Archive for August, 2008
Drought Over in Charlotte
August 30th, 2008 Categories: Charlotte News and Politics
It’s not official yet, but 11″ of rain fell in parts of Charlotte earlier in the week as the remnants of Hurricane Fay spent a couple of days in the Carolinas, causing major flooding in neighboring Cabarrus County, as well as some local flooding here in Charlotte as well. The lakes are full, but will the water restrictions come off? My guess is they will be eased, but not removed.
It is hard to estimate how much this has affected our business, but out of state clients have been being asking about it for over a year.
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No doubt you’ve noticed the Lake Wylie map on left, it will be changing Sunday to this new South Charlotte map. We are working on improving the inter-connectivity of our site all the time. Stay tuned below as I make Google maps go to work for you!
Lets check some distances out– Say from Charlotte to Waxhaw. To do this, go to the Larger map, viewing the left size click on measuremtn tool, makeyour first make with a left click, drag to the 2bnd and click agai, and you get something like this (this map is Not live, I’ll explain later) Â
or, from the Sanctuary to Soutpark–21 miles
Once you add the Distance Tool, or other User map, you can longer embed the map as I did on the top map. You have to work it in Google. So let the games begin.
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It is a strong buyers market here in the greater Charlotte area, in the Lake Wylie area as well, for new homes and re-sales. Custom homes start in the from the 600’s, more from the 700’s,  and there are a number of great values in the 900K-to mid 1.5M range. Thinking about buying a home in Lake Wylie? Lake Norman? Or Charlotte? You can quickly compare area prices with the links below, or just give me, Terry, a call at 704-351-1519. I am a Charlotte broker specializing in relocations and 2nd homes–and will represent only you.
Related Links
Charlotte Home Search -By Area
Ryland Homes At The Palisades for Under $400k
Moving To Charlotte? Like a Good Introduction to the Area?
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The Palisades at Lake Wylie- Ryan under $400,000-Great Home
August 29th, 2008 Categories: Lake Wylie NC and SC
Ryan at The Palisades- Popular Floor Plans Plus Palisades Amenities
Charlotte NCÂ Â Â Â Â Â Ryan homes offers two communities at the Palisades, Briarcliff and Morningside, in the Palisades, that you can build a new home in the under $400K range, some as low as the 350’s. Offering their sunroom for “free” ( a 15K Option they routinely offer as a throw in) Ryan is offering the new home models people love to buy- even in this market! As other builders wither, Ryan is holding up strong in the Charlotte area and will, more than likely, be the largest volume builder in Charlotte in 2008 again.
Ryan does not build inventory homes, (TYPICALLY- but if you love their models, there are some Inventory- Ready Now homes available- call me for details)Â so everything is built to order, taking 5-7
months. They do accept contingencies, and contingencies falling through act as their “inventory.” On the model tour, always ask “What is an option?” because Ryan is notorious for needing $50 to 80k in “option”s other builders often consider standard.
Three caveats to buying a Ryan home? (Summarized from my 10 Essentials for Buying a New Home)
The best homes are part of a bigger community- like these two- at the Palisades. Communities add more to long term value than builders, and the Palisades is a winner, a Terry’s Top Ten Community in Charlotte.
As always – do not buy the first house in (no matter what the incentives) and do not buy the most expensive home in the neighborhood… your best position is always the least expensive home in the most expensive neighborhood you can afford.
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Charlotte Real Estate Updates-August 25- Reporting From Lake Wylie
August 25th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
Lake Wylie-Southwest Charlotte- the Fastest Growing Region in Charlotte
Charlotte NCÂ Â It’s Lake Wylie week, all week long. Check out my new map of Lake Wylie on the left, try the larger view and visit some of the places and you’ll find links to all things in the Lake Wylie area. Is being updated all the time so check back often. Am I missing something? Please let me know!
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Home Sales in Lake Wylie
Last 7 days home sales- 11 went Pending (New Contracts) and 12 Homes Sold and closed,
Last 30 days home sales -46 went Pending, and 50 Sold, median price of $366,457, Cost per SF of $145
In The Palisades, 7 homes went Pending, 3 Sold and Closed in the last 30 days.
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Charlotte Home Sales
The last 7 Days of Charlotte Home Sales- 672 went Pending, 657 Sold and Closed
The Last 30 Days of Charlotte Home Sales- 1930 went Pending, 2795 Sold, median sales price of 231,488 or 115/sf
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Other Charlotte Real Estate News
Foreclosure filings increased dramatically in June, according to Realty Trac. North Carolina ranks 25th amon the states with one foreclosure for every 936 North Carolina households. Filings more than doubled year to year (June ‘07 to June ‘08) in Mecklenburg County.
A Tale of Two markets – Or Three
92% of the last month’s home sale were for under $500,000. This is an improvement, from the 94% we saw earlier in the summer. Clearly the more “affordable” under $500K market is considerably stronger than the $500K and up.
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Matthews Alive, a family favorite, is coming to Matthews this Labor Day weekend, and more than 100 vendors, and 200,000 visitors are expected.
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Moving to Charlotte? Like more information about Charlotte?
It is a strong buyers market here in the greater Charlotte area. Thinking about moving to Lake Wylie? Lake Norman? Or Charlotte? You can quickly compare area prices with the links below, or just give me, Terry, a call at 704-351-1519. I am a Buyer’s Agent specializing in relocations and 2nd homes–and will represent only you.
Related Links
Charlotte Home Search -By Area
June 2008 Home Sales Report
A Waterfront Beauty at Reflection Pointe
Moving To Charlotte? Like a Good Introduction to the Area?
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Lake Wylie Homes|New Homes at The Palisades On Lake Wylie for Under $400000
August 21st, 2008 Categories: Charlotte Homes for Sale, Lake Wylie NC and SC
Ryland Homes, OVER 3800 SF New Homes for Under $400K at the Palisades!
By now, just about everyone in Charlotte knows The Palisades, the country club with resort style amenities on Lake Wylie, just 25 miles from Uptown Charlotte. There is a natural beauty in the 1600 acres of rolling hills, tall trees and their visible commitment to Audobon International’s Green Community designs…
But it is the amenities most folks remember the best- and what amenities! Miles and miles of paved biking trails, walking trails and unpaved horse trails… then there is the Tim Wilkinson Sports Center- a fitness center plus 7 Tennis courts, plus the only grass court in Charlotte, home to the Jim Courier Tennis tour (see below) Plus a resort style pool, a Nicklaus designed championship golf course, soccer
fields of Charlotte United Futbol, an on site private school and an on-site public elementary coming in 2010. Site of Homerama ‘08 (see below),it made my Top Ten New Home Community List in 2007. In time it is the next Ballantyne, developed greener in a more natural setting, and made more affordable by the variety of neighborhoods. For more information find out why I named the Palisades to Terry’s Top Ten Communities in 2007, or when it was announced they’d sold the most homes in Southwest Charlotte in 2007.
I’ve a client from Minneapolis with 2 children, the husband has accepted a territory in the Carolinas, and his company would like him
to live in Charlotte. His wife found me on the Internet- where else? And they called last weekend. We took one day and did a rapid survey of South Charlotte and Union County, they liked much of what they saw, but we had talked about the Palisades, and their desire for an “outdoor” lifestyle-after all its one of the reasons they want to move to Charlotte: their family loves to walk, hike and explore- loves golf, they own a boat and two kayaks–with that in mind I told them they had to consider the Palisades in southwest Charlotte.
And off we went to the Palisades and they fell in love almost immediately. Ryland, had several floor plans of interest but the one they liked the most- the Rossendale, isavailable with a 3rd floor bonus – they want that as an office for her husband, and they loved the big bonus on the 2nd floor, large master and very comfortable greatroom-eat-in kitchen- kitchen area. We were helped by an extremely knoweledgeable on site (builder) agent, and shown a few lots, some were quite “buyable.”
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Charlotte Real Estate|Monday Updates August 18
August 18th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
More Bad Sales Figures For Housing
Even as prices hold steady or decline marginally (a few areas Not so marginally) the number of sales has dropped severely- in Mecklenburg County, about 40%, the 8 “inner-county areas, 37%. These figures are from Market Opportunity Research Enterprises (M.O.R.E.) and 2nd quarter figures are being reported in the Charlotte Observer and Busisiness Journal .
They report overall re-sales are down 36% and new home sales are off 40% in the 2nd quarter. Mecklenburg median prices had no change compared with 2007, but many other outlying counties were not so lucky- Iredell County for one, which saw a 13% decline in prices compared to the 2nd quarter of 2007. It is notiale that many of the higher priced properties on Lake Norman were some of the few that experienced some of that “bubble” type appreciation- appreciating far faster than the city of Charlotte- now declining far faster.
We need to get these issues fixed– I read recently that the devastation is so vast that the US government is going to have to bail out either the a) mortgage companies or b) the homeowners. R or D in the fall election, any guess who would bail out who?
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1,710 New Hotel rooms, 11 hotels, including a 5 star Ritz-Carlton in Uptown, are under construction and will be delivered before the end of 2009 reports the Business Journal last week… Thats a lot of hotels, some of which are in preparation for the opening of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame.
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Well now must be the time to buy a House in Charlotte- Suze Orman even thinks so. This in response to an out of the country buyer who told me he shouldn’t buy unless it was 40% off… when I asked Why, he told me that’s what “Suze Orman says”…Thanks Linda ( at the Palisades) , the rest is unfortunately behind a “subscription-paid” link at the Star Ledger:
Now Could Be a Great Time to Buy a Home
By Suze Orman
The following appeared in the Sunday, July 20, 2008 edition of The New Jersey Star Ledger.
Even though every nook and cranny of the housing market is draped in doom and gloom, it may be a good time for potential buyers to take a contrarian look.
I’m not minimizing the risks in the housing market, because they’re very real in many locations. Nor am I predicting any sort of miraculous turnaround in the next six months, since I doubt we’ll see that happen. But I’m still a believer in the long-term viability of housing as a solid investment if you buy at the right price. This has me thinking the current shakeout is in fact creating an interesting sweet spot for first-time home buyers to at least start checking out the market. ###
Thank you Suze for confirming what we’ve been saying in Charlotte for a long time- it is a GREAT time for careful buying of real estate in quality markets- like Charlotte. I had 2 first time buyers buy listings of mine last month, maybe they are listening.
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In the Week ending August 16h, there were 396 Home Closings-Solds, 402 additional Pendings in the 15 county area covered by the Carolina MLS. Homes sales fell 23%, prices were off 7%, compared to per sq ft costs a year ago, median prices fell nearly 10%.
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It is a strong buyers market here in the greater Charlotte area. Thinking about moving to Lake Wylie? Lake Norman? Or Charlotte? You can quickly compare area prices with the links below, or just give me, Terry, a call at 704-351-1519. I am a Buyer’s Agent specializing in relocations and 2nd homes–and will represent only you.
Related Links
Charlotte Home Search -Map & Community Based
June 2008 Home Sales Report
A Waterfront Beauty at Reflection Pointe
Moving To Charlotte? Like a Good Introduction to the Area?
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Charlotte NC| The Dish On Charlotte
August 17th, 2008 Categories: Charlotte News and Politics
reprinted from CNN who reprinted this Southern Living article- hope you like it.
Story Highlights
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Culinary school Johnson & Wales University relocated to Charlotte in 2004
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The banking boom brought a diverse market hungry for fine dining
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Uptown serves power lunches by day and buzzing nightlife after hours
By Kim Cross
(Southern Living) — Nibble your way through Charlotte, North Carolina, and you’ll taste the New South. Shining on the Piedmont with a modern skyline and brimming with emerging restaurants, this is a city that savors the fresh and the new.
The outdoor patio at M5, a popular spot in SouthPark 
Charlotte’s emergence on the food radar — a recent and welcome debut — combines fascinating ingredients: a surging urban renaissance, support from the country’s No. 2 banking town, and fresh talent from the newest campus of Johnson & Wales University. This well-respected culinary school’s 2004 relocation from Charleston, South Carolina, cemented Charlotte’s position as the South’s new food city.
The restaurant revolution
You may remember Charlotte as a steak-and-potatoes place, home of the country club rib eye. That was before the banking boom brought an international workforce and a diverse market hungry for fine dining. Sophisticated palates demanded more — and got it.
Now the restaurant revolution is in full force. Take our neighborhood-by-neighborhood tasting tour.
The tasting tour
Uptown: Urban and upscale
Power lunches by day, buzzing nightlife after hours — what a far cry from the old ghost town days.
for more Visit The dish On Charlotte
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It’s a strong buyers market in Charlotte… Interested in buying or selling your home or condo, just give me a call direct at 704-351-1519
Charlotte Home Search -Map & Community Based
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Things-To-Do Charlotte, NC| August 15-17
August 15th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
Exciting things to do in Charlotte, NC this weekend of August!
A Night in the Islands
Friday August 15, 8:00 pm ($5-$10)
Queen City Ballroom (10403-I Park Road)
Love to dance? Experience the Caribbean by learning to dance to the island beat. It cost $5 for a lesson and $10 for the dance which includes cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Grab a partner and dance this Friday night in Charlotte!
found in The Charlotte Observer
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Smashing Pumpkins
Friday August 15, 7:00 pm ($36-$46)
Ovens Auditorium
Catch the Smashing Pumkins live on stage at Ovens Auditorium with lead singer and front man Billy Corgan as they perform tracks like “1979″ and “Tonight, Tonight.”
found in The Charlotte Observer
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Pan for Gold
Saturday August 16, 10:00 am- 4:00 pm (5 and under free, $4 for seniors, $6 for adults) 
Historic Latta Plantation
Learn about Charlotte’s rich gold mining history and pan for gold at the miner’s cabin! Hourly house tours available throughout the day as well.
found on www.charlottecultureguide.com
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SlamCharlotte Poetry Slam
Friday August 15, 8:00 pm ($10)
McGlohon Theatre
The 2007 national champions of spoken word poetry return with special guest Shihan of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” fame.
found in The Charlotte Observer
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Gateway Village YMCA Book Bash
Saturday August 16, 9:00 am- 12:00 pm
Gateway Village Promenade
Get some philanthropy work in this weekend by helping the Gateway Village YMCA in their 7th annual event to collect elementary- school supplies for 1,000 needy children. There will also be games and inflatables.
found in The Charlotte Observer
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Movies in the Park @ Ballantyne
Friday August 15, 8:00 pm (FREE)
Ballantyne Corporate Park sponsored by Crosspoint Church. Watch Eragon (PG, 104 minutes) in the park with the family along with free popcorn and bottled water. There will also be face paintings for kids. To get to the park, follow the signs off John J. Delaney Drive.
found on www.charlottecultureguide.com
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‘Ornament as Art’
Saturday August 16, 10:00 am- 5:00 pm
Mint Museum of Craft and Design
This exhibit at the Mint Museum features 300 pieces of contemporary jewelry. The exhibit is also subtitled “Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection.”
found in The Charlotte Observer
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American Idols Live Tour
Sunday August 17, 7:30 pm
Time Warner Cable Arena
If you were a fan of this season of American Idol, catch performances by David Cook, David Archuleta, and eight other finalists this Sunday in Charlotte, NC.
found in The Charlotte Observer
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Stone Temple Pilots
Sunday August 17, 7:30 pm ($20-$49)
Call the babysitter and head to Stone Temple Pilots this Sunday evening. It is certain to be a night to remember.
found on www.charlottecultureguide.com
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Mark Millar and Tony Harris
Sunday August 17, 2-5:00 pm (FREE)
Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find (1957 E 7th St.)
The artists who wrote the graphic novel “Wanted” as well as executive-produced the recent hit movie will sign copies of their book “War Heroes.”
found in The Charlotte Observer
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It is a strong buyers market here in the greater Charlotte area. Thinking about moving to Lake Wylie? Lake Norman? Or Charlotte? You can quickly compare area prices with the links below, or just give me, Terry, a call at 704-351-1519. I specialize in relocations and 2nd homes–and will represent only you.
Charlotte Home Search -Map & Community Based
Moving To Charlotte? Like a Good Introduction to the Area?
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