Lake Norman Real Estate and NC Homes for Sale

Today The Charlotte Observer ran yet another front-page article about our housing market "Home prices soften anew....Sales and building permits also fall, but the Charlotte market is still healthier than many in the U.S."   It's not a bad article.  It even breaks down the sales % decline and building permit % decline by county.

However, I can't stress enough the importance of every home buyer asking their real estate agents to do comprehensive research about the specific listing (and even subdivision if feasible) before they make an offer on a home.  Think of it as a background check of the home and its Lake Norman housing community.

For the sake of this article I am going to use Lake Norman's Crescent Homes Community:  The Farms.  However, you can do this exact analysis on any home and community throughout the Lake Norman area and I assume throughout the country depending on the MLS data available.

Case Study: The Farms in Lake Norman

Step One:

Do a quick search on the MLS for the past three months including the number of active listings, pendings and solds.  The Farms currently has 41 active listings, 1 contingent sale and 11 homes sold since May 16, 2008.  This means that at the current rate of sales The Farms has about an 11-month supply of inventory.  That's actually much better than most of our subdivisions and overall Lake Norman real estate statistics.

Step Two:

This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT step in this process.  Do an "Archive" search on each for the properties sold in the past 3 months AND the home you are thinking about purchasing.  An archive search in our MLS database tells us the entire history of the property including previous sales, the actual initial listing date, the actual initial lisitng price, the number of price reductions and the final sales price.  This is the only way to find out the real MLS listing data for a given property.  (Even this is only as accurate as our MLS so there will be errors.)

Step Three:

Using this archive information, calculate the actual days on the market and the actual % of the sales price versus the first listing price for each comparable property.  This is what I found about the 11 sales at The Farms:

* Note:  Sales 6-11 were new construction so the days on market include contruction time

Step Four:

Do an assessment of the currently active listings to gain a perspective about the overall community's strength and weaknesses and the competition within the subdivision.  Here is what I found out about The Farms after doing such an assessment:

• 7 are bank-owned
• 2 are offering a lease/purchase option
• 30 are vacant...most are new construction but several are resale

I also found out out:  The Sales Office has been moved to The Point community down the road despite the fact that there are two more phases to be built.  And, lock boxes are now on the new homes so Realtors can use lock boxes to access for showings rather than having a sales rep with them.  Finally, they are now requiring that each of their feature builders only have ONE home in the process of being built, down from two when they opened this subdivision several years ago.  All of these are signs of the weaker home sales and economy.  This is a great neighborhood and Crescent Communities is THE developer of Lake Norman but even they are cutting back for now.

Step Five:

Before making on offer there is one more thing to do if this is a re-sale home:  research the tax records to find out as much as possible about the current owners:  When did they buy, what was the purchase price,and,  if possible, what is the loan amount.

Summary:

Based upon the above data, I would conclude that while there is not an over abundance of listings, the majority of the sales have been new construction especially in the higher price range so resales in this community may have to be more flexible in price.  Good homes (good location, lot, home floorplan and amenities) are selling for about 5% less than the listing price.  However, if a home is overpriced the overall listing to selling price drops significantly, both with new and resale homes.

I would give this background information to my buyers so that they can make an informed decision about what price to offer on a property.  

RELATED ARTICLES

Lake Norman Waterfront Homebuyers:  Before Buying, See it by Boat!

Lake Norman Real Estate:  What does the closing attorney do?

Relocating to Lake Norman:  What to consider before buying real estate Part 1 

Relocating to Lake Norman: What you should know before buying real estate Part 2 

Relocating to Lake Norman: What you should know before buying real estate: Part 3

Relocating to Lake Norman: What you should know before buying real estate: Part 4

Relocating to Lake Norman: What you should know before buying real estate: Part 5

What you need to know about buying real estate in North Carolina  

I hear it all of the time from my Lake Norman home buyers:  They simply can't find an effective way to search for homes that are for sale in the Lake Norman area.  They try Realtor.com, all of the major national franchise sites and even local sites but simply get frustrated.  Many times they use a combination of sites just to get the information they are looking for.  Well, I am here to tell all Lake Norman area home buyers to STOP SEARCHING!

The Charlotte Regional Multiple Listing Service which encompasses Mooresville and the entire Lake Norman area, provides a home buyer system called "Gateway" that enables me to create a custom search(s) for my buyers with their own website where they can prioritize their custom list of active homes for sale, delete the ones they don't like, make comments about the ones they do and even share information back and forth with me.   

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Okay, so I admit it, I love showing waterfront property here on Lake Norman by boat.  (The above picture is of my skipper/husband while we are waiting for my clients to arrive.) Not a bad way to spend a beautiful day! 

However, in all seriousness, it is extremely important, particularly for out-of-towners, to give waterfront buyers a tour of Lake Norman by boat after narrowing down their search a bit but BEFORE making an offer.  Here are just some of the reasons why:

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Starting when I was in the sixth grade, my family was relocated across the country about every two years because of my father's job.  Every time my father brought home the news of our next move, my mom would go into major research mode.  The number one priority was always the school systems and then real estate.

If you are a parent contemplating a move to the Lake Norman area I'm sure you are also anxious to learn as much as possible about the various schools before you make a decision if or where to purchase a home.  Thanks to the Internet, you can do most of the research from the comfort of you own home.

The first thing you should know is that there are 5 school districts surrounding Lake Norman.

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Effective July 1, 2008, there have been numerous small and more significant changes/additions/deletions to the standard North Carolina real estate forms jointly approved by the North Carolina Association of Realtors AND the North Carolina Bar Association.

As a home buyer or seller in the Lake Norman area, there are several things you should do or know if you are currently thinking about or in the process of buying or listing a home:

• Always make sure that the forms you are provided by your Realtor are the most current form available.  Our four most commonly used forms, the Offer to Purchase and Contract (Form 2-T),  The Additional Provisions Addendum (Form 2A11-T), The Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement (form 101), The Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement (Form 201) as well as many others were revised on July 1, 2008.  At the very bottom of each form you will find the Standard Form number and the date adopted.  Check to make sure it says:  Adopted 7/2008.
• Have your REALTOR explain the changes in the forms, especially if you have used the old forms recently.
• There is a 60-day grace period to transition to new forms.

Here is a very brief summary of the most notable changes to these 4 forms.  *This is general information only.  Please note, I am NOT an attorney.  If you have any questions regarding these changes please consult a real estate attorney.  I would be happy to provide you with names and phone numbers for several in the Mooresville Lake Norman area!

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