tinaabraham

Archive for July, 2008

The Week in Review Wilmington NC

In Real Estate on July 27, 2008 at 3:41 pm

Week in Review Wilmington NC July 26, 2008

In Real Estate on July 27, 2008 at 3:41 pm

, , ,

The Week in Review Wilmington NC July 19, 2008

In Real Estate on July 19, 2008 at 6:08 pm

The Week in Review

.….your Wilmington Connection

July 19, 2008

 

The Well needed rain gave Wilmington a cool off, but not in the real estate market, with many homes under contract. Once under contract we all wait with abaited breath that the loans will be approved. Mortgage mayhem is what I call it. But if you need a good lender that will get the deal done for you let me know I have a couple under my belt I would definately reccomend.

Fannie & Freddie will they be Rescued

Washington, D.C. – Following a weekend of negotiations among officials, the U.S. government plans to extend several financial lifelines–but not a bailout–to the beleaguered mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and announced Sunday that it will allow the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend money to Fannie and Freddie should they need it. Separately, the Bush administration announced its own rescue plan, which would extend the Treasury Department’s line of credit to the companies. After working with the companies, the Federal Reserve, and other regulators, Treasury Secretary Paulson outlined a plan that we believe will help add stability during this period,” the White House said.

Home Sales to Vary in Narrow Range, Then Rise in Second Half

Modest near-term movement is expected in existing-home sales, with a recovery in sales seen during the second half of the year, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in May, fell 4.7 percent to 84.7 from an upwardly revised reading of 88.9 in April, and remains 14.0 percent below May 2007 when it stood at 98.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said some pullback after a sharp increase in the previous month was expected. “The overall decline in contract signings suggests we are not out of the woods by any means. The housing stimulus bill that is still being considered in the Senate is critical to assure a healthy recovery in the housing market, jobs and the economy,” he said.

The PHSI in the West slipped 1.3 percent to 97.5 in May but is 2.0 percent higher than May 2007. In the Northeast, the index declined 2.9 percent to 77.0 in May and is 16.4 percent below a year ago. The index in the Midwest fell 6.0 percent to 78.6 and is 13.8 percent below May 2007. In the South, the index dropped 7.1 percent in May to 84.5 and is 22.1 percent below a year ago.Yun said location has never mattered more than in the current market. “Some markets have seen a doubling in home sales from a year ago, while others are seeing contract signings cut in half. Price conditions vary tremendously, even within a locality, depending upon a neighborhood’s exposure to subprime loans.”

 

.…..until next week in The Week in Review

Tina

, , ,

The Week in Review Wilmington NC July 12, 2008

In Real Estate on July 13, 2008 at 2:03 am
 

The Week in Review

.…your Wilmington Connection

July 12, 2008

In the Wilmington real esate market we have 2934 homes on the market. Currently 16% of those are under contract. House prices are still holding steady and homes have been closing on average 95% of there list price. There still is hope in the air if you are currently selling your home. If youj are thinking about it, then let me tell you about my marketing plan that will get you home sold. Contact me.

Homeowners Say River Road project shaking houses

For Jon Deputy, it’s bad enough that a developer is moving River Road within a stone’s throw of his neighborhood.

The developer, California-based Newland Communities, is operating a sand mine on its property.

While Newland has the appropriate mining permit and county officials have given their OK, Deputy doesn’t understand why mining is allowed near homes, even if it is temporary. He said his house on Tanbark Drive shakes from the work. He wonders how long it will last.

Kathleen Rosa, who owns a home at the end of Lorraine Drive, said her family moved out in late April because of construction noise. Now the Rosas live in nearby Echo Farms, where they have gladly traded away their rattling windows for a busy golf course.

Most of all, residents like Deputy and Rosa said they feel the county has left their neighborhood high and dry in favor of the developer.

“We don’t feel like our county commissioners and county government act as an advocate for us,” Deputy said. “We feel they act as an advocate for Newland Communities.”

County officials say, however, that they have inspected the site a number of times to address residents’ concerns and have found no problems.

Area home sales and prices slip

Last month’s housing market in the Wilmington area was the slowest June since 2003, according to data released Friday by the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors. Sales fell 33 percent from a year earlier.

And sale prices of homes – which have held their own here since the beginning of the national housing slump in 2006 – slipped from last year’s levels.

In June, the average purchase price of homes in Wilmington dropped 4.7 percent compared with a year earlier, slipping from $282,949 to $269,423, the Realtors reprted.

For the first six months of the year, both the average and median prices of homes sold were down about 4 percent compared with the first half of 2007.

Wilmington has not suffered the double-digit drops in home values that have slammed formerly hot areas such as Florida, Las Vegas and California. North Carolina, in general, has seen prices hold steady. But the housing bust has not passed us by either.

Sales are down almost 60 percent from their peak in the second quarter of 2005, said William Hall, economist at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. “If you smooth out sales on a moving average … they’ve been down here since the third quarter of last year,” he said Friday.

Removing random variation, he said, sales have gone from a peak of 900 a month to about 300 a month through May.

Home sales were down from May levels by 13.5 percent. That compares with a peak of 1,001 sold in June 2005 – an era of soaring sales and prices fed by easy mortgage money and, in part, by speculation.

For the first six months of 2008, sales fell 30.6 percent compared with the first half of 2007, to 2,435 from 3,512. If that sales pace were to hold for the year, the results would be the lowest since 2002.

The prices are only for homes sold and do not necessarily reflect the overall value of the area’s housing. They are often seen, however, as an indicator of the market’s strength. Additionally, the sales and prices represent transactions closed in June, with contracts signed 30 to 60 days earlier.

Sales peaked here in 2005, when 9,347 homes were sold in the area served by the Wilmington Realtors – roughly New Hanover and Pender counties and parts of Brunswick. Agents and others in the housing industry have pointed out that such activity was unsustainable.

The market did indeed return to a more normal pace in succeeding years, and prices stabilized as investors pulled out of a market that could no longer offer a huge return in a short time.

The decline in sales, though, has had a weeding-out effect on the number of agents in this market, and veteran agents have picked up some of the business lost by less-experienced ones, some of whom had never known a shrinking market.

The effect of the sales drop here and elsewhere in the U.S. is not limited to real estate salespeople. Builders have been left with a heavy inventory of homes, and that slowdown is indirectly reflected in the WRAR’s figures because they include new construction homes as well as resales.

The lending business also has seen a shakeout with the disappearance of cheap and easy-to-get loans with no down payment and no documentation of income. Mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have tightened their standards. The relative difficulty of getting a mortgage also has served to cut home sales.

 

…until next week in The Week in Review

Tina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

, , , , ,

The Week in Review.. Wilmington NC July 5, 2008

In Real Estate on July 5, 2008 at 10:50 pm
 

 

The Week in Review

……your Wilmington Connection

July 5, 2008

I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July. The weather was trememdous with a great breeze and gorgeous sunshine. The fireworks sent us all home with stars in our eyes. Many visitors were in awe of the Wilmingon area, I had many opportunities to speak with visitors who said that Wilmington was there top destination for relocation and retirement. If you are planning on moving to Wilmington contact me and I will get a relocation package in the mail to you.


It’s a Great time to Buy Real Estate

Now is an ideal time to buy. Prices won’t go lower and there is an abundance of inventory. Sellers are willing to negotiate and builders are willing to throw in options. 2007 was the 5th best year on record for existing home sales. Despite some contrary reports and some moderate losses in value in the short term, home values in the long term have and will continue to rise. Real estate is a long term investment.

Shallotte approves process to annex; Shallotte Point must ask first, town says

Shallotte | Town officials have cleared the first hurdle for property owners in the quaint community of Shallotte Point who want to be annexed into the town of Shallotte.

The town board approved Tuesday night an ordinance establishing an annexation agreement with the towns of Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach, allowing residents to voluntarily be annexed into Shallotte and prohibiting the other towns from annexing them.

State law requires residents outside town limits to get approval from the nearest jurisdiction if they want to be annexed into another municipality, said Cindy Babson, the town’s zoning code enforcement officer.

The nearest jurisdictions to Shallotte Point are Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach, although the towns are separated from the area by waterway.

Now, pending approval of the ordinance from the other towns, property owners in the area can skip the step of a public hearing in each town and can petition for annexation directly to Shallotte.

Federal budget might not include money to dredge some inlets


Mike Davis, aboard the ‘Bird Dog II,’ said it wouldn’t take long for Carolina Beach Inlet to become a safety hazard if the periodic dredging by the Army Corps of Engineers is allowed to lapse.

Carolina Beach | Bill Carlson of Cape Fear Divers, taking a moment away from making some repairs on the dive boat Hawksbill Friday morning, shook his head when asked how important a navigable Carolina Beach Inlet is to the economy of this coastal town.

“Everything in this harbor is dependent on it,” he said, motioning up and down the docks to the commercial, charter and diving boats tied up in the town’s Yacht Basin. “We gotta have it to keep a lot of the jobs and the tourists that come to Carolina Beach.”

Last week, a House committee earmarked nearly $18.5 million in the upcoming 2009 federal budget for coastal infrastructure projects in Southeastern North Carolina.

Although just the first step in the long, often-convoluted process of coming up with a federal budget, it was an important move in the right direction, said U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.

“If you remember, the (Bush) administration gave us nothing but goose eggs in regard to funding for our inlets and beaches, so this is a real victory considering what we’ve gotten.

 

……………until next week in The Week in Review.

Tina