Every year at this time the Lake Norman area comes alive with pumpkin patches, Halloween festivities for all ages and homes decorated to welcome all of our young trick -or -treaters.
If you are in search of a pumpkin patch or Halloween festivities in and around our Mooresville and Lake Norman area, here are a few ideas:
Or, just look to any of our many local produce stands like Josh's Produce Market on Williamson Road who are brimming over with pumpkins and decorations for your Lake Norman home!
Of course, it would not be Halloween without some fun, and even spooky events for all ages.
Loooking for something REALLY SPOOKY? So SPOOKY that they do not recommend it for children 12 and under? Check out Forbidden Farms!:
"Forbidden Farms is celebrating the 2009 season with a nightmarish collection of 5 enhanced and electrifying scare zones.
Will you escape the hordes of ghouls, monsters, maniacs and the tormented????
Can you survive the total chaos and terror of spine-tingling, blood-curdling moments in all 5 scare zones?????
Come gather around the bonfires, at the well-known Carrigan Farms Rock Quarry, before or after you enter the haunted trail!
Visit us on Facebook, become a Fan and receive special discounts and coupons."
Have a GREAT Lake Norman Halloween!!!
If you have been following the national real estate business news this past month, these are just some of the comments/headlines you might have read:
"Credit shortage has strangled recovery; households are in bunkers under collapsed net worth, and not coming out until home values are safe." (Lou Barnes, Inman News)
"The jumbo loan mod ‘pipe dream'" (Bernice Ross Inman News)
‘Mortgage Delinquencies - The Coming Storm....While subprime mortgages sparked the first round of housing problems two years ago, now troubles are lurking further up the food chain...White-collar job losses have accelerated while more adjustable-rate loans to prime borrowers are resetting to higher payments..." (Chief US Economist at MFR Inc. Joshua Shapiro)
"Credit Woes to Threaten Housing Recovery?" (Consumer New and Advice and RISMEDIA)
"Across the country, homebuilders and developers are reporting a deterioration in credit availability and intensifying pressure on borrowers with outstanding loans." (National Association of Home Builders Chairman Joe Robson)
At the same time the National Association of Realtors report a record 7 straight months of pending home sales increases. It is truly impossible to find any consensus on the future of the US housing market.
However, by taking a look at our local numbers we can have a better understanding the current Lake Norman real estate market and home sales trends and glean potential mini-trends from these.
Lake Norman's September Housing Statistics
5-Year Comparison of Lake Norman Home Sales By Month
| 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |
| January | 27 | 69 | 87 | 102 | 105 |
| February | 40 | 50 | 105 | 98 | 88 |
| March | 55 | 71 | 151 | 153 | 136 |
| April | 65 | 90 | 120 | 143 | 152 |
| May | 66 | 90 | 152 | 182 | 157 |
| June | 87 | 82 | 169 | 227 | 172 |
| July | 90 | 101 | 147 | 166 | 191 |
| August | 62 | 76 | 144 | 180 | 233 |
| September | 78 | 82 | 105 | 135 | 163 |
| October | 66 | 98 | 117 | 184 | |
| November | 46 | 84 | 88 | 145 | |
| December | 62 | 64 | 132 | 134 | |
| Totals: | 570 | 901 | 1489 | 1704 | 1873 |
* Please note that all of my numbers come from the Charlotte Region Multiple Listing Service and will not include sales that took place outside of our MLS.
**I have made an adjustment of the totals reflecting the ACTUAL sales every month in 2009 and the totals in the prior calendar year.
Summary
Overall it is my opinion that sales may be a bit stronger in our fourth quarter compared to last year. Granted, we are up against some very weak sales but it does appear we may experience some improvement.
One of the most important trends to watch right now are the prices ranges of Lake Norman homes that are selling. Of the 78 homes that sold last month, only 20 were above $500,000. First-time buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 rebate and most other Lake Norman home buyers are gobbling up the foreclosures and other bargains that are now available. Some foreclosures are priced as much as 50% of the price they sold in 2005 or their original listing price.
Based upon our September sales we currently have 18.5 months of active listings which is 3 times the 6-month levels of a balanced housing market. We are still clearly in a buyers' market. It is so hard to predict what will happen if the $8,000 credit is not extended and the "shadow inventory" of potential foreclosures come to fruition.
In the next week or so I will do my 3rd quarter sales analysis by price range to provide greater insight into our Lake Norman real estate market.
Related Articles
Lake Norman Real Estate's August 2009 Home Sales
Lake Norman Real Estate: Why is it so hard to buy a home right now?
October is truly one of my favorite months on Lake Norman. The skies are crisp and clear, the temperatures mild (today's high is 75) and the Lake Norman shoreline becomes ablaze with color. Our trees are just beginning to change but over the next four weeks the Dogwoods will turn a deep red, then the Maples and other trees follow, each with their own spectacular series of colors.
To make this your desktop calendar, go to: Lake Norman Real Estate, click on the round button at the top of this site's home page entitled: "Lake Norman Calendar"and up will come an image of my Lake Norman photo wallpaper calender for September 2009. All you have to do is right click and select "set as background". Enjoy!
While I have great fun taking pictures of Lake Norman, I would love to use one of your favorite photos depicting life here in Lake Norman!. If you'd like to submit a photo for a future calendar, please send it to...
Imagine what it would be like to have to breath through a straw. That is how one of my clients' daughters, who has severe asthma, describes how she feels when she is exposed to even the slightest bit of toxins in the air...including the ingredients in popular air fresheners and scented candles. While I was recently showing her family some Lake Norman waterfront homes, she had two serious asthma attacks triggered by just that. Each time it took her over a day to recover from just seconds of exposure to an air freshener or lingering cigarette smoke.
I must admit, despite my avid focus on "green" or "high performance" housing in Lake Norman I don't think I totally grasped the seriousness of indoor air quality until I met this family. It is one thing to learn about the latest low or no VOC (Volatile Organic compounds) paint products and the amount of organic gases like Formaldehyde that are emitted from such solid and liquids as hardwood floors, cabinets, sealers, paints, pressed wood products...the list goes on and on. It is quite another to watch this young woman gasping for air.
The good news is that indoor air quality is an important part of the "green" housing movement nationally and right here in Lake Norman. So much so, that the US Environmental Protection Agency recently created Indoor airPLUS which is designed to work in partnership with their more well known ENERGY STAR program. Just as ENERGY STAR is an accreditation program for energy efficiency, Indoor airPLUS is a program designed to encourage home builders to "employ a variety of construction practices and technologies in their new homes to help address" such air quality issues as:
At the Indoor airPLUS's first outreach webinar they explained that 19% of US households have a member with Asthma, 40% of households have a member with a respiratory problem and that they have found that typical indoor air chemical pollution levels may be 2-5 times higher than what is considered "safe" levels.
Including these pollutants and sources of indoor air pollution:
So, how does a home in our Lake Norman area earn the Indoor AirPlus label? "A home must first be designed to earn the ENERGY STAR label, the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency. By adding up to 30 additional home design and construction features, an Indoor airPLUS qualified home helps protects residents..." from indoor air pollution. During the Lake Norman home-building process testers or "HERS" raters will visit the build site and verify the required construction specifications. The Indoor airPLUS label will be placed on the electrical panel along with the ENERGY STAR label when it has passed the certification process.
Knowledgeable Lake Norman "green" home builders view ENERGY STAR ratings as the lowest/less stringent when compared to such "green" rating systems as North Carolina's Healthy Built Homes, the National Association of Home Builders Green Home Building Guidelines and the very toughest LEED certified homes. However, while ENERGY STAR and Indoor airPLUS may not be as comprehensive as these, I am excited to be an early Lake Norman supporter or "ally" of the new Indoor airPLUS program in hopes that it will lead to an increased focus on indoor air quality throughout the building industry and by consumers both here in the Lake Norman area and throughout the country.
For more information "The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality".
RELATED ARTICLES
Lake Norman Real Estate: How Green Is Your Home?
Lake Norman Real Estate's Business of the Week: Think Green Recycle
Lake Norman Real Estate: How to Harvest the Rain!
Lake Norman Real Estate Launches Lake Norman Green Homes!
The future of our Lake Norman Real Estate market may depend as much on government and financial regulations and the progress of the US economy as it does on our local economy. Nationally, the housing market has been greatly impacted by new regulations that have made the ability to get home loans much more difficult. Since we rely so much on relocation buyers, Lake Norman's housing market gets hit twice, once with the difficulty of folks wanting to relocate here having problems selling their homes and once because our potential Lake Norman home buyers are having a hard time getting loans on purchases. Here is a summary of some of the details related to our Lake Norman housing market:
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct rules employed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since May 1, 2009 for home appraisers have had such a negative affect on the national housing market that the National Association of REALTORS, The Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Home Builders have united in an effort to get the federal government to "establish consistent appraisal rules for FHA and the GSEs" (Fannie and Freddie) and gain official clarification of these new appraisal rules".
Is the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) in trouble? Rumors have been flying about whether the FHA is running out of reserves due to mortgage losses. According to a recent press release, the FHA "will tighten credit standards and implement new rules for appraisals on January 1, 2010″. They went on to say "FHA's insurance fund is sufficient to cover future losses, but the tighter policies will ensure that the loan guarantee remain self-sustaining...." (David H. Stevens, FHA Commissioner).
The Federal Reserve will stretch out mortgage purchases according to their news release yesterday. This means they will continue to purchase mortgage-backed securities that have helped keep mortgage rates low by extending the $1.25 trillion program's sunset from the end of 2009 to March of 2010. Good news!
The First-Time Home Buyer $8000 rebate expires November 30th. There are some efforts to get this extended but they don't seem to be getting traction.
A new bill was signed into law in North Carolina several weeks ago that is meant to stem the foreclosure rates. The legislation requires a court clerk to determine whether a mortgage holder has been able to talk to their lender about working out a way to pay the loan and whether the lender has given the mortgage holder sufficient notice before trying to foreclose. "This legislation allows time for loan modifications" according the NC Attorney General Roy Cooper.
From the trenches I can tell you that home loans and appraisals have been and continue to be a significant problem here in the Lake Norman housing market. Lenders are now having to use third-party appraisal management companies to hire appraisers who in many cases are not experienced in the area of in which they are appraising properties. Underwriters are taking second looks at the loan packages as late as the day of closing leading to days of delayed closings. Most feel this is because the underwriters are afraid that the loan they approve many not be saleable to mortgage purchasers like Fannie and Freddie.
Where is our Lake Norman real estate market today? I just took a quick look at our September month-to-date numbers on our MLS. With 39 closed sales so far this month, it looks like our September sales will be down from both last month and last year. However, the pending and conditional home sales look a bit stronger so we may see a slight increase in closed sales in October. Our inventory remains about the same as last month. According to an article in the Charlotte Observer on September 10th the entire Charlotte area saw some positive signs. However, Mecklenburg County "saw sales and prices down 12% " and "Iredell's average price decline of 17% was the biggest" of all of the counties. (Compared to 2008).
Where is the Lake Norman housing market heading? Some of my savvy home buyers have jumped off the fence and are actively looking and buying. This is because they feel there is a window of opportunity this fall. With high inventories and dropping prices, sellers may be psychologically feeling more anxious than they will be when Spring comes and they have renewed hope that the market will improve. With interest rates back down to about 5%, I would have to agree that this fall may be a good time to make a move.
Sometimes I wish I didn't have to write posts like this one. I remember when buying a home was about just that, finding the right property in which to enable a family to create their dream home...not an investment. Some home buyers still feel this way but most care more than ever about the pricing and timing of their purchase.
Other Articles of Interest
Lake Norman Real Estate's September 2009 Hot Sheet
Lake Norman Real Estate's August 2009 Sales Report
Lake Norman Real Estate: Why is it so hard to buy a home right now?
Specializing in residential real estate since 1991. Mooresville and Lake Norman; Relocation specialist; great diversity of clients and experience; passionate about offering the best service to all!
Welcome! I am so glad you stopped by to see what is happening in our wonderful Lake Norman area.
You will probably find that I write quite enthusiastically about Lake Norman and about life here. That is because I am writing through the eyes of someone who discovered, fell in love with and just up and moved to Mooresville Lake Norman in 2005 for no other reason than my husband and I decided it was the ultimate place in the country to live.
If you know the old adage "There is no substitute for experience," I have found that this definitely applies to all of my real estate services. My extensive marketing background, years in real estate that have encompassed a diversity of locations, economic markets, price ranges, types of housing, cultures, ethnicitys, ages and personalities of clients comprise the foundation upon which I build all of my customized real estate services.
But, honestly, and I know this sounds corny, but there is only one thing that truly motivates me: I care. I care about every one of the clients I choose to work with and I do my absolute best to represent them, support them and educate them; designing their real estate experience to best suit their needs and meet their goals.
Just the Facts
08/28/07
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