Let's Chat About Elizabeth, the surrounds and a favorite condo...Laureldale

                                                        

Elizabeth is neighbor to many: Myers Park, Plaza Midwood, Eastover, Uptown and Home to CPCC,
 The Street Car and Presbyterian now Novant.

A quad in many ways with nuances, Laureldale

Charlotte has at the moment seven historic districts or neighborhoods: ( Dilworth, North Davidson (No Da), Plaza Midwood, Fourth Ward, Wesley Heights, Hempstead and Wilmore, the last two, the latest. Elizabeth has a National designation historically. I am not sure of the details but here is a Google Map. Elizabeth fringes Chantilly, Eastover, Myers Park, Plaza Midwood and maybe even Villa Heights. Monroe Road becomes E. 7th, Hawthorne becomes Queens Road or vice versa, Randolph Road becomes Fourth Street and Independence, 74, slices off a stretch.

I suppose I am drawn to the trees, old and
 limber, inviting and providing shade.

Condominiums fall into a wide range as well. Off 7^th on Clement there is a wonderful historic home that has been converted to condos, Alexander House. This occurrence runs throughout Charlotte especially in the older areas. Years ago one very progressive real estate broker converted several of the big mansions in Myers Park to condos. I always think of her as visionary. And part of me believes we will see that happen again as the population ages and the luster of the large old homes and new large homes become passé.

Favorites: In Myers Park fringe area: Boxwood by Brian Speas, the gentleman builder who builds a superior product always and generally in Myers Park, Eastover, Barclay Downs, Park Road and some infill around Freedom Park. An oldie, Queens Mark, also that same fringe area, the first new wave of lofts, Elizabeth Lofts, and one of my very favorite favorites, Elizabeth on the Park

Tucked off the beaten path yet touching it. Location!

The grounds keep Laureldale's charm intact.

overlooking Independence Park, and pictured here, Laureldale. Once apartments, the setting is between Randolph and Fifth, lovely brick buildings, a pretty quad, central laundry ( a telltale sign of  apartment conversion in that era) Alson Court across Randolph is in Eastover. Once apartments and converted, Alson is a grand old building with one bedroom, two bedroom and three bedroom units, a handful of garages, built like Fort Knox.

 Laureldale’s  neighbor, The Grove, is a handsome renovation of old apartments. Density reigns approaching Hawthorne as it crosses 74 with Hawthorne Bridge, Elizabeth Village et al. A wonderful conversion, The Rutzler, 1920, renovated in 2005 has a new apartment building as its neighbor, at Louise and Central.
                                              ********************
I have been thinking about how to illustrate the variety of condominiums in any given area. Maybe I will make a chart so we can look at their differences even though they all post a prime location. It is a game I play with myself, CondoCanDo!
The location is Randolph Road at Sharon Amity, Cotswold.

The Poplar in Fourth Ward, circa 1926 Something old, something new, something borrowed, something true.

A simple, elegant entrance, hardly
noticeable to a mere passerby.

A pocket garden of roses, of course.

The Poplar, 1926 in Fourth Ward
started as apartments. Hmmmm?

July 2015

Charlotte is on the rise. Towers uptown are on the rise. Apartment projects proliferate the corners on our main thoroughfares as we wait for the surge of the Millennial Generation. First the apartments, then the conversions, then the lines blur and maybe we stop to wonder what happened. Because we are no stranger to being the Belle of the Ball. We are
 a city of the New South and we are a city of folks who tear down the old for the
 promise of newer and better and greater.
 Until there is a whiff of maybe not...
So, to ease my wondering about the cadres of investors who boast the building of apartment buildings with not just twenty or thirty apartments but hundreds, I wander around in the Charlotte I know so well. Through the sparkle of new and tall and lean and open, I wind my way to Historic Fourth Ward to one of my most favorite condominiums, The Poplar.

Like a grand dame she reposes on the fringe, too taken with her rose garden, her lovely, petite roof top, garnering a nice pleasant view of the skyline, this  city of the New South, as she gazes down on historic homes and the narrow streets with large trees.
I was a student of The Poplar long ago in the 80's. Max The Wonder Dog and I were taking pictures uptown on a Sunday morning, a young couple stopped to speak to Max, a handsome tawny Briard. They saw our license tag, "RE LADY", and asked if I were a realtor? They were looking for a condo uptown. Max got credit for the sale. I made new friends and discovered the inside workings of The Poplar.
Poplar and Tenth in  Historic Fourth Ward

Every once in a while, I like to visit to see how much I remember and to make new discoveries like the elevators fore and aft. The second I step foot in the lobby I am whisked away to New York City. The Poplar has that kind of ambiance. Is it NYC or Europe?
Hardwood floors throughout, some condo homes large and spacious with fabulous light from the old glass carefully hung in metal casings, taller ceilings and an aura of having lived many lives, these spaces whose stories include lauded musicians and artists
and people of creative bent.

Fourth Ward and Uptown Condos:

Just for fun...we know the names of the biggest, newest, shiniest,
but have heart, there are others:
Tenth Avenue Townhomes,Brennan Court, Poplar Place,Settlers Alley, 400 North Church,409 West 8th Street, Sixth and Pine Townhouses, Barringer Square,
Chapel Watch,Churchill to name a few.

And this then begs the question? Older or newer?

Next , Condo CanDo® and I take a walk through Elizabeth.
Elizabeth is a Nationally recognized historic neighborhood.
As is Myers Park.

Laureldale in Elizabeth
How to tell if they were at one time, apartments?

June 7^th, 2015 Sunday morning

The French have a saying, the gist being you
have to go too far to know where enough is.

The idea of balance comes this morning as I walk through the garden section at Lowe’s, looking at tags to see if I know the names of flowers or shrubs, scanning for those I have in my own garden to see if there is anything new. I know that I can only look these days because I have planted all I can; there is enough- except for those I need to replace only after I have tended them to see if they will come back. Many do. Often. I love the garden. I love Charlotte, NC. My home for over sixty years.

And then I think about the balance between like and love and indifference and irrelevance and how we discover those feelings or attitudes within our own beings and how they take shape by our experiences.

Whether a garden, a home, a relationship, a city…

I think about how anything can become an addiction, how we shape our thoughts and match our actions and create a rhythm that can be moderated, syncopated or out of control, and imbalanced. I am a real estate broker and have been for nigh on to thirty years now and still going strong…what does love and balance and discipline have to do with our city?

Everything.

June 4, 2015
What do I see?

Charlotte, NC is a beautiful city in many ways.Not all the ways readily visible because some like to tear down buildings and homes and restaurants to make way for new. It is as though we cannot be content with what we have achieved but keep pushing to prove that we are a cool city…or that we will be when everyone wants to come here. We boast about our location between the mountains and the sea, we celebrate our weather because for the most part it is ideal with only a few exceptions here and there. Charlotte is made of fine stuff. But all that glitters is not gold. The rumbling I hear from every corner troubles me. The marauders have come. The faceless who buy and sell. I call it the Board Game. There are those who come or who are joined by others called investors who build buildings because the money is cheap not because they are interested in office space or living space. They are interested in selling the building before they even build it. And the buildings I see them building are far from inspired, not even close to filling an appealing corner with a statement that helps define our gracious southern city. We become fodder. Charlotte becomes an opportunity. And we help. Because no one is watching the store, no one is tending the look, the appeal, the city blocks, the neighborhood history, the countryside sprawl. We are busy going fast. Waiting for someone to speak up and say, “What is happening?” Why is what is happening troubling? Is it because our identity as a charming southern city is hurtling forward at a rate not easily changed. Because blocks and blocks of apartments without design or imagination or thoughtfulness are casting corner after corner so we can lose our way on frequent boulevards because they all look alike. It is already too late.

Going My Way?

May 14, 2015

I am not Dorothy and this is not Oz..

Could it be that tornadoes and tidal waves and earthquakes are spawn at the root level of our own cultures, born of seeds tainted with a deep hunger for more even before life is tasted, well before love preens our heart for the magical elixir, and surely before we connect words with deeds or thoughts with needs or will to live in peace.
I heard the tornado and remember what we were taught: head for the cellar, go to an interior room, crouch under a table, take cover and pray. The unravelling of our financial system, the crumbling banks, the deep eddies of derivatives and off shore investors and wall street speculation, loan packages subprime lending heeled with the likes of too many new ways to spin the gold, too often poorly constructed on every level: surely the winds would howl, certainly there would be a price to pay.

I am not even me anymore. For every where I look the stages are different, the headlines are often misspelled, the water rises and falls, and the mongers have latched on to the very essence of our real estate business, fragile at best, lacking in many ways, but still at the moment a tried and nearly true and growing practice that for the most part was good, kept most folks on the path and delivered millions of people into homes of their own and billions of dollars into the economy.

Then those who hang on tree limbs could see that here was truly the way to the yellow brick road. Real estate could be monetized in a zillion ways. The agents could work to secure listings (those homes and condos of the homeowners who give their trust to the agents to represent them fairly, to do their best), their brokers could sell their listings to the big search engines and the real estate association could actually believe they were getting a deal by sharing the work of the worker bees. And this giving of the treasure, the listings, the data collectors mined, culled the data and the world was overjoyed and thought it was now welcomed in the world of the fourth estate.

The worker bees, like real bees, are being eaten and now monetized by even more than their own association has. For the data collectors, the huge search engines, the data is free, the way to mine is negligible really, the information is out there for all of us. We like pushing a button and having information immediately.

Now the real cannibals arrive, setting up more ways to sell the agents, and to have the agents buy the space to sell themselves based on the properties they have sold and to also help those agents create a network of referrals so the money trickles through many hands.

Are you spinning yet?

An Ill Wrought Plan..How come?

Randolph Rd. at Sharon Amity
Cotswold Shopping Center
Charlotte, NC

February 3, 2015

This is a pickle. This could be the start or continuance or a future look at how informed we are, how thorough our City Council is, and how involved we want to be, how attentive we are, myself included. This in my opinion is a disaster and a BIG one. Cotswold. See the elementary school. See Chic-Fil-A where a line forms every morning during height of traffic and every lunch time and every dinner time blocking traffic that includes one the busiest intersections in Charlotte DOT...closer to Randolph on the right coming from that intersection is Cotswold Shopping Center and at the edge a big Harris Teeter. Now note the two way arrow and the stop light. That little half street is congested ALL THE TIME and when school is starting or ending it is at a standstill. Now see the block outlined in red PUBLIX...a Publix has been approved for that spot by our City Council and that building is coming down and the grocery store will consume the entire footprint and parking will be BELOW the store. This is sheer lunacy. And it is a done deal and there is nothing that can be done about it unless someone made a mistake on either side. And to my dismay City Council said they would keep an eye on the congestion. They would have to pitch a tent to keep an eye on it or, oh, no, they will be able to see it from a satellite. Is this what we can expect as we assume our position as the fastest growing city in the country? That we will consider and pass this egregious zoning that will effect that neighborhood and area for years to come at a great detriment. Shame! Shame! On the city council and us for not catching it. Let us be more wary now that we know no one is watching the store.

Food for thought, January 31, 2015

I remember hearing the interview with an economist just as it was evident that we as a country were in the slide to a great depression, now named The Great Recession. He remarked that he could see more people renting (this as the foreclosures swelled and seemed to be the harbinger of what was to unfold), because if a person lost their job, had a new job offer in hand somewhere else, yadda, yadda, they could just pick up and go.

And in a way that made sense except what about our perceived notion that real estate holdings can yield personal wealth  and more?( I thought at the time, ”Well that makes sense to the investor who can have someone else pay for the investment even considering that the capitol built the place and maybe that was risky, okay it is/was risky but certain risks can also be tax breaks) So here come the Millennia's who it is reported do not leap to buy cars, run to purchase homes and condos, prefer walking, bicycling, sharing rides, well, yes, even sharing apartments, renting out a room in their apartment, being big buyers in consignment shops. Yeah! ( I am no stranger to GW.)
So as Charlotte, N.C. is poised to host thousands and thousands and thousands of renters, who have no investment in the city, have no need for maintenance and repair and remodel, can just pick up and leave at any time that suits their plans, this sounds pretty attractive. But what about those of us who bought into home and hearth? Paint and planting pansies? Maintaining the streets, the public areas, the schools (though we don't do this well, nor do we take care of our teachers)

Charlotte is on the brink of being the Queen City of Apartments.
Why should this concern us as brokers? We help folks buy and sell. What should we care?
Let's listen to all the developers and builders with their charts and graphs and projections and not even look at our own infrastructure. Seem silly? That is what I feel we are doing. I am going off here on maybe a deep end, but I feel that the people tending the store have Gone Fishing.

My gut tells me we indeed are entering a phase that will be akin to the frog in water. By the time we think we should jump out it will be too late. Money is not bad, only in the hands of those who have nothing else but money and power and that is addictive. They want it all. You know, someone is off track when they say, “Now I can have it all.” And because you have been there and came to your senses through a rude awakening or a wiser voice, you got out and realize “Less is more.”

Maybe it is about stuff. All the stuff we gather and collect and buy for ourselves, maybe others. Our economy is based on consumer spending. Hello! And why do we do that? Because we can. Many can.

to be continued

 

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Look What We Found!

The Real Estate Lady®
with Condo Cando ®

Just When Charlotte Needs a Super Hero!

January 28, 2015
 We know you know we know to be on the lookout for a map plotting/ showing where the many apartment buildings, new or near new are in Charlotte, NC, our hometown. And where are the ones that have been announced or proposed? No luck in the government hallways so far but look what we found by asking the erstwhile Google. Fantastic...Thanks to The Charlotte Observer. This will be a great start to the project and what a good, no, make that great start.http://bit.ly/1DhU0EN
Why is this important?
Density,
traffic,
parking,
engineering
and can we trust this scenario?

Haven't we seen the builders and developers in Charlotte and coming from other states,  and countries all jump aboard ship many years ago right on the cusp of The Great Recession?Had they all been started Charlotte would look like Planet of the Apes. Is it enough the say Charlotte is the fastest growing city in the country and is that a reason to be pompous enough the believe everyone is finding their way here. Like being on their way right now?
I allude the naysayer tag, but my intuition has been throwing down the red flag for months. We have some more info to post soon on the subject of too many too soon.

Later,

Lynnsy and Condo Cando®


 

 

http://bit.ly/1DhU0EN

The Anachronism of Real Estate

January 26, 2015

There is a place I go to explore time, to examine the minutes and lay them out, walk up a hill and look down to see what direction they point to or from side to side to determine if I am seeing the future or looking at the past.

Out of the city, out of my sequestered small neighborhood, driving down a two lane road, the back way to other two lane roads, the fog is thick now and it starts raining. I could be in the sky or in the ocean. I feel I am close to the runway. Another hour, I will have finished all the turns and be set to take off.

 The road narrows a bit. There are no other cars. The fog is very, very light, like a portrait filter.  This is the past and the future. This is the country. Small houses or large, with barns or garages  or a tin roof to protect a car or truck. Single mobile homes with scattered yard furnishings, a gas station with flickering lights and space. The branches and bodies and crowns and bareness of old trees catch my breath and spin me away out there beyond the windshield. The world has a light gossamer shield, the world is still and I recall this road.

But it has changed. And I am surprised. This is a country road and there are farms around, and homes of workers who tend the fields and fix the tractors and herd the cows and gather eggs and feed the horses and built the fences and work in the small towns up and down the road and out past the Interstate and now, some are vacant. The old gas station where stone and wood were stacked for sale is vacant, gone. The Great Recession smashed them down and I do not think they will come back because the only thing holding them together were the people. The people and their families and their friends and their communities and their work, their jobs. They are gone and I do not think or feel they will come back. I had not expected to see this. I thought this road, the symbols on this road were basic, were somehow eternal, the heart of country even though it changed, even though the tide came and went, this was the heartland.

And in the city, where I live and work, I feel an imbalance as well. All is not as it seems. Higher priced homes are selling, and the prices increase because demand is there and loans are attainable. Mid-priced homes and entry level, not so much. There is a lot of glitter and the money changers are present. Times are changing fast and we must be careful what we ask for.

On waking Charlotte

January 8^th, 2015

12 degrees

On my way to take a hot bath, insulated underwear, warm breakfast, hot chai, pull up medicine ball and start…but first Facebook, yes, I am entangled. I love my buds!

Okay, so here we are….hmmm.

The first thing I did this morning was open the front door, let the dog out after rubbing her butt as she does downward facing dog, step out to check the chill, pick up her metal water bowl, frozen all the way to the bottom. I run hot water and put the bowl face down and hear a clunk. A perfect round disc falls into the sink. Beautiful. I play with the warm water and watch the shape morph into a slimming disk, and finally a slender, clear ring and then nothing. An empty bowl. I think of Charlotte. Our city.

I watch as our city morphs. Every day, I read the newspaper at my breakfast table. Every Saturday I read the Business Journal and save certain articles. I read the names, the buildings, the parts of the city, the money, the partnerships, the companies, the interviews, the comments, the justifications, the mergers, the acquisitions, the ideas, the movement, and then I drive out Sardis and into town. So much is being cleared and removed…and it happens so fast, did I miss something or is all of this going on at night?

What else is going on that I cannot see?

I read the article and see the picture of the homeless woman sitting on a bench in Uptown…I gasp because I think, Oh, God, are “they” moving her out again? But no, the city and others have taken a stance that we will be done with homelessness in two years. People are coming together, banks are chipping in, organizations and departments will be assessing and going out to find that population and money will be budgeted to build homes, apartments, shelter for 450 people. Many voices. A robust chorus. A great idea, long overdue. Then crashing down around my morning quiet comes the great shadow wing of the Great Recession. Too many people, changing cash, developing plans, who is in charge? Who is watching? Who will be short shifted? Who will find out? Before it happens? While the program is underway? When we are supposed to be finished but the money has dwindled, the bones were not strong. Can we depend on this project to come to fruition? Can we?

Charlotte: Flashpoint, December 14, 2014

What have we learned in the last decade? What have I learned? Am I synched with this city I love so well? After all, I write and claim the phrase, “ I am a part of Charlotte and Charlotte is a part of me.” What have I learned? The Great Recession brought the greater lull as businesses came to a standstill, as real estate almost stopped. Lives stopped, jobs stopped, money stopped to some not to all. There are always cats at the coliseum. We, I, am looking back, over my shoulder and mostly now looking forward. Besides the Great Recession I experienced the siege of cancer with all the trappings of chemo therapy, radiation and surgery and damage control to mitigate the side effects. I stopped. “I am a part of Charlotte and Charlotte is a part of me.” I changed, we change.
Once the dust began to clear, once the money started loosening up, once the great tides of foreclosure stated to wane, once the adjustment so many of us, yes, “Us”, faced and held on and stretched to find a way or slide back, once we got our footing, once the looting had faded, not gone, but stepped back to reshape itself, we begin again. I begin again. We have changed. The wave forward is coming like a tsunami to our city. And in every direction: to the east in Concord-Kannapolis, to the south in Fort Mill and Rock Hill, to the west at both the lake and the airport and to the north, the lake, the townships, the techno highway to server farms from all over the world, even China, stretch up Lincolnton way.
And more are coming. More are coming because the green pastures that stretch within our country and around our county are indeed green and the glint of gold shoots through the ground once again and gold is on everyone’s mind. The corporations come from other countries, other hubs, other lands bringing their people for jobs and money for development of farms that once stood idle, manufacturing complexes that shut down keeping only their ghosts.
But it is inside the city that I feel the wrenching of growth as old homes are torn down, old buildings are rendered dust, the streets change, parks spring up, all whispering, “Come to Charlotte, bring your families, life is good, come to Charlotte.” All of this could be good, but once again we are wiping out our past laying glory to the future as though the future will be perfect and never disappoint us. The future glimmers in our mind of prosperity, children playing on green lawns, a center city where folks play and work and thrive. But do we have to tear down what nurtured our hearts; do we have to demolish that which gave us a sense of place, landmarks for knowing where home is?
  As I, too, reboot, survey the playing field, assess the players, observe the ebb and flow, I feel the undertow. And I see the moments where we change from one revolution to the next.

I Could Not Sleep Last Night

July 24, 2014

I could not sleep last night.
The word is "stucco".

Sometimes days just roll out of the last  minutes of midnight and head towards their own unique beginning for each one of us.
Yesterday ended with “stucco” and today’s, just shortly after midnight, the second between the last second of the passing day and the arrival of the new, the word ‘stucco’ flashed in neon again and again.

Not so weird, I am a real estate broker and have been for almost thirty years now. Some days the word starts later and could be a couplet, “loan approval” or  lone words, “counter”, “closing”, “due diligence”. Well, you get my drift. Words symbolizing, punctuating the day and sometimes days depending on the transaction.

The last couple of days, one word has been and is still, “Stucco”.There is more to stucco than meets the eye and that is the source of the mystery, unraveling what lay beneath or is growing on. Everything about stucco is important. But then all of the details in real estate and probably all businesses are important. I take mine personally. I do not sleep.

Further, this case of stucco has me going back to the house, with permission of course, taking pictures of anything that feels odd, shouldn’t be there. I carefully parse every corner and walk up very close to examine the substance if any is coming from a small crack.

So I thought it might be a good idea to write about quirky or very simple pieces of a real estate experiences. The world imparts, and it seems everyone portends  to be an expert when it comes to the how-to’s, the numbers, the surface stuff, maybe it is the small stuff that drives the detective in me after the bold, big strokes are catalogued.

But you see it is the small stuff I sweat. Because  the pieces are the sum of the whole.

What do you think?

April 20, 2014

 

Morning-Easter Sunday

 Finally, the sky is clear, the rain soaked clouds  poured their wealth into an already saturated earth here in the Carolinas. There is a crisp coolness in the air, a difference between sharp cold and a light coolness. Like breathe and slow breathing. The gentle coolness soothes my radiated nostrils and throat. The sharp cold spiraled though my nose and throat down into my neck and shoulder where there is less blood, less tissue, less.
I walk to the garden, my garden, in the back. There is work to be done after days of rain. I can almost hear, no, I do hear the roots pushing down and climbing up to the surface. Some of the plants have nudged through and burst into the air, swimmers in the pools of dirt reaching for the sun.
There is work to be done.

But first, many of my technology tools need attention, an external drive I mistakenly deleted but fortunately had backed up (because I back up everything) needs to be restored. Another external drive  freshly packed with a mirror image now runs at midnight every day because of a rash of interlopers, the virus makers, an email account where the server keeps failing and asks to be refreshed , a new smart phone that has more features, emphasis on more, and I admittedly pack on the Apps, and  a new platform in our real estate multiple listing service. There are classes for the tools, practice in my off time, developing social networking tools, rebuilding websites and one is not publishing, my favorite.
I am a voracious reader. The real estate market is volatile, either up or down and especially in play.
And we humans are curious and competitive, many of us, we like learning, I do. I like knowing and seeing and learning. I do have a fondness for the people I treasure. I want to hear about them, from them. Their pictures are often delightful. There is much to see and hear and feel and love and miss.
There is simply not enough time. For me there is not enough time.

More becomes more. Technology creates an abundance quickly, the big news and the incidental and we, I, lap it up.
More is more.

I have to stop. I want to stop before we crash, before I crash or get off.

I try to grasp a sense of direction. There are ultimate possibilities in every field. The underlying beat feels familiar. I keep listening for simplicity especially in my own life, in my own heart.

Today is the very day to think about new beginnings and life itself.

 

Immersion

March 25, 2014

 

Immersion.

Coming up for air. Several weeks ago I decided to immerse myself in the world of social media to see what I can see, learn what I can learn and apply what I think is important to my own world of blogs and podcasts and other portals like Twitter and Instagram, Facebook and Linked In. The journey consists of classes at Central Piedmont Community College and workshops at Queens University and even more classes at Superior School of Real Estate.
The word I hear most often is “Overwhelmed”.
Another descriptive word might be “Cumulative”.
And yet another and another , “saturation” and even “super saturation”.

Coming out of The Great Recession and even before, our government spotlighted the recovery efforts on jobs, construction, and real estate. And those who were looking and listening for a star to hitch their wagon to globbed on to real estate. New platforms had been created to deliver more information to a culture already fascinated and enthralled with real estate, to a culture with its short memory, a veritable smorgasbord of information and pictures and details garnished from public records as well as the acquisition of the local Multiple Listing Services, the gold data. No matter that the information could sometimes be incorrect, and those platforms dismiss any responsibility, while charging the same agents who provided the data used for listings a premium. There are of course free limited spaces for the agents and brokers. Those with cash get better position and more space. So I would pay for space while my work in gathering and verifying information comes free.
How serious is this? One executive with the Realtor Association has already jumped ship and gone with one of the larger data providers. It is a squeamish situation. I try to rationalize it. This is the age of Big Data. The information age. As a Broker I verify everything two maybe three times. And sometimes even with that I could be wrong. So what is the draw for the general public?
And before you think you see a smoking gun, I think there are also some good points. I like it that buyers and sellers can busy themselves exploring and learning and checking. They are good team mates, good and willing partners in the process.
And on these sites, the introduction of For Sale by Owners. I participated in this recently with a seller who had a condo in Charlotte, lives in New York and posted his property on one the large platforms, my buyer saw it at 3:36 a.m. called me and within 24 hours we had a contract and the seller paid the full commission. It was a more difficult transaction because the seller had no agent, operated by his rules and not the industry guidelines. But it happened.
So I have concern. I have to be a better teacher for my clients.
Long term, I also have concern, for these platforms will own that information from our MLS and the pictures as well. These platforms are in the information business. Read Big Data.
There is no crystal ball on my desk, but my intuition says, “Caution”. Over and over.

More as I rebuild our websites, and listen to you. Got questions? Let me hear them. Thanks.

 

The wearing of the green...seems like a good day to begin a blog...spring is truly in the air here in Charlotte, NC...the pear trees are almost in full bloom running almost the whole length of Wendover Road...and the town itself is blooming. In many ways. Okay, especially in real estate. Charlotte used to be a sleepy Southern town. We had Mom and Pop shops, small towns as our neighbors. Cows and horses nearby. Charlotte was a peaceful town with a couple of good restaurants, a couple of movie theatres, a nearby river...and a vibrant energy. That was in the 50's...and times have changed. I sometimes smile when I tell the folks who are relocating that everything they are coming here for...is really gone. And Charlotte is still vibrant and good and fun and growing like all get out! And that is what I love and that is what I will be writing about...real estate from my point of view. Charlotte, NC has been my home for well over 60 years and real estate has been my life support for almost 30 years. I specialize in Condominiums. Condo CanDo, our registered servicemark along with The Real Estate Lady, also registered back in the late 80's...both saved my neck as a new agent in a highly competitive market. Now, I blend technology with intuition and experience with listening...observing the market for both buyers and sellers. I have three websites built over the last 15 years. They are in the throes of being updated...the research has changed, the stats have changed, and our editor changed. And I am one of the few remaining "Mom" shops...I open doors for folks, pour them a cup of coffee or green tea...sit on the floor and play with the children...and sometimes I give advice like, "Now is not the time to sell"... or "Wait a while". Let the green begin...and thanks for tuning in. The Real Estate Lady/ Condo CanDo Lynnsy Logue

February  3, 2014

On Becoming Charlotte

Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); 'now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). From Lewis Carroll’s Alice Adventure’s in Wonderland.

Well there it is. An apt description of how I feel/think this morning reading the paper as I do while I crunch on my bowl filled with cereal and berries.

“Why is that?”, you might ask.

Being visual, the shapes and sizes and relationships of words and paragraphs tell their stories as well as the words and paragraphs. Here is an example:

Three headlines for three columns stacked on one page in The Charlotte Observer and a side bar. In a nutshell:

1.The first, “Landlord lender moves into area. Blackstone Group subsidiary sees upside in Charlotte market by Andrew Dunn.
The company provides loans to landlords and rental-home owners looking to buy between five and 1,000 more houses to rent out. It’s Blackstone’s latest bet on the single –family home rental market. Another subsidiary, Invitation Homes, buys homes to rent out for itself.
 Some real estate experts have said investment firms artificially drive up home prices, forcing mom-and-pop buyers out of the market. Experts also worry what will happen to the local real estate market when the firms look to sell these homes.
2.More luxury en route to Park Road by Eric Frazier
The Stratford Apartments across Park Road from the Park Selwyn Terrace Shopping Center are about to be bull-dozed to make way for a 273-unit luxury apartment complex.
What struck me on this project as residents were given a 30 day notice is this complex has been home to a number of Seniors who could walk to shopping.
You see, I wonder where the Seniors will go.
3.The last story, Yellen says Fed monitoring data for signs of weakening economy by Martin Crutsinger
The quotes from Yellen strike a cord with me. She refers to the job market and interest rates.
For me as well, they go hand in hand. Employment is a key watch for me.
Finally, the side bar. In the last few days in The Charlotte Observer, there are stories about “the paper”.

For well over a decade, I worked at “the paper”. The place and the people were a cornerstone of who I grew to be. I worked for both The Charlotte News and The Charlotte Observer. The heading on the side bar on this page today reads: Do-it-yourself classified ads. The Classified Ad department back then had one of the largest staffs including the phone room where operators took ads.

What we pay attention to changes as it should. But this morning, I saw the whole department still at work, familiar faces and voices as I leave to make my rounds.

February 25, 2014

The Crucible of Real Estate

It is early, the shadow time between dawn and morning light. Most of the night and early morning I worked on my new project, repackaging myself after a long and tedious illness. My business is real estate for almost thirty years. Taking a modified break meant I read almost all of my regular periodicals.
I kept up without digging deep. These days, I wear my miner’s cap. I am looking for answers, for logic, for ways to say to my people, “Let’s have a plan, be careful with decisions, and do the math”.

The Great Recession brought many to their knees. There was the massive debt, the tidal waves of disappearing assets, fingers pointed, shadows in the back room and then our new understanding of foreclosure and short sale. Classes were taught about foreclosure and short sales. Agents and brokers scrambled in a play of musical chairs. Lives were broken. A new generation began the climb, rung by rung, with debt strapped to their backs as though it were a fad. We grew used to the language of The Great Recession. But it is over. We move on.

There is a new awareness. The government knows the climb out of the recession is by the boots of real estate, construction of homes and commercial buildings. The trappings continue with mortgages and the swift talk of more stringent requirements for the buyer and on the other hand, the confessions of financial institutions that they made mistakes and they pay a fine to the government. The small hands of those who wound up on the streets are empty.

The jargon expands. We are roiled up in Big Data. We are dancing the dance with numbers and stats and charts and words we are just hearing for the first time. The play unfolds. It is mesmerizing because the set and the stage itself is all digital. The dialogue, the discussion, the reporting, the way forward is an unrelenting cacophony, the smoke screen to the past.

How do I guide and advise, be a strong advocate, a patient shepherd to my folks who are buying and selling a home? Hopefully, by listening.