In the middle of all this quality of life is 713 Antrim Meadow Lane. A turnkey five bedroom, four and half bath home with just over 3000 square feet of living space. The home lives great, the finished third floor gives you the option of the fifth bedroom, office, bonus room or in-law/teen suite. The kitchen lives great, a large breakfast bar lets the family “in the kitchen” but keeps them out of the way. Tons of counter space and gas cook-top with built in oven make this an easy kitchen in which to work. You can also see the stone fireplace, and spacious back yard and deck from the sink!

To the right of the kitchen is the swiss army knives of back enterances! Laundry, shoe/coat nook, half bath, and large coat closet all neatly arranged and very functional. There is also an office off the kitchen, a great place from which to run the home, and close the door when finished.

All the bedrooms have direct access to a bath. Two bedrooms have a “buddy bath”, each room has vanity and stool and they share a large tile shower. One room has a private bath with a tile tub/shower and of course the master has as full bath with dual sinks, large shower and jet tub. The attic has a full bath as well.

I mention all this because because NO OTHER home for sale has all these features for under $400,000. NONE. Search for a four bedroom, four bath home. Look at homes  for sale in Highcroft. This is a fantastic home, on a fantastic street, in a fantastic neighborhood.

$165,000 is the asking price for this 1684 square foot, 3 bedroom, 3 bath home in Cary. At less than $100 a square foot this home is a deal, check out listing here and call for an appointment. Fannie Mae also offers great HomePath financing on properties they are selling, a great opportunity.

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Cary Area Most Shown in December 2011

One of my favorite behind the scenes stats is the showing index…which area and which homes do people want to see? Showings come before contracts which come before sales so this helps us stay ahead of the market and see what buyers are looking for. What where they looking for in December of 2011?

The most shown area was Cary/Morrisville/Apex with over 3350 showings on 850 listings, almost 4 recorded showings per listing.

Preston and Cary Park had the most showing, which corresponds to the fact they have the most listings!

The slight sales decline is very encouraging considering that the total number of listing declined 18%. Bottom line is that sales were increasing while inventory was decreasing. While the current months’ supply is not outstanding for sellers it is considerably better at 8 months’ supply vs. 12.3 in June (only a 34% decrease!).

The affordability index is also up to 191 from 185., This index measures housing affordability for the region. An index of 120 means the median household income was 120% of what is necessary to qualify for the median-priced home under prevailing interest rates. A higher number means greater affordability.

This trend looks to continue as the number of pending’s in December of 2011 was 21.5% higher than in December of 2010.

This information was compiled from the Triangle MLS.  The Triangle Multiple List Service serves the greater Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill metro area.

I think the Cary 27519 zip code is a great barometer of the Triangle Housing market, it tends to draw not only a lot of relo buyers but also move up buyers that tend to keep leaping up 55 towards the park. In my opinion if 27519 is moving the rest of the market will be.

With that said the first quarter of 2011 was mixed for 27519 lower sales (78 vs. 110 a year ago), higher average sales price ($411,050 vs. $395,284 a year ago), lower price per sq. ft ($125.05 vs. $128.67 a year ago).

Cary Park was the biggest seller with seven of the 78 sales while Cameron Pond had six. 31 of the sale were new builds, which accounts for the higher price and lower price per square foot.

The highest priced home was $800,000 and the lowest $189,000. The high priced homes were scattered through out Cary in Copperleaf, Preston and Greenlevel Crossings, while the lower end lived mostly in Park Village with some great values in the low $200,000’s.

The next 45 days will be a great indicator as there are 34 contingent listings today and 73 pending listings (with and average list price of $481,692).

The average home sold in Cary in November 2009 was a three bedroom, three bathroom, 2304 square foot home that sold for $116.68 a square foot for a total price of $283,001.

The average home sold in Cary in November of 2010 was a three bedroom, three bathroom, 2811 square foot home that sold for $118.26 a square foot for a total price of $343,620.

Price increases are a good sign, and the price per square foot price increasing indicates a strong market.

The women return a month later on December 3 & 5, for the NCAA College Cup, the Women’s National Championship. A fantastic event and opportunity to watch the best of the best.

November 9, 10,12 &14 the ACC Men invade WakeMED Soccer Park for their tournament. Currently five of the top 25 teams in the country represent the ACC.

These are just three more example of how Cary offers its residents an unmatched quality of life.  For more information on the soccer tournaments call 919-858-0464.

That’s correct sales are down significantly and the average sales price is up, this fly in the face of price reductions! Yes even price per square foot is up this year. So what does this say about all the price reductions in your neighborhood? It is driving me crazy in mine, the highest priced homes keep selling and the agents keep dropping prices on the other homes? What are you going to do….BUY!

Panicked Sellers + Panicked Agents + Reckless Price Reductions + Historical Low Interest Rates = Tremendous Opportunity

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Wake County Market. As a matter of fact fundamentally it is one of the strongest markets in the United States yet agents and sellers are out there dropping prices like they are in 2006 Detroit. Homes that sold for $149 a square foot are now on the market for $115. You can really make up ground if you are selling on the inexpensive end and moving up to a higher priced or larger home.

Ok, lets get back to numbers sales numbers, home sales quarter to date are 2019 in Wake County vs. 3582 for third quarter 2009. We will end up around 2450 sales for the quarter when it is all said and done.

Despite the numbers being down so drastically two things jump out at me that fly in the face of what we are hearing on the street; the average sales price of a home sold in Wake County has risen to $262,747 vs. $238,498 and the number of foreclosure sales has pretty much stayed the same, by the end of the quarter I estimate an increase of foreclosure sales of 44 units. Granted this is larger by percentage and that 44 units is a 30% increase but we are talking 70 foreclosures a month out of 800+ sales. There is not a county in the country that would not love those numbers!

Even the foreclosures are increasing in price! The average sales price of a foreclosure in Wake County was $178,619 in Q3 2009. In Q3 2010 the average sales price of a Wake County foreclosure is $189,433. A six percent increase.

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Want to sort through new build listings in the 27519 zip code? We have that, and the knowledge to make your search smart, easy, sane. Not only would we love to help you with your new build search in West Cary, we have done it. Relocating to West Cary and going through the new home, search, purchase agreements, customizations to finally where is the best Teeter.

There are a ton of things to think about, location, quality, schools, how far along is the development, can you live with an outhouse across the street for 18 months! Ok that one is pretty easy to avoid but we will make sure! Also what are the great deals on barely lived in homes that already have the plantation shutters and capped roads.

We want to make it easy for you! Call us or email, we also work with all relocation companies. ChangingStreets.com your smart, easy, sane solution when buying a new build home in West Cary.

I’m a part time real estate agent/full time freelance writer and social media enthusiast, right? So why such low frequency posting? Because I am so busy selling! Why am I so busy selling?  Because buyers are so abundant that I can’t avoid them even with my eyes closed and running in the opposite direction!

Not that I want to, Sillies, just creating a visual.

And the buyers aren’t just out… houses are moving. Properties are closing. Even with all the changes and new regulations in the mortgage industry, business is getting done.  And I’m loving it!

In fact I am having a ball. 

Hoyt has all the good statistics you know… what’s selling, who’s buying, how much they are spending as compared to this that and the other. You’ll have to talk to him about the science of it all. My thoughts on the market come from a much simpler source… my disposition.

Thank goodness a lot of my posts were lost when we switched from the old site to the new. Hm… now that I think of it… maybe they weren’t so much “lost” as “left behind.”  They were ugly, after all.  Fueled by my frustration with the changing market and the decline of being able to work with real people who were buying and selling homes. I have often said that the smiles of the parties at the closing table were equally as motivating as the checks I received. And the ebb and flow of my disposition as those smiling buyers and sellers disappeared and reappeared again,  prove it!

No need to revisit the last few years of gloom, though. The important part of the story is – fun at work has snuck up on me, like a long lost friend sneaking up behind me and covering my eyes. “Surprise! You love your job again!”  Why? Because I am dealing with people. Which I love. It’s not that I don’t like banks and investors. They are an important part of the machine, for sure! But too much of the banks & investors and not enough REAL PEOPLE upsets the energy of the real estate business.

Now for all you REAL PEOPLE buyers that I am so happy to see, here are a couple buyer financing tips…

Be honest and up front about everything when you apply for your mortgage. The blemishes are going to show up even if you don’t share them. And even the slightest embellishment is “fraud”. Scary word! Also – do your best to avoid any changes to your credit portfolio between the time you are approved and the time you close. Many lenders are now requiring a final credit pull just before closing to make sure that everything matches the information that was used in your qualification. So try to avoid a job change, applying for new credit, or increasing credit balances from the time you are approved to the time you close on your home loan.

So lucky me! The people are back and they’re buying and selling and Real estate trends run parallel with my mood trends. I think from now on I’ll pass on the real estate reports and get my market trend reports from my mood ring.