of the time, if you work with them, and don’t complain about the small stuff, they will gladly take care of the big stuff for you.
And here’s another idea for you. Have your home inspected every five years or so. A lot can fail in a home over five years. Unfortunately, many of these failures cannot be seen by the average homeowner. Periodic home inspections are cheap insurance.
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BestHomePro Online Home Search Sortware Updated
September 5th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home, Online Home Search
Version 2.0 of BestHomePro was released yesterday and I’m excited! I’ve been giving the fine folks over at BestHomePro feedback over the past six months on how Realtors, and more importantly home buyers, use online home search tools. They have responded with a very impresive upgrade to an already great search tool.
Here is a list of new features.
Results are instantaneous. As you select an area on the map and enter your criteria, the list of matching homes takes shape right before your eyes. As complicated as home search can be, I have no idea how they did this. But I’m glad they did!
Over 60 searchable features. This is way more than any competitive search tool. To be honest, it is almost too much. Whatever criteria you need will most likely be available with BestHomePro V2.0. But be careful. When you chose to filter by any given criteria, you eliminate everything that doesn’t match. The good news is if you have a specific need, you should be able to get a list of matching homes on your screen in moments!
New “Top 10″ alerts. Whenever a home on your Top 10 List changes you will receive an email, just like always. But now a thumbnail of the home will be available for all you visual people out there. And there is a new “remember me” feature so that you can instantly login to the site from the email.
Draw Mode now available. This is a big improvement. Remember how you used to have to zoom in and out on the map to specify a search area? And the best you could do was to plot out a square or rectangular area? All that has changed in V2.0. Now you can draw circles, rectangles, and my favorite: polygons, right on the map without zooming. The polygon feature will prove to be powerful. You can now select any odd shaped area to search simple by drawing it with your mouse.
Integration with social networks. Okay. To be honest, I have not test drove this feature yet. But they tell me you can now share your search results with online social network sites like Facebook. There are 30 networks now available for sharing search results. I guess I need to get a Facebook account and check this out.
Area amenities search. This will be especially useful for anyone relocating from another area. There is a field on the map where you can type search terms like “restaurants” or “healthcare” and find businesses and services close to the area where you are searching for homes. How cool is that?
More to come soon, but if you want to check out this new state-of-the-art home search tool, just click this link: Search Raleigh Area Homes
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How To Handle Repairs When Selling Your Home Without Breaching Your Contract
September 4th, 2008 Categories: Home Inspections, Selling a Home
The solution to the headline I just wrote is simple. Do what the binding agreement you just signed, called a real estate contract, says you will do. If you are a seller, make all the necessary repairs. If you are a buyer, only ask that necessary repairs be made. More on what a necessary repair is in a minute.
The North Carolina standard Offer to Purchase and Contract is really a pretty fair document. It is a standard contract that was created jointly by the NC Bar Association and the NC Association of Realtors. Neither of these organizations have any reason to favor either sellers or buyers, one over the other. It was written with the goal of allowing a buyer and a seller to transfer title to a property without harming one another. Plain and simple.
There is specific language in the contract that describes how the inspection process shall proceed, what rights each party has, and sets time and monetary limits on the repair process. There is even an easy to read list of what items shall be considered for repair. Basically the main systems of the house.
There is even a test of when an item on the list can be considered a repair item. The contract states that all items on the list “shall be performing the function for which intended and shall not be in need of immediate repair”. Any item on the list which fails this test is termed a “necessary repair”.
Sellers need to make any and all necessary repairs. This is what they agreed to when they signed the binding contract. And buyers do not need to request any repairs that are not necessary repairs. This is what they agreed to when they signed the binding contract. And both agents need to advise their clients, in the most clear way possible, to honor the agreements they both made in good faith.
Believe it or not, this seemingly simple process is complicated by both parties far more often than it should be. And I lay the blame for that, most of the time, at the feet of their real estate agents.
I actually had an agent, representing the seller of a home my buyer and I had put under contract, tell me that she advised her seller not to make any repairs because my buyer did not pay full price. What was she talking about? The contract the seller signed committed the seller to make all necessary repairs, without regard to the selling price. This agent was advising her sellers to purposefully breach an agreement they had made in good faith. Ethics anyone?
By the way. You probably shouldn’t call me to list your house if you want an agent who can help you figure out a way to wiggle out of contractual agreements you have made. In that case, I’m just not your guy. Now if you want someone who will explain in plain English exactly what your responsibilities are, and advise you on what you are responsible for repairing, and what you are not responsible for repairing, then maybe we would be a good fit.
The bottom line is to read very carefully any contract that you are signing. Another good thing about the standard NC real estate contract is that because it is standardized, and because all real estate agents receive extensive training on how to understand the terms and conditions it contains, there is no need to hire an attorney when making an offer. A good fiduciary real estate agent will take all the time required to thoroughly explain the contract to you prior to making an offer.
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North Hills 5K Run Walk
August 5th, 2008 Categories: Events, North Raleigh
| September 13, 2008 | ||
| 7:30 am | to | 12:30 pm |
Any runners out there? How about anyone looking for some good family fun time on a morning in September? If that’s you, come on out for the second annual North Hills 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, September 13.
The event is being presented by Trinity Baptist Church, to raise funds for North Raleigh Ministries (NRM). NRM is a non-profit organization to help insure that none of our neighbors will ever have to go hungry. It was established to meet the needs of individuals and families with emergency situations who live in the North Raleigh community.
This is a fairy good size, official 5K race. It will be a timed race for all the serious runners that participate. And if running’s not your thing, just come on out for a walk, stroll, or just to have fun. Last year there were almost 300 participants and this year promised to be even bigger.
Here are the entry fees and participant levels:
- $18 North Hills 5K (the official race)
- $10 Midtown 1 Mile Fun Run
- $10 Senior Stroll (60 and over)
- $5 100 Yard Kid’s Dash
To register, go to www.active.com, click on running and enter North Hills in the search box.
After the race, hot dogs and refreshments will be available. I’m on the lead team organizing the event, so I’ll be there somewhere helping out. I hope to see you there!
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