About Union County, NC

The 2011 Wesley Chapel NC Real Estate Market—Four Facts

It's time to look at the real estate market in Wesley Chapel NC and to assess how home buyers and home sellers fared in 2011.

Here are four facts about the Wesley Chapel marketplace in 2011.

• Median closed prices improved slightly over the median price in 2010 and substantially over 2009 pricing.
• More homes sold in 2011 than in each of the previous two years.
• New construction accounted for only 5% of the Wesley Chapel market in 2011.
• Approximately 25% of sales were distressed sales in 2011.

What do these four facts mean for Wesley Chapel buyers and sellers?

1. In spite of the number of distressed sales in Wesley Chapel in 2011, the median price remained stable over the past two years.
2. Sellers may find that Wesley Chapel pricing has bottomed.
3. Buyers will not be able to find much choice in new homes in Wesley Chapel.

Want to learn more about the real estate market in Wesley Chapel and see all the numbers for each of the past four years? Click on the link below.

Wesley Chapel NC Real Estate Market Report—Year 2011

Copyright 2012. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Realtors. *The 2011 Wesley Chapel NC Real Estate Market—Four Facts*

If you’re like me you’re always on the lookout for new property management solutions, ideas that will make your property management run more efficiently and less expensively.

In today’s property management training article I’d like to share ten property management solutions I’ve personally used, along with tips on which worked well and which not so well.

Set The Right Expectations

Property management solution #1 is to set the right expectations with your investors, your tenants and your vendors.

This also falls into the time management category. I remember a long time ago somebody once told me, “If you don’t manage your time somebody else will manage it for you.”

How true.

If you’re working with building owners, set the right expectations for your weekly or monthly reports, distribution of owner funds, and follow-up calls and emails.

With tenants, be consistent with rent due dates, when rent statements are sent out, deposit of funds, and willingness to do repairs that maybe aren’t called for in the lease. After only a few months of setting the right expectations with tenants you’ll be surprised how everything falls into place.

Develop A List Of Reliable Vendors And Suppliers

I find that by paying the vendor early and by not nickel-and-diming the vendor, that in return I get very competitive pricing and straight-forward, reliable service.

Even if you only have one good vendor that you work with, they can probably provide a wealth of referrals to people they know that work in other trades. The fact is, people know and do business with people like themselves. If you’ve got one guy or gal that’s a great supplier, they will know others to refer to you.

Send Monthly Rent Statements

This is the #1 way to improve your cash flow and to move your cash receipts up in the month.

Many times we’ve taken over the management of a property where the tenants have fallen into the habit of paying just before the late date, say the 10th or the 15th.

By sending our printed statements 10 days before the due date of the 1st of the month, we’ve had a 100% success rate in getting tenants to pay by the due date and have dramatically changed the timing of the property’s cash flow.

On-Line Billing To Tenants

Most banks and off-the-shelf accounting software offer this service. As long as you have an email address for your tenants you can easily create a statement on-line and email it to the tenant along with a link for payment.

On-Line Payment For Tenants

This goes hand-in-hand with sending statements on-line. Your on-line statement to the tenant will have a link for payment which goes directly into one of the accounts for the property. You’ll save the time and trouble of opening envelopes and going to the bank to make those daily deposits.

One word of caution: Don’t spend a lot of money to set up a system like this. Most banks will do it for a few dollars a month, but I’ve seen pricier systems on the market as well.

If you survey your tenants and ask them if they’d like the option of paying on line, 99% will say Yes.

The reality is that many will still mail to you the on-line statement the printed or deliver payment to your office. The on-line payment option is nice to offer, but don’t spend a lot of money on one because the actual usage by your tenants will be a lot lower than expected.

Wellness Checks For Tenants

We’ll pro-actively do little things for our tenants: Replace burnt out lights, ceiling tiles, and check plumbing for proper operation.

This gives us the opportunity to chat informally with the tenants, maybe gather market intelligence, and in the case of a running toilet also keeps the water bill low for the property.

Direct Deposit For Owners

This is a great service to offer if you’re a professional property manager with several clients and properties under management.

Most banks offer this feature for a few dollars a month. You’re able to pay multiple clients on-line and get the owner its money the next day instead of waiting for the proverbial ‘check in the mail’.

If you’re in the property management business, this, along with timely and accurate reporting, is one feature that will build a lot of client loyalty.

Keep An Attorney On Retainer

I’m far from litigious, but trust me, as the market continues to get tough issues will start to pop up that you thought never would. It’s important to have a go-to person for legal advice and spending a little now will save a huge amount later on.

Websites And Internet Marketing

If you don’t have a website set up for your property, think seriously about doing it.

In today’s world so much marketing is done over the internet and if you don’t have a presence on the web you’re missing out on a lot of potential business and exposure.

Websites now days are amazingly inexpensive to create and maintain and will give you so much more bang for the buck than traditional ‘snail mail’ activities.

Real Estate Flyers

Just like with a website, you do not have to spend a lot of money to design a real estate flyer.

I find it best to create a template that can be used for multiple properties. All you have to do is change some copy and graphics for a property-specific or space-specific flyer, and in a few minutes, you’re up and running.

We have great results incorporating flyers into our property websites and in our other on-line marketing activities.

I hope this tips on property management solutions make things go smooth for your this year and that you continue to make moneyin real estate investing!

The Chimneys of Marvin, a Charlotte neighborhood adjacent to highly-regarded schools.

Would you like to live in a neighborhood where your children could walk to school for their entire school career? If so, consider The Chimneys of Marvin where neighborhood streets pass by three highly-regarded Union County schools. Sandy Ridge Elementary is adjacent to the neighborhood with some homes across the street from the school. The Marvin Ridge Middle and Senior High complex is across the road from the community.

The Chimneys of Marvin, a master-planned community with two villages and an amenity center, offers new homes and resales. Most of its home sales in 2011 were new construction. The neighborhood is located just a short drive from South Charlotte’s amenities among the horse farms of Marvin NC. Historic downtown Waxhaw NC is nearby offering shopping, restaurants, a farmers market and numerous community festivals.

What you can find in The Chimneys of Marvin are full-brick homes on one third to one half acre lots. The pricing ranges from the low $300,000s to over $400,000.

Click the link below to get more information about The Chimneys of Marvin, its builders, its community amenities, the 2011 real estate market, and its schools.

The Chimneys of Marvin—Neighborhood Information and Homes for Sale

Click here to see The Chimneys of Marvin homes for sale.

Click here to receive a free market evaluation of your The Chimneys of Marvin home.

Copyright 2012. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Realtors. *Charlotte Neighborhoods—The Chimneys of Marvin*

The 2011 Lake Park NC Real Estate Market—Four Facts

It's time to look at the real estate market in Lake Park NC and to assess how home buyers and home sellers fared in 2011.

Here are four facts about the Lake Park marketplace in 2011.

• The number of single family homes sold in Lake Park increased by 75% in 2011 over 2009 and 2010 and was nearly the same as 2008 sales.
• The median single family home price continued to drop in 2011, off 14% from 2010.
• Only four townhomes or condos sold in Lake Park in 2011.
• The 2011 median sales price for townhomes dropped to the lowest price in four years.

What do these four facts mean for Lake Park buyers and sellers?

1. Home prices in Lake Park are more affordable than ever for buyers in the community.
2. While there appears to be a good supply of buyers for single family homes, these sellers may have to struggle with the pricing of their homes.
3. The market is very difficult for the sellers of townhomes and condos in Lake Park because of the low number of buyers and the resulting declining prices.

Want to learn more about the real estate market in Lake Park and see all the numbers for each of the past four years? Click on the link below.

Lake Park NC Real Estate Market Report—Year 2011

Copyright 2012. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Realtors. *The 2011 Lake Park NC Real Estate Market—Four Facts*

The 2011 Weddington NC Real Estate Market—Four Facts

It's time to look at the real estate market in Weddington NC and to assess how home buyers and home sellers fared in 2011.

Here are four facts about the Weddington marketplace in 2011.

• The number of homes sold was the same as the number sold in 2010 and more than units sold in 2008 or 2009.
• The median sales price of $412,500 continued declining in 2011, down 13.1% from 2010 and off 27.3% since 2008.
• New construction accounted for only 11% of all sales in 2011.
• Distressed sales made up a quarter of the 2011 market.

What do these four facts mean for Weddington buyers and sellers?

1. The luxury home market continues to suffer from the lack of new homes being built and the impact of distressed sales on pricing.
2. Home buyers in Weddington can find some of the best values ever in this small town.

Want to learn more about the real estate market in Weddington and see all the numbers for each of the past four years? Click on the link below.

Weddington NC Real Estate Market Report—Year 2011

Copyright 2012. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Realtors. *The 2011 Weddington NC Real Estate Market—Four Facts*