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Charlotte, NC Real Estate News

By Charlotte Home Loans Your Charlotte Mortgage Lender
So you have been pre-approved. Even better, you have actually been approved using an automated approval system. Now you know how much home you can buy and are ready to shop.But as you shop for your home the budget doesn't seem to be enough. "Can't I just get a little bit more?"I hear this often. The answer here is a quick... "Well, that depends..." On what?Find out how (or if) you can go Beyond the Approval Limits
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By Charlotte Home Loans Your Charlotte Mortgage Lender
A question was recently asked of me regarding buying investment homes and getting the mortgage loan as an LLC, and it is one that has come up more than once recently. Here is the question: I've been working with a group of investors for about a year and a half now who is buying rental property in Charlotte. I sell, rent, and manage what they own. Up to the beginning of this year they have been buying the property using conventional financing in one of their own names and simply quit claiming it to their LLC.As of a few month's ago they have kind of reached a point where they no longer qualify for a conventional loan due to the number of properties they own, and they are looking for a bank that will lend directly to their LLC to purchase property. The goal is to buy 2-3 cash flowing rent...
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By Sophia Burrowes, Charlotte NC Realtor
(The McDevitt Agent)
Alive after Five starts tonight at the Wachovia Plaza.  Come out and hear the groves of The Maxx and mingle with the young professionals in Charlotte. 5:30 -9:30pm  FREE Entry.http://www.eastcoastentertainment.com/artist/The_Maxx.htmlhttp://charlottealiveafterfive.com/center_city_calendar.htmElevate Magazine release party at Loft 1523.  Catering by K.O. Sushi.  Fashion Show featuring designs by Jordano's.  Proceeds benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Friday April 11th @ 7pm. $15 in Advance.  $20 at Door.  http://www.bandtastic.com/ for tickets and information.Visit Brick and Barrel corner of 5th and Tryon for the (unofficial) afterparty.  
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By Diane McDermott, Charlotte NC Real Estate Market
(Realtor®, GRI, Landis e2 Real Estate, LLC)
 Charlotte area drivers familiar with the southern leg of I-485 may be interested to know there's a website called 485 Sucks.  Apparently, a local resident who's frustrated with the congestion and consistent backups on 485 has created a public forum for others to voice their opinions about the state of that road. I know that section of 485 well and have been caught in traffic there too many times to count. It's a busy road even during the daytime but during morning and evening rush it's a great way to practice patience!!! The southern leg of I-485 is currently 2 lanes in each direction and although the road is consistently jammed with cars during peak commuting times (even without an accident or bad weather) widening the road isn't planned until possibly sometime next decade due to fund...
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By Lori Baden, Broker in the Burgh!
(EXP Realty LLC)
Allen Tate Realtors®   recently launched an excellent ad campaign, including a television commercial which emphasizes that, just as the weather is local, so is the real estate market.  It starts with a weather forecaster saying, "It's -10 degrees and snowing EVERYWHERE!"   Doesn't make sense does it?  They go on to say that real estate is similar, and that the Charlotte market is local, and different.    SNOW FORECAST FOR CHARLOTTE IS WRONG!Very true.  While numbers of sales are down slightly, and days on market is a bit longer, Charlotte has bucked the national trend by actually posting a 1.8% increase in sales price for the month of January.  The highest in the nation, and the only major metro area posting an increase at all.What makes Charlotte different?  Well, we had fewer investor...
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By Jonathan Osman, Charlotte House Hunter Group
(Jonathan and Associates, Inc)
There may be no more divisive topic here in Charlotte than baseball in the center city.  At issue is a complex land swap between the board of education and the Charlotte Knights to build a stadium in second ward.  The Charlotte Knights, a Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, currently have a stadium complex in Fort Mill South Carolina, just over the state line.  Since the new trend in urban planning is to build a sports complex in the downtown areas, the city want to build a stadium to complement Bank of America Stadium and Bobcats Arena.  This plan has run into some opposition from more than one group.  First from those who know that there's no such thing as a free stadium.  While the stadium was said to be paid for by the Knights owner, the city would still have to provide ad...
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By Diane McDermott, Charlotte NC Real Estate Market
(Realtor®, GRI, Landis e2 Real Estate, LLC)
 In the Beverly Crest neighborhood there are currently 19 Active listings and 2 Pending (under contract) listings. Below is a breakdown of listings by price point:Beverly Crest Single Family Market Report - Current Listings 4.7.08 Listing Price Range Active Listings Pending ListingsConditional and Contingent ListingsLess than $300,000500$300,000-349,999400$350,000-399,999410$400,000 and Up610Avg Days on Market7345n/a The Active listings are actually pretty evenly distributed throughout the various price ranges. However the Under Contract listings are grouped at the top end of price ranges and the price point above $350,000 has been the most active recently.March 2008 Closed Single Family Listings - Beverly Crest Number of Closed ListingsClosed Sales Price RangeAverage Days on Market% Sa...
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By Diane McDermott, Charlotte NC Real Estate Market
(Realtor®, GRI, Landis e2 Real Estate, LLC)
 In the Olde Providence neighborhood of Charlotte NC there are currently 13 Active listings and 4 Under Contract (pending, conditional and contingent) Listings:Olde Providence Current Market Activity 4.7.08   Listing Price Range Active Listings Pending Listings Conditional and Contingent Listings$200,000-249,999310$250,000-299,999302$300,000-349,999210$350,000-399,999100Avg Days on Market825269 There are available homes in each of the various price ranges, with the most activity falling into the $299,999 and below category. This also holds true for the Under Contract numbers - 3 out of 4 currently under contract listings are below the $299,999 mark.  Days on market tells an interesting tale - the days on market is higher for active listings which indicates that homes that are less appea...
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By Brian Belcher, Charlotte Realtor
(RE/MAX Executive)
Charlotte has become a mecca for professional job seekers coming from other areas of the country without a job expecting to find employment easily based on all the hype they have heard about Charlotte's hot economy. What they find when they arrive is not always what they expected.  Jobs are getting harder to find in Charlotte as the economy has been affected by the national mortgage crunch and sagging national economy. While the Charlotte job market has performed better than the national average, particularly when compared to areas such as the Midwest, 80,000 newcomers a year are not always finding it so easy to land employment within the first months of their arrival as they had hoped. White collar professionals will tend to have an easier time than those who have been laid off from su...
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By Brian Belcher, Charlotte Realtor
(RE/MAX Executive)
As of 7:20 a.m. today, planes departing from Monroe Region Airport headed to the Charlotte area are unleashing an all out assault against a worm infestation of the city's trees. The four-day campaign is being led by city arborist Dan McSween in cooperation with the Michagan based spraying company Al's Aerial Spraying. Charlotte's $1.1 million campaign to hault what arborists say is one of the nation's worst cankerworm infestations will cover 63,000 acres of Charlotte over a 5 day span. Charlotte officials say the effort is necessary because the cankerworms kill trees and in Charlotte the pesky caterpillars prefer the willow oaks that are common throughout the area. According to experts, the colorless and odorless spray, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), is not harmful to humans - including p...
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By Debe Maxwell, CRS, The RIGHT CHARLOTTE REALTOR!
(Savvy + Company (704) 491-3310)
Nestled in the foothills of North Carolina, Charlotte offers the best mix of an emerging city: economic vitality, opportunity and culture. The region is sonorous with history, culture and tradition—yet young, exuberant, constantly-changing. Charlotte embraces its newcomers with traditional Southern hospitality! If you're looking to buy in North Carolina, you must check out the state's most beautiful city--also the largest in the state. Visit www.SearchCharlotteHomesForSale.com for more information on this wonderful North Carolina City. Search Charlotte's most popular home search tool at www.AtHomesCharlotte.com. Give us a call--we're happy to help--and give you the grand tour of our lovely city!   About the author: Debe Maxwell, ABR is a Charlotte Residential Real Estate Broker, Certif...
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By Terry McDonald The McDonald Group, Brokers NC/ SC
(TerryMcDonaldRealEstate.com, LLC)
The Cost of Living in Charlotte- "Objectively Affordable" Why have so many people been moving from the north-east down to Charlotte, NC? Is it because they get tired of the long winters? Well that’s part of it but another major reason for moving to Charlotte is the low cost of living index. Looking at the Chamber of Commerce’s website the average new house in Charlotte cost $243,773 in 2007, had 2,400 sq ft of living space and was on a 8,000 sq ft lot. But how does Charlotte compare to other large cities? Using CNN’s cost of living calculator I’ve compared several cities to Charlotte’s cost of living. There are many reasons folks move here- the favorable cost of living is a big one. Cost of living in Charlotte as compared to Boston A person living in Charlotte, NC making $60,000 per yea...
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By Brian Belcher, Charlotte Realtor
(RE/MAX Executive)
How do Charlotte's taxes and tax investments stack up when compared to the rest of the state and country? As a current or potential home owner, you'll want to know not only how much you can expect to pay, but also where your dollars go and how the city and county manage the funds to save the tax payer money while giving them the services they need and want. Here's an interesting document that gives you this exact information as you begin to look at homes or begin thinking about a move.
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By Charlotte Home Loans Your Charlotte Mortgage Lender
Zillow has launched their long awaited "Mortgage Marketplace." This not-so-great idea is being billed as a place that consumers can get quotes from multiple lenders without having to provide any personal information.  Spencer Rascoff, Zillow's chief financial officer and vice-president for marketing claims, "This is a huge step forward in terms of putting borrowers in control and giving them access to information." What's wrong with this, you ask? Read more at http://carolinamortgageconnection/2008/04/04/and-the-bs-floodgates-opened/
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By Brian Belcher, Charlotte Realtor
(RE/MAX Executive)
Construction seems like it's taking forever, but the NASCAR Hall of Fame will forever chronicle all things fast and speedy. The newest attraction to Charlotte and its blooming Uptown core is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2010. You can check progress at the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce's page via a web camera that is updated 30 seconds during the day. It's growing at about the rate of a blade of grass--but hey, when Spring 10' hits, get ready for the speed!  
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By Lisa Hinson
(First South Mortgage)
I can't say enoough how I am a home town girl that loves to help people get what they want in a home and KEEP IT! I don't lie to you about what you need to do for yourself financially. I cannot stand a dishonest person that doesn't beleive what goes around comes around. It's all about knowing what every lender is doing in the market and giving your the knowlege that you need to help make good sound decisions. I consider myself lucky to have the honor of helping people financially. I don't just go away after I help you either. I am here for you 24/7 and always will be in the future if you ever just have questions. I live by my name.
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When it was reported that the Fed was working to bail out Bear Stearns, one of the biggest investment firms on Wall Street, most of us breathed a sigh of relief. A major corporation like that would have some serious trickle down effect (more like a financial flood of a crisis) if they went under. But most of us don't work on Wall Street and while the bailout was mostly appreciated, many average Americans facing tough mortgage situations must have wondered when the government would do something substantial to help the "everyday Joe." Today we got at least a signal that the calvary is coming. The Senate got one step closer, in a surprisingly bi-partisan way, toward getting a bill on the floor that would help the average American directly. Part of the proposed legislation is to give standa...
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By Rebecca Sellers, Charlotte NC Real Estate Professional
(Keller Williams Realty)
The population of Charlotte has been growing tremendously over the past decade. As fate would have it, our growth has stemmed primarily as a result of highly skilled and educated persons seeking employment or further education at one of our many "cream of the crop" firms and institutions. In this phenomenon we have all been able to identify myriad values and virtues, but now we can cite yet one more postive impact this factor has bestowed on us ... a local real estate market that continues to survive, and in terms relative to the current market nationwide, thrive. Home prices have appreciated from this time last year and sales, although down from last years numbers, have been on the rise since the first of the year. Charlotte property owners are living on the properties they are buying ...
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According to Forbes.com, Charlotte, NC is amongst the 10 best places in the nation to buy foreclosure property. They arrived at this conclusion essentially by cross-referencing foreclosure rates in the nation's 100 most populated markets against the Forbes "Best Places" list that they came out with earlier last year. They then isolated the areas where banks were accepting offers lower than median home prices to see what kind of discount was being offered on distressed property. This method showed Charlotte and Raleigh both amongst the best places to buy foreclosures. Now, as an agent who does a fair amount of work with REO and distressed property, I feel the need to caution people against running out and jumping into the foreclosure game. There are, as "the Dude" would say "a lot of ins...
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By Diane McDermott, Charlotte NC Real Estate Market
(Realtor®, GRI, Landis e2 Real Estate, LLC)
 One of the simplest and least expensive home maintenance tips is (in my opinion) one of the most often overlooked by homeowners. The air filters at the hvac registers are designed to trap dirt, dust, particles in the air and over time they get clogged. I see a lot of houses, and one of the things I usually look at is the condition of the air filters. I've seen some that actually looked original to the house (in homes several years old!), so dark and clogged it's impossible to say what the original color of the filter was! It's one of those things that most buyers never think to look at, but can actually give an insight into how meticulous the sellers have been about maintenance - homeowners who regularly change those air filters may very well be alert and on top of other regular home m...
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