Charlotte Information - Living in North Carolina

Several recent indicators for the real estate industry are suggesting a market that is entering recovery mode. Predictions for 2012 tend to center around a market stabilizing before entering a gradual recovery... the tone is more upbeat than it has been in years for housing. Recent indicators include:

Home sales: Existing home sales are expected to rise 12% in 2012, following a 2% rise in 2011, Moody’s Analytics predicts. The signs are already showing: In November, pending home sales reached its highest level in 19 months, the National Association of REALTORS® reported.

New-home market: Coming off of what could be considered the worst year for new-home building ever recorded, the sector is expected to bounce back in 2012. New-home sales and starts were already showing a rebound in the last few months of 2011. Moody’s is predicting that single-family housing starts will increase 37% in 2012, and new-home sales will soar 74%.

Consumer confidence: With mortgage rates at record lows and housing affordability high, about 71% of Americans say now is a good time to purchase a home. Also, more Americans are optimistic that home prices will rise over the next year... about 26% feel prices will rise in 2012, an increase of 4% over the last survey, according to Fannie Mae’s December National Housing Survey. Also, recently-reported consumer confidence numbers in the economy as a whole have spiked upward.

Whether you are looking to buy in Ballantyne, SouthPark, Cotswold, Midwood, Matthews, Mint Hill or Weddington,   now is a good time to give us a call and talk about your plans. We are here to help!

John C. Walker, Realtor has been named a Five Star Real Estate Agent^SM for 2011 by Charlotte Magazine and Crescendo Business Services. This program is designed to identify and showcase real estate agents in a local market that score highest in overall satisfaction.

Charlotte home sales rose in August 2011 according to new data from the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association show. The new report showed 2,290 houses, townhouses and condos sold in the Charlotte region in August, up 5% from July and up 26% from August 2010.

Pending sales, or signed contracts that have not yet closed, a good measure of current housing activity, climbed 8% from July 2011 and 25% from August 2010. The data come from the Realtor association's Carolina Multiple Listing Services, which accounts for nearly all sales in the Charlotte area.

The improvement is due in part to Charlotte foreclosures and short sales being absorbed buy buyers. The Charlotte market's distressed housing inventory continued to decrease in August, with the number of foreclosures for sale at its lowest level in more than three years. Distressed sales represented nearly 23% of all closings in August, down from 35% in August 2010.

The average Charlotte home price in August was $205,915, down 4% from the month before and down 9% from August 2010.

While national home prices fell in more than three-quarters of cities across the country in the first three months of 2011, Charlotte metro bucked the trend and led the way with a 12% advance. Charlotte was followed closely by Buffalo, New York, and Burlington, Vermont, with increases of 11%.

The median price of a single-family home dropped in 118 metropolitan areas out of 153 measured, the National Association of Realtors said. The largest declines were in Biloxi, Mississippi, and Akron, Ohio. Foreclosures that sell at cut-rate prices are at the heart of the devalued real estate trend nationally.

Separately, the Realtors Association noted U.S. existing-home sales fell 0.8% in the first three months of 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier to an annual pace of 5.14 million. The biggest decline was in Tennessee, where transactions decreased about 15%. The largest advance was in South Dakota, with an 86% gain.

To find out what is happening in your neighborhood or one that you are interested in, call us or drop us a note. Happy housing!

Starting January 1, 2011, there is a new and significantly revised standard contract used to buy and sell homes in North Carolina.

Gone are the days when buyers used only earnest money to secure the purchase and had that earnest money "conditional" upon them getting loan approval and successful inspections and repair negotiations with the sellers. If the buyers conditions were not completed to their satisfaction within the time frame they told the seller they needed, they could walk from the deal at no cost to them.

This scenario has been replaced with one where buyers put up a combination of earnest money and/or a "due diligence fee" which is non-refundable and goes directly to the seller at time of contract. Buyers negotiate an amount of time they need to do their due diligence, which would include loan approval, appaisal, inspections, repair negotiations, surveys... anything they want to investigate. If the buyers are not satisfied with the progress or results of their due diligence, they can walk from their deals anytime up to the expiration of their due diligence period and take any earnest money they may have put up with them... but the due diligence fee stays with the seller.

So how does this new contract affect repair negotiations, the mortgage approval process, the amount of time needed to perform a contract and close, and every other facet of buying and selling? Great question! Contact me and we can go over any part of the process that needs further explanation and how it affects what you are trying to accomplish.

John C. Walker, Realtor® is an experienced agent specializing in Charlotte Homes and those in the surrounding area. Visit his Charlotte real estate search site to kick your home buying process into high gear.

The number of U.S. existing homes under contract , or resales, unexpectedly rose by a record 10% in October, following a 1.8% drop in September, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. Another report showed claims for jobless benefits over the past month dropped to a two-year low.

Lower borrowing costs, lower home prices and more jobs may entice homebuyers in coming months, helping the real-estate market regain its footing after the end of a tax credit caused demand to trail off. Housing activity will still look low relative to the boom years, but expect a solid growth rate to occur through 2011 and beyond.

Pending home sales were projected to decrease 1%, based on the median of forecasts. Three of four U.S. regions saw an increase in contracts, including gains of 7.1% in the Southern U.S.

“The housing market clearly is in a recovery phase and will be uneven at times, but the improving job market and consequential boost to household formation will help the recovery process going into 2011,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

The average rate on a fixed 30-year mortgage reached 4.17% in mid November, the lowest level since Freddie Mac records going back to 1972. The average rate climbed to 4.46% in the week ended today, a four-month high, on mounting evidence the economy is improving… still a historically low figure.

NAR’s housing affordability index, which takes into account borrowing costs, home prices and household incomes, climbed in October to indicate record affordability for homebuyers.

A piece of federal legislation being proposed for introduction in Congress called "Sensible Accounting to Value Energy" (SAVE) suggests a relatively simple and potentially effective way to place a value on residential energy savings and factor that value into loan underwriting. The legislation suggests a methodology for placing a value on a specific dollar savings amount for an energy efficient home. As proposed, the act would not mandate any action by a homeowner or buyer, but would create a financial incentive for greater residential energy efficiency in both new and existing homes and could provided a much-needed alternative to the present energy-efficient mortgage industry.

Effectively, SAVE would define a method for calculating an Energy Factor (E). The E factor will be based on the square footage of the home and the average energy costs per square foot in the geographic area from Department of Energy data. The database exists and could be refined as the data become broadly used for this purpose. A property with an energy cost lower than the DOE average would have an increment of value calculated as the Net Present Value of the dollar savings over the life of the loan based on a specific formula. This higher collateral value would allow the borrower to qualify for a larger loan by recognizing that they would have lower operating costs for the efficient property. The calculated collateral value of E could be added by an appraiser based on specific calculations, or could be added at the loan underwriting stage if it was not already factored in by the appraiser (a safeguard would prevent double counting).

The energy costs for a specific property would be determined by a HERS rating or similar rating standard approved by the DOE. Acquiring the rating is not mandatory. A home with no rating would be presumed to have the average E factor for that square footage in that region and there would be no adjustment of the normal appraisal. The HERS rating would allow recognition of superior energy performance as a direct value added to the value estimated by the Comparison Approach without regard to energy efficiency. Since this valuation method would apply to virtually all residential mortgage loans, there would be no need for special loan programs such as the EEM programs available now. The home with no energy rating would get no special treatment and the home with superior energy performance would gain a benefit. Over time, this SAVE program would serve as an incentive for buyers to select new or existing energy efficient homes and for homeowners to retrofit inefficient homes to gain access to the financial benefits.

As proposed, the legislation would require HUD to include the E factor valuation in loan underwriting programs within three years of passage of the bill. This seemingly long delay would permit careful implementation and training of underwriters, loan originators, appraisers, and other involved parties such as EcoBrokers! No one can ever predict the actions of Congress, but watch for this proposal to come forward and be sure to participate in the discussion and debate that will occur.

To see green home listings in our area, visit Charlotte Green Homes.

While there's only two months left before the end of this year, there remains many events left for you to attend at the Mint Hill Historical Society. All events listed below will be held at the Carl J. McEwen Historic Village, 7601 Matthews Mint Hill Road. Call 704-573-0726 for reservations or more information unless otherwise noted:

• Oct. 30, 10:30-a.m.-1 p.m.: "Halloween Hilarity Tea" Historical re-enactor Patti Proctor will share Halloween superstitions, legends and folklore while attendees enjoy harvest tea and treats. $5 per person. Call Cathy Wright, 704-843-1992 for reservations.
• Nov. 5, 2-5 p.m.: "War Between the States," for home school students. Civil War era demonstrators and re-enactors will be in the village to offer students a hands-on experience in history. Reservations are required. Cost is $2 per student and $5 per adult.
• Nov. 5, 7 p.m.: "Lee and Jackson . . . the last meeting" Civil War re-enactors Gene Pennell and Andrew Shores take on the roles of the generals as they meet around the campfire to discuss strategic plans for their attack on the Northern line in what would be Lee's greatest victory and Jackson's final battle. Bring a chair or blanket. Event is free with donations accepted.
• Nov. 6, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.: "Salute to Veterans" Exhibits of military memorabilia along with Civil War era demonstrators and re-enactors. Flag retirement by Boy Scout Troop 144. Free.
• Nov. 23, 7 p.m.: Mint Hill Town Hall. "Annual meeting of the Mint Hill Historical Society." Guest speaker: Tony Zeiss, President of Central Piedmont Community College. Recognition of Historic Home Preservation and recognition of charter members.
• Dec. 8-9, 1 and 4 p.m.; Dec. 10-11, 1, 4, and 7 p.m.: "Christmas Teas" to celebrate the season at the Village's Ashcraft Schoolhouse. There will be hot wassail, plum pudding and other delicious treats. Cost $20 per person. For reservations call 704-545-4928

For more information about any of these events visit www.minthillhistory.com.

Have you been watching the news about real estate in the media? It is crazy with all the "sky is falling" discussions around foreclosures and home prices out there. When it seems the real estate market cannot get any crazier, it takes another step backwards.

With this continuing media frenzy around the real estate, I want to remind you that the most important real estate market is the street where you live... or are looking to live on soon. If you are curious about what is happening on your block, or any particular neighborhood, please give me a call so I can give you real data that are specific to those areas.

Generalizations about national and even metro real estate trends are difficult to translate to your Charlotte home or area of interest... they may even get the story wrong or mask real opportunities. I am happy to help you make sense of it all, forget the hype, and make an informed decision based on relevant data.

Forbes Magazine is ranking North Carolina as the third best state for business in America, improving from fifth last year. Recent statistics from the Federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics show North Carolina is the third best state for declining unemployment and fourth in the nation for job creation.

In the rankings, North Carolina scored third in business costs and regulatory environment and ninth in growth prospect. Forbes scored the states on six measures including business cost, labor supply, regulatory environment, economic climate, growth prospect and quality of life.

Other highlights in North Carolina that factored into the study results include: a decline in unemployment from 11.1% in January to 9.7% now, corporate profits up 10% in 2010, a climb to fifth in the nation for personal income growth since June 2009, and the stabilization of the construction and manufacturing industries which are no longer losing jobs.

In addition to some 36,700 jobs created in the last 12 months, commitments have been secured from corporations for 30,000 more new jobs and $5.6 billion in investments.