Will You Price your Home to Show or Sell?

I'm now Midway through my 4th year in real estate and am proud that I have weathered the storm and have built a successful business for myself and family.  The truest reward of my efforts has been all the friends I have made along the way.  Many of my past clients are a big part of my personal life now and I value the friendships that have been built.  I can tell you, though....many of these relationships started out rough. Why?  Well, you try looking a proud homeowner in the eyes and telling them that the market value of their home isn't close to where they see the value.
Lets talk about pricing:  Folks, you have to understand that my opinion of your home means nothing and respectfully meant, neither does the homeowners opinion.  Likewise, you know your neighbor that had their home appraised for a refi 2 weeks ago and the number justified your pricing??  ....doesn't mean a thing as appraisal value and market value are completely different things.  Remember, a house is ONLY worth what a buyer is willing to pay and what a seller is willing to sell.
Three things will keep a home from selling:  1) Condition 2) Location 3) Pricing.   Now, all of this being said, it is the responsibility of the agent to market your home effectively to give more exposure to potential buyers.  Lets be honest, the days of putting a home on the market and expecting flocks of people to show up at your door step are over.  Effective marketing is VERY important and this doesn't mean just entering it into the MLS and throwing a yard sign and flyer box in the yard(I'll get back on task as marketing will be another blog post).  Soooo ......  If you have a home on the market and are not getting showings but you are sure your agent is marketing effectively,  then you have to accept the fact that the MARKET is rejecting your home.  What will you do about it?
I'll leave you with these thoughts:  When you list your home, decide what is more important>>>Time or Money?  Once this question has been defined, your decisions become easier.  After all, so you want to SELL or do you want to simply BE ON THE MARKET?

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
www.BryantStadler.com 

Must Read Article from Fortune Magazine

This is a GREAT read from Fortune Magazine addressing why Real Estate is making a rebound as the best investment for the dollar.  The article is written by Shawn Tulley who interviews Metrostudy CEO, Mike Castleman, about his take on new construction inventory across the country and it's relevance to our future market.  Click Here for the link if you would like to pass it along. This article is gives adds some teeth to the uptick I have felt in the Charlotte market.

Bryant Stadler, ePRO ... www.BryantStadler.com

Real estate: It's time to buy again

Posted by Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large

March 28, 2011 5:00 am

Forget stocks. Don't bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing.

A home under construction in Austin. The number of new homes in the pipeline nationwide is quite low.

From his wide-rimmed cowboy hat to his roper boots, Mike Castleman fits moviedom's image of the lanky Texas rancher. On a recent March evening, Castleman is feeding cattle biscuits to his two pet longhorn steers, Big Buddy and Little Buddy, on his 460-acre Bar Ten Creek Ranch in Dripping Springs, a hamlet outside Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The spread is a medley of meandering streams, craggy cliffs, and centuries-old oaks. But even in this pastoral setting, his mind keeps returning to a subject he knows as well as any expert around: the housing market. "I'm a dirt-road economist who sees what's happening on the ground, and in 35 years I've never seen a shortage of new construction like the one I'm seeing today," declares Castleman, 70, now offering a biscuit to his miniature donkey Thumper. "The talking heads who are down on real estate will hate to hear this, but America needs to build a lot more houses. And in most markets the price of new homes is fixin' to rise, not fall."
Castleman is in a unique position to know. As the founder and CEO of a company called Metrostudy, he's spent more than three decades tracking real-time data on the country's inventory of new homes. Each quarter he dispatches 500 inspectors to literally drive through 45,000 subdivisions from Baltimore to Sacramento. The inspectors examine 5 million finished lots, one at a time, and record whether they contain a house that's under construction, one that's finished and for sale, or a home that's sold. Metrostudy covers 19 states, or around 65% of the U.S. housing market, including all the ones hardest hit by the crash: Florida, California, Arizona, and Nevada. The company's client list includes virtually every major homebuilder and bank -- from Pulte (PHM) and KB Home (KBH) to Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC).
The key figures that Metrostudy collects, and that those clients prize, are the number of homes that are vacant and for sale in each city, and the number of months it takes to sell all of them. Together those figures measure inventory -- the key metric in determining whether a market has a surplus or a shortage of new housing.

Today Castleman is witnessing an extraordinary reversal of the new-home glut that helped sink prices just a few years ago. In the 41 cities Metrostudy covers, a total of 78,000 houses are now either vacant and for sale, or under construction. That's less than one-fourth of the 343,000 units in those two categories at the peak of the frenzy in mid-2006, and well below the level of a decade ago. "If we had anything like normal levels of buying, those houses would sell in 2½ months," says Castleman. "We'd see an incredible shortage. And that's where we're heading."
If all the noise you're hearing about housing has you totally confused, join the crowd. One day you'll read that owning a home has never been more affordable. The next day you'll see news that housing starts have plunged to nearly their lowest level in half a century, as headlines announced in March. After four years of falling prices and surging foreclosures, it's hard to know what to think. Even Robert Shiller and Karl Case can't agree. The two economists, who together created the widely followed S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price indices, are right now offering sharply contrasting views of housing's future. Shiller recently warned that the chances were high for a further double-digit drop in U.S. home prices. But in an interview with Fortune, Case took a far brighter view: "The lack of new home building is a huge help that a lot of people are ignoring," says Case. "People think I'm crazy to be optimistic, but housing is looking like the little engine that could."
To see where real estate is truly headed, it's critical to keep your eye firmly on the fundamentals that, over time, always determine the course of prices and construction. During the last decade's historic run-up in prices, Fortune repeatedly warned that things were moving too fast. In a cover story titled "Is the Housing Boom Over?," this writer's analysis found that the basic forces that govern the market -- the cost of owning vs. renting and the level of new construction -- were in bubble territory. Eventually reality set in, and prices plummeted. Our current view focuses on those same fundamentals -- only now they're pointing in the opposite direction.
So let's state it simply and forcibly: Housing is back.
Two basic factors are laying the foundation for dramatic recovery in residential real estate. The first is the historic drop in new construction that so amazes Castleman. The second is a steep decline in prices, on the order of 30% nationwide since 2006, and as much as 55% in the hardest-hit markets. The story of this downturn has been an astonishing flight from the traditional American approach of buying new houses to an embrace of renting. But the new affordability will gradually lure Americans back to buying homes. And the return of the homeowner will start raising prices in many markets this year.

Drumming up sales

Of course, home prices are low and home construction is weak for a reason: incredibly low demand. For our scenario to play out, America will need a decent economy, with job creation and consumer confidence continuing to claw their way back to normal.
One big fear is that today's tight credit standards will chill the market. But we're really returning to the standards that prevailed before the craze, and those requirements didn't stop prices and homebuilding from rising in a good economy. "The credit standards are now at about historical levels, excluding the bubble period," says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics. "We saw prices rising with fundamentals in those periods, and it will happen again."
To see why, let's examine the remarkable shift in home affordability. A new study by Deutsche Bank measures affordability in two ways: first, the share of income Americans are paying to own a home. And second, the cost of owning vs. renting. On the first metric, the analysis finds that homeowners now pay just 9.8% of their income in after-tax mortgage, tax, and insurance payments. That's down from 17.2% at the bubble's peak in 2007, and by far the lowest number in the Deutsche Bank database, going back to 1999. The second measure, the cost of owning compared with renting, should also inspire potential buyers. In 28 out of 54 major markets, it's now cheaper to pay a mortgage and other major costs than to rent the same house. What's most compelling is that in all of the distressed markets, owning now wins by a wide margin -- a stunning reversal from four years ago. It now costs 34% less than renting in Atlanta. In Miami the average rent is now $1,031 a month, vs. the $856 it costs to carry a ranch house or stucco cottage as an owner. (For more, see The top 10 cities for home buyers)
Not all markets will bounce back equally, of course. Housing resembles the weather: The exact conditions are different in every city. But in general the big U.S. markets fall into two different climate zones right now. We'll call them the "nondistressed markets" and the "foreclosure markets." A more detailed look shows why the forecast for both is favorable.
Nondistressed markets: Ready for launch
No cities went untouched by the collapse in prices over the past few years. But markets such as Northern Virginia, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, San Diego, the San Francisco suburbs, and virtually all of Texas held up reasonably well. In those areas prices spiked far less than in bubble cities -- the foreclosure markets we'll get to shortly -- chiefly because they didn't get nearly as many speculators who thought they could flip the homes or rent them to snowbirds.
The nondistressed markets will be able to get prices rising and construction growing far faster than the harder-hit areas for a simple reason: Although some of these markets are still suffering from foreclosures, they don't need to work through the big overhang haunting a Las Vegas or a Phoenix. The number of new homes for sale or in the pipeline is extraordinarily low in nondistressed markets. San Diego is typical. It has just 921 freestanding homes for sale or under construction, compared with 4,425 in late 2005. The challenge for these cities is to generate enough demand to reduce inventories of existing, or resale, homes. In the entire country the resale supply stands at 3.5 million houses and condos. That's a fairly high number, since it would take more than eight months to sell those properties; seven months or below is the threshold for a strong market.
But in the nondistressed cities, the existing home inventory is lower, closer to seven months on average. So a modest increase in demand will translate into strong gains in both prices and new construction. That should happen quickly, because most of those markets -- including Silicon Valley, Northern Virginia, and Texas -- are now showing good job growth.
Zandi of Moody's Analytics expects that prices will rise three to four points faster than inflation for the next few years in virtually all of the nondistressed markets. His view is that prices will increase in line with rents, which are now growing briskly because apartments are in short supply. Those higher rents will encourage buyers to cross the street from an apartment to a home of their own.
In Northern Virginia, Chris Bratz, an engineer, and his wife, Amy DiElsi, a publicist, are planning to leave their rental apartment and become homeowners for the first time. The main reason? Buying has simply become a far better deal than renting. "The market got completely inflated, then it crashed, so prices are coming back to where they should be," says Chris. As the couple have watched prices fall, they have also watched the rent on their apartment spiral upward, reaching $2,700 a month. They calculate that they should be able to purchase a townhouse for between $400,000 and $500,000 and pay less per month for a mortgage.
The nondistressed markets will also lead the way in construction. Zandi predicts that for the nation as a whole, single-family housing "starts" -- measured when a builder pours a foundation for a new home -- will rise from 470,000 in 2010 to as much as 700,000 this year. A large portion of that activity will happen in nondistressed markets where a tightening supply of resale houses will start making new homes look like a good deal. "Our main competition is from resales," says Jeff Mezger, CEO of KB Home. "The prices of those homes have stayed so low, because of low demand, that it's hampered the ability of builders to sell new houses."
But many would-be buyers simply prefer a brand-new house. Eventually they'll move from renters to buyers, and the trend will accelerate now that prices are no longer dropping. In Minneapolis, Yuan Qu and her husband, Xiang Chen, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, just moved from a two-bedroom rental to a new light-blue four-bedroom ranch with a chocolate-colored roof on a spacious corner lot. They paid $400,000, a bargain price compared with a few years ago. The couple, both in their early thirties, moved to Minnesota from China six years ago. "We wanted to buy a house, and we've been waiting and waiting and waiting," says Qu. "The prices went down for so long, we finally thought they couldn't keep falling." For Qu the only choice was new construction. "We're not very handy people," she admits.
Foreclosure markets: The outlook is brightening

A home off the market in Mesa, Ariz.

The true disaster areas for housing since the bubble burst have been Sunbelt cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Miami -- places that boasted great job and population growth in the mid-2000s, only to suffer a housing crash that swamped them with empty homes and condos and crushed their economies. But people always want to live in those sunny locales, and their job markets are starting to recover, albeit slowly. In foreclosure markets the inventory problem is far greater because it includes not just traditional resale homes but millions of distressed properties. Fortunately those houses are now such a screaming deal that investors, including lots of mom-and-pop buyers, are purchasing them at a rapid pace. To be sure, some foreclosure markets won't rebound for years because they're both vastly overbuilt and far from big job centers; a prime example is California's Inland Empire, a real estate disaster zone 80 miles east of Los Angeles.
But the outlook is brightening for Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami, and parts of Northern California. A big positive is the tiny supply of new homes entering the market. Phoenix, for example, has a total of just 8,100 new homes that are either for sale or under construction, down from 53,000 in mid-2006. The big test in these cities is absorbing the steady stream of distressed properties. The foreclosures put downward pressure on the market far out of proportion to their numbers because of markdown pricing. "We had levels of inventory even higher than this in 1990 and 1991," says MIT economist William Wheaton. "But they were traditional listings, not foreclosures, so they didn't create the big discounts you get with foreclosures."
Wheaton reckons that we'll see a flow of around 1 million foreclosures a year, at a fairly even pace, from now through 2013. That figure is frequently cited as evidence that the market is doomed for years in most foreclosure markets. Not so. The reason is that the vast bulk of those units, probably over 600,000, according to Gleb Nechayev, an economist with real estate firm CB Richard Ellis (CBG), are being converted to rentals either by investors or their current owners. Those properties are finding plenty of renters, since the rental market is still extremely strong across the country. Remember, the millions who lost their homes to foreclosure still need somewhere to live.
A typical investor is Alex Barbalat, a Russian immigrant who's purchased seven homes east of San Francisco in the towns of Bay Point, Antioch, and Pittsburg. His average purchase price is around $100,000 for homes that once sold for between $300,000 and $500,000. But he has no trouble finding renters, since his tenants can commute to jobs in San Francisco on the BART transit system. Barbalat is pocketing rental yields on the prices he paid of around 12%, and he's in no hurry to sell. "I'm holding them until prices drastically rise," he says.
Investment funds are also entering the game. Dotan Y. Melech looks for bargains in Las Vegas for UnitedAMS, a firm he co-founded that manages apartments and other real estate investments. The firm has raised more than $20 million from outside investors to purchase distressed properties. So far, Melech has bought around 300 houses and plans to purchase another 200 this year. He has no trouble renting the houses he buys, since, he estimates, occupancy rates in Las Vegas are touching 95%. The "cap rate," or return on investment after all expenses, is between 8% and 10% -- twice the rate on 10-year Treasuries. Melech rents to people who lost their homes but are reliable renters. "A lot of people can't be buyers because their credit got hurt," he says.
Even with investors jumping in, buying activity in foreclosure markets hasn't yet increased enough to bring inventories down. It will soon. Zandi thinks prices will fall a couple of percentage points lower in the distressed markets in the short run. "But that will be overshooting," he says. "It's like an elastic band. If prices do drop this year, they will need to bounce back because they'll be far too low compared with rents and replacement cost." Renters will come off the sidelines to purchase homes in the years ahead, precisely the opposite trend of the past few years.
Consider the example of Michael Dynda, a retired Air Force avionics technician who now works for a government contractor in Las Vegas. Dynda, 49, is a first-time buyer who put off purchasing for years, in part because prices were falling so rapidly in Las Vegas, with no bottom in sight. But last year the combination of bargain prices and low mortgage rates became too good to resist. He ended up purchasing a 2,300-square-foot stucco home for $240,000, or about half what it would have fetched in 2007. Dynda got a 4.38% home loan, and pays the same amount on his mortgage as on the rent on the house he left to become a homeowner. "The timing was about as good as it could get," says Dynda.

Mike Castleman's company tracks the inventory of new homes in 19 states across the country. He sees supply getting tight. "Home prices are fixin' to rise," he says.

Back on the ranch, Mike Castleman is lounging in his creek-front mansion, built from "a hundred tons of fine central Texas limestone." As he shows off his collection of custom-made guitars, including one crafted to resemble the skin of a rattlesnake, the homespun housing guru once again returns to his favorite topic.
Castleman claims that this recovery will look like all the others: It will bring a severe shortage of housing. He invokes the livestock business to explain. "It takes three years between the time a bull mates with a cow and when you get a calf ready for market," he says. "That's how it is in housing too. We'll get a big surge in demand and the drywall companies will take a long time to ramp up, and it will take years to get new lots approved. Buyers will show up looking for a house in a subdivision, and all the houses will be sold. The builders will tell them it will take six months to deliver a house." But those folks, says Castleman, will be set on buying a place. "And they'll want it so bad they'll bid the prices up!" In other words: Beat the crowd.
It's a Great Time to Buy a House
Mike Castleman, the Texan with the best realtime view of housing in the U.S., tells editor-atlarge Shawn Tully that the naysayers are about to get a big surprise: rising prices for new homes.

Fun for All at Hall Family Farms in South Charlotte

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Easter Weekend.  Mine was so relaxing I failed to make a post as I spent the day with my family doing church, brunch, bike riding, easter egg hunt and picking strawberries at Hall Family Farm in South Charlotte.  The crazy thing.....the beautiful farm is located in Ballantyne!

Growing up in the Mid-West, I have a fond recollection of my mother picking strawberries for the family during select summer months so I was pleasantly surprised when my wife suggested we take an hour to pick some fresh strawberries.  For years, I've been driving by Hall Family Farm (located on Providence Rd West) but have never taken the time to stop and enjoy the atmosphere.  What a unique way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the Family! Click here for reviews.

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Connextions Call Center bringing 1200 Jobs to Charlotte Metro

More great news following Wednesdays post on Electrolux bringing another 400 jobs to Charlotte!  A Florida based health care call center company, Connextions, is hiring 800 agents and managers and hiring another 400 workers at its existing location in Concord!!!  Average salaries will range from $35,000 to $45,000.  This will take a big chunk out of the unemployment rate that has been consistently dropping (was as high at 12.9% but is hovering around 10.7% currently).  Charlotte is rebounding from the latest recession and real estate activity is buzzing! ( Read Article about Connextions)

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor

http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Multiple Offer in Gastonia, NC is now a Closed Transaction!

 

Find Belmont and Cramerton

We finally closed on 5424 Old Town Lane in the Cramer Woods subdivision of Gastonia, NC. Closing price was $370,000 with no seller concessions. On February 11th, I posted a blog about how I received multiple offers on this home (it had previously been listed for over a year with other firms), of which, the selected offer was pulled by the buyer thus pushing us to accept the 2nd offer.  This may have been one of the smoothest transactions I've had over the past 2 years!  The selling agent was incredible, professional and timely in all responses.  The deal was truly a win-win for all parties involved.  Cramer Woods is a HOT neighborhood located near the quaint towns of Belmont and Cramerton, just about 30 miles outside of Charlotte.  The subdivision consists primarily of full brick, custom-built homes that sit on oversized, wooded lots ... ranging between .5 acres to 1.4 acres of land.  Quick commute to Uptown Charlotte and the Airport as well as the beautiful Catawba River make this a great area to pursue.

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Electrolux Expansion creates 200 Jobs in Charlotte, Nc

More good news for the Charlotte, NC work force!  Looks like North America Electrolux will increase it's workforce in the Charlotte market by 200 jobs in the next 4 years.  Electrolux relocated it's headquarters to Charlotte about a year ago.  Get this:  The average salary is $90,000 a year and this does not include benefits!  Generally speaking, Charlotte has always been known as a banking community.  It's great to see that companies like Electrolux, Siemens and Husqvarna have chosen the Queen City as an operational home for their companies.
 
Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor

http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Rea View Elementary offers After School Programs

Elementary School in Union County (Southern Charlotte).  With a new-born on the way, we were not afforded the opportunity of traveling with our 7-year-old this spring as my wife is nearly 8 months pregnant.  The big question:  what can our 7-year-old do during the week while Mom and Dad are working??  Problem Solved!  Rea View Elementary offers a Spring Break Camp for those families unable to travel over the holidays.  The fee for the week is $100 and hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily with variable drop off and pick up times.  My son loves this as he gets to play games all day with some of his fellow classmates and friends.  Although we would rather be traveling, I am realistic enough to know that my boy enjoys playing with his friends throughout the day verses working with Dad.  Of course, I've been known to drop him off late and pick him up early so we can enjoy bits and pieces of the day together.  The catch for the parents is the early enrollment to lock down your position. We have always utilized Rea View elementary After School program which allows my son 3 hrs after school to play and do his homework until my wife or I pick him up.  As well, I can vouch for the Summer Camp program as the days are packed with fun activities for all ages, including field trips to unique places in the Charlotte Metro area, including Plays, trips to Museums and the like!
I can say wholeheartedly that it is very reassuring to know that our son is being well cared for and enjoying his break at the same time!  Next year we will be traveling over the break with a new-born but for the time being:  Thank You Rea View Elementary!

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Ballantyne Village in South Charlotte ends Foreclosure

South Charlotte can sit back and enjoy the fact that the ever popular 175,000 sq ft Ballantyne Village has restructured its mortgage debt which in turn, ended the threat of foreclosure.  Ballantyne Village is a popular entertainment destination for South Charlotteans and definitely draws from areas outside the immediate population.  The village offers a variety of fine eateries, high-end shopping, boutiques, office space, a movie theatre and a YMCA.  Weekends are usually hopping with energy as young professionals gather to blow off steam from the work week.  I know that many times, I walk to the Village to enjoy some Panera eats as well as attending Church there on Sundays.
Amazingly, Ballantyne Village was valued at $71,000,000 at the peak of the market in 2006 but was recently valued at $31,000,000!  Talk about a market correction!  All of this aside, it's good to see that BV Retail was able to restructure the loan and proceed with business.

Ballantyne Village

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Charlotte Real Estate Statistics for April 2011

Home prices are down but sales volume is up.  Here is my monthly newsletter displaying what is happening in the Charlotte, NC metro real estate market.  April 2011 Newsletter

After a quick surge in April and early March, things have leveled off a bit.  I'm still optimistic that we are at the bottom working towards a gradual move upwards.  The statistics in my newsletter come directly from the MLS and thus will paint a more accurate picture of what is truly happening in Charlotte real estate.

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Coupons for Blakeney in South Charlotte

If you plan on Shopping Blakeney (located at the intersection of Rea Rd and Ardrey Kell) in South Charlotte anytime soon, you can access there website ... click here .... for coupons!  Living about a mile down the road, I can vouch that there is fun for all ages at this shopping center.  Playground for kids, high end shopping for adults (Banana Repulic, Ann Taylor....), discount shopping (Target, Marshalls, Off Broadway Shoes...), Restaraunts (Encore, Brixx, Five Guys, Coldstones....)and just too many cool things to name in one blog!  On the weekend evenings, Blakeney hosts local musicians at the Village Green for outdoor fun.  Next time you find yourself in South Charlotte, take the time to check out Blakeney and I promise you will not be disappointed by the atmosphere and all it has to offer.

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Shop Blakeney

Season Change in Charlotte, NC ... Time for New MLS Photos

Now that Spring time is here, the grass is greener and the leaves are popping, it may be time to consider taking new exterior photos of your home if you have it listed on the Charlotte, MLS ... or any MLS for that matter.  Nothing dates a listing more than "out of season" photos.  The benefit to the seller is that you will stand above the stagnant masses of homes that were listed in the winter and the photos have no color or zest to them!  Here in Charlotte, NC,  the best time to reshoot will be in about 2-3 weeks.  If the weather stays in the 80's, maybe 2 weeks.
 Don't think it's that important?  Take a look at these comparable photos and you be the judge:

2935 Butterchurn Winter

2935 Butterchurn Spring

Well....which do you think looks more current and less stale?  Remember the old saying: "A picture is worth a 1000 words"?  Sooo .... mow the lawn, trim the bushes, blow the dust of the patio and break out the camera.  It's time to refresh those MLS photos!

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Buyers Need to Act Quickly in Charlotte Real Estate Market

What a change a year has made in our Charlotte, NC real estate market.  There is certainly a buzz of activity since the turn of the New Year.  I know that personally I've had an onslaught of buyers popping out to make sudden real estate purchases in the Charlotte metro area.  Although I was hoping it was my brilliance (LOL), after speaking with numerous agents from Helen Adams Realty and competing firms, I'm hearing the same theme:  "Feels like we've turned back the hands of time 4 years". 
Along with this success comes a whole new set of problems.  At current, the buyers needs to be prepared to move quickly on a hot property.  I'm finding that the homes that are in good condition and priced correctly are going under contract in less than a week.  Buyers are no longer afforded the opportunity to mull over the options.  With the North Carolina Real Estate contract that uses the due diligence time frame, buyers need to know that if they are interested, write the offer and keep the due diligence fee low.  The due diligence period allows the buyer to walk away for any or no reason or to continue with the purchase.  Also, buyers need to have their financing in order so if they decide to make an offer, they won't lose valuable time waiting for a loan officer to pre approve them. 
I'm optimistic that the market has bottomed out and we can begin to make a slow crawl out of the down market that we've lived through for the past 3 years!

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

2821 Molly Pop Lane in Union County, NC

2821 Molly Pop Lane (click for Virtual Tour)

Located in the Tranquil "Homestead" subdivision, 2821 Molly Pop Lane is a 3 BR / 2.5 BA Ranch Home with Bonus that boasts Hardwoods & Tile Floors, Heavy Millwork, Granites, SS Appliances and Tons of Custom Upgrades.  The Bonus Room located upstairs is finished and would be perfect for an Office or Home Theatre .... add a closet and you could easily turn it into a 4th bedroom.  The home is roughly 2350 heated sq footage and has a 2 Car Attached Side Load Garage as well as a Finished 2 Car Detached Garage that would be a perfect fit for a Crafstman or a Hobby Building.  Pride of Ownership is Obvious and the Home sits on nearly 1 Acre of Prime Union County Land (Low Property Taxes)!  The screened in patio is perfect for relaxing after a hard days work or play. 

The Homestead Neighborhood is not geared for the Home Buyer looking for the Hustle and Bustle of City Life but rather for the individual looking to own a Gorgeous home with some Land in a Rural Setting and a Quiet, Peaceful Lifestyle.  Travel time to Waxhaw is only 6 miles and 7 miles to be in Historic Monroe, NC.  Travel time to Uptown Charlotte, NC would be a 45 minute commute and about an hour to the Airport (Charlotte Douglas International). 

Priced at only $273,900, this home is a Steal for any Level of Home buyer!

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

Lunch at Mimosa Grill in Uptown Charlotte

On Friday, I reached out to a past client to invite her and her boyfriend to lunch.  I asked her to name the place, as she works uptown at Wells Fargo, I figured it would be an Uptown Charlotte experience.  She chose Mimosa Grill which is located 1 block from the convention center on Tryon Street.

Mimosa Grill Map

Although I'm more of a casual lunch time guy, the experience was enjoyable and what I would consider first class.  The service was excellent and the menu was diverse.  I opted for the hand rolled burger (so did my clients boyfriend) and she had the pecan crusted chicken salad.  The food was served in a timely manner and cooked to perfection!  Although a bit pricy (probably about $11-$12 a plate), the experience of dining in Uptown Charlotte and being able to view the outdoor activity during the lunch hour more than justified the price!  And of course, the conversation was excellent as it's always nice to hear what a client is doing with their recent purchase.

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

What is a Bedroom III

The final word is in on my friends bedroom dilemma (see posts on 3/29 and 3/30).  I contacted the county hall where the home is located, Union County, North Carolina to be exact.  I spoke with the building code department first of all to find out what they defined  a bedroom to be.  Surprisingly, I was informed if the room was built with the intention of serving as a bedroom, then the room can be marketed as a bedroom ... whether it has a closet or not.  Of course, the next step was to call the environmental health department to discuss if they septic system was designed for a 3 or 4 bedroom home.  After digging up the plat and looking into the issue in more detail, I was informed the septic system was designed for a 3 bedroom which means the 4th room was never intended to be a bedroom.  Problem solved! 
It is important to know when researching issues like this, you need to discuss with the city or county governing offices as variances occur and some local government are more strict than per se' the county or state departments.  I know Mecklenburg county in Charlotte varies from out-lying counties such as Union county. :)

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/

104 Wood Side Place Union County, NC

Check out this fantastic Value on a New Listing I just picked up in Indian Trail, NC ... about 30 minutes south of Charlotte.   Click here for a Virtual Tour....



This 1.5 Story home offers 4 Bedrooms and 2.5 Baths and boasts over 3200 sq ft.  Bedroom 4 can be used as a bonus room if needed.  Hardwoods and Tile Floors, Sunroom, Formal Living and Dining area and a Huge Gourmet Kitchen.  104 Wood Side Place is located in the Villas at Sun Valley which is a maintenance free subdivision for a $99 monthly HOA fee.  Home is currently priced at only $275,000 and has low Union County Taxes amounting to $2,144 annually!

Bryant Stadler, ePRO Realtor
http://www.bryantstadler.com/