SOLD by yours truly in THE POINT

Sold - Full Asking Price and sold for more than the Tax Value ; this beautiful home has a great view of the lake and sunsets, well maintained and cared for home.................... This home was listed by me and 1 of only 3 homes under 1 million in more than a year that sold for more than the Iredell County's appraised value!!!!! It's a truly beautiful home with an incredible "backyard oasis". Welcome to the new owners, you got a beauty.

Carolina Ribs on the Run

Just recently went to Randy Rodecki's new restaurant Carolina Ribs on The Run, next door to Family Video on Brawley School Road, and I must say......WOW.....those ribs are awesome, and my boys loved them as well. So much in fact we went 2 days in a row to feast. If you haven't had a chance to check them out I urge you to do so. Great job Randy!

http://www.carolinaribsontherun.com/

Quotes during Housing Bubble

"The notion of a bubble bursting and the whole price level coming down seems to me as far as a national nationwide phenomenon, is really quite unlikely,"
Alan Greenspan, Federal reserve Chairman, 2003

"The idea that we're going to see a collapse in the housing market seems to me improbable"
John Snow Treasury secretary, 2005

"It's impossible for prices to go down this year"
Gary Watts, Orange County, Association of Realtors, 2006

"If you own your own home free and clear, people will often refer to you as a fool. All that money sitting there, doing nothing."
Anthony Hseieh, CEO, Lending Tree, 2006

"At this juncture, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained."
Ben bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman,

"Housing activity will remain healthy for some time to come."
David Lereah, NAR's Chief Economist, 2005

"Housing is still the best investment, without question."
Stan Sieron, President, Illinois Assoc. of Realtors, 2006

"The national media is reporting a housing bubble. Don't believe it."
Dale Akins, Market Edge, 2006

"We got a big problem"
George W. Bush, 2008

Shoals Saloon Bar and Grill

Hope you've had a chance to try the new Shoals next to Bloom. Highly recommend the asian styled Calamari as an appetizer, very yummy. Great burgers, Prime filet and great layout. Keith W, great job, I know this will be very succesful.

http://shoalssaloon.com/

Beautiful Custom Home, elegant entry and dining area, with a warm heart for the whole family! $689,000 5 Beds 4 1/2 baths, exquisite upper master with fireplace sitting area and coffee bar. Cul-de-sac; level yard with room for a pool; design available for you to view. Come visit this home today.

Home Resales Jump 10.1%
Home resales leaped up 10.1% in October, rising far more than expected as a fat tax credit offset fears about joblessness. WSJ.



Setting a Realistic Price on Your Home

Remember prices may not always reflect reality. Consider the sales that are around you, what is selling = what the market is willing to bear. In the end, the value of a home is the price a buyer is willing to pay. It's chance, circumstance and psychology as much as location, square footage and design that ultimately determine the price someone will pay.



Are the Holidays a Good Time to List Your Home?

Well in my opinion it is if you are a serious, committed seller. The reverse of this is that buyers out in the marketplace during this time are usually very serious - why else would they drag their families out during this busy season to look at homes??? Consider this - the inventory is low, your home looks beautiful and inviting, and did I mention the tax incentive for both First time and Second homeowners!!! Something to think about before you opt out of putting the for sale sign up!

So you think the market is stabilizing? Foreclosure and Distressed Properties are done? Stay tune for my posts and market analysis!! If you were thinking of waiting till the spring to list your home .....you may be in for a surprise......that we'll still see a whole lot more of distressed properties keeping prices flat to down......not up. In the meantime here is a new Bank Owned Property in The Point - new construction 2007, Golf Course  - $825,000 approx 4,300 sq. ft.

Private Golf Course Community for $510,000!!, Priced to Sell, This home is Low Maintenance, Easy Living, Enjoy the Private Wooded Backyard, beautiful new stone work! Who couldn't use a great deal like this!!! Pass on the great news!!!!

Household Wealth Advances by 3.9%
For the first time in nearly two years, American households grew a little wealthier in the second quarter, but they have a long way to go to recover what they've lost in the downturn. WSJ.

Should you Rent or Buy????

Rates are great; Home prices are down, and there's an $8,000 tax credit for 1st time Homebuyers !!!!! What should you do - granted there are other things to consider but here's a little formula for you - What's the Price-to-Rent Ratio?? Determine wheather it makes financial sense to buy or rent in your area, compare home sales prices with the cost of renting a similar place. "Divide the price of the home by the total cost of rent for one year. If the result is more than 20, "I'd be very concerned that the price [of the home] might fall more," says Mr. Baker, and you should consider waiting to buy. If it's 15 or below, he says, "you're probably reasonably safe" with prices holding steady or growing".
information provided by: Dean Baker, co-director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research as reported in WSJ.

Home Sales Rise!

What’s News —
Business & FinanceExisting-
Home Sales Rise a Surprising 7.2%
Sales of U.S. existing homes rose to their highest level in nearly two years as cheaper prices and the availability of tax credits continued to entice buyers.
...as reported in today's WSJ

Where might housing prices be headed.

Interesting article about todays real estate market in the Wall Street Journal. Click on the link to read.

Brawley School roadwork

Brawley School Road
Roadwork will also close lanes of Brawley School Road in Mooresville at various times this week:• Between Isle of Pines Road and Poplar Grove Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. until Wednesday. (roadwork)•

Near Stutts Road from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. until Friday (storm pipe replacement)• Near Williamson Road (widening project)

According to the NCDOT, the Brawley School Road widening contractor will not be allowed to delay traffic by use of lane closures during the following time periods:

• Monday - Friday 6-9 a.m. and 3-9 p.m. from South Fork Road to Blume Road• Monday - Saturday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Blume Road to Williamson Road• Monday - Saturday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Williamson Road

Open House 12-3 Aug 9th

Great Home in Family Neighborhood, MLS# 855357 - 123 Meandering Way, walk to Lake Norman Elementary School of Excellence, 4 Bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 baths. Very few homes in this great location!

Very funny skit from Saturday Night Live back in 2006

Exit 32 is really Exit 31 and will open Aug 1st

Commuters wondering when the new I-77 interchange in Mt. Mourne will open, or maybe just when the roadwork will end, can mark Aug. 1 on their calendars.
The paving is finished, says N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) engineer John Cook. The only work remaining at the new Langtree Road interchange is shoulder work, railing installation along the bridge, pavement markings and sign placement.
It all should be finished by Aug. 1.
"And when the covers come off those road signs," Cook added, "It might surprise some to learn that the exit mile marker number is actually 31, not 32" as local residents often refer to the future exit.
The paving has also been completed on the widening of I-77 between the future Exit 31 and the existing Exit 33 (Williamson Road), creating a third northbound and southbound lane.
If the sunny weather continues and the final inspection goes well, a $21 million construction project that's been underway for more than two years could be ending in less than two weeks.
Billed as a new gateway into Mooresville for northbound travelers on the interstate, Exit 31 also gives the thousands of Lowe's Companies, Inc. employees a new access to the interstate. Lowe's, headquartered on 300 acres northeast of exit 31, is building a southern entrance to tie into Langtree Road.
That entrance, the third for the Lowe's campus, is not part of the state-funded interchange project. Its completion, expected later this fall, does not affect when Exit 31 opens.
All four quadrants of the new Langtree Road interchange are slated to be part of the $800 million Langtree at the Lake development, which includes a hotel and conference center.
Langtree President Rick Howard says crews are close to breaking ground on the southwest quadrant, which will include office space, an upscale convenience market, a bank and a restaurant.

The Point Lake & Golf Club Sold through June 30 2009

Out of the 15 homes that closed so far this year, 5 were new homes, 5 were distressed or short sales, and 5 were normal resales. Surprising that this is exactly the same number of closings as last year at this time, compare that to the bubble period, the first half of 2007 we saw 44 homes sold 2006 it was 45, 2005 = 41; 2004 = 34; 2003 was 20, 2002 = 19, 2001 =19 So it looks like activity is back at levels that reflect more normal lending times such as 2002. It's interesting to look at pricing levels as the last sale at 112 Old Post was in 2003 at 585k, a sale at 137 Great point in 2003 was at 1,075m, 111 Stonewall sold in November 2002 for 883k, compare those prices to what they sold recently.

Price your House right!!!!

Here's a comment from the great Wall Street Analyst David Rosenberg


"Not only is it extremely unlikely that we have seen the bottom in home prices until the unsold housing inventory drifts comfortably below 8 months’ supply, but the potential downside from here could easily be another 15% since that sort of decline would bring the Case-Shiller index back to its pre-bubble range in ‘real’ inflation-adjusted terms. (Home prices may well be all the way back to April 2003 levels but the mania in which home prices began to outstrip inflation by 10% or more started in 2000 so there is still, in my estimation, three years worth of bubble activity that has to come out of the system.) Green shoot advocates would undoubtedly point to the fact that this would suggest that we are now two-thirds through this real estate deflation cycle but not likely point out that the last third leg down will drain a further $3 trillion out of household net worth, with a commensurate $200 billion (or 2.0%) hit to consumer spending via the impact on the personal savings rate. "

If you want to sell your house; price it right, stop dreaming about top dollar, you missed it. It's value is less than last year and is probably closer to a 2004 price, thats what we see in our neighborhood.

Road work to close parts of I-77, Brawley School Road

The southbound lane of Interstate 77 from mile markers 33 to 30 will be closed tonight as a contractor works on paving the left lane.

The N.C. Department of Transportation expects the lane to reopen Thursday at 6 a.m.
Brawley School Road will close one lane between Chuckwood and Southfork roads on Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. One lane of Brawley School Road will be closed on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. near McKendree Road.

Widening of Brawley Highlights

Project Highlights
Sidewalks will be built on both sides.

Sharp curves along Brawley School Road will be improved.

The median will prohibit left turns into and out of individual properties along the project. Motorists will be prohibited from making left turns into and out of some of the intersecting roads with Brawley School Road. At these roads, motorists will be required to turn right onto Brawley School Road and proceed to the next intersection where they will be permitted to make a left turn with an allowable U-turn.

Traffic counts on Brawley School Road range from 7,800 to 31,900. Traffic counts are expected to reach 9,200 to 44,700 by 2030.

Two sections of Brawley School Road will be widened. Construction on the first section began the week of November 3, 2008. This 3.8-mile section is from south of Southfork Road to east of Williamson Road. Construction on the next section is anticipated to begin in Spring 2009. This section will be widened from Williamson Road to Talbert Road.
Lane closure restrictions are as follows:

Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Brawley School Road from South Fork Road to Blume Road

Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Brawley School Road from Blume Road to Williamson Road

Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Williamson Road

Completion Date: Summer of 2011
Estimated Cost: $25 million
Project Team: Rea Construction of Charlotte

John Cook - Resident Engineer
Phone: (704) 876-3543