Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Charlotte NC Real Estate in the News

http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/420456.html

Home values up in Charlotte, one of only 3 cities

BY STEPHEN BERNARDAP Business Writer

NEW YORK --There are only three places in the country where homes prices are rising - and Charlotte, N.C., is at the top of that very short list.

Along with Charlotte, Portland, Ore. and Seattle posted year-over-year home price appreciation in October, with Charlotte posting the largest gains at 4.3 percent, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released Wednesday.

The index found that nationwide, U.S. home prices fell in October for the 10th consecutive month, posting their biggest monthly decline since early 1991. The record 6.7 percent drop marked the 23rd consecutive month of price deceleration.

The record 6.7 percent drop also marked the 23rd consecutive month prices either grew more slowly or declined.

"No matter how you look at these data, it is obvious that the current state of the single-family housing market remains grim," said Robert Shiller, who helped create the index, in a statement.

Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, said the area's economy continues to create jobs at record levels. While the numbers are preliminary, more than 14,000 jobs were created in the Charlotte area in 2007, he said, compared with more than 12,000 jobs in 2006.

The job growth is coming from a "pretty healthy" variety of sectors, including the financial industry, Morgan said. Charlotte is home to two of the nation's four largest banks, Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp.

Carole Brake, the sales manager at Bissell Hayes Realtors SouthPark Office in Charlotte, said prices are still up despite an increase in inventory."Sellers are not in a mode to reduce their prices. They want a fair market price for their home," Brake said.

The previous record decline was 6.3 percent, recorded in April 1991. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index tracks prices of existing single-family homes in 10 metropolitan areas compared to a year earlier. The index is considered a strong measure of home prices because it examines price changes of the same property over time, instead of calculating a median price of homes sold during the month.

The broader Case-Shiller index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 6.1 percent. Among the 20 metropolitan areas used in the broader index, 11 posted record monthly declines and all 20 declined in October compared to September.

Miami posted the largest decline among those 20 markets. Home prices in the Miami metropolitan area fell 12.4 percent in October compared to the same month last year, surpassing Tampa, Fla. as the worst-performing city. Tampa posted a year-over-year loss of 11.8 percent.

Besides those two cities, Detroit, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego also posted double-digit year-over-year declines.

Atlanta and Dallas, which had previously posted price appreciation, fell in October. Prices fell 0.7 percent in Atlanta and 0.1 percent in Dallas compared to a year earlier.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Charlotte, North Carolina Real Estate

Merry Christmas Everyone!



Charlotte, North Carolina continues to grow. The affordability of housing, lower taxes, friendly people and YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT THE WEATHER. We get 4 seasons and no snow, although on occasion we will get a freak snow that melts in a day or so.. Not Bad Huh??



Affordability of housing is a very strong pull with the people from California, Florida and the North East. The many subdivisions are also enticing due to the amenities in various price ranges. Taxes are much lower in Charlotte and the surrounding area and as a rule of thumb you can figure the taxes are about 1% of the tax value. So a home that has a tax value in Charlotte of 200,000 would have a yearly tax of 2000 a year.



Relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina is a very easy task. We always help our clients every step of the way. We also give all our clients a one year home warranty. I feel it eliminates any stress of the move, knowing your home is covered under the Old Republic Home Warranty. It's also a nice way to say "Thank You" for putting your faith and trust with us.



If you are thinking of moving, call or email me and I'll send you our DVD covering many of your questions.



Thanks for listening.



Happy Holidays



Rich



http://www.richferretti.com/

Sunday, December 23, 2007

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Get the Real Media Facts

Real Estate Articles from Inman News

Positive news for Realtors in '08

NAR economist underlines real estate's silver liningFriday, December 21, 2007In all the years I've been writing this column, I have never received such an outpouring of response as I did from the two November articles on how media coverage of negative housing news is hurting our industry.

In spite of gloom and doom of recent news reports on the state of the nation's housing, there is plenty of good news, the most recent of which comes from the National Association of Realtors.

Laurence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, had plenty of positive news for Realtors at last month's conference. Yun attributed much of today's subprime mortgage problem to greed. Wall Street wanted the 10-12 percent return that subprime mortgages yielded as opposed to the smaller returns from more traditional mortgage products. His take on the Wall Street types: "They gambled. They lost."

Yun's outlook for 2008 sees a shift from greedy speculators to serious homeowners. 2008 will be a year of opportunity where there will be serious, healthy business. Furthermore, Yun predicted that the market returns to normal by 2009.

According to Yun, one of the biggest mistakes that reporters make is talking about national trends. Nationally, 2007 was the fifth best year ever on record. Home prices declined about 1.5 percent after a 50 percent run up in prices.

The challenge is that national numbers are pretty much irrelevant. Yun argues that talking about national averages is about as effective as having a national weather forecast. Like the weather, all real estate markets are local. In fact, you may have a buyer's market and a seller's market operating within a single market area based exclusively upon price point. Here are the other key pieces of positive news from Yun's economic report:

1. New housing starts: Even though these are dropping, there was too much building in recent years. The market is simply adjusting to normal supply-and-demand pressures. The inventory is "being controlled which makes stabilization occur more quickly."

2. Foreclosures: According to Yun, the 41 percent increase in foreclosures has resulted primarily from investor-heavy real estate purchases in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada. The majority of these individuals are flippers whose investments did not payoff. More importantly, the number of foreclosures in Utah, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolina is actually declining.

3. Under-priced markets and superstar cities: Although the coastal markets are still overpriced, Middle America is under priced. Nevertheless, Yun cites a new trend termed, "superstar" cities. These cities will command premium prices, regardless of what the market does. There is so much wealth concentrated in these areas, that measurements are simply not predictive. In addition to London, Paris, Tokyo and New York, Yun also identified San Francisco, Miami and Seattle as potential new superstar cities.

4. The recovery has started: Other than the three states hit heavily by job losses in the automotive industry (Indiana, Michigan and Ohio), the states that first experienced a downturn in the Northeast, are now in recovery. Specifically, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island were the first to feel the slump and are now well into a recovery. Furthermore, there appears to be a pent-up demand for first-time buyer properties due to a large number of Gen Ys (born 1977 to 1994) that are now buying their first homes. Falling interest rates will motivate many of these buyers to step into the market now.

5. New jobs and corporate profits are still strong: Corporate profits are still strong with companies as diverse as Microsoft and Jack Daniels reporting close to record profits. Furthermore, the economy has generated 4 million net new jobs and wages are rising.

6. A weak dollar may harbinger more foreign investment in U.S. real estateAlthough the decline of the U.S. dollar will end up costing us more when we go overseas or purchase imports, it has resulted in more manufacturing jobs returning to the U.S. It also may mean more foreign investment in U.S. properties as well. Just a few years ago, the Canadian dollar was only worth 70 cents in U.S. currency. Today, the Canadian dollar has been hovering at about $1.05 to $1.10 U.S. What this means is that we can expect more Canadians and Europeans to be purchasing U.S. property, because our prices are approximately 50 percent cheaper than they were just three years ago.

7. Real estate: Still the best shelter: For those agents who represent reluctant first-time buyers, Yun points to some interesting research from the Federal Reserve. Between 1995 and 2004, the average renter accumulated $4,000 in wealth. In contrast, the average homeowner accumulated $184,400. Furthermore, the typical homeowner holds their property for six years. Within this period of time, NAR's research shows that approximately 97 percent of the homeowners will have a positive equity position after that period of time. Bottom line: 2008 represents the best window that buyers will have to find excellent deals with excellent financing.

Get the word out there. If they wait, prices and interest rates will be higher and the reluctant buyer may be forced out of the market.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Charlotte NC Real Estate

It makes me so mad when I hear all the bad publicity concerning the real estate market in the US. Do you know there are only 2 cities that continue to grow? That's right 2. Seattle and Charlotte NC. The latest figures reported were growth at 4.7% for both. Not bad for a City that is ranked 17th in the nation.

Charlotte NC has so much to offer, the affordability of housing, lower taxes, the friendly people and you can't beat the weather.

Keep watching our site as our next Blurb is for Investors.

Call me for more information.

Rich Ferretti
www.RichFerretti.com
Rich@RichFerretti.com
www.UrbanCharlotteInvestor.com

FREE Charlotte DVD

Thinking of relocating to Charlotte, well we now have a FREE dvd that covers the Charlotte and surrounding area. The DVD is loaded with lots of good info to help you get an idea of what life is like in Charlotte, NC.

For your FREE Charlotte DVD, send me your name and snail mail address and we'll get one in the mail right away.

Charlotte NC what a great place to call home!

Rich Ferretti
http://www.richferretti.com/
Rich@RichFerretti.com
www.UrbanCharlotteInvestor.com

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Mint Hill NC

Mint Hill NC what a beautiful place to call home, it's where Mayberry meets the 21st Century.

The developers have found Mint Hill and with controlled growth this small Southern town offers a lot to many people who want the small home town feel yet only 20 minutes to uptown Charlotte.

If you are considering a move South, don't let Mint Hill pass you by.

Visit Rich Ferretti on Active Rain


You can find great local Mint Hill, North Carolina real estate information on Localism.com Rich Ferretti is a proud member of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, a free online community to help real estate professionals grow their business.

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Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate Professional. Visit our site www.RichFerretti.com