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.  

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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  

It is rare in the world of Lake Norman real estate to meet a developer whose passion is to build and develop while focused on integrating their new homes/plans with the surrounding established neighborhoods; and with an overall vision to create a better sense of community for the entire Denver area. 

I had the pleasure of meeting with T.G Daniel, Jr. and Tom Daniel lll yesterday to hear about their short and long term plans for the Westport Club in Denver on the southwest side of Lake Norman.  I was extremely impressed with their vision for the future of the greater Denver area and their desire to improve the existing community through their plans for residential, recreation and commercial development.

In 2005, the Daniel's real estate development firm, Southern Home Management, purchased 250 acres in Denver on the west side of Lake Norman literally across the lake from the very end of Mooresville's Brawley School Peninsula.   

In addtion, they purchased 165 acres of land that was then the overgrown Westport Golf Course which had been closed since 2003.  The Westport Golf Course, now 40 years old, was the very first golf course built on Lake Norman way back in 1968.  The first thing the Daniel's did was to restore the beautiful golf course and reopen the Westport Golf Club much to the delight of all of the surrounding neighbors!

The  Phase I of the Westport Club housing development includes .5 acre+ lots for single family homes.  Home buyers can choose from The Heathers at Westport Golf Club by Southhampton Homes, The Heathers at Westport Golf Club by St. Lawrence Homes or they can bring in their own custom home builder.  Some lots are on the golf course or have golf course views.

The second community in Phase 1 is the urban and luxury town homes  by Meeting Street.  The 72 urban town homes start in the $130,000's and the 58 luxury town homes start in the $225,000's.  A model home is already available on site.

In the third community in Phase 1, there will be 72 one-story patio condominiums.  The home builder, WKB Properties, will be creating 4-unit buildings that will be designed to look like one large single family residence.  As of now, the plans range from 1560 - 2100 square feet and will include all maintenance.  A great place for active adults to enjoy a relaxing Lake Norman and golf club lifestyle!

  One of the most exciting parts of Phase 1 is going to thrill many residents around the entire Lake Norman area but especially the west side:  The Club at WestPort! .  Finally, Lake Norman will have a complete tennis, swim and fitness center whose focus will be on family, single and senior memberships for those looking for true, organized competitive tennis and swimming as well as fitness and training. Run by Robbie Smith of the Charlotte Racquet Club, this facility when complete will have a 5000 square foot club house, 8-13 clay tennis courts, a junior Olympic size pool (the only one planned on the west side of Lake Norman), splash park and 24 hour access to a fitness center. 

Did I mention that this wonderful Westport Community is conveniently located about 20 minutes north of Charlotte?

In future articles I will write in more detail about the Westport Golf Club, walking trails, nearby amenities and Phase 2 of this exciting development!

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Lake Norman Relocation Resources

Relocating to Lake Norman

When one thinks of Cornelius NC images of gracious homes in The Peninsula and along the Lake Norman waterfront, upscale shops and services and a casual lifestyle come to mind.  But, there is a giant coming to town!

Controversial since it's inception, The Village at Lake Norman  got approval for a conditional-use permit by the Cornelius commissions back on April 24th by a slim vote of 3-2 after years of meetings with the town staff, planning board and community residents.  In May, Cornelius Bromont LLC announced it had completed the purchase of 104 acres in Cornelius for the future site of the Village at Lake Norman, the largest real estate development in the community's history.  (Not unlike Langtree at the Lake in Mooresville).

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LAKE NORMAN RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE HOT SHEET

August 8, 2008 

My third bi-monthly Lake Norman Friday Hot Sheet is here! 

Above is a chart with today's "hot sheet" numbers from the Charlotte Multiple Listing Services for all single family homes in Lake Norman (area 13).  For comparison, I have provided numbers from the past two weeks and earlier this year.  Here are some highlights:

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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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