Do Gas Prices Impact Home Prices?
April 29th, 2008 categories: Home Buying Advice, Home Selling Advice, Real Estate Market, Real Estate News
OK. The price of gas is soaring with no end in sight. It is impacting food prices, delivery prices, you name it. It seems to negatively touch every part of your life. But does it impact the sale of your house? In a word, yes.
Think about it. You have two houses similar in size, yard, schools, etc. The only difference is one of them is 15 miles from everything. The other is 1 mile. Which do you think will sell? At $1 or even $2 a gallon, maybe no big deal. But with gas in sight of $5 a gallon you better believe buyers will take it into account.
So, what do you do? If you are the house close to everything, rejoice and play up that aspect! If you are out in the wilderness, don’t necessarily despair. There are buyers who will WANT to be far from everything. Play up the privacy, solitude, close-to-nature aspects of your home. It may take longer to find that particular buyer, but they are out there.
Commute time has always been important to buyers. Now add the COST OF COMMUTE to the list!
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Why I Don’t Practice Dual Agency
April 21st, 2008 categories: Home Buying Advice, Home Selling Advice, Real Estate News
As a buyer or seller you may run into the concept of dual agency. That is basically where an agent “represents” both sides of a real estate transaction. Say my company has a listing. I also have a buyer under a Buyer Agency Agreement. My buyer likes the house I have listed. Uh oh. No problem. Under Dual Agency I can say to my buyer and seller, “Don’t worry, I’ll represent both of you”. Riiiiight.
In a nutshell, I do NOT practice dual agency because I believe in keeping my promises. When I get a listing I promise to represent that seller throughout the entire process, from listing to closing. It would be wrong of me to go back to my seller and tell him I can no longer represent just him because now I have a buyer and can get both sides of the deal. Same with a buyer.
Now, dual agency can get pretty confusing with “designated agency, who is representing whom, who can and cannot be a designated agent. It just isn’t worth the liability. So, I keep it simple. If you are my buyer or seller I represent ONLY you throughout the ENTIRE transaction. Ask your “big company” agent is they can make the same claim.
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6012 Turkey Farm Road - Stoneridge - READY FOR SHOWING
April 15th, 2008 categories: Neighborhoods, Real Estate Market
The beautiful home located at 6012 Turkey Farm Road in Stoneridge is now open for showing. Have your buyer agent set up a showing! The visual tour has been updated with interior pictures. The MLS # is 993245.
CLICK HERE for a VisualTour of this listing.
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6012 Turkey Farm Road - Stoneridge, Chapel Hill
April 1st, 2008 categories: Neighborhoods, Real Estate Market, Real Estate News
There is a new listing on the market! The home is located at 6012 Turkey Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC. It is in the highly desirable Stoneridge/Sedgefield neighborhood. Situated on four acres, this home overlooks the Johnston Mill Nature Preserve. After wandering through your own four acres you can go across the street and spend hours in the preserve. Great privacy, yet you are close to everything! You also get the great Chapel Hill schools, without the city taxes. (There is a small school tax on top of the county tax, but it is well worth it!)
The house has three bedrooms and three full baths. There are also two additional rooms that could be used as offices, media rooms, exercise rooms - you decide how to use them! Great attached garage workshop, as well as a large outside storage shed. Great kitchen, breakfast area, family room to spend a lot of quality hours. Or get away to the comfortable living room for some quiet. There is a large back deck to relax and enjoy nature.
CLICK HERE for a VisualTour of this listing.
For more information on this wonderful home, give me a call at 919-417-9753, or email me at jjod3@earthlink.net.
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Stoneridge-Sedgefield Market Update
March 27th, 2008 categories: Neighborhoods, Real Estate Market, Real Estate News
The next neighborhood I picked for some statistics is the Stoneridge/Sedgefield neighborhood. It is located along Whitfield Road about one mile east of 86. It is in the area that is in the Chapel Hill School District, but not in the city limits. So, great schools, but no city tax. (There is a special school tax, but it is worth it!) Most of the homes in this neighborhood were built in the early to mid eighties, with at least an acre of land.
The chart shows the number and stats of the active homes in Stoneridge/Sedgefield as well as the houses that have closed in the past six months. These figures are a pretty good indicator of the average price in this neighborhood. You occassionally get houses priced much higher, but those are BIG houses on BIG lots!
So, if you want to be close to everything, but still have your “space”, check out Stoneridge/Sedgefield. Email me, or give me a call at 919-417-9753 if you want more info.
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East Chapel Hill HS Market Update-Townhomes
March 24th, 2008 categories: Chapel Hill Schools, Real Estate Market
This month I figured I would give you a snapshot of the market for townhomes in the East Chapel Hill High School district. The market consists overall of a great selection of single family homes, townhomes and condos. This chart is a summary of the market conditions for townhomes in the district. It represents the townhouses which closed from 2/24/2008 to 3/24/2008, as well as those active on the market. As you can see there are 34 townhomes shown as active on the Triangle Multiple Listing Service. There were only 4 homes which closed in that same period. This means an absorption rate of 4 homes per month for a 9 month supply. Of course, it would vary depending on the price of the house, but you get the idea.
The averages are also impacted by some really expensive townhomes in Meadowmont. They increased the averages a LOT! So, don’t be scared off by some high looking numbers. There are actually many very affordable townhomes in the East Chapel Hill High School district.
If you’re in the market for a home, but don’t want the required chores that come with a single family house, give townhouses a look. You may be very glad you did.
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Pre-Listing Inspection
March 18th, 2008 categories: Home Selling Advice
Something to think about when it comes time to sell your house is paying to have a professional home inspection done. For around $450, depending on the size of the house, you can have a home inspector come out and give you advance notice of anything wrong with your house. This will give you time to decide what you want to fix AND give you the time to get quotes without having the pressure of a deadline hanging over your head. This is much preferable to having only a few days to find a contractor and get them out to do the work after the buyer asks for an item to be fixed.
You can also then market your house as a pre-inspected home. This will give potential buyers more confidence in the condition of your home.
Face it. If there is something wrong with your house the buyer’s inspector will most likely find it. Of course, even if you fixed everything, the new inspector will find “something”. But wouldn’t you want it to be something really minor?
The only possible downside to a pre-inspection is that the results of the inspection become a “material fact” that must be disclosed to potential buyers. But even this downside is preferable to any nasty surprises just a short time before closing. So think about it. It could be money well spent.
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Who Will Sell Your Home
March 13th, 2008 categories: Home Selling Advice, Real Estate News
When the time comes to sell your home there is a lot you need to consider. The biggest decision is: who are you going to use to sell your house? Sell it yourself? You can try, but it is not nearly as easy as you might think. You cannot just post a sign in your yard, put an ad in the paper and hope people will flock to your castle. Doesn’t work that way. You simply must get your home in the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is where virtually everyone gets their information. If you are not in the MLS, you are missing out on the vast majority of buyers. Not smart!
To get in the MLS you can use a high-priced firm, a “discount” firm, or an entry-only firm. All have their plusses and minuses.
You can go with a high-priced national firm. They will tell you they have hundreds of agents that will make your house a priority. Right. Or they have fancy relocation affiliations that will pull in so many buyers you will have to beat them off. Right. Don’t get me wrong. They ARE good firms with good agents. They just over-charge for what they do.
A full service discount firm (that would be me!) does everything a high-priced firm does, just for less.
An entry only firm will simply put your listing in the MLS with maybe a sign in the yard. Other than that you are on your own. For some people that is a great option.
What to do! Obviously, I think you should use ME! I looked at all the options and decided to do it MY way. I provide full service at a reduced fee. (See my Fee Structure button for how and why I charge what I do.) I don’t have a fancy relocation department, but so what. A buyer coming into town is going to see your house in the MLS with or without a relocation department. Why pay extra for a useless perk?
Give me a call at 919-417-9753 and see what I can do for you.
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Kirkwood Neighborhood
March 10th, 2008 categories: Home Buying Advice, Neighborhoods, Real Estate Market
The next in our list of neighborhoods is Kirkwood. This townhome community is located at the intersection of Erwin and Weaver Dairy, making it extremely convenient to everything. I know I say that about every community in the area, but it is still true. As you can see from the chart the homes sell in the low $200’s. Built in the 80’s, some of the homes have been nicely updated by their owners over the years. Some units, quite honestly, could use some renovation. But, given the size of the units, if you are at all handy with a hammer, you can do a lot of updating on your own.
If you are in the market for a home where you don’t want the hassle of outdoor care, for either the house or the yard, give Kirkwood a look. Drive through and check out the neighborhood. You will be glad you did.
As with any community I highlight, feel free to give me a call at 919-417-9753, or email me, for more information.
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Ready, Aim, BUY!
March 4th, 2008 categories: Home Buying Advice, Mortgage Information
You’ve decided it is time to buy a house. It could be your first house, you could be downsizing, whatever. The important thing to remember is you have to get ready! You do not want to wait until you have found the house of your dreams and then scramble to get everything done. Your buyer agent can do most of the work for you, but some stuff is up to you.
The first order of business is to get all your financial papers in order, or at least find them. Tax returns for the past few years, current paystubs , investments, etc. When you have all you can lay your hands on, get in touch with a mortgage person. (If you are paying all cash, great. Make sure it is available at a moments’ notice.) You can talk to your local credit union, bank, or get names from your agent. I do recommend you deal with someone local. Those internet loans have a habit of causing hassles at the most inopportune times! Plus, a local representative will usually attend the closing, which can be a lifesaver if something goes wrong. The mortgage rep will go over your loan options and make sure you are ready financially. Big difference.
You want to have your earnest money ready so you can attach the check to the offer. A rough estimate is about 1-2% of the offer price.
Get started with the insurance company you want to use. Do NOT wait until the last minute to call an insurance agent! Your agent can also give you the names of reliable inspectors for the various inspections you will want done.
There are a bunch of other things to do, but the main two are mortgage and insurance. If you are ready to buy, give me a call at 919-417-9753 and I will make you home purchase as hassle-free as possible.
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