Some of the most popular areas in Durham and Northwest Raleigh are much sought after due to their convenient locations near RTP, shopping, restaurants and great schools but they are also located very close to RDU Airport.

RDU has worked with the FAA and surrounding neighborhoods and have adopted a Noise Abatement Policy that reduces aircraft noise and promotes compatible land uses. They have also provided some information to the public on their website to assist home sellers and buyers including Aircraft Noise Notifications for Durham and Wake Counties with contour maps. If your home is in the contour area, an Aircraft Noise Notification must be presented as disclosure for a prospective buyer. There is one exception to this and that being a disclosure is not required for new homes being sold for first time occupancy.

Tips provided by RDU include taking at least two hours at the home site to observe aircraft operations in each operational mode. There are two modes for aircraft operations at RDU. When the winds are south, southwest or west, the planes depart towards Morrisville and Cary and arrive over north Raleigh. When the winds are north, northeast or east, the planes depart towards north Raleigh and arrive over Cary and Morrisville. The noise impact will be different for each operational mode at the home site. A good time to observe is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. Most planes fly during the day and early evening. Some flights occur late at night. Weekends may be busy too. Personal observations are important. However you probably don’t have the time to observe at all hours. Airplanes fly at all hours.

There are some people that have lived in the flight path for years and it doesn’t bother them.  They feel that having a convenient commute to RDU or easy access to Brier Creek, I-540 and entertainment is more important to them.  I, myself, lived in Harrington Grove for over 8 years and was never fazed by the aircraft noise.

If you are concerned about the impact of aircraft noise before selling or buying your new home? Call your ChangingStreets.com agent or the RDU Noise Officer at (818) 840-2100 to have your questions answered regarding noise impacts on your current or future property.

27519 Sales up 27% YTD

Sales in the 27519 zip code are up 27% year-to-date 2010 vs. same period in 2009. This is an increase of 100 sales over the first seven months of the year. The average sales price of a home sold in 27519 was $376,347 in 2009 and is $361,934 in 2010 a drop of 4%. The average home sold has remained constant 3 bedroom, 3 baths 2850 square feet. Although the average sales price dropped $14,500 the average list price has dropped from $390,008 to $370,929.

The increase in units is great showing strong demand for the area that is such an easy commute to RDU and RTP. The increase is even more impressive considering the new 540 construction that cuts right down the middle of the zip code.  It will be interesting to see how prices react as 540 is completed.

The 27519  zip has one of the highest average sales prices in Wake County at $361,934, vs. Cary/Apex/Morrisville MLS search area (which includes 27519) that has an average sales price of $269,950 up 12.2% this year. It is curious as why prices in great neighborhoods like Highcroft, Cary Park, Amberly are seeing price cuts and reductions in the face of an overall increasing market, is it 540?

Based on quality of schools, demand (as shown above), proximity to amenities and jobs that this area is a great buy at this time as prices are moving against the grain. There are some outstanding homes for sale at fantastic prices right now, it will be interesting to see when prices turn.

To search by subdivision or zip code simply hit advanced search on ChangingStreets.com quick search.

Tiny House Guy: Crazy or Genius?

Have you seen this tiny house guy, Jay Shafer? More

importantly have you seen his tiny house?! He lives, and according to him THRIVES, in a 96 square foot house that he built for himself. WHAT?!

You read me right – NINETY SIX square feet. As he says the plumbing is rough, the bathroom is challenging, and it’s tough to make the bed, but otherwise, the significant downsizing is well worth it. How significant is the downsizing? Tiny House Man Shafer grew up in 4000 square feet. He knows what he’s missing, and he says he misses nothing.

My immediate reaction was LUNATIC! Where do you….?  How do you….? Why would you…..?

Then I heard a friend’s (annoying) voice tell me I am projecting my perspective onto Shafer. I opened my mind and listened to what the Tiny House Man had to say.

The average home emits 18 tons of greenhouses gases – A tiny house is significantly more green.

Houses have been growing in size for the last 50 years, creating waste and stress – Bigger mortgages and less free time to care for and enjoy our sprawling pads. Insert any economy and real estate concerns here.

Quality over Quantity – Shafer says he couldn’t afford to put the quality materials and features in a house of more conventional size, so he decided to instead sacrifice the space.

Value – A tiny house costs more per square foot to build than a conventional home, but ends up less at the end, of course. And according to Shafer’s statistics, a 1200 SF house appreciates at a higher rate than one over 2000 SF. This is pretty consistent with what we see in traditional house pricing.

And this is what he said that REALLY got me. (The words are right, but I might not have the “quote” exactly right.) …

Excess is burden not luxury.

Now that Shafer’s married he has built a larger tiny house for his family. He believes that everyone needs their own private space and although his own needs are bare minimum, hence the rough plumbing, but he designs tiny houses based on individual needs. Do you think you could live tiny?

New Program To help homeowners avoid foreclosure

Well good morning Wednesday. I am very glad to bid Tuesday goodbye. Monday was so fun, Tuesday was bound to be a disappointment regardless of what it delivered. What it did deliver was a dead car that had to be towed and everything that comes with it. Canceled appointments and the inability to run and get lunch, or a cappuccino, or Adam Lambert’s CD that I really wanted to pick up, having been dazzled and glittered at his Monday night performance at the Chesaning Amphitheatre. There was one bright spot in Tuesday, though, that came across my desk. It looked like this…

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), along with banks, credit unions and nonprofit counseling agencies, will launch a statewide program to help eligible Michigan homeowners avoid foreclosure by participating in the state’s new $154.5 million Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund.

Whoa! I am loving the Governor right now! This money is part of the $1.5 billion that President Obama announced back in February would be used to fund "innovative measures to assist families in the states that have been hit hardest by the aftermath of the housing bubble."

Despite the controversy surrounding the whos, hows, and whys of the foreclosure boom, many hard working responsible home owners have been victimized. Those are the folks being targeted by this new program.

Those who may be eligible include Michigan homeowners who are currently receiving unemployment compensation, homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgage payments or taxes due to a temporary layoff or medical emergency, and homeowners who can no longer afford their mortgage payments due to lower household income.

This is good news for all of us. Just like the big businesses whose failure would negatively impact everybody, regardless of how we felt about their financial success – the success of homeowners in keeping their homes is crucial to the repair of our economy and the wellness of our neighbors and communities.

And KUDOS to those in charge for hatching this great plan right on the heels of the Home Buyer Credit closing extension! It almost feels like someone in charge is sensible and CARES doesn’t it?

Applications just started being taken this week so keep in mind this is a new program. It’s likely to be slow and frustrating but apparently MSHDA is hiring extra help to assist in the processing of the applications. So if you are having difficulty making your payments, call your mortgage servicer right away to see if you qualify for the program. And tell everyone you know about it. It’s easy to complain and grumble about government. "Where’s MY bail out?!" Well, here’s another piece of it. It’s up to YOU (me, him, her, us) to place the call and make it happen.

Now back to Adam Lambert… I was fired for attending the concert. Do you think that’s fair?  I saw many of you, my crazy fun buyers past and present, at the show which was very cool. I’ll just keep showing up to work and see if anyone notices. Shhhh. Don’t tell.

Where’s the Search Box? Bring Back The Search Box!

Good Lord! Change is good Y’all!

What’s our name? CHANGINGstreets.com. Not STAYTHESAME.com! Right? Right! We’re constantly evolving – not just changing WITH the market but AHEAD of the market. The same is true for our website. I get it – you loved our old one. So did we. But it wasn’t working for us anymore. We were limited with what we could do for you and we don’t like limits. Or being told what we can and cannot do for you. The new website gives us more freedom and gives you more services. It’s GOOD I promise!

Here’s the deal – my favorite feature of the old website was being able to simply plug in an address or partial address into the search box and being able to quickly find info on a specific property. Guess what I found out – that was your favorite feature too. Buyers, Realtors, and Loan Officers are all yelling at me. My own family is yelling at me! “I can’t find anything! I miss that search box!”

To them I say, “Hellloooo. It’s right there under your nose.”

So there’s your homepage right? Click ADVANCED SEARCH. In about the middle of that page is a little box that says “address/zip”. Plug in the address and voila! The improvement in this case, new site vs. old, is that NOW in addition to school district and area, you can search by MAP and SUBDIVISION! That’s huge!

I remember one day walking into Target and EVERYTHING was different. I was ticked! I knew Target like the back of my hand and shopped blind folded on auto pilot. The new layout made me think and I hated it. That was years ago and now I love it! I got used to the new arrangement and things make sense to me there. Oh no doubt they will eventually change again and I’ll be irritated all over again. But we will get used to it and understand it in the long run.

So stop yelling at me y’all! If there were no change, you wouldn’t be able to look at a map on our website and see all the houses for sale in a certain area. And you wouldn’t be able to buy milk and refrigerated items at Target.

What do you miss about the old site? What would you change about the new one if you had the chance?

502 Millsfield Drive, Deal of the Week!

502 Millsfield Drive, Cary, NC, 27519. I loved this home in 2008 when it went on the market so much my team found someone to rent it for two years. It is now on the market again, but for $40,000 less than in 2008.

At $119 a sq ft this home is a flat out steal. It is priced below the market in Highcroft (average list price is $127, average sold is $127 and average pending is $151 a sq foot).

How does it compare to the entire West Cary Market…It is a bigger steal. I ran a report on all 4 bedroom, 3 bath, build after 2004 homes for sale or sold in West Cary in the last six months, here is what I found:

68 Active, average price per sq ft  $130.74

48 Closed/Sold, average price pr sq ft $$128.45

27 Pending average list price per sq ft $139.29

Great deal.

The home has an amazing kitchen, backs up toHighcroft Drive Elementary School (one of Wakes County’s highest performing) and is on a cul de sac.

Maui May Sales Stats

The Realtors Association of Maui released May statistics last week and results seem to run right in line with our Maui Agent Bob McCollor was recently predicting.

The number of units sold in Maui for May 2010 made a strong jump from May of 2009.  However, as we mentioned before, the Hawaii market has seen a rise in foreclosures which means many of these homes being sold are at significantly reduced prices.

Typically in a recovery phase of any real estate market, the number of sales increases before the prices start to come up. That only makes sense since the low prices from bank owned foreclosures and aggressive, motivated sellers is what causes the resurgence is home buying.  In Maui’s case that added up to a 49% increase in the number of single family homes sold, with a 9% decrease in the median sales price.

What does this mean for Maui Buyers and Sellers?

If you’re a seller and you don’t really NEED to sell – now is not the time to be on the market. Unless you are willing and able to compete with the low price and high quality that is abundant in the market right now, you need to be realistic about your very low chances of selling.  On the flipside, properties priced and presented properly are looking at only about 132 days on the market.  That figure includes a high number of short sales whose extended negotiation and closing times make that days on market average look even longer than it is.

For buyers it means BUY NOW.  The inventory is abundant, high quality, and priced nice.  But as the amount of property sold continues to rise, eventually so will the interest rates and prices and we’ll be kicking ourselves saying, "Can you believe what we could have gotten that for 2 years ago?!"

M/I Homes Raises Prices in Greystone

M/I Homes has raised the list prices of all the spec homes in Greystone by 5%…I love this! M/IHomes is a publicly traded company that builds in many large citites east of the mississippi including Raleigh, Charlotte, Orlando, Columbus, Cincinatti & Tampa.

They must be feeling the market in West Cary! This is great news for home sellers in West Cary, especially Highcroft and Cary Park that compete with Greystone. $20,000 price increases are good for sellers and a sign for buyers.

This home pictured above is four bedrooms, four and half baths, three car garage, over 3800 sq ft with very nice extra touches through out for $493,494 up from $469,994.

If you would like more info contact us, we would be happy to set up a new build tour in West Cary for you.

Hot Deals and Cool Rates Make Now the Time to Buy In Hawaii

There have been signs of the economy slowly coming back to life. We’ve seen good some good things happening in our own neighborhoods. I know that the real estate market operates in cycles and that things will eventually be good again. But STILL I am surprised when I see big things happening.

Contemplating my trip last week to Mackinac Island I really had prepped myself for some sadness. Like all the stores that have closed down in Courtland Center, I was sure I was going to see some signs of failing commerce. I didn’t really expect to see the windows boarded up at Ryba’s Fudge Shop, but I knew there’d be something. I was wrong. What I found was all new residential housing going up! Big beautiful estates and charming upscale neighborhoods. The clear cutting of the trees disturbed me, I admit, but those feelings were trumped by joy that money was being invested in Michigan by investors and spent by buyers scooping those properties up. People are getting comfy with their money again and not afraid to spend it.

This isn’t just happening in Michigan, though, nationally we’re seeing increased consumer spending and dips in foreclosure. I said “nationally” but guess what state actually saw an increase in foreclosures last month. HAWAII! I know, can you believe it?

So I talked to my friend Bob who has been involved in Hawaii real estate for over thirty years and he explained that it takes awhile for trends to make it to the Islands, and that they are just now experiencing what the rest of us are finally starting to recover from.

“In 30 years I believe this is the fifth downturn I’ve gone thru here in Hawaii.  When a recession hits, Hawaii is the last to feel it and the last to recover – economic changes always seem to move westward.  So for foreign Buyers and Buyers on the mainland, this is good news because they can start to experience the recovery on the mainland and still be able to take advantage of our lower market values here.”

Makes sense. As our ability to spend is rising, so are the prices of the homes for sale. But in Hawaii, and other areas just now starting to decline, the prices are actually going lower, making it a good time to invest in those areas.

With interest rates in Hawaii at 4.71% for a 30 year mortgage and foreclosures there on the rise, there are incredible opportunities for second homes and investment properties to be had. Can you think of a better place than Hawaii to invest in a vacation home?

If you would like more information on the Hawaii market you can call Bob McCollor @ 808.283.8137 or browse the inventory here.

Apex Homes Sold, May 2010

The Apex real estate market has been very resilient in 2010 with the number of homes sold increasing 20% from 2009 levels, and the average price increasing around 4%.  Apex foreclosures for sale have also remained very low, a great sign of stability in the market. Only 10 foreclosure sales have closed in Apex year to day vs. six for the same period in 2009.

The numbers in this report are from Triangle MLS pulled by ChangingStreets.com for the City of Apex.

Apex Homes Sold in May:

2009   -    70

2010   -    84 ^

Average Price of Apex Homes Sold in May:

2009   -   $250,026

2010   -   $268,448 ^

Year To Date Apex Homes Sold:

2009   -   270

2010   -   326 ^

Year To Date Price on Apex Homes Sold:

2009   -   $251,142

2010   -   $263,053 ^

The average home sold year to date in Apex is a three bedroom, two bath 2245 square foot home listed at $271,149.

There are currently 527 active Apex Homes for Sale. The average home currently for sale in Apex is a three bedroom, three bath 2413 square foot home priced at $302,817. Click here to see a sample of the average Apex Homes for Sale.

There are currently only 11 active foreclosure or short sale listings in Apex and only six of the 120 listings currently under contract are foreclosures. Click here to see Current Apex Foreclosure and Short Sale listings.

« Previous Page — Next Page »