Charlotte Homes and Real Estate Updates
October 15th, 2009 Categories: About Charlotte, Real Estate News
September- Good New from the MLS
Pending RESIDENTIAL Home Sales were up 4% in September over September 2008, the FIRST year over year gain in two years.
Building Permits were up 24% in September, reflecting a “boomlet” caused the last of the tax credits which expire 12/1/09.
Bad News at Epicenter Condo 210 Trade
The developer, Flaherty and Collins LLC filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy-liquidation giving up on the project. The liquidation effectively means Buyers with deposits are just another creditor, and lost between $11,000 and on the high side $300,000, totaling over $15M. This is just not right.
When a Realtor takes a deposit for a home- that deposit is placed in a strictly supervised escrow account, so that a Broker can’t use the Deposit as working capital, and so the money will be there at closing, or if needed, there for a refund. Why shouldn’t this be a law?
The builder contract explicitly states that builders can use the deposit for any purpose. This is a basic consumer protection that Raleigh should address as the industry seems incapable of doing it on its own- and now, I’d hate to be the customer who lost tens of thousands of dollars with no recourse, or the future sales person on any new project when a Buyer asks about the risk to their deposit.
This will have a chilling effect on sales for a decade.
Interest in Moving to Charlotte Remains High
The most popular Charlotte video on you Tube, Introduction to Charlotte, passed the 30,000 view mark last week, making it by far the most popular Charlotte video, and one of the most popular “city” videos in the US. See the story at Charlotte Real Estate, or the video at Charlotte NC
In keeping with the one good, one bad economic story here 
the bad news is…
Foreclosures will be a record in 2009 for Mecklenburg County- almost a certainty.
Filings nationally are at an all time high according to Realty Trac, and Meck will fit right in there. I’ll be watching for where they congregate, and the price levels… how hard will the “blue chips” be hit?
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Mixed news to say the least, if you care coming our way you need a skilled Buyer Agent to help you navigate your way here. Please call Direct at 704-351-1519, this phone is answered most of the time. Quick Search Charlotte Homes
