July 1, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo®, Charlotte, NC
Signs suggest regional influx slowing
Wavering real estate sales, power hookups and CMS enrollment growth are among the indicators cited.
By Christopher D. Kirkpatrickand Amy Baldwin/Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte region's march of newcomers appears to be slowing.
Some indicators, including school enrollment, new electrical service hookups and reports from businesses that cater to new residents, point to a migratory slip.
Economists and others say the change, though just a hiccup and no threat to long-term prosperity, illustrates how Charlotte's economy is feeling pressure from a flagging national economy.
It could also ease traffic, pollution and a classroom space crunch, among other growing pains, said Douglas Shoemaker, a research analyst with UNC Charlotte's Center for Applied Geographic Information Science.
“A lot of towns have been overwhelmed by quality of life issues and providing services such as water and sewer,” Shoemaker said. “A lull would allow planners to get the upper hand again.”
The latest Census Bureau population data on newcomers isn't available until the fall. But institutions such as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Duke Energy have noticed a recent decline.
CMS officials expected to add 5,200 students this school year, but only about 2,900 new enrollees turned up. It marked the first time in four years that CMS forecasts overestimated enrollment.
Duke says new electric power hookups in the Carolinas fell to 38,391 for 2007 after increasing to a high 40,828 in 2006.
Gentle Giant, a Boston-area-based mover with a Charlotte office, has seen its once-strong flow of New Englanders into the region pull back, said Jon Vogel, regional branch manager. It started about six months ago, he said.
The company also specializes in out-of-state corporate moves. “We've had a lot of really big jobs get canceled. There isn't the drive to invest as much.”
Vogel said real estate prices have fallen so far in the Northeast that homeowners can't afford to sell at a loss: “So they're putting off moves.” Side business from relocations is also affected – fewer newcomers move their parents down after them, for example, he said. “All that stuff used to trickle down.”
The region has benefited this decade from transplants who spend money, buy houses and work available jobs, said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wachovia.
About 88,000 newcomers moved to Charlotte in 2006-2007, and about 14,000 moved away, for a net population increase of 74,000. That's up from 80,000 newcomers in 2005-2006, with 30,000 moving away for a net 50,000 increase, according to an annual Observer analysis of census data released each fall.
Federal Reserve economist Matt Martin said he expects this fall's census data that counts newcomers to confirm a decline. He said he's been hearing a collective buzz since the fall about the slowdown of newcomers.
He said a tightening local job market is adding to the falloff. “There are not as many opportunities at the moment,” said Martin, who works at the Federal Reserve branch in Charlotte.
Jobless rates for the Charlotte area and the Carolinas have been higher than the U.S. rate, which was up to 5.5 percent in May from 5 percent in April. The region's jobless rate was 5.1 percent in April. The latest Carolinas unemployment figures are due later this month.
Vitner said he's expecting the newcomer slowdown to extend into next year, sapping tax revenues and local economic sectors that offer services “directly tied to population growth.”
Savvy + Co., a residential real estate company in Charlotte, is seeing out-of-state clients take a lot longer to relocate. A year ago, it took only a month or two for them to sell their homes and be ready to buy here, said owner Lexie Longstreet. Now it's more like seven or eight months or longer, she said.
“Sometimes they just say, ‘We can't sell our house, so we are going to stay here,'” she said.
Suzanne Meyer, owner of The Welcome Service, which dispatches welcome baskets in the Lake Norman area, also blames slower housing markets in other regions
Business “has slowed down a bit for us,” she said. Meyer's company targets affluent homeowners, those who buy homes with price tags upwards of $300,000.
Gina DeCarlo recently decided to leave Las Vegas for Charlotte. But it wasn't meant to be.
After more than 30 years in Nevada, she and husband Bill wanted a change. She visited Charlotte in late April and loved the area as much as her sister in Matthews predicted she would.
But DeCarlo, 50, doesn't want to sell her home in Las Vegas' sinking real estate market, one of the nation's hardest hit.
“I can't get what I want for my house,” she said. “The house has taken probably a $50,000 dump.”
She'd like to get $300,000 for the house she bought in 1982 for $100,000.
Martin and Vitner predict the slowdown of transplants won't create lasting economic woes.
“It's nothing to panic about,” Vitner said, noting that housing prices in hard-hit states should bottom out by the end of next year and those markets should loosen up. The flow of newcomers should pick up as those homes start to move, he said.
And Charlotte is already faring much better than most large regions, Martin said.
“I think this is all short-term,” he said. “I don't think the conditions that have driven Charlotte's growth over the last decade are all of a sudden gone.”THE MORE THE MERRIER
Population for nine-county Charlotte region. This is the same region the Observer uses to calculate its newcomer statistics every fall when the American Community Survey data is released by the Census Bureau.
2007: 2,143,946
2006: 2,065,520
2005: 1,991,060
2004: 1,934,195
2003: 1,893,429
2002: 1,858,327
2001: 1,820,030
2000: 1,775,860
Note: For this story, the Observer defined the region as the retail trade zone counties of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Catawba, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Rowan, Union counties and York County, S.C.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo®, Charlotte, NC
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Green Building Booms in Western North Carolina
June 30, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Green building booms in WNC
by Paul Clark of the Citizen Times, Asheville, NC
The N.C. HealthyBuilt Homes program is a voluntary, statewide green building certification program. The number of certified and finished HealthyBuilt homes in Western North Carolina more than doubled between June 2007 and January 2008 — from 51 to 125, according to the Western North Carolina Green Building Council.
Green homes in progress increased nearly fivefold — from 100 to 482. Currently, there are 668 in development, the council reports.
The number of HealthyBuilt homes for sale in the county jumped from 11 in the year preceding June 19, 2007, to 113 in the year preceding June 19, 2008, according to the WNC Regional Multiple Listing Service, a tool that real estate professionals use to list and sell homes.
“This is not a fad. This is the future,” said Pat “Tree” Spaulding, a certified environmental consultant for Keller Williams Professionals real estate company in Asheville. She provided the MLS numbers above. “These homes are more durable, healthier and far more energy-efficient. Why would anyone want to buy anything else in the world as we are now experiencing it?”
“Everything (green) is going through the roof and shows no sign of stopping,” said Stephens Farrell of Stephens Smith Farrell Architecture in Asheville. “The thought of owning a 4,500-square-foot, poorly conceived and insulated house 45 minutes from work send shivers down people’s spines when they think about $4.50 gas.”
Farrell is the architect on a house on Cantrell Mountain south of Brevard that should be ready for its owners this month. They wanted a house that produces more electricity than it consumes. Farrell suggested a photovoltaic system — a typical residential system costs about $40,000 — that feeds excess energy into the electrical grid. Every three months, the owners should get a check from Duke Energy, Farrell said.
Their super-insulated house reduces its energy needs by using a geothermal heat pump, which uses the consistency of the earth’s temperature — about 55 degrees five feet below the surface — to heat and cool. The house, with solar hot water, stays cool in summer and warm in winter because of its living roof — a mat of live sedum that needs watering the first year but none later, barring a searing drought.
Bigger than it was
In its Enka Hills subdivision, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity built 16 HealthyBuilt homes in 2007 and plans to build the same number this year, communications manager Ariane Kjellquist said. All have non-toxic water-based paints and high-efficiency appliances. Its largest four-bedroom house won’t cost more than $34 a month to heat or cool, Kjellquist said.
There are more than a dozen LEED-registered buildings in WNC, said Matt Siegel, director of Western North Carolina Green Building Council. LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Siegel is working with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians on the largest LEED-certified project in WNC — a 470,000-square-foot, three-building school complex under construction.
“For years, we have been having Realtors saying, ‘We have a customer (for green housing), but there’s nothing out there,’ ” Seigel said. “They didn’t have 50 different options as far as size and price.”
“I’ve got clients who moved to Seattle just to buy a green-certified home,” real estate agent Michael Figura said. “And they came here, and (green homes) are all over the place.”
Energy prices are one reason green building is so popular, Seigel said. As a result “a lot of our green builders haven’t seen the downturn in real estate that others have,” he said. Developers of large communities are coming to the council for its advice on how to build green. In two and half years, the council’s membership has grown from 150 to 520.
Eco Concepts Realty completed Hudson Street Cottages, a green development off State Street in West Asheville. Now it’s working on Gaia, another green development of clustered homes on Shelbourne Road. Gaia has solar heating and hot water, water-saving toilets, bamboo and stained concrete floors.
Ed and Kate Daigle are moving into a condo at Gaia this fall. They live in a 1930s house in Brevard that other than the grass, isn’t green at all, Ed Daigle said. The move is philosophically based — he believes that global warming is the world’s most pressing matter.
Michael Figura owns Eco Concepts Realty. He’s also a planner at GreenPlan, an Asheville company that promotes sustainable development. And he’s chairman of the Eco Consultants Association, a division of Asheville Board of Realtors.
“It’s the best way we can impact the sustainability of our culture,” Figura said. “We only have one earth. We’ve got kids and want to try to leave it a better place than we found it.”
Green with envy
Got a green home you’re dying to show off? ECO (the Environmental and Conservation Organization) is organizing its first green home tour in August in conjunction with the Southern Energy and Environment Expo on Aug. 23. It is looking for homes in Transylvania, Henderson or south Buncombe counties. Call 692-0385 or visit www.eco-wnc.org.
Eco-friendly home features
The N.C. HealthyBuilt Homes program has an extensive checklist that calculates eco-friendly aspects of a dwelling before designating it as a HealthyBuilt home. Green features at Stan and Colette Corwin’s Chunns Cove home include:
• Recycled gray water system.
• Salvaged building materials.
• Sealed crawlspace.
• Locally milled/fabricated cabinets with FSC-certified zero-formaldehyde hardwood plywood.
• Decking and hardwood floors made of sunken river wood.
• Natural cork bathroom floors.
• Zero-VOC Earthpaint in interior and on decking.
• Icynene insulation throughout.
• Rain harvesting.
• Wood-burning stove.
• Tankless water heaters.
• Looped on-demand hot-water delivery system.
More green in the Carolinas from the mountains to the coast!
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Green building booms in WNC
by Paul Clark of the Citizen Times, Asheville, NC
The N.C. HealthyBuilt Homes program is a voluntary, statewide green building certification program. The number of certified and finished HealthyBuilt homes in Western North Carolina more than doubled between June 2007 and January 2008 — from 51 to 125, according to the Western North Carolina Green Building Council.
Green homes in progress increased nearly fivefold — from 100 to 482. Currently, there are 668 in development, the council reports.
The number of HealthyBuilt homes for sale in the county jumped from 11 in the year preceding June 19, 2007, to 113 in the year preceding June 19, 2008, according to the WNC Regional Multiple Listing Service, a tool that real estate professionals use to list and sell homes.
“This is not a fad. This is the future,” said Pat “Tree” Spaulding, a certified environmental consultant for Keller Williams Professionals real estate company in Asheville. She provided the MLS numbers above. “These homes are more durable, healthier and far more energy-efficient. Why would anyone want to buy anything else in the world as we are now experiencing it?”
“Everything (green) is going through the roof and shows no sign of stopping,” said Stephens Farrell of Stephens Smith Farrell Architecture in Asheville. “The thought of owning a 4,500-square-foot, poorly conceived and insulated house 45 minutes from work send shivers down people’s spines when they think about $4.50 gas.”
Farrell is the architect on a house on Cantrell Mountain south of Brevard that should be ready for its owners this month. They wanted a house that produces more electricity than it consumes. Farrell suggested a photovoltaic system — a typical residential system costs about $40,000 — that feeds excess energy into the electrical grid. Every three months, the owners should get a check from Duke Energy, Farrell said.
Their super-insulated house reduces its energy needs by using a geothermal heat pump, which uses the consistency of the earth’s temperature — about 55 degrees five feet below the surface — to heat and cool. The house, with solar hot water, stays cool in summer and warm in winter because of its living roof — a mat of live sedum that needs watering the first year but none later, barring a searing drought.
Bigger than it was
In its Enka Hills subdivision, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity built 16 HealthyBuilt homes in 2007 and plans to build the same number this year, communications manager Ariane Kjellquist said. All have non-toxic water-based paints and high-efficiency appliances. Its largest four-bedroom house won’t cost more than $34 a month to heat or cool, Kjellquist said.
There are more than a dozen LEED-registered buildings in WNC, said Matt Siegel, director of Western North Carolina Green Building Council. LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Siegel is working with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians on the largest LEED-certified project in WNC — a 470,000-square-foot, three-building school complex under construction.
“For years, we have been having Realtors saying, ‘We have a customer (for green housing), but there’s nothing out there,’ ” Seigel said. “They didn’t have 50 different options as far as size and price.”
“I’ve got clients who moved to Seattle just to buy a green-certified home,” real estate agent Michael Figura said. “And they came here, and (green homes) are all over the place.”
Energy prices are one reason green building is so popular, Seigel said. As a result “a lot of our green builders haven’t seen the downturn in real estate that others have,” he said. Developers of large communities are coming to the council for its advice on how to build green. In two and half years, the council’s membership has grown from 150 to 520.
Eco Concepts Realty completed Hudson Street Cottages, a green development off State Street in West Asheville. Now it’s working on Gaia, another green development of clustered homes on Shelbourne Road. Gaia has solar heating and hot water, water-saving toilets, bamboo and stained concrete floors.
Ed and Kate Daigle are moving into a condo at Gaia this fall. They live in a 1930s house in Brevard that other than the grass, isn’t green at all, Ed Daigle said. The move is philosophically based — he believes that global warming is the world’s most pressing matter.
Michael Figura owns Eco Concepts Realty. He’s also a planner at GreenPlan, an Asheville company that promotes sustainable development. And he’s chairman of the Eco Consultants Association, a division of Asheville Board of Realtors.
“It’s the best way we can impact the sustainability of our culture,” Figura said. “We only have one earth. We’ve got kids and want to try to leave it a better place than we found it.”
Green with envy
Got a green home you’re dying to show off? ECO (the Environmental and Conservation Organization) is organizing its first green home tour in August in conjunction with the Southern Energy and Environment Expo on Aug. 23. It is looking for homes in Transylvania, Henderson or south Buncombe counties. Call 692-0385 or visit www.eco-wnc.org.
Eco-friendly home features
The N.C. HealthyBuilt Homes program has an extensive checklist that calculates eco-friendly aspects of a dwelling before designating it as a HealthyBuilt home. Green features at Stan and Colette Corwin’s Chunns Cove home include:
• Recycled gray water system.
• Salvaged building materials.
• Sealed crawlspace.
• Locally milled/fabricated cabinets with FSC-certified zero-formaldehyde hardwood plywood.
• Decking and hardwood floors made of sunken river wood.
• Natural cork bathroom floors.
• Zero-VOC Earthpaint in interior and on decking.
• Icynene insulation throughout.
• Rain harvesting.
• Wood-burning stove.
• Tankless water heaters.
• Looped on-demand hot-water delivery system.
More green in the Carolinas from the mountains to the coast!
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Bringing Green to The Mainstream
June 28, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Homeowners and builders find going green is a balance of cost and concerns for the environment.
In 1970, Kermit the Frog sang "It's not easy bein' green," and today's homeowners are feeling his plight as they try to balance costs and concerns for the environment. While the initial cost of "going green" is still a significant deciding factor, there are several benefits. Homeowners are doing something positive for the environment, their families and the future by saving
energy and resources. There are also sometimes rebates and credits to encourage people to incorporate green building practices. Many lenders now offer energy efficient mortgages. To learn more, visit http:/f.Nww.dsireusa.org/, the Web site for the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency. The database is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (lREC) funded by the U.S.
Department of Energy.
What actually is green building or remodeling?
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a home can be considered green when energy efficiency, water and resource conservation, sustainable or recycled products, and indoor air quality considerations are incorporated into the home building process. Key components of a green home include:
Energy- Efficient Features
Many energy-efficient qualities of a green home are easy to spot. Appliances, windows, and water heating systems will likely have ENERGY STAR@ ratings. The home should also include efficient lighting fixtures and bulbs. Renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic electricity and water heating systems, further decrease the overall energy consumption
within the home.
Water-Efficient Features
Fixtures and appliances such as low-flow showerheads, faucets and toilets -along with ENERGY
STAR@ dishwashers and washing machines -all conserve water. Programmed, low-volume irrigation systems, rainwater collection systems, wastewater treatment systems, and hot water recirculation systems also save water.
Resource-Efficient Features
These decisions -from home size, to orientation of the lot, to floor plan layout -are made in the design of your home and development of the lot. The house orientation and design should take advantage of natural daylight to reduce lighting needs, and should use strategies to reduce heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. The home should contain renewable materials (including rapidly-renewable wood species such as bamboo) and recycled-content materials in carpets, tiles, and concrete formulations.
Indoor Air Quality Features
The heating, air conditioning and ventilation system (HVAC) must be appropriately sized for an efficient and properly ventilated home. Fans in the kitchen and bathrooms should cycle fresh air inside, and release stale air. Low-VOC paints and finishes and wall papers should be used as well. NAHB has developed the NAHB National Green Building Program, a comprehensive resource on green building and remodeling at www.nahbgreen.org. .
Source National Association of Home Buiiders (NAHB) www.nahb.org
As a disclaimer: I am not a proponent of bamboo flooring and would personally do more research. Wall papers trap moisture. Light bulbs with mercury are on my watch list and hopefully, another option will appear.
I have included links where you may find other good articles on the National Home Builders site:
www.nahb.org our source for this article on going green.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Homeowners and builders find going green is a balance of cost and concerns for the environment.
In 1970, Kermit the Frog sang "It's not easy bein' green," and today's homeowners are feeling his plight as they try to balance costs and concerns for the environment. While the initial cost of "going green" is still a significant deciding factor, there are several benefits. Homeowners are doing something positive for the environment, their families and the future by saving
energy and resources. There are also sometimes rebates and credits to encourage people to incorporate green building practices. Many lenders now offer energy efficient mortgages. To learn more, visit http:/f.Nww.dsireusa.org/, the Web site for the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency. The database is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (lREC) funded by the U.S.
Department of Energy.
What actually is green building or remodeling?
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a home can be considered green when energy efficiency, water and resource conservation, sustainable or recycled products, and indoor air quality considerations are incorporated into the home building process. Key components of a green home include:
Energy- Efficient Features
Many energy-efficient qualities of a green home are easy to spot. Appliances, windows, and water heating systems will likely have ENERGY STAR@ ratings. The home should also include efficient lighting fixtures and bulbs. Renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic electricity and water heating systems, further decrease the overall energy consumption
within the home.
Water-Efficient Features
Fixtures and appliances such as low-flow showerheads, faucets and toilets -along with ENERGY
STAR@ dishwashers and washing machines -all conserve water. Programmed, low-volume irrigation systems, rainwater collection systems, wastewater treatment systems, and hot water recirculation systems also save water.
Resource-Efficient Features
These decisions -from home size, to orientation of the lot, to floor plan layout -are made in the design of your home and development of the lot. The house orientation and design should take advantage of natural daylight to reduce lighting needs, and should use strategies to reduce heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. The home should contain renewable materials (including rapidly-renewable wood species such as bamboo) and recycled-content materials in carpets, tiles, and concrete formulations.
Indoor Air Quality Features
The heating, air conditioning and ventilation system (HVAC) must be appropriately sized for an efficient and properly ventilated home. Fans in the kitchen and bathrooms should cycle fresh air inside, and release stale air. Low-VOC paints and finishes and wall papers should be used as well. NAHB has developed the NAHB National Green Building Program, a comprehensive resource on green building and remodeling at www.nahbgreen.org. .
Source National Association of Home Buiiders (NAHB) www.nahb.org
As a disclaimer: I am not a proponent of bamboo flooring and would personally do more research. Wall papers trap moisture. Light bulbs with mercury are on my watch list and hopefully, another option will appear.
I have included links where you may find other good articles on the National Home Builders site:
www.nahb.org our source for this article on going green.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Friday, June 27, 2008
Chalk Up Another "Best" for Charlotte
June 27, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Charlotte named best place to live
Relocate-America.com ranks top 100 cities in its annual list
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Apparently, there's just something about North Carolina. For the second year in a row, America's best city in which to live lies within its borders, according to Relocate-America.com's annual list.
This year, Charlotte, N.C., is in the top spot, the site announced this week. Last year's winner was Asheville, N.C., which slipped to No. 7 on this year's list.
"North Carolina is very active on our radar," said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO of HomeRoute. "It continues to get a flood of interest from all over."
HomeRoute is the real estate firm that operates Relocate-America.com, a source of community information and real-estate resources for those who are relocating. Each year, the site ranks the top 100 places to live in the country.
Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said. Special efforts are made to prevent spamming campaigns from influencing the results, he added.
But the site's editorial team also takes into account an area's growth, its educational and employment opportunities, crime rates and housing options before granting it a spot in the top 100. Environmental highlights also play a role, with a city gaining points for good air and water quality or the strength of its recycling efforts, Nickerson said.
Home-price appreciation does get some consideration, however it's only one piece of the analysis, Nickerson said -- explaining why some struggling real estate markets in California and Florida, for example, still made the top 100. Areas that offer a comfortable climate and economic opportunity tend to be the most sought-after communities on the site, he said.
Charlotte's diversity of housing options and home affordability were two of the reasons users nominated the city, Nickerson said. The city's strong economy, boosted largely by the banking industry, was another selling point.
Second on this year's list was San Antonio, Texas, which people praised for its cost of living, recreational opportunities and diversity, he said. Chattanooga, Tenn., came in third place, noted for its vibrant downtown and affordable home prices in the nominations.
Below are the top 10 cities in Relocate-America.com's 2008 list:
Charlotte, N.C.
San Antonio, Texas
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Greenville, S.C.
Tulsa, Okla.
Stevens Point, Wis.
Asheville, N.C.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Huntsville, Ala.
Seattle, Wash.
Read the full list at Relocate-America.com.
The firm also plans on releasing a coffee table book on the top 100 in the near future, Nickerson said. Proceeds will benefit American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity, he added.
The view from the top
Certainly, being ranked as the top city to live in has its benefits, mainly as a marketing tool for the area to use, said Tony Crumbley, vice president of research for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. An email blast sent news of this list to thousands of residents, and the chamber actively keeps track of where Charlotte falls in many of the lists that are published.
"They are important," Crumbley said of the good rankings the city receives. But he also knows that these rankings come and go and that they're somewhat subjective; the city's appeal can change from one day to the next, depending on who is writing the list.
There weren't any significant changes in Charlotte during the past year that would account for boosting the city to the top of this particular list, he said. But the city definitely gets recognized a lot more today than it did 25 years ago, he added.
Bank of America and Wachovia have their headquarters in Charlotte, and it's also a hub for US Airways -- all of which seem to have increased the visibility of the city outside its boundaries, Crumbley said. The addition of professional sports teams since the 1980s has also helped.
In recent years, Charlotte has been successful in attracting young, educated workers to relocate there, he said. Asheville, on the other hand, has become a popular choice with retirees, he added.
But cities can easily make it to the top of one list and rank poorly on another, he said. Case in point: One recent Forbes.com list ranked Charlotte as one of the country's most miserable cities, a ranking, not surprisingly, that Crumbley and others disagree with. Forbes also ranked it as one of the best places to invest in foreclosures, in part because the real estate market there is relatively stable.
"If they're good, you use them. If they're bad, I won't tell you you should ignore them -- you look at them," he said of the lists on which Charlotte appears. But negative rankings aren't likely to end up getting used as a marketing piece for the city.
Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago. The Best was printed in May 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Charlotte named best place to live
Relocate-America.com ranks top 100 cities in its annual list
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Apparently, there's just something about North Carolina. For the second year in a row, America's best city in which to live lies within its borders, according to Relocate-America.com's annual list.
This year, Charlotte, N.C., is in the top spot, the site announced this week. Last year's winner was Asheville, N.C., which slipped to No. 7 on this year's list.
"North Carolina is very active on our radar," said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO of HomeRoute. "It continues to get a flood of interest from all over."
HomeRoute is the real estate firm that operates Relocate-America.com, a source of community information and real-estate resources for those who are relocating. Each year, the site ranks the top 100 places to live in the country.
Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said. Special efforts are made to prevent spamming campaigns from influencing the results, he added.
But the site's editorial team also takes into account an area's growth, its educational and employment opportunities, crime rates and housing options before granting it a spot in the top 100. Environmental highlights also play a role, with a city gaining points for good air and water quality or the strength of its recycling efforts, Nickerson said.
Home-price appreciation does get some consideration, however it's only one piece of the analysis, Nickerson said -- explaining why some struggling real estate markets in California and Florida, for example, still made the top 100. Areas that offer a comfortable climate and economic opportunity tend to be the most sought-after communities on the site, he said.
Charlotte's diversity of housing options and home affordability were two of the reasons users nominated the city, Nickerson said. The city's strong economy, boosted largely by the banking industry, was another selling point.
Second on this year's list was San Antonio, Texas, which people praised for its cost of living, recreational opportunities and diversity, he said. Chattanooga, Tenn., came in third place, noted for its vibrant downtown and affordable home prices in the nominations.
Below are the top 10 cities in Relocate-America.com's 2008 list:
Charlotte, N.C.
San Antonio, Texas
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Greenville, S.C.
Tulsa, Okla.
Stevens Point, Wis.
Asheville, N.C.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Huntsville, Ala.
Seattle, Wash.
Read the full list at Relocate-America.com.
The firm also plans on releasing a coffee table book on the top 100 in the near future, Nickerson said. Proceeds will benefit American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity, he added.
The view from the top
Certainly, being ranked as the top city to live in has its benefits, mainly as a marketing tool for the area to use, said Tony Crumbley, vice president of research for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. An email blast sent news of this list to thousands of residents, and the chamber actively keeps track of where Charlotte falls in many of the lists that are published.
"They are important," Crumbley said of the good rankings the city receives. But he also knows that these rankings come and go and that they're somewhat subjective; the city's appeal can change from one day to the next, depending on who is writing the list.
There weren't any significant changes in Charlotte during the past year that would account for boosting the city to the top of this particular list, he said. But the city definitely gets recognized a lot more today than it did 25 years ago, he added.
Bank of America and Wachovia have their headquarters in Charlotte, and it's also a hub for US Airways -- all of which seem to have increased the visibility of the city outside its boundaries, Crumbley said. The addition of professional sports teams since the 1980s has also helped.
In recent years, Charlotte has been successful in attracting young, educated workers to relocate there, he said. Asheville, on the other hand, has become a popular choice with retirees, he added.
But cities can easily make it to the top of one list and rank poorly on another, he said. Case in point: One recent Forbes.com list ranked Charlotte as one of the country's most miserable cities, a ranking, not surprisingly, that Crumbley and others disagree with. Forbes also ranked it as one of the best places to invest in foreclosures, in part because the real estate market there is relatively stable.
"If they're good, you use them. If they're bad, I won't tell you you should ignore them -- you look at them," he said of the lists on which Charlotte appears. But negative rankings aren't likely to end up getting used as a marketing piece for the city.
Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago. The Best was printed in May 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Coincidence? Maybe so. Maybe not.
June 26, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
After all, We are Americans…Coincidence? Maybe so, maybe not.
I spend a lot of time reading and thinking and verifying and being the diplomat or trying to be. I spend a lot of time listening and asking questions and evaluating. It’s really my job. As a real estate broker, I feel that my obligation is to be true to myself, to be honest with others and to consider their options, the buyers and sellers I work with, my clients.
And during my day, I think about what I would like to write about for my podcast or blog. Because of my long history in Charlotte and my two decades in Charlotte as a real estate broker, there is much to write about. I have a friend who says my blog and podcast should be more personal, like a journal. What I do, read, hear, think and write about seem to go hand in hand. If I reprint an article or report statistics, to me, that is personal because I am always looking, evaluating.
And then, when I started these communiqués, I told myself I would try to refrain from being yet another opinionated voice. Another critic, another Monday Morning Quarterback. After all, we are pretty bright as a people. We are going-forward kinds of folks. We are independent. We tend to be courageous, we Americans.
And I remembered being an American in Russia before the wall came down. I travelled with 90 other Americans to Moscow in the middle of the winter. What stuck with me is how we, the Americans were different from the Russians. The Russian people were square and stockier, pale, sad or without expression, or maybe that was fear. There were soldiers with guns everywhere. Everywhere.We, the Americans, had a sense of humor. Could subsist on cabbage and warm champagne. We couldn’t drink the water. And we knew how to lag behind the tourist groups and go to more places than we should…ask more questions than we should. We were after all, Americans.
And now as we approach this Fourth of July, I wonder what happened to the jovial, thin, courageous Americans. We were then Captains of our own ships and now we seem to be floating, waiting for someone else to throw us the life preserver…when we are capable of rescuing ourselves. We are Americans, we are the Can Do people, we are the pioneers, the inventors, the creators, the American dream…Now we seem to be held captive in a sea of negativity. And this sea carefully masks those who hold tight reins, relish the power and control they have or they covet.
Each of us has the power to be positive, to be helpful, to be pensive, to listen, to give, to receive, to exercise, to say no to the negative forces…each of us can adapt, adjust, focus, put our best foot forward. Try. Try again. Try again and again…until the Americans become Americans again. And claim our own freedoms.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
After all, We are Americans…Coincidence? Maybe so, maybe not.
I spend a lot of time reading and thinking and verifying and being the diplomat or trying to be. I spend a lot of time listening and asking questions and evaluating. It’s really my job. As a real estate broker, I feel that my obligation is to be true to myself, to be honest with others and to consider their options, the buyers and sellers I work with, my clients.
And during my day, I think about what I would like to write about for my podcast or blog. Because of my long history in Charlotte and my two decades in Charlotte as a real estate broker, there is much to write about. I have a friend who says my blog and podcast should be more personal, like a journal. What I do, read, hear, think and write about seem to go hand in hand. If I reprint an article or report statistics, to me, that is personal because I am always looking, evaluating.
And then, when I started these communiqués, I told myself I would try to refrain from being yet another opinionated voice. Another critic, another Monday Morning Quarterback. After all, we are pretty bright as a people. We are going-forward kinds of folks. We are independent. We tend to be courageous, we Americans.
And I remembered being an American in Russia before the wall came down. I travelled with 90 other Americans to Moscow in the middle of the winter. What stuck with me is how we, the Americans were different from the Russians. The Russian people were square and stockier, pale, sad or without expression, or maybe that was fear. There were soldiers with guns everywhere. Everywhere.We, the Americans, had a sense of humor. Could subsist on cabbage and warm champagne. We couldn’t drink the water. And we knew how to lag behind the tourist groups and go to more places than we should…ask more questions than we should. We were after all, Americans.
And now as we approach this Fourth of July, I wonder what happened to the jovial, thin, courageous Americans. We were then Captains of our own ships and now we seem to be floating, waiting for someone else to throw us the life preserver…when we are capable of rescuing ourselves. We are Americans, we are the Can Do people, we are the pioneers, the inventors, the creators, the American dream…Now we seem to be held captive in a sea of negativity. And this sea carefully masks those who hold tight reins, relish the power and control they have or they covet.
Each of us has the power to be positive, to be helpful, to be pensive, to listen, to give, to receive, to exercise, to say no to the negative forces…each of us can adapt, adjust, focus, put our best foot forward. Try. Try again. Try again and again…until the Americans become Americans again. And claim our own freedoms.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Charlotte's Underbelly
June 25, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Charlotte’s Underbelly…
By now you know all too well that I love this city. I have lived here for almost 55 years and have driven up and down most of the roads and streets and now loops and Interstates many, many times. I used to motorcycle into uptown on Sunday mornings and go up and down the alleyways and through and around new construction…and then out to Unionville and down to Lancaster, S.C. because it was beautiful farmland. And part of what I want to do with both podcast and blog is give folks an accurate picture of our hometown.
Charlotte is a beautiful city, the people are friendly and welcoming and folks are coming here from all over the world…with or without jobs…with or without families, coming because they hear or know it is really a good place to call home, find a job, raise a family.
But we have our underbelly and I thought I might just mention a few issues. The morning paper helped me decide this. The headlines read “Dozens Held In Gang Sweep” with the caption under the faces of young men reading,” The faces of defendants charged in a scheme that spanned two countries, three states, and several North Carolina cities.” The caption on another front page picture, “ Eastland Mall was once a shining jewel of Charlotte’s eastside, but a quarter of its tenants have left.” An article earlier in the week spoke about the owners of the mall having a 42 million dollar loan coming due and responding that the mall was not valued at that today and they might just walk away.On the other hand the city takes an option on a part of the mall… pushing forward an effort to tear the mall down and replace it with homes and businesses. There is the Ying and the Yang of Charlotte.
Another headline reads Charlotte-Area Home Price Drop is First Since 1991.Our drop was one tenth of one percent and another report showed increase in sales by 4% in our South region. Prices are down, closings are up…incrementally. I tried to figure a way to compare realistically last year with this. I went back and read last years real estate reports, and on line to see if I could find anything to hang my hat on…last year and this year here in Charlotte is like comparing tires with oranges. So the numbers are just some kind of benchmark.
And then there was the report that Charlotte ranks 90th out of a hundred cities for the nation’s worst gas hogs. Followed by an article about how some of our council members are heading to Chicago to study the transit system. Our new lite rail…much fought over between our citizenry…is quite the darling. Ying and Yang.
And of course there is the weekly harangue with and within the school system. The daily journal of what is going on with our banks…the schools are always in the spotlight, they should be, it’s our kids. The banks…they’ll figure it out with us watching daily.
Charlotte is still great…with broken water mains and I-77 traffic…we are growing, sometimes it’s not so pretty…but mostly it is. Ying, Yang.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Charlotte’s Underbelly…
By now you know all too well that I love this city. I have lived here for almost 55 years and have driven up and down most of the roads and streets and now loops and Interstates many, many times. I used to motorcycle into uptown on Sunday mornings and go up and down the alleyways and through and around new construction…and then out to Unionville and down to Lancaster, S.C. because it was beautiful farmland. And part of what I want to do with both podcast and blog is give folks an accurate picture of our hometown.
Charlotte is a beautiful city, the people are friendly and welcoming and folks are coming here from all over the world…with or without jobs…with or without families, coming because they hear or know it is really a good place to call home, find a job, raise a family.
But we have our underbelly and I thought I might just mention a few issues. The morning paper helped me decide this. The headlines read “Dozens Held In Gang Sweep” with the caption under the faces of young men reading,” The faces of defendants charged in a scheme that spanned two countries, three states, and several North Carolina cities.” The caption on another front page picture, “ Eastland Mall was once a shining jewel of Charlotte’s eastside, but a quarter of its tenants have left.” An article earlier in the week spoke about the owners of the mall having a 42 million dollar loan coming due and responding that the mall was not valued at that today and they might just walk away.On the other hand the city takes an option on a part of the mall… pushing forward an effort to tear the mall down and replace it with homes and businesses. There is the Ying and the Yang of Charlotte.
Another headline reads Charlotte-Area Home Price Drop is First Since 1991.Our drop was one tenth of one percent and another report showed increase in sales by 4% in our South region. Prices are down, closings are up…incrementally. I tried to figure a way to compare realistically last year with this. I went back and read last years real estate reports, and on line to see if I could find anything to hang my hat on…last year and this year here in Charlotte is like comparing tires with oranges. So the numbers are just some kind of benchmark.
And then there was the report that Charlotte ranks 90th out of a hundred cities for the nation’s worst gas hogs. Followed by an article about how some of our council members are heading to Chicago to study the transit system. Our new lite rail…much fought over between our citizenry…is quite the darling. Ying and Yang.
And of course there is the weekly harangue with and within the school system. The daily journal of what is going on with our banks…the schools are always in the spotlight, they should be, it’s our kids. The banks…they’ll figure it out with us watching daily.
Charlotte is still great…with broken water mains and I-77 traffic…we are growing, sometimes it’s not so pretty…but mostly it is. Ying, Yang.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Good News While Side Stepping The Meanies
June 23, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
It would be easy for me to get my feathers ruffled when the media speaks about housing prices falling in Charlotte. We’ll take the one tenth of one percent anyday. And I’ll also walk away from the fighting developer/contractor battling lawsuits and attorney’s lingo at 210 East Trade because it has web like charactertistics…
Let’s see what we are doing in Charlotte to help folks, to rebuild neighborhoods…oh, and here’s my chance, forgive the real estate investors who argued against this proposal. They are in the minority. Here comes the good news:
Peachtree Hills to get help from city
Charlotte will spend $449,000. The goal: Save a neighborhood hit by foreclosures.
By Julia Oliver of The Charlotte Observer
The City Council on Monday took its boldest step yet to address Charlotte's foreclosure problem: It agreed to spend almost half a million dollars to help rehabilitate a subdivision blighted by vacant, boarded-up homes.
The vote was unanimous, but it came after questions about the city's role. A real estate investor argued officials should let the market settle out rather than use tax dollars to intervene. And a council member wondered whether focusing on one neighborhood would shortchange others.
The city will spend $449,000 as part of an $3.4 million effort to encourage homeownership in Peachtree Hills, a northwest neighborhood where a glut of foreclosures has left remaining residents vulnerable to vandalism and other crime.
Self-Help, a Durham-based nonprofit organization, will pay for most of the project. It plans to buy as many as 25 properties in Peachtree Hills and start a lease-purchase program for new homeowners.
The idea is unusual, housing experts say, and seems tailored to Charlotte's specific type of foreclosure problem – relatively new subdivisions where foreclosures have snowballed. Of Peachtree Hills' 147 homes, at least 42 have gone through foreclosure or been owned by a bank since 2003, according to county property records.
The 5-year-old community is one in a swath of northwest Charlotte starter-home neighborhoods that have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis. Self-Help found Peachtree Hills suitable for its program, however, because the neighborhood is not too far gone – it still has enough homeowners to form a strong foundation.
The organization and city officials hope the program will be a model.
“We're looking at this as a pilot program,” said Stanley Watkins, Charlotte's neighborhood development director. “If it works, maybe we can replicate it.”
The city's contribution will include lighting, sidewalks and landscaping – standard public services. But the city also has agreed to spend as much as $10,000 per home rehabilitating the houses purchased by Self-Help.
Kevin Pfannes, a local real estate investor who spoke at the meeting Monday, argued against the city's participation in buying and rehabilitating homes. He said the city would be spending taxpayer money to compete in the private market.
“We've already got a private pool of people that are willing to do that,” he said, urging the city to focus on code enforcement and other more traditional roles. “It takes a little time.”
But Richard Payne, a project manager at Self-Help, said investors didn't seem interested in Peachtree Hills.
City Council member John Lassiter said private investors were not likely to increase homeownership in Peachtree Hills. He said they would only bring more renters, and could make the problems worse.
Watkins said the money that will go to Peachtree Hills is taken from other programs citywide, but wouldn't have a dramatic impact on neighborhood services.
On the other hand, he said, the surge of investment into Peachtree Hills could save it.
“Our intent is to get that neighborhood back to stabilization as quickly as possible,” he said.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
It would be easy for me to get my feathers ruffled when the media speaks about housing prices falling in Charlotte. We’ll take the one tenth of one percent anyday. And I’ll also walk away from the fighting developer/contractor battling lawsuits and attorney’s lingo at 210 East Trade because it has web like charactertistics…
Let’s see what we are doing in Charlotte to help folks, to rebuild neighborhoods…oh, and here’s my chance, forgive the real estate investors who argued against this proposal. They are in the minority. Here comes the good news:
Peachtree Hills to get help from city
Charlotte will spend $449,000. The goal: Save a neighborhood hit by foreclosures.
By Julia Oliver of The Charlotte Observer
The City Council on Monday took its boldest step yet to address Charlotte's foreclosure problem: It agreed to spend almost half a million dollars to help rehabilitate a subdivision blighted by vacant, boarded-up homes.
The vote was unanimous, but it came after questions about the city's role. A real estate investor argued officials should let the market settle out rather than use tax dollars to intervene. And a council member wondered whether focusing on one neighborhood would shortchange others.
The city will spend $449,000 as part of an $3.4 million effort to encourage homeownership in Peachtree Hills, a northwest neighborhood where a glut of foreclosures has left remaining residents vulnerable to vandalism and other crime.
Self-Help, a Durham-based nonprofit organization, will pay for most of the project. It plans to buy as many as 25 properties in Peachtree Hills and start a lease-purchase program for new homeowners.
The idea is unusual, housing experts say, and seems tailored to Charlotte's specific type of foreclosure problem – relatively new subdivisions where foreclosures have snowballed. Of Peachtree Hills' 147 homes, at least 42 have gone through foreclosure or been owned by a bank since 2003, according to county property records.
The 5-year-old community is one in a swath of northwest Charlotte starter-home neighborhoods that have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis. Self-Help found Peachtree Hills suitable for its program, however, because the neighborhood is not too far gone – it still has enough homeowners to form a strong foundation.
The organization and city officials hope the program will be a model.
“We're looking at this as a pilot program,” said Stanley Watkins, Charlotte's neighborhood development director. “If it works, maybe we can replicate it.”
The city's contribution will include lighting, sidewalks and landscaping – standard public services. But the city also has agreed to spend as much as $10,000 per home rehabilitating the houses purchased by Self-Help.
Kevin Pfannes, a local real estate investor who spoke at the meeting Monday, argued against the city's participation in buying and rehabilitating homes. He said the city would be spending taxpayer money to compete in the private market.
“We've already got a private pool of people that are willing to do that,” he said, urging the city to focus on code enforcement and other more traditional roles. “It takes a little time.”
But Richard Payne, a project manager at Self-Help, said investors didn't seem interested in Peachtree Hills.
City Council member John Lassiter said private investors were not likely to increase homeownership in Peachtree Hills. He said they would only bring more renters, and could make the problems worse.
Watkins said the money that will go to Peachtree Hills is taken from other programs citywide, but wouldn't have a dramatic impact on neighborhood services.
On the other hand, he said, the surge of investment into Peachtree Hills could save it.
“Our intent is to get that neighborhood back to stabilization as quickly as possible,” he said.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Monday, June 23, 2008
Harvard's 2008 Housing Report
June 23, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
The Sharp Housing Downturn Continues to Pressure the Economy
Harvard Releases the 2008 State of the Nation’s Housing Report
If you are interested in an excellent overview, I have included a link to this report. Harvard also makes it available in a .pdf format. I will quote a snippet...
"Until the number of vacant for-sale units on the market ... falls enough to bring vacancy rates back down, house prices will remain under pressure," the report said. "Working off the oversupply will require some combination of the following: housing starts fall even further, prices decline enough to bring out new bargain-seeking buyers, interest rates drop enough to improve affordability, job growth improves, consumer confidence returns, and mortgage credit again becomes more widely available."
Single-family home prices in the first quarter of 2008 were down 12 percent from their October 2005 peak -- 18 percent in real terms, after adjusting for inflation. A "dispiriting picture" of housing affordability issues nevertheless remains.
The report, "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008," is more optimistic about medium- to long-term prospects, estimating that unless there's a serious, prolonged economic decline or a marked cutback in immigration, the nation will gain 14.4 million new households between 2010 and 2020, compared with 12.6 million between 1995 and 2005.
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/media/son_release_2008.html
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
The Sharp Housing Downturn Continues to Pressure the Economy
Harvard Releases the 2008 State of the Nation’s Housing Report
If you are interested in an excellent overview, I have included a link to this report. Harvard also makes it available in a .pdf format. I will quote a snippet...
"Until the number of vacant for-sale units on the market ... falls enough to bring vacancy rates back down, house prices will remain under pressure," the report said. "Working off the oversupply will require some combination of the following: housing starts fall even further, prices decline enough to bring out new bargain-seeking buyers, interest rates drop enough to improve affordability, job growth improves, consumer confidence returns, and mortgage credit again becomes more widely available."
Single-family home prices in the first quarter of 2008 were down 12 percent from their October 2005 peak -- 18 percent in real terms, after adjusting for inflation. A "dispiriting picture" of housing affordability issues nevertheless remains.
The report, "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008," is more optimistic about medium- to long-term prospects, estimating that unless there's a serious, prolonged economic decline or a marked cutback in immigration, the nation will gain 14.4 million new households between 2010 and 2020, compared with 12.6 million between 1995 and 2005.
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/media/son_release_2008.html
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Holding Steady in Charlotte, NC
June 21, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Holding Steady in Charlotte…
Our city is much like a teenager, or at least that is my definition. There is rapid growth here. Some projects going well. Some not so well. I think that is pretty normal. You know, the old saying, “take things with a grain of salt’? Well, I think that might apply here at the moment.For example, two of our condo towers are facing rocky roads. One is The Park where the bank is foreclosing on the stalled condominium project as the developer defaults on 30.7 million loan. A receiver has been assigned to secure the building until its future is settled in court.The other, with the description of condo/hotel, is 210 Trade . The battle is heading to court and the contractors are stuck with unpaid bills.The details on these two projects are layered and deep. And the causes perhaps myriad. I think perhaps the problems are unrelated to our current credit crunch.On the other side of growth, there are many good projects moving ahead. And here is a thumbnail of each:
New Uptown Office Tower Signs First Tenant
The developers of a 15-story office tower planned on South Church Street in uptown Charlotte have signed their first major tenant.
In Kannapolis, home could be 1.5 million
The old Kannapolis Country Club and a course designed by Davis Love III are part of David Murdock's Irish Creek project.
There's no doubt the $1.5 billion North Carolina Research Campus that Castle & Cooke is building in Kannapolis will be a Next Big Thing for the city and the region.
Uptown condo tower begins sales this week
The developer hopes buzz about the tower will pay off
The Catalyst condo tower – which last week reached its ultimate height of 27 stories – seems to have sprung up almost overnight on South Church Street.
More upscale homes to rise on Park South
Ardsley Court condo project has dual lure of SouthPark and convenient commute.
Over the past five years, half a dozen residential infill projects have sprung up on Park South Drive, a roughly mile-long street connecting Fairview Road with Park Road in south Charlotte
Microsoft buys offices off Arrowood
Microsoft has purchased two buildings it has leased for more than seven years in ArrowPoint Office Park off Arrowood Road in southwest Charlotte.
Pricey penthouses will cater to pricey passions
This unusual uptown development targets residents eager to showcase their enthusiasm for art, cooking, wine, technology and entertaining.
The developer of uptown's 20-story Encore condo tower wants to create five of the most unusual and most expensive penthouses Charlotte has seen.
Development tied to town vision
The town of Cramerton expects its population of 3,200 to double in about 10 years if the proposed 143-acre Village at South Fork is developed along the South Fork River as planned.
Wachovia doesn't plan to slow condo tower
The company will open a sales center in the fall. Waiting gives the bank flexibility, experts say.
Wachovia Corp.'s $880 million, 48-story office tower is still climbing skyward in uptown Charlotte.
Fat City facade will live again in NoDa
Neighbors invited to help decide on graffiti for wall of new lofts
A NoDa landmark disappeared a year ago when high winds blew down the graffiti-splashed facade of Fat City Deli.
All in all,We will both suffer and celebrate these times and ultimately be the wiser for them.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Holding Steady in Charlotte…
Our city is much like a teenager, or at least that is my definition. There is rapid growth here. Some projects going well. Some not so well. I think that is pretty normal. You know, the old saying, “take things with a grain of salt’? Well, I think that might apply here at the moment.For example, two of our condo towers are facing rocky roads. One is The Park where the bank is foreclosing on the stalled condominium project as the developer defaults on 30.7 million loan. A receiver has been assigned to secure the building until its future is settled in court.The other, with the description of condo/hotel, is 210 Trade . The battle is heading to court and the contractors are stuck with unpaid bills.The details on these two projects are layered and deep. And the causes perhaps myriad. I think perhaps the problems are unrelated to our current credit crunch.On the other side of growth, there are many good projects moving ahead. And here is a thumbnail of each:
New Uptown Office Tower Signs First Tenant
The developers of a 15-story office tower planned on South Church Street in uptown Charlotte have signed their first major tenant.
In Kannapolis, home could be 1.5 million
The old Kannapolis Country Club and a course designed by Davis Love III are part of David Murdock's Irish Creek project.
There's no doubt the $1.5 billion North Carolina Research Campus that Castle & Cooke is building in Kannapolis will be a Next Big Thing for the city and the region.
Uptown condo tower begins sales this week
The developer hopes buzz about the tower will pay off
The Catalyst condo tower – which last week reached its ultimate height of 27 stories – seems to have sprung up almost overnight on South Church Street.
More upscale homes to rise on Park South
Ardsley Court condo project has dual lure of SouthPark and convenient commute.
Over the past five years, half a dozen residential infill projects have sprung up on Park South Drive, a roughly mile-long street connecting Fairview Road with Park Road in south Charlotte
Microsoft buys offices off Arrowood
Microsoft has purchased two buildings it has leased for more than seven years in ArrowPoint Office Park off Arrowood Road in southwest Charlotte.
Pricey penthouses will cater to pricey passions
This unusual uptown development targets residents eager to showcase their enthusiasm for art, cooking, wine, technology and entertaining.
The developer of uptown's 20-story Encore condo tower wants to create five of the most unusual and most expensive penthouses Charlotte has seen.
Development tied to town vision
The town of Cramerton expects its population of 3,200 to double in about 10 years if the proposed 143-acre Village at South Fork is developed along the South Fork River as planned.
Wachovia doesn't plan to slow condo tower
The company will open a sales center in the fall. Waiting gives the bank flexibility, experts say.
Wachovia Corp.'s $880 million, 48-story office tower is still climbing skyward in uptown Charlotte.
Fat City facade will live again in NoDa
Neighbors invited to help decide on graffiti for wall of new lofts
A NoDa landmark disappeared a year ago when high winds blew down the graffiti-splashed facade of Fat City Deli.
All in all,We will both suffer and celebrate these times and ultimately be the wiser for them.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Friday, June 20, 2008
Condo CanDo-Friday's Q/A
June 20, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Condo CanDo, Friday Q/A…
Let’s Start:
1Q.I live in Matthews and own what I thought was a condo. Now I am told it is a townhome. How should I be able to discern that myself?
A. In our tax records under property description you will see a Unit File Number. Shortened that is U/F and then a number or numbers. If it has this as part of the description, then it is a condo. Townhome descriptions have a Book and Map because the land beneath the townhome is owned.
2Q. I live in a condo that was built 5 years ago. I am the original owner. I recently looked up our restrictive covenants to see what our Master Policy covers. I thought it was everything from the paint out, including the electrical and the plumbing. Apparently one set of Board of Directors changed what the policy covered to reduce the costs and it does not now include plumbing and electrical. How can this happen?
A. First, pat yourself on the back for discovering it now…and secondly, ask for a special board meeting to discuss this…after notifying neighbors of the change.
3Q. We are looking at an Active Adult Community. They are ranch type duplexes which suits us just fine. They are located within a busy shopping center where one large box store is open 24/7 and has a large parking area that is always jammed. I am concerned about high traffic and frankly, crime, with that easy access. My husband thinks being close to shopping is great.
A. Yes, being close to shopping is sometimes good when you can walk to pick up groceries or visit the drug store. Have you explored other areas that might have more of a buffer. I think your instincts are right on. Check the police reports in the area and listen to your gut.
4Q. We were thinking about selling our house, scaling down and buying a condominium or perhaps into one of those retirement communities. But we also have heard many boomers are adapting their homes to fit their needs better so they can stay in their homes longer. This has great appeal…and financially, it makes sense as well. What do you hear?
A. I hear and read more and more that folks are doing just that. Of course, it depends on your home and how adaptable it is. I have a friend who lives in a mobile home and has even prepared the 2nd bedroom in the event that she needs a caregiver. Of course, for her 80th birthday she gave herself a gift of a couple of sky diving expeditions…and she prepared for that adventure as well. For some folks, staying in the home is a good option, for others, scaling way down, travelling and having a smaller abode woks well. Listen to yourself. You have more than one option.
Got Questions? Send them in and we’ll see if we can answer them for you.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Condo CanDo, Friday Q/A…
Let’s Start:
1Q.I live in Matthews and own what I thought was a condo. Now I am told it is a townhome. How should I be able to discern that myself?
A. In our tax records under property description you will see a Unit File Number. Shortened that is U/F and then a number or numbers. If it has this as part of the description, then it is a condo. Townhome descriptions have a Book and Map because the land beneath the townhome is owned.
2Q. I live in a condo that was built 5 years ago. I am the original owner. I recently looked up our restrictive covenants to see what our Master Policy covers. I thought it was everything from the paint out, including the electrical and the plumbing. Apparently one set of Board of Directors changed what the policy covered to reduce the costs and it does not now include plumbing and electrical. How can this happen?
A. First, pat yourself on the back for discovering it now…and secondly, ask for a special board meeting to discuss this…after notifying neighbors of the change.
3Q. We are looking at an Active Adult Community. They are ranch type duplexes which suits us just fine. They are located within a busy shopping center where one large box store is open 24/7 and has a large parking area that is always jammed. I am concerned about high traffic and frankly, crime, with that easy access. My husband thinks being close to shopping is great.
A. Yes, being close to shopping is sometimes good when you can walk to pick up groceries or visit the drug store. Have you explored other areas that might have more of a buffer. I think your instincts are right on. Check the police reports in the area and listen to your gut.
4Q. We were thinking about selling our house, scaling down and buying a condominium or perhaps into one of those retirement communities. But we also have heard many boomers are adapting their homes to fit their needs better so they can stay in their homes longer. This has great appeal…and financially, it makes sense as well. What do you hear?
A. I hear and read more and more that folks are doing just that. Of course, it depends on your home and how adaptable it is. I have a friend who lives in a mobile home and has even prepared the 2nd bedroom in the event that she needs a caregiver. Of course, for her 80th birthday she gave herself a gift of a couple of sky diving expeditions…and she prepared for that adventure as well. For some folks, staying in the home is a good option, for others, scaling way down, travelling and having a smaller abode woks well. Listen to yourself. You have more than one option.
Got Questions? Send them in and we’ll see if we can answer them for you.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Charlotte Residential Sales For May 2008
June 19, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Looking at Charlotte Residential Sales For May 2008…
From The Charlotte Observer,Stella M. Hopkins
The number of Charlotte-area houses, townhouses and condos sold last month through the Carolina Multiple Listing Services dropped 26 percent compared with May 2007, marking a full year of double-digit declines.
Mecklenburg County new home construction also remained stalled.
The 2,778 houses sold was the lowest count for May since 2003, according to the MLS, which accounts for nearly all existing home sales within about a 50-mile radius and roughly one-fourth of new home sales.
The average MLS sales price fell nearly 4 percent, to $223,946, the sixth consecutive month of declines.
Builders took out permits for 614 new residences in Mecklenburg last month, down 36 percent from a year ago and the lowest number of any May since before 1998.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Looking at Charlotte Residential Sales For May 2008…
From The Charlotte Observer,Stella M. Hopkins
The number of Charlotte-area houses, townhouses and condos sold last month through the Carolina Multiple Listing Services dropped 26 percent compared with May 2007, marking a full year of double-digit declines.
Mecklenburg County new home construction also remained stalled.
The 2,778 houses sold was the lowest count for May since 2003, according to the MLS, which accounts for nearly all existing home sales within about a 50-mile radius and roughly one-fourth of new home sales.
The average MLS sales price fell nearly 4 percent, to $223,946, the sixth consecutive month of declines.
Builders took out permits for 614 new residences in Mecklenburg last month, down 36 percent from a year ago and the lowest number of any May since before 1998.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Condo-Tel Concept:SEC Consideration
June 18, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Condo-Tel Concept: SEC Consideration:
From an article published by the Associated Press, June 2005 Mike Schneider
"The hybrid concept of a luxury hotel that sells some of it units as condominiums has become one of the most popular trends in the industry in recent years. Condo-hotels in the past two or three years have expanded beyond traditional markets in ski resorts or Hawaii and into other tourist destinations such as Orlando and Las Vegas. Projects also are under construction in urban centers like Atlanta, Chicago and New York, where the Plaza Hotel is being converted.The concept has risks for both the developer and the condo buyer.
Financial risks
The Securities and Exchange Commission considers the condo offeringa security if income and expenses from the rental units are pooled and if a condo unit is sold with the explicit expectation the buyer will earn money or derive tax benefits from it. If the development is structured as a security, it can only be sold by a securities broker and it is easier for an investor to sue the developer under the SEC's anti-fraud rules, according to Los Angeles attorney Jim Butler.
Most developers choose not to sell their projects as securities to avoid the SEC complications, so they are prohibited from discussing the economic or tax benefits from a rental arrangement or project on how much a condo unit can earn in rental income. Many buyers make decisions without all the facts.A developer typically has to come up with around 40 percent of the equity for a traditional hotel; a condo-hotel development requires much less investment.
"If you're not allowed to communicate revenue expectation, often times buyers are making a decision based on incorrect information or overly optimistic information," a quote from Mark Lunt, Ernst & Young in Miami.
And for further information, please take a look at this questionnaire used by a mortgage company when looking to lend funds for a condominium purchase:http://www.condocando.com/wHOA.htm which we also have made available in a .pdf format.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Condo-Tel Concept: SEC Consideration:
From an article published by the Associated Press, June 2005 Mike Schneider
"The hybrid concept of a luxury hotel that sells some of it units as condominiums has become one of the most popular trends in the industry in recent years. Condo-hotels in the past two or three years have expanded beyond traditional markets in ski resorts or Hawaii and into other tourist destinations such as Orlando and Las Vegas. Projects also are under construction in urban centers like Atlanta, Chicago and New York, where the Plaza Hotel is being converted.The concept has risks for both the developer and the condo buyer.
Financial risks
The Securities and Exchange Commission considers the condo offeringa security if income and expenses from the rental units are pooled and if a condo unit is sold with the explicit expectation the buyer will earn money or derive tax benefits from it. If the development is structured as a security, it can only be sold by a securities broker and it is easier for an investor to sue the developer under the SEC's anti-fraud rules, according to Los Angeles attorney Jim Butler.
Most developers choose not to sell their projects as securities to avoid the SEC complications, so they are prohibited from discussing the economic or tax benefits from a rental arrangement or project on how much a condo unit can earn in rental income. Many buyers make decisions without all the facts.A developer typically has to come up with around 40 percent of the equity for a traditional hotel; a condo-hotel development requires much less investment.
"If you're not allowed to communicate revenue expectation, often times buyers are making a decision based on incorrect information or overly optimistic information," a quote from Mark Lunt, Ernst & Young in Miami.
And for further information, please take a look at this questionnaire used by a mortgage company when looking to lend funds for a condominium purchase:http://www.condocando.com/wHOA.htm which we also have made available in a .pdf format.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Looking Back at The City of The Future
Jun. 16, 2008
Looking Back at The City of The Future
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Though Charlotte has different kinds of challenges than most of the country, we do have them.
The many condo tower announcements that came week after week...the drawings of how the city would look in 3 to 5 years...the condominiums' amenities...the sparkle, the dazzle, the excitement...and now the scuffle, the lawsuits, the claims. We have our challenges.
Here's the latest news:
Dispute plagues EpiCentre tower
Work on 50-story tower has stopped; $70 million lawsuit
From The Charlotte Observer By Kirsten Valle
A dispute between the developers of the EpiCentre and a luxury condo tower on the site has brought the tower's construction to a standstill, its developer alleges in a $70 million lawsuit filed this month.
Work on the 50-story 210 Trade building stopped in February, with two floors built, because of a disagreement over technical building-code issues. Until the problem is resolved, lenders will not finance the rest of the project, and county officials will not issue certificates of occupancy, the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed in federal court June 6 by a subsidiary of the tower's developer, Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins Properties. It alleges that the Charlotte-based Ghazi Co., which is developing the EpiCentre uptown, has failed to live up to contractual agreements and refused to cooperate with local and state requirements that would allow the condo construction to move forward.
At stake is the future of the EpiCentre, a high-profile mixed-use complex on the corner of Trade and College streets uptown. The project was conceived with a luxury residential building – as well as offices, retail, entertainment and a hotel. But the condo tower won't move forward until the suit is resolved, developers say.
The rest of the EpiCentre development is progressing. Its first tenants, including the Suite nightclub and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Whisky River bar, opened in recent months.
If the tangle is resolved in coming months and work on the tower resumes, its first residents could move in by summer 2010 – more than a year later than originally planned, Flaherty & Collins' attorney, Lee Spinks, said Monday.
“If we do not get the issues resolved, we are intent on getting every dollar back that we've spent or paid them, and lost profit,” he said.
The condo developer is seeking $70 million if the issues are not resolved and the project scrapped. If construction can continue, the company is asking for $28 million in damages, it said in the suit.
Ghazi Co. officials did not return phone calls Monday.
Construction on 210 Trade, which is being built atop part of the EpiCentre, started in October 2007 – and tension between the project's developer and The Ghazi Co. arose even before that.
In the lawsuit, Flaherty & Collins investors allege various physical and structural problems, including getting fewer parking spaces than they paid for. The company also says it's owed more than $2 million because of a provision in the contract that said the company would be paid if The Ghazi Co. erected a second tower on the site that would obstruct some condos' skyline views.
Despite the issues, construction moved forward, and developers sold 265 of the tower's 420 units.
In February, the condo tower's lenders, U.S. Bancorp and Corus Bankshares, ordered construction stopped after being informed of the developer's building code issues. The problem arose with the county's code enforcement department after it discovered the project had been filed as a single-owner building on the EpiCentre site, when ownership is actually being shared by the owners of the condo tower, the office-entertainment complex and a hotel that's going up on the site.
According to the lawsuit, The Ghazi Co. has refused to enter into an agreement that would place the development under a condo form of ownership, satisfying the code requirements. That has stalled the project and turned off lenders, the suit said.
“We have 265 buyers who are counting on our company to deliver their homes, but we have been thwarted by the (Ghazi investors),” Flaherty & Collins spokesman Mark Conover said in a statement. “They have refused to cooperate in providing reasonable and necessary agreements that are routinely required by lenders. … It is their refusal of lender requests that have delayed construction.”
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Looking Back at The City of The Future
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Though Charlotte has different kinds of challenges than most of the country, we do have them.
The many condo tower announcements that came week after week...the drawings of how the city would look in 3 to 5 years...the condominiums' amenities...the sparkle, the dazzle, the excitement...and now the scuffle, the lawsuits, the claims. We have our challenges.
Here's the latest news:
Dispute plagues EpiCentre tower
Work on 50-story tower has stopped; $70 million lawsuit
From The Charlotte Observer By Kirsten Valle
A dispute between the developers of the EpiCentre and a luxury condo tower on the site has brought the tower's construction to a standstill, its developer alleges in a $70 million lawsuit filed this month.
Work on the 50-story 210 Trade building stopped in February, with two floors built, because of a disagreement over technical building-code issues. Until the problem is resolved, lenders will not finance the rest of the project, and county officials will not issue certificates of occupancy, the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed in federal court June 6 by a subsidiary of the tower's developer, Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins Properties. It alleges that the Charlotte-based Ghazi Co., which is developing the EpiCentre uptown, has failed to live up to contractual agreements and refused to cooperate with local and state requirements that would allow the condo construction to move forward.
At stake is the future of the EpiCentre, a high-profile mixed-use complex on the corner of Trade and College streets uptown. The project was conceived with a luxury residential building – as well as offices, retail, entertainment and a hotel. But the condo tower won't move forward until the suit is resolved, developers say.
The rest of the EpiCentre development is progressing. Its first tenants, including the Suite nightclub and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Whisky River bar, opened in recent months.
If the tangle is resolved in coming months and work on the tower resumes, its first residents could move in by summer 2010 – more than a year later than originally planned, Flaherty & Collins' attorney, Lee Spinks, said Monday.
“If we do not get the issues resolved, we are intent on getting every dollar back that we've spent or paid them, and lost profit,” he said.
The condo developer is seeking $70 million if the issues are not resolved and the project scrapped. If construction can continue, the company is asking for $28 million in damages, it said in the suit.
Ghazi Co. officials did not return phone calls Monday.
Construction on 210 Trade, which is being built atop part of the EpiCentre, started in October 2007 – and tension between the project's developer and The Ghazi Co. arose even before that.
In the lawsuit, Flaherty & Collins investors allege various physical and structural problems, including getting fewer parking spaces than they paid for. The company also says it's owed more than $2 million because of a provision in the contract that said the company would be paid if The Ghazi Co. erected a second tower on the site that would obstruct some condos' skyline views.
Despite the issues, construction moved forward, and developers sold 265 of the tower's 420 units.
In February, the condo tower's lenders, U.S. Bancorp and Corus Bankshares, ordered construction stopped after being informed of the developer's building code issues. The problem arose with the county's code enforcement department after it discovered the project had been filed as a single-owner building on the EpiCentre site, when ownership is actually being shared by the owners of the condo tower, the office-entertainment complex and a hotel that's going up on the site.
According to the lawsuit, The Ghazi Co. has refused to enter into an agreement that would place the development under a condo form of ownership, satisfying the code requirements. That has stalled the project and turned off lenders, the suit said.
“We have 265 buyers who are counting on our company to deliver their homes, but we have been thwarted by the (Ghazi investors),” Flaherty & Collins spokesman Mark Conover said in a statement. “They have refused to cooperate in providing reasonable and necessary agreements that are routinely required by lenders. … It is their refusal of lender requests that have delayed construction.”
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Monday, June 16, 2008
Flipping Rules Suspended, FHA Loans Popular
June 16, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Market Updates:
Daily Real Estate News June 11, 2008
Property-flipping rule suspended
The White House temporarily suspends a rule that imposes a 90-day waiting period before foreclosed homes can be sold to receive government loans.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is temporarily suspending a 5-year-old rule intended to deter property flippers, as part of an effort to help speed the sale of foreclosed properties.
For one year, the Federal Housing Administration will no longer impose a 90-day waiting period before foreclosed properties can be sold to receive government-backed loans.
The policy was put in place in 2003 to deter property "flipping" schemes, in which buyers are overcharged for foreclosures or other distressed properties. But the surge in vacant properties resulting from borrowers who were unable to afford their mortgages has become a far more pressing concern.
"A glut of foreclosed and abandoned homes harms neighborhoods, frustrates homebuyers and delays a community's recovery," FHA commissioner Brian Montgomery said in a prepared statement.
The new policy "will allow homebuyers to purchase these homes in much greater numbers and ease the excess supply of unsold homes," Montgomery said.
Nationwide, 261,255 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in May, up 48% from the same month last year, and up 7% from April, foreclosure listing company RealtyTrac Inc. said Friday.
FHA Loans Gaining Popularity Source: The Washington Post, Dina ElBoghdady (06/10/08)
As lenders toughen their standards, loans by backed the Federal Housing Administration are increasingly popular.The number of FHA loans issued rose 126 percent in the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same period a year ago. Most of FHA's business now comes from refinancing.The volume of FHA loans at Wells Fargo has increased 342 percent this year from the same time in 2007, says Greg Gwizdz, the company's national retail service manager. Helping increase business were live simulcasts for real estate professionals that the lender recently held in movie theaters nationwide touting the benefits of FHA loans.Only borrowers who can make at least a 3 percent down payment or have at least 3 percent equity in their homes and who can document their income can qualify for FHA loans.Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, says FHA paperwork remains daunting and the rates aren’t always the lowest. “But if your choice is vanilla ice cream or no ice cream, vanilla starts looking good," he says.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Market Updates:
Daily Real Estate News June 11, 2008
Property-flipping rule suspended
The White House temporarily suspends a rule that imposes a 90-day waiting period before foreclosed homes can be sold to receive government loans.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is temporarily suspending a 5-year-old rule intended to deter property flippers, as part of an effort to help speed the sale of foreclosed properties.
For one year, the Federal Housing Administration will no longer impose a 90-day waiting period before foreclosed properties can be sold to receive government-backed loans.
The policy was put in place in 2003 to deter property "flipping" schemes, in which buyers are overcharged for foreclosures or other distressed properties. But the surge in vacant properties resulting from borrowers who were unable to afford their mortgages has become a far more pressing concern.
"A glut of foreclosed and abandoned homes harms neighborhoods, frustrates homebuyers and delays a community's recovery," FHA commissioner Brian Montgomery said in a prepared statement.
The new policy "will allow homebuyers to purchase these homes in much greater numbers and ease the excess supply of unsold homes," Montgomery said.
Nationwide, 261,255 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in May, up 48% from the same month last year, and up 7% from April, foreclosure listing company RealtyTrac Inc. said Friday.
FHA Loans Gaining Popularity Source: The Washington Post, Dina ElBoghdady (06/10/08)
As lenders toughen their standards, loans by backed the Federal Housing Administration are increasingly popular.The number of FHA loans issued rose 126 percent in the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same period a year ago. Most of FHA's business now comes from refinancing.The volume of FHA loans at Wells Fargo has increased 342 percent this year from the same time in 2007, says Greg Gwizdz, the company's national retail service manager. Helping increase business were live simulcasts for real estate professionals that the lender recently held in movie theaters nationwide touting the benefits of FHA loans.Only borrowers who can make at least a 3 percent down payment or have at least 3 percent equity in their homes and who can document their income can qualify for FHA loans.Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, says FHA paperwork remains daunting and the rates aren’t always the lowest. “But if your choice is vanilla ice cream or no ice cream, vanilla starts looking good," he says.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Charlotte Restrictions Will Protect Open Space, Area Waters
June 14, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Restrictions will protect open space, area waters
Charlotte Business Journal - by Susan Stabley Staff writer
The landscape for real estate development is dramatically changing next month when new rules designed to protect area streams and rivers take effect.
New projects will be required to include open space on nearly every site, bigger buffers for streams and new systems for capturing and cleaning rainfall.
Developers are chafing at the law taking effect July 1. They say it will substantially increase the price of future homes, apartments, offices and industrial buildings. City officials say the rules follow federal requirements and provide a long-term benefit that prevents flooding, slows erosion and cleans Charlotte's polluted streams.
Charlotte is the last municipality in Mecklenburg County to comply, with similar laws already in effect in Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews, Huntersville, and Pineville.
Developers contend the Queen City's version is too stringent. But the city says without the new rules, the cost of fixing the damage to the streams -- if forced by federal officials -- could be exponentially greater because restoration is more expensive than prevention.
"Pay now, or pay later," says Daryl Hammock, water quality and environmental permitting manager with Charlotte's stormwater services division.
The impending change has prompted a surge of applications to Charlotte permitting offices in advance of citywide implementation of the post-construction controls ordinance, as it's known. Recent conversations between government staffers and site designers suggest a serious spike will start soon.
"Since this is a very deadline-oriented business, I expect the last week of June will be the time where we really see an unusually high number of new plan submittals," says Tom Ferguson, Charlotte's land development permitting manager.
Federal mandates tied to the Clean Water Act required city adoption of stormwater rules by June 2009 for engineering controls for stormwater. The goal is to remove 85% of the pollutants picked up by rain water pooling on pavement before it flows into a city stream.
It was only after three years of negotiating among government staff and the development community that Charlotte City Council found the rules palatable enough for approval in November.
Many developers have been forced to follow the post-construction controls ordinance ahead of the implementation date. That's been the case in the past few years for any project that required a rezoning. For example, Beacon Partners wrestled with the city over a 75,000-square-foot industrial park in north Charlotte. The local development company turned in four versions of its site plan earlier this year before finally agreeing to the stormwater requirements and gaining approval.
Now all developers will have to embrace the rules.
Those who haven't realized it are in for a "very unpleasant and expensive surprise," warns real estate consultant Karla Knotts, a local industry figure since 1986.
The dramatic change in requirements directly impacts development costs, she says. "If you didn't realize you were subject to these rules, you can lose money and go belly up."
Extra expenses come from building new stormwater infrastructure plus the loss of land -- as much as 25% of a site will need to be set aside for undisturbed woods. In some cases, developers may have to add plants or remove them. A project site that contains an invasive species, such Japanese honeysuckle or kudzu, in natural areas must be removed before the developer can get a certificate of occupation and be allowed to open.
And the new rules mean developers now have to worry about things such as goose poop. As silly as it sounds, animal waste running off into the area's water supply is a serious matter. Fecal matter from animals and sewer overflows havecontributed to the impairment of most of the county's 3,000 miles of waterways.
About 30% of Mecklenburg County's watersheds contain streams and creeks considered unfit for human contact. And about 70% are deemed too dangerous for prolonged exposure.
Sediment clogging the county's water, often caused by construction, only worsens the situation.
Then there are concerns over flooding, erosion of creeks and damage to habitats, says Hammock of the city's stormwater division. Plus, Mecklenburg has the responsibility of passing clean water back into the Catawba River, the water source for York County and our other neighbors to the south, he adds.
Hammock says it's a tricky balancing act to accomplish the goals of the stormwater rules. Calling for undisturbed tree growth along streams conflicts with plans to build trails along greenways.
On the flipside, the post-construction controls ordinance helps developers meet state environmental requirements for projects that could impact the endangered Carolina Heelsplitter mussel, he says.
But that still doesn't mean developers have to like it.
"First and foremost, the ordinance is something we had to do," says Beacon Partners' Jon Morris. "There's nothing more important than the water we drink. What we were doing wasn't sustainable. In theory, it's a great idea."
But, Morris adds, "this will affect pro formas in a significant way."
The new requirements could add up to $15,000 an acre to the cost of a single-family subdivision, according to estimates from the development community. Using an industry standard multiplier, that extra development expense means home buyers could have to pay as much as $160,000 more per house.
City officials counter that development costs could be factored into the value of land, with the market adjusting to new costs.
Also at issue: conflicts between the post-construction controls ordinance and urban street design guidelines that require more sidewalks and pavement areas, exacerbating the amount of rainfall that runs off a property.
Nor do the stormwater rules do enough to address velocity, says Jim Medall, president and partner at the Charlotte-based Carolinas division of Rhein Medall Communities and developer of The Palisades, a master-planned golf community on 1,600 acres along Lake Wylie in southwest Mecklenburg County.
"This could be as simple as figuring out how to slow the water down," Medall says of the stormwater rules. "It's not going to apply to everything that's been built already. It's not going to fix the existing issues, and it may create new ones we don't know about."
Morris, Medall and others also find fault with some of the newly required infrastructure systems, arguing that they don't consider the nature of the Carolina's red clay dirt, which can't quickly absorb water.
Hammock says many of the concerns broached by developers are often from a lack of understanding of how the ordinance and the new stormwater controls work: "The engineers don't ask these questions."
What doesn't work can always be revisited, he adds. And better ways of controlling and cleaning stormwater can be added. Currently under consideration: "green" roofs and porous pavement.
"We wouldn't propose these things if they were going to be a huge nuisance," Hammock says. "This technology has been used in other parts of the country for decades."
THE POST-CONSTRUCTION CONTROLS ORDINANCE
Federal law mandated city adoption of stricter stormwater rules by June 2009. After three years of negotiating with residential and commercial developers, City Council approved the new rules in November 2007.
The regulations generally require undisturbed natural land on every site and the engineering of infrastructure that captures and cleans rainfall.
Among their options, developers can install:
* Rain gardens, which use plants and sandy soil to absorb and filter stormwater into an
underground drainage system.
* Wet ponds, or man-made wetlands, that detain stormwater and collect sediment.
* Underground sand filters.
Other types of stormwater protections under consideration include:
* "Green" rooftops that absorb and clean rainfall.
* Porous pavement that aids in the absorption of stormwater.
Thnaks to the Business Journal for this excellent article.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Restrictions will protect open space, area waters
Charlotte Business Journal - by Susan Stabley Staff writer
The landscape for real estate development is dramatically changing next month when new rules designed to protect area streams and rivers take effect.
New projects will be required to include open space on nearly every site, bigger buffers for streams and new systems for capturing and cleaning rainfall.
Developers are chafing at the law taking effect July 1. They say it will substantially increase the price of future homes, apartments, offices and industrial buildings. City officials say the rules follow federal requirements and provide a long-term benefit that prevents flooding, slows erosion and cleans Charlotte's polluted streams.
Charlotte is the last municipality in Mecklenburg County to comply, with similar laws already in effect in Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews, Huntersville, and Pineville.
Developers contend the Queen City's version is too stringent. But the city says without the new rules, the cost of fixing the damage to the streams -- if forced by federal officials -- could be exponentially greater because restoration is more expensive than prevention.
"Pay now, or pay later," says Daryl Hammock, water quality and environmental permitting manager with Charlotte's stormwater services division.
The impending change has prompted a surge of applications to Charlotte permitting offices in advance of citywide implementation of the post-construction controls ordinance, as it's known. Recent conversations between government staffers and site designers suggest a serious spike will start soon.
"Since this is a very deadline-oriented business, I expect the last week of June will be the time where we really see an unusually high number of new plan submittals," says Tom Ferguson, Charlotte's land development permitting manager.
Federal mandates tied to the Clean Water Act required city adoption of stormwater rules by June 2009 for engineering controls for stormwater. The goal is to remove 85% of the pollutants picked up by rain water pooling on pavement before it flows into a city stream.
It was only after three years of negotiating among government staff and the development community that Charlotte City Council found the rules palatable enough for approval in November.
Many developers have been forced to follow the post-construction controls ordinance ahead of the implementation date. That's been the case in the past few years for any project that required a rezoning. For example, Beacon Partners wrestled with the city over a 75,000-square-foot industrial park in north Charlotte. The local development company turned in four versions of its site plan earlier this year before finally agreeing to the stormwater requirements and gaining approval.
Now all developers will have to embrace the rules.
Those who haven't realized it are in for a "very unpleasant and expensive surprise," warns real estate consultant Karla Knotts, a local industry figure since 1986.
The dramatic change in requirements directly impacts development costs, she says. "If you didn't realize you were subject to these rules, you can lose money and go belly up."
Extra expenses come from building new stormwater infrastructure plus the loss of land -- as much as 25% of a site will need to be set aside for undisturbed woods. In some cases, developers may have to add plants or remove them. A project site that contains an invasive species, such Japanese honeysuckle or kudzu, in natural areas must be removed before the developer can get a certificate of occupation and be allowed to open.
And the new rules mean developers now have to worry about things such as goose poop. As silly as it sounds, animal waste running off into the area's water supply is a serious matter. Fecal matter from animals and sewer overflows havecontributed to the impairment of most of the county's 3,000 miles of waterways.
About 30% of Mecklenburg County's watersheds contain streams and creeks considered unfit for human contact. And about 70% are deemed too dangerous for prolonged exposure.
Sediment clogging the county's water, often caused by construction, only worsens the situation.
Then there are concerns over flooding, erosion of creeks and damage to habitats, says Hammock of the city's stormwater division. Plus, Mecklenburg has the responsibility of passing clean water back into the Catawba River, the water source for York County and our other neighbors to the south, he adds.
Hammock says it's a tricky balancing act to accomplish the goals of the stormwater rules. Calling for undisturbed tree growth along streams conflicts with plans to build trails along greenways.
On the flipside, the post-construction controls ordinance helps developers meet state environmental requirements for projects that could impact the endangered Carolina Heelsplitter mussel, he says.
But that still doesn't mean developers have to like it.
"First and foremost, the ordinance is something we had to do," says Beacon Partners' Jon Morris. "There's nothing more important than the water we drink. What we were doing wasn't sustainable. In theory, it's a great idea."
But, Morris adds, "this will affect pro formas in a significant way."
The new requirements could add up to $15,000 an acre to the cost of a single-family subdivision, according to estimates from the development community. Using an industry standard multiplier, that extra development expense means home buyers could have to pay as much as $160,000 more per house.
City officials counter that development costs could be factored into the value of land, with the market adjusting to new costs.
Also at issue: conflicts between the post-construction controls ordinance and urban street design guidelines that require more sidewalks and pavement areas, exacerbating the amount of rainfall that runs off a property.
Nor do the stormwater rules do enough to address velocity, says Jim Medall, president and partner at the Charlotte-based Carolinas division of Rhein Medall Communities and developer of The Palisades, a master-planned golf community on 1,600 acres along Lake Wylie in southwest Mecklenburg County.
"This could be as simple as figuring out how to slow the water down," Medall says of the stormwater rules. "It's not going to apply to everything that's been built already. It's not going to fix the existing issues, and it may create new ones we don't know about."
Morris, Medall and others also find fault with some of the newly required infrastructure systems, arguing that they don't consider the nature of the Carolina's red clay dirt, which can't quickly absorb water.
Hammock says many of the concerns broached by developers are often from a lack of understanding of how the ordinance and the new stormwater controls work: "The engineers don't ask these questions."
What doesn't work can always be revisited, he adds. And better ways of controlling and cleaning stormwater can be added. Currently under consideration: "green" roofs and porous pavement.
"We wouldn't propose these things if they were going to be a huge nuisance," Hammock says. "This technology has been used in other parts of the country for decades."
THE POST-CONSTRUCTION CONTROLS ORDINANCE
Federal law mandated city adoption of stricter stormwater rules by June 2009. After three years of negotiating with residential and commercial developers, City Council approved the new rules in November 2007.
The regulations generally require undisturbed natural land on every site and the engineering of infrastructure that captures and cleans rainfall.
Among their options, developers can install:
* Rain gardens, which use plants and sandy soil to absorb and filter stormwater into an
underground drainage system.
* Wet ponds, or man-made wetlands, that detain stormwater and collect sediment.
* Underground sand filters.
Other types of stormwater protections under consideration include:
* "Green" rooftops that absorb and clean rainfall.
* Porous pavement that aids in the absorption of stormwater.
Thnaks to the Business Journal for this excellent article.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Friday, June 13, 2008
Two Sides To Every Story
June 13, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Two Sides To Every Story…
I am immersed in all the details and stories, the reports and the surveys, the announcements and the statistics of condominiums, real estate and the sub-prime mess.My days are spent between being an active full-time real estate broker and an inquisitive, sleuth, fact-finding, digging, interviewing, photographing web master.I look for balance inside and outside without being critical or cynical…and try to refrain from being what our culture loves being best, the Monday morning quarterback.
At best, I am the observer.
So when people ask me why am I so animate about quality building products and quality construction because, after all, those people know what they are doing. Those architects and contractors and developers…those home owner’s associations and boards. We cannot assume they do. As consumers I feel that we have a responsibility to ourselves to ask questions…and yes, to question authority. At the end of the day…it is your bottom line.
I still get perturbed when I see stucco on a house or condo or office building and especially synthetic stucco when it was used knowingly. I get agitated when I am told that sloppy construction is “urban construction”. What happens in five or ten years when siding needs to be replaced, when severe plumbing problems impact a whole building?What do I want? Buyers to realize they are in the driver’s seat. Maybe buyers don’t really want granite and stainless, but they are touted so much, people think they have to have them. Maybe I want buyers to really sit and read all the documents, know about the budget, the financial statements and be prepared to walk. Maybe I want people to take as much time buying a condo as they do a car. And then I think…well, there are good developers and really good builders and really fabulous buildings. Why is it that 10% of the people still cause 90% of the problems? And seem to get away with it.
So maybe I know too much or too little. Maybe I am too direct and too serious.
But there are two sides to every story. Right?
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Two Sides To Every Story…
I am immersed in all the details and stories, the reports and the surveys, the announcements and the statistics of condominiums, real estate and the sub-prime mess.My days are spent between being an active full-time real estate broker and an inquisitive, sleuth, fact-finding, digging, interviewing, photographing web master.I look for balance inside and outside without being critical or cynical…and try to refrain from being what our culture loves being best, the Monday morning quarterback.
At best, I am the observer.
So when people ask me why am I so animate about quality building products and quality construction because, after all, those people know what they are doing. Those architects and contractors and developers…those home owner’s associations and boards. We cannot assume they do. As consumers I feel that we have a responsibility to ourselves to ask questions…and yes, to question authority. At the end of the day…it is your bottom line.
I still get perturbed when I see stucco on a house or condo or office building and especially synthetic stucco when it was used knowingly. I get agitated when I am told that sloppy construction is “urban construction”. What happens in five or ten years when siding needs to be replaced, when severe plumbing problems impact a whole building?What do I want? Buyers to realize they are in the driver’s seat. Maybe buyers don’t really want granite and stainless, but they are touted so much, people think they have to have them. Maybe I want buyers to really sit and read all the documents, know about the budget, the financial statements and be prepared to walk. Maybe I want people to take as much time buying a condo as they do a car. And then I think…well, there are good developers and really good builders and really fabulous buildings. Why is it that 10% of the people still cause 90% of the problems? And seem to get away with it.
So maybe I know too much or too little. Maybe I am too direct and too serious.
But there are two sides to every story. Right?
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A Tack To Take With New Condos
June 12, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
A Tack to Take With New Condos…
Pricing on real estate depends on the market and the circumstance. And recently I would also add the strength of the buyer. But it is not unusual to see new construction drop the prices on the last units or even the last single family homes. I can list projects where I have seen that happen…to my dismay and to the values of the folks who purchased at full price.
Existing condominium projects are starting to have concerns- and problems- where here are too many renters as compared to owner occupied units.Mortgage lenders are sometimes reluctant to approve loans where the investor ratios are higher than the owner occupied units. The secondary mortgage market such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have imposed certain restrictions, such as no more than 40 or 60 percent of the units’ owners can be landlords.Many community associations’ leaders believe renters do not have the same incentive as owners to honor and respect the rules and regulations of the association and do not take good care of the property. Maybe that is a grey area, but it is more possible than not.
So, if there are problems with existing condominiums, I suspect there will be even more issues when the association is brand new. Legally, the developer- as owner of the unsold, rented units-may be obligated to pay the condominium fees for the units that are rented, but the legal documents of the association have to be reviewed to make sure what he obligations of the developer are.The price was lowered to attract buyers. Do you have any guarantee the price will not be lowered more- after you buy?
Real estate is in flux now and maybe for a while to come. Your investment is no longer guaranteed to give you a good return. If you are considering living in the unit and can get some more perks from the developer, then it may be something to consider.
This is what you should ask the developer to do for you:
1. Pay all the closings costs and pre-paids, and
2.If the price of similar units is lowered within the next year, provide a proportionate rebate.If you are hesitant about number 2, ask them if they have ever practiced lowering the price on the last 10%...or look it up in your tax records.
Again, the web is a great tool.
As you know, I read a good bit about condos and about real estate and Benny Kass, a practicing attorney in Washington, has written some great articles on condominiums and I am learning a lot by being an avid reader of his columns. With thanks.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
A Tack to Take With New Condos…
Pricing on real estate depends on the market and the circumstance. And recently I would also add the strength of the buyer. But it is not unusual to see new construction drop the prices on the last units or even the last single family homes. I can list projects where I have seen that happen…to my dismay and to the values of the folks who purchased at full price.
Existing condominium projects are starting to have concerns- and problems- where here are too many renters as compared to owner occupied units.Mortgage lenders are sometimes reluctant to approve loans where the investor ratios are higher than the owner occupied units. The secondary mortgage market such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have imposed certain restrictions, such as no more than 40 or 60 percent of the units’ owners can be landlords.Many community associations’ leaders believe renters do not have the same incentive as owners to honor and respect the rules and regulations of the association and do not take good care of the property. Maybe that is a grey area, but it is more possible than not.
So, if there are problems with existing condominiums, I suspect there will be even more issues when the association is brand new. Legally, the developer- as owner of the unsold, rented units-may be obligated to pay the condominium fees for the units that are rented, but the legal documents of the association have to be reviewed to make sure what he obligations of the developer are.The price was lowered to attract buyers. Do you have any guarantee the price will not be lowered more- after you buy?
Real estate is in flux now and maybe for a while to come. Your investment is no longer guaranteed to give you a good return. If you are considering living in the unit and can get some more perks from the developer, then it may be something to consider.
This is what you should ask the developer to do for you:
1. Pay all the closings costs and pre-paids, and
2.If the price of similar units is lowered within the next year, provide a proportionate rebate.If you are hesitant about number 2, ask them if they have ever practiced lowering the price on the last 10%...or look it up in your tax records.
Again, the web is a great tool.
As you know, I read a good bit about condos and about real estate and Benny Kass, a practicing attorney in Washington, has written some great articles on condominiums and I am learning a lot by being an avid reader of his columns. With thanks.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Promises Made Should Be Kept...
June 11, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Promises Made Should Be Kept…Today is one of those days spent thinking, planning and reading, searching, and sorting through all the newspapers, the on-line reports from our local MLS and the then, the National Association of Realtors. Except for the storm we have been having since dinner time, it has been a quiet day.Quiet day seem to summon voices from the past…I had forgotten we were so close to Father’s Day. My Dad has been gone a long time…and we were distant even before he died. But sometimes he hangs around and I can hear him …or not hear him because he was always working. And that is probably one of the best gifts he gave me…working and working through the challenges of our jobs. He started in the textile mills at 12, got as far as 5th grade in school…and became one of the leading textile experts in the world. He taught himself. He liked to see how each piece of machinery in a textile plant worked. In every department. He would go back to work at night and work with the machines and the machinists. He could separate things and put them back together and he could see how they interfaced.So, two things…I have been reading and thinking about what is going on with our market…real estate…credit…banking…and as best as I can tell, the stop is in place for the kinds of loans that brought us to this point. Not perfectly, not 100%, but curtailed. It’s the defaults, the foreclosures and the inventory. So the next wheel that turns is how to make the best of this…foreclosures become, sometimes, good investments. Builders are doing everything to get approved buyers and their brokers in the door. And the spinsters are doing their work, too. There is always that…and we just need to be aware that they are out there.The apartment market will grow…building permits were up in that sector. Some condo projects have been changed and are heading towards being apartments. Some condos that have sat on the market are being offered with many kinds of incentives with even some giving a part of their profit to non-profits. My mantra is the same. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Be careful. Be patient. Have good representation. And walk away from a deal that doesn’t feel good.
The second thing…I broke a promise to myself the other day when I did a podcast that poked fun at a developer. It was the Bark, Bark one…what I should have said about that developer who wrote in such a condescending, holier than thou attitude…that he affirms what I think about his kind…if you don’t agree with them, you are wrong. I should have said something about honoring his viewpoint but agreeing with the Op-Ed writer who was dismayed over the bulldozing of ancient trees and fifty year old azaleas and an old but stately house that could have been saved or re-used, but not just crushed.I could have done better. I could have kept the promise I made to myself to refrain from being cynical and critical and snide. So, please accept my apologies.
That’s for My Dad and for me. Happy Father’s Day!
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Signs of Growth in Charlotte, NC…and Caution.
Water color by Warren Burgess, Urban Planner and WatercoloristJune 10, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Signs of growth in Charlotte, NC…and Caution.
I look for ways other than numbers to illustrate the energy in Charlotte, NC. While we face different challenges than most of the country, we still have our set of consuming issues. Our town is changing…but how it is changing concerns many of us as we watch the great trees fall, the historic houses get raised and the McMansions sprout up from tear downs…it’s not all bad…there just has to be a way to achieve balance before what makes Charlotte special melts away.So there’s the issue of the tear downs, and then there’s the applause for the Lite Rail…and we had to fight each other for that…even to the point of a special referendum hard fought…and now, well, now, Charlotte is the visionary.And because we tend to be cautious and conservative, there are some delays in building particularly the downtown towers or close in town large condo projects. In this case one is builder is nixing condos in favor of apartments. Of course, I look to those very apartments to convert later to condos…I wonder if there building quality will be that of apartments or of condos. Might want to make a note.So here we go, some stories gleaned from the daily:
1.
Local neighborhoods could soon join forces to fight the spread of “McMansions,” newly built, giant homes that some people say damage the look and feel of older communities.
Residents from several neighborhoods, including Dilworth, Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood, are meeting tonight at the Midwood Baptist Church Fellowship Hall to discuss methods for stemming certain kinds of infill development.
Leaders are expected to focus much of the discussion on new city districts that would protect the established aesthetics of neighborhoods.
Tear-downs have become increasingly popular in the area. Developers buy small homes and replace them with large ones – with equally large price tags.
Last year in Mecklenburg County, 794 single-family houses were demolished. That's up from 697 in 2006.
2.
The developers of a 75-unit condo project in South End have stopped sales and will build it as apartments instead."We designed Chelsea South End with multiple strategies, and one strategy was a condo building," said Terrence Llewellyn, whose Llewellyn Development is doing the project with Dean Kiriluk of Kirco.
Since condo sales began there in November, home sales have slowed, financial markets have become more volatile, and lenders have tightened mortgage lending requirements.
3. Charlotte-Mecklenburg's business, civic and government leaders worked for years to create a plan to both improve traffic flow and provide alternatives to the automobile. Then they asked voters to approve a local sales tax to fund it. In 2002 county voters passed a half-penny sales tax for transit funding, along with a $100 million road bond referendum. Now the road system is being improved, bus service is expanding, the first leg of a light rail system is carrying even more riders than expected and Charlotte-Mecklenburg has become a model for urban areas seeking to shape their own transportation future.
Our challenges are easy to bear given what most of the country is experiencing. Ours are those trying to shape growth and balance.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Signs of growth in Charlotte, NC…and Caution.
I look for ways other than numbers to illustrate the energy in Charlotte, NC. While we face different challenges than most of the country, we still have our set of consuming issues. Our town is changing…but how it is changing concerns many of us as we watch the great trees fall, the historic houses get raised and the McMansions sprout up from tear downs…it’s not all bad…there just has to be a way to achieve balance before what makes Charlotte special melts away.So there’s the issue of the tear downs, and then there’s the applause for the Lite Rail…and we had to fight each other for that…even to the point of a special referendum hard fought…and now, well, now, Charlotte is the visionary.And because we tend to be cautious and conservative, there are some delays in building particularly the downtown towers or close in town large condo projects. In this case one is builder is nixing condos in favor of apartments. Of course, I look to those very apartments to convert later to condos…I wonder if there building quality will be that of apartments or of condos. Might want to make a note.So here we go, some stories gleaned from the daily:
1.
Local neighborhoods could soon join forces to fight the spread of “McMansions,” newly built, giant homes that some people say damage the look and feel of older communities.
Residents from several neighborhoods, including Dilworth, Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood, are meeting tonight at the Midwood Baptist Church Fellowship Hall to discuss methods for stemming certain kinds of infill development.
Leaders are expected to focus much of the discussion on new city districts that would protect the established aesthetics of neighborhoods.
Tear-downs have become increasingly popular in the area. Developers buy small homes and replace them with large ones – with equally large price tags.
Last year in Mecklenburg County, 794 single-family houses were demolished. That's up from 697 in 2006.
2.
The developers of a 75-unit condo project in South End have stopped sales and will build it as apartments instead."We designed Chelsea South End with multiple strategies, and one strategy was a condo building," said Terrence Llewellyn, whose Llewellyn Development is doing the project with Dean Kiriluk of Kirco.
Since condo sales began there in November, home sales have slowed, financial markets have become more volatile, and lenders have tightened mortgage lending requirements.
3. Charlotte-Mecklenburg's business, civic and government leaders worked for years to create a plan to both improve traffic flow and provide alternatives to the automobile. Then they asked voters to approve a local sales tax to fund it. In 2002 county voters passed a half-penny sales tax for transit funding, along with a $100 million road bond referendum. Now the road system is being improved, bus service is expanding, the first leg of a light rail system is carrying even more riders than expected and Charlotte-Mecklenburg has become a model for urban areas seeking to shape their own transportation future.
Our challenges are easy to bear given what most of the country is experiencing. Ours are those trying to shape growth and balance.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Monday, June 9, 2008
Barking Dogs...That's Who They Are...
June 9, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Barking dogs…That’s Who They Are…
A wise person once said that builders and developers are like barking dogs...that's what they do and you can't change them. And the following proves that point quite well.
Peggy Porter wrote a letter to the editor about a condo project, The Vyne, where the developer did what most developers do…just bulldozed , tore down the old house and started construction. Well, the developer responded. This is the vernacular so well expressed by my housekeeper who often translates canine speak:
Bark, bark, bark….”forefront”….bark, bark, bark, “conservative”…bark, bark, “incrementalism…implementation tool”…bark, bark, bark, “developers” bark, bark, “public policy”…bark, bark, bark, “incremental steps” bark, bark, bark…”others jump on the bandwagon”…bark, bark, bark…”scale”…bark, bark, bark “market risks”….bark, bark, bark.
Did I hear “tree” anywhere? Oh, that’s right, they are gone.
On the newly announced front:
Ardsley CourtSize: 15 two-story townhomes and stacked flats in 3 buildings on 14 acres. Loaction: Park South Drive at Park Road Prices: $364,000 to $449,000 for units ranging from 1625 to 1987 square feet. Amenities: Private porches or balconies, private garages, vented gas fireplaces, stainless steel appliances, garden tubs with separate showers, double vanities, granite. Time table: Site work to begin in August, first model unit ready by March 2009.
We’ll take a look at everything on Park South and report back for a comparison.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Barking dogs…That’s Who They Are…
A wise person once said that builders and developers are like barking dogs...that's what they do and you can't change them. And the following proves that point quite well.
Peggy Porter wrote a letter to the editor about a condo project, The Vyne, where the developer did what most developers do…just bulldozed , tore down the old house and started construction. Well, the developer responded. This is the vernacular so well expressed by my housekeeper who often translates canine speak:
Bark, bark, bark….”forefront”….bark, bark, bark, “conservative”…bark, bark, “incrementalism…implementation tool”…bark, bark, bark, “developers” bark, bark, “public policy”…bark, bark, bark, “incremental steps” bark, bark, bark…”others jump on the bandwagon”…bark, bark, bark…”scale”…bark, bark, bark “market risks”….bark, bark, bark.
Did I hear “tree” anywhere? Oh, that’s right, they are gone.
On the newly announced front:
Ardsley CourtSize: 15 two-story townhomes and stacked flats in 3 buildings on 14 acres. Loaction: Park South Drive at Park Road Prices: $364,000 to $449,000 for units ranging from 1625 to 1987 square feet. Amenities: Private porches or balconies, private garages, vented gas fireplaces, stainless steel appliances, garden tubs with separate showers, double vanities, granite. Time table: Site work to begin in August, first model unit ready by March 2009.
We’ll take a look at everything on Park South and report back for a comparison.
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
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