Sunday Night Steals And Deals- Condos, In-Town Single Family

Tonight I'm looking at Uptown condos and intown living in Dilworth. First the condo's. There is a solid selection, so this week I'm looking at the under 230K, 2 bedroom market. The ideal first home for a young professional, perhaps taking a roomate to offset some of the mortgage. With its convenient in-town location, you won't be paying for parking.

Tonight's winner: this condo is located in the First Ward and has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, at just over 960 sf. This is a penthouse with spectacular city views, 10' ceilings, granite, hardwood floors and more. All appliances are included and the list price is 227,000... we'd try around 214,000 and see what we get back. You'll have to go considerably out South Blvd for a better value.

In Dilworth I was shopping for single families under 500K. Dilworth was the city's first suburb, built from around 1900-1925. The homes are being rebuilt, for the 2nd and 3rd time. Price ranges run from 350K for something in need of remodelling, o well over $1M for larger fully remodeled homes.

Tonight' winner Has 1976 sf, 3 bedrooms and 2 and one half baths. It is a complete house, with deck , yard and porch on one of the 2 or 3 best streets in Dilworth. Walk to the trolley, walk to downtown Dilworth, this house is convenient, and priced right at $500,000. Still, an offer of 475 makes sense, and see where it takes us. Larger homes have sold on this street for over 1M this year. The photo is a typical bungalow style Dilworth house.

As always, I represent buyers, and in the interest of fairness, none of these recommendations are my listings, and as such MLS rules prohibit use of pictures. E mail me for more information at Terry (at) TerryMcDonaldRE.com. My recommendations are based on square foot and asking price, community amenities and my knowledge of the area-- your opinion would likely vary, and further investigation would be required. See you next week!

Charlotte Real Estate Market Report: August 2007

Good news on Charlotte real estate prices! For the month ending August 31, area wide prices are UP 5.1% compared with August 2006, comparing average cost per square foot prices of Charlotte single family homes from the MLS. Some news at first glance was alarming, the number of units sold are way down -20% from August 2006- but I believe I can show that this isn't the bad news it might appear to be to the casual observer. (No I didn't say Charlotte Observer) The photo is a Dilworth beauty built in 1903.

What does it mean? I've three broad conclusions, you may have more, tell me what you think:

First, in the face of a nationwide housing recession/depression, and with20% fewer buyers in our marketplace, our prices are up 5.1%. Our economic fundamentals and the valuation in our real estate market remain rock-solid steady. I've said it before- we didn't experience the "bubble" here on the way up, we won't (as a whole) feel it on the way down. Our prices have and continued to grow the old fashioned way, caused by increased population, jobs and increased economic activity- not speculation.

2nd, with unit sales 20% off in August (and Expired listings up 53%!) it is clear Charlotte is feeling the affects of both the sub-prime and the national real estate market downturn through fewer relocations and fewer sales- but how bad is this really for Charlotte? Not as bad as one might think, this reduction in units sold takes us back only to 2004 sales levels. In other words, it is just taking us back a few years with our overall valuations still rising.

3rd- Assuming we have 20% fewer buyers in the marketplace, then the homes not selling could be called the "marginal houses"- the bottom 20% of the market is what is not selling. The question arises what defines the "marginal house"? The Million dollar question don't you think? The 53% increase in Expired listings over August 2006 offers a clue. I think the majority of the "marginal houses" would fall into one of two categories- those in good condition priced too high to sell, and those whose condition does not compare well with other homes in the same price range. In both cases, unrealistic pricing strategies of the sellers or agent's is to blame--remedied by a good agent who prices the home correctly, and home sellers who keep their homes in good to excellent condition.

These comparisons are made easy by the Internet and the increasing transparency of the real estate transaction through pictures , virtual tours, and comparable sales information-- buyers can compare homes side by side and those priced too high, for any reason, don't make the cut.

This too is good news-- with 20% fewer transactions the market is correcting itself, cutting out the fluff, keeping the remaining house sales priced well (indicating our strong fundamentals) and, if it persists it suggests fewer commissions and a shake out of the real estate agents as well as the bottom 20% may seek employment elsewhere- definitely good news!

Let me know what you think. And what are the characteristics of the 20% buyers we lost? Will they be back? Ah, the subject of a future post...