Category: Ballantyne

Four firms have submitted applications to become the consultants to analyze building new rail lines in Charlotte. The consultation would involve a transportation study expected to begin in July and take 18 months. Budget for the consultation could be as high as $4.4 million, though cost estimates have not been finalized.

The study will analyze building new lines and how those lines will align with existing stops and stations. This is the latest development for the 20 year old campaign to develop the transit system. Busses remain the main thrust of the system, but as light rail is built out, it will take on more of the load.

The first of the lines they will be studying is a proposed 25-mile northern rail line from Uptown to Iredell County. This proposed Red Line would help ease congestion on I-77 especially for people who live in Lake Norman, Mooresville, and Davidson.

The second line in the study is a western route connecting Uptown to the airport and possibly going to the future master planned community River District. This line would be great for travellers of all sorts, business travellers and tourists most especially.

The third piece of the study will be how the new lines would be integrated into center city. This would include the already proposed 13.5-mile $2.5 billion Silver Line extending from Uptown along Independence Boulevard towards Matthews. It will also include the currently under construction 9 mile $1.2 billion Blue Line extension connecting Uptown with UNC Charlotte.

Much has changed since the original transit plan was adopted and there are now new buildings that need to be accounted for in the plan to connect new rail lines. This could mean tunnels to get lines in and out of Uptown like were recently built in Seattle.

Rail advocates propose building all three additional lines simultaneously for an estimated range of $5 to $7 billion. These numbers are rough and are subject to change. Building out the light rail so robustly would launch Charlotte ahead of many other mid-sized cities and help make it more of a destination that it is currently. Many leaders see these lines as necessary as the population in Charlotte is projected to double from 2.5 million to 5 million in the next 20-30 years.

Real estate along the existing corridors has increased in value tremendously after construction completed. If you are interested in purchasing a home in Charlotte and want to take advantage of existing or future rail lines, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes on our website here.

For more information, read the full article in the Charlotte Business Journal.

The Charlotte Regional Realtor Association released their monthly market report this week. Based on their findings, we are again facing historic low inventory and higher prices, but we are also seeing a dip in closed sales and in new listings from the same time last year.

Inventory for the entire region is now at 9,525 homes. This is up from last month’s 9,212, but substantially down from last year’s 11,919. The rise from last month is a typical trend, as spring goes on, more homes are listed.

Average sales price also rose year over year. Last year, the average price for a home was at $251,290. This year the average is a staggering $275,491. This is up $4,140 from last month’s average price of $271,351 and $38,269 up from this time in 2015.

Days on market time is down year over year as well. This means homes are staying on the market for a much shorter time before they are under contract. This speaks to the low inventory as homes are being snatched up almost as soon as they are listed. 96 days is now the norm from listing until a transaction is closed.

Pending sales are up from last year at this time. This means we could see a bump in closed sales next month. If we don’t start seeing more listing activity, there will be even more competition over the homes that do come up for sale. Buyers need to be prepared to pay higher prices and be prepared in case of multiple-offer situations.

If you are interested in purchasing a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045 and let our experts guide you through every step in the process. You can also search for and view homes on our website here.

Are you a first time homebuyer? If so, you may have an unnecessarily long home search. Many first time buyers are looking for their forever home. This means that their eyes are sometimes bigger than their wallets. To help keep your home search as short as possible and get you into your dream home quicker, here are a few steps you can take:

1. The first step to having the shortest home search is to be honest about how much home you can afford. There are plenty of home calculators online. Zillow.com just launched a new one and there is great one on Realtor.com. These can give you a rough idea of how much home is right for you. Affordability calculators take into account more than just the mortgage you can afford, good ones also look at your current debts such as car loans, student loans, monthly bills, and more. These costs, including the carrying costs of owning a home give you a much better picture of what you can afford.
2. Find a lender and get pre-qualified for a loan. The lender will be able to give you a pre-qualification letter stating just how expensive of a home you can afford. They will use your financial data to come up with numbers personalized just for you. Armed with the pre-qualification letter, you are now ready to search for homes in your price range.
3. Figure out which home features you need to have and which ones are only nice to have. If you can be real about which feature are musts for you, you will help yourself and your Realtor find your home faster. Maybe school district is the most important for you, maybe it’s a three car garage, or a pool, or a chef’s kitchen.

Once you are realistic about your home search, it should take the shortest time for you to find your next home. This might mean that your next home won’t be your forever home. Sometimes you need to build up equity in one home before you can get to the perfect dream home. If may mean changing your expectations a little bit first, but a starter home can be a great first investment. It can also be a great learning tool so you know everything it takes to own a home from mortgage to maintenance to upgrading.

If you are ready to search for your new home, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also search listings on our website here.

There are many factors people look at when purchasing a home. For families with young children, school districts are usually an important consideration. Based on home sale data, the Charlotte Agenda concluded that school districts can mean the difference in hundreds of  thousands of dollars for homeowners. This means that everyone needs to be aware of school zoning when they purchase, not just young families.

These invisible lines that separate districts are important boundary lines that can mean the difference between a high performing school and a low performing one. These lines can be quite arbitrary, or follow main travel corridors. The lines affect people’s perception of the value of a home. This can dramatically affect how much money people are willing to pay for a home, even a home just across the street from one they would pay substantially more for.

We here at The Angle always remind you to verify school assignments as they are subject to change. Some of the changes can happen if a new school is built. Other times the change can come about because of community involvement, persistence, and activism. Boundaries can also change due to political reasons.

It is illegal for a Realtor to steer a client towards or away from a certain neighborhood or school. We can show you homes in a particular area if you direct us, especially if you want to be located in a particular school district. Even if you have directed your Realtor to show you homes in a particular school district, it is still up to you as the consumer to verify the school assignment.

Homebuyers aren’t alone in preferring higher performing school districts. Builders often prefer them as well. Higher profit margins are usually available if they choose those districts. It makes good business sense to go with a sure thing than to improve in a lower performing district with an unknown profit margin.

Student Assignment Plans like the one recently passed in Charlotte are a way cities try and break up areas of poverty. Without entrenched districts, those areas of lower priced homes have a higher chance for rapid appreciation due to increased interest by developers and buyers.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes on our website here.

For the full document about Charlotte area school assignments, click here.

For more, read the full article in the Charlotte Agenda

This week, Trulia, released a report examining income of people in various professions in almost 100 major U.S. metropolitan areas to see if they are struggling to afford to buy a home in their community. Trulia is an online residential real estate site with listings and housing data. They examined income data for doctors, teachers, first responders, and restaurant workers for the study. According to their report, Charlotte is among the least-affordable markets in North Carolina for teachers.

The report shows that the average American worker makes $37,040 per year. The median home in the United States costs $254,900. This means the average worker would have to spend 42% of their income on a mortgage if they bought that median home. This is up 6% from two years ago.

Trulia defined affordability as a debt-to-income ratio of 31%. This means monthly housing payments would take up only 31% of monthly take-home pay. Percentages were figured assuming a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed rate mortgage with an interest rate of 4.1%.

Teachers in the Charlotte metro area earn on average $45,683 per year. Trulia’s report shows that only 33% of teachers could afford the median priced home in Charlotte of $299,900. 29% of first responders can afford that same home with an average salary of $41,630. Restaurant workers in the region have an average salary of $20,322 which means only 7% of them can afford the median priced home. Doctors in the area average $208,000 per year and 96% of them can afford the same home.

Two-income households have an advantage in affordability, but if one partner loses a job or takes a leave for family or other reasons, they could be in a real financial bind.

The Charlotte area has been feeling an affordability pinch recently. With a shortage of homes on the market, prices have been going up steadily. In fact, a recent report from Re/Max shows that the median sales price of a home in Charlotte was up 10.1% just between February and March of this year.

There are still some great neighborhoods in Charlotte that fall below the median sales price which are great for single income households. There are also many neighborhoods that fall close to the median price that are great options for dual income households. With prices continuing to appreciate, it is also a great option to purchase a starter home and work your way up to a more expensive home after a few years. The city is also working on getting many more affordable housing units included as part of most new developments.

No matter where you are in your home buying journey, New Angle Realty can help you. Call us at (704) 525-4045 or visit our website to view listings here.

Are you attached to the home you currently own? If you are, you join 79% of homeowners in the Charlotte area. Bank of America conducted a survey of homeowners where they concluded that 79% of Charlotte residents could see themselves staying in their current homes for the rest of their lives. Homeowners here are proud of their homes and treasure the memories they have made. Traditional thinking has it that millennials are more interested in long-term renting than buying until they can find a forever home.

The survey helped Bank of America compile their second annual Homebuyer Insights Report. The national survey for the report looked at answers from 4,906 adults across the country. The bank focused on responses from 300 adults from 10 markets. The survey was conducted by GfK Public Communications and Social Science. The ten markets Bank of America focused on included Charlotte, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Miami.

In the Charlotte area, 83% of homeowners believe home ownership has had a positive impact on their finances. 84% of homeowners are trying to make their homes more valuable by fixing up, adding on, updating, decorating and more.

Additional insights from the report include that millennials are much more interested in home buying than they have been before. Of millennials who have bought homes, 79% feel that home ownership has had a positive long-term impact on their finances.

It appears that the perception that millennials prefer long-term renting is incorrect. The study shows that they are buying homes or are interested in buying homes. They are realizing that buying a home can be more affordable than renting, and it does not have to mean that they have a harder time relocating. This means that the home they buy does not have to be a forever home, which is a shift from the previous year’s report when they said they might rent until they found a home they could live in forever.   

If millennials are more inclined to buy a home, it may make the housing market even tighter than it is currently. There could be more buyers vying for the small inventory in the Charlotte area. This could give the advantage in a bidding war to an older buyer with more buying power or equity to invest. We will definitely keep an eye on this trend.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also set up a customized search for homes on our website here.

The Charlotte Regional Realtor Association published their monthly report today. For yet another month, inventory is down while home prices are up. Home sales are up from last year at the same time. There appears to be no end in sight for this current trend.

The downward slide in inventory continues with a drop of 20.3% to a 2.4 month supply. There were 9,212 homes on the market in March, down from 11,562 homes at this time last year. The 11,562 homes represented a 3.3 month supply.

There were 3,965 homes sold in March, up 11.5% from 3,557 homes in March 2016. In February of this year, there were 2,570 homes sold so the number of homes sold in March was up 54% from February. In 2016 this was only a 39% jump from February to March showing just how strong home sales this year have been compared to last year. Maybe it’s the amazing weather helping sales this year.

As is usually true about the law of supply and demand, when supply is low, prices go up. This has been true for the Charlotte area. Average sales prices were up 10.4% over last year to $271,351. The median sales price rose 11.6% to $220.950.   

Once homes hit the market, they are not staying there long. The average time from list to close is now 104 days. That is down 18 days from 2016, a decrease of 14.8%.

It appears that more homeowners are trying to take advantage of the spring season as new listings were up 6.2% from 5,648 last year to 5,999 this year. Pending sales also increased from 4,404 last year to 5,116 this year, a 16.2% jump.

Homes are selling for an average of 96.9% of list price. This is up from 95.6% of list price in March of last year. This follows the trend we are seeing of homes getting right around list price and in some cases multiple offers.

Home prices and sales could slow as the year progresses as the Fed has already indicated that they will be hiking interest rates two more times this year. This could make mortgages harder to obtain for first time buyers, and pricier for all other buyers. It remains to be seen how much, if any impact that has in Charlotte’s hot market.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes on our website here.

Only UNC winning the National title is bigger news than the repeal of HB2 in North Carolina right now. The Tar Heels won 71-65 over Gonzaga bringing home their seventh title last night. Fans across the state and across the country were celebrating this improbable win and counting it as redemption after coming up short last year.

Hopefully North Carolina will have the same kind of redemption after the repeal of HB2. Governor Roy Cooper signed legislation last week repealing the controversial law. The repeal will hopefully be the first step in repairing the damaged reputation we have gotten in the media. Many companies and sporting events have pulled out of the state over the bill, so hopefully the repeal will bring that business back.

Experts estimated that monetary losses due to HB2 were between $380 million and $750 million, but the total number is not yet known. It is easy to quantify the businesses that vocally decided not to relocate here and the ones that decided not to expand their business holdings here. What is harder to quantify is the number of businesses that decided quietly against North Carolina. There is a perception that the state is intolerant and that could stick around for a lot longer than the bill.

North Carolina’s economy is fueled by new jobs and many of those come from out-of-state relocations. Hopefully the repeal will show people that we are a great place where people are working together, across the aisle, to repair our damaged reputation and extend equal protections to all people.

Another benefit to the repeal is that North Carolina is once again eligible to host the NCAA Championships. These championships bring prestige and tourist dollars to the state each year. Cities like Durham and Cary are aggressively campaigning to be tournament locations for next years contest.

In addition, being an all inclusive state, one not tolerant of discrimination, is a great draw for millennials. Millennials have lots of buying power and earning potential so making our state attractive to them can only help us in the long run.

If the repeal of HB2 has gotten you excited about the real estate market in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. We would love to talk to you about it and help you find the home of your dreams. You can also view homes and create custom searches on our website here.

A new report was released by Attom Data Solutions about affordability of homes in the Charlotte area. Attom Data Solutions is a California-based real estate data firm. They publish an “affordability index” based on percentage of average wages needed to make monthly payments. The payment number includes property taxes, home insurance, and mortgage insurance for a median-priced home. Their data is for 379 counties in the US. The wage data was from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median home prices were calculated from public sales records.

According to the report, in Mecklenburg County you need 24.8% of your annual wages to cover payments on a median priced home of $195,000. Wages are growing here by 5%, but home prices are growing slightly faster at 5.4% so the percentage of wages needed to cover a house payment seem likely to rise as well.

In York County in South Carolina, a buyer would spend 38.6% of their income to pay for a home. The median sales price for a home in York County is $218,500. Home prices are rising much faster here than wages. Home prices here had an annual median growth of 19.3%. This far outpaces the wage growth of 8.8%.

In Union County in North Carolina, homeowners need a shocking 42.1% of their annual wages to pay for a median priced home. Median priced homes in Union County are $218.500 with a median home price growth rate of 14.7%. With wages only increasing at 6%, buyers may feel the pinch in their wallets.

 

Mecklenburg County

Affordability Index 102

% of Annual wages needed to buy 24.8%

Q1 median sales price $195,000

Annual Average weekly wage growth 5%

Annual median home price growth 5.4%

 

Union County

Affordability Index 96

% of Annual wages needed to buy 42.1%

Q1 median sales price $218,500

Annual Average weekly wage growth 6%

Annual median home price growth 14.7%

 

York County

Affordability Index 84

% of Annual wages needed to buy 38.6%

Q1 median sales price $204,000

Annual Average weekly wage growth 8.8%

Annual median home price growth 19.3%

 

As mortgage interest rates are expected to rise two more times during this year, there may be a slowdown in the median home price growth percentages. There is still a shortage in inventory in the Charlotte area which keeps home prices on the rise due to the laws of supply and demand. With the repeal of HB2, there could be more people seeking out the Charlotte area as we anticipate the probable return of the NCAA tournament and other businesses and sporting events that left in protest. We will keep an eye on the situation and will let you know how it shapes up.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes on our website here.

 

To read the full article in the Charlotte Business Journal about the Attom Data Solution report, click here.