Affordable housing at The Point on Lake Norman? It's an oxymoron, or is it? Thanks to its incredible reputation as THE upscale Lake Norman community, many home-buyers just assume that a home in The Point is out of their price range.
With their resort-like amenities including The Point Lake and Golf Club, their Nantucket-inspired community complete with a tennis club, three swimming pools, a general store, tavern, large club house, full-time activities director and even their own cobbler, one tends to picture only magnificent waterfront estates dotting the shoreline of The Point on the Brawley Peninsula.
There is no doubt that with 18 miles of Lake Norman's most beautiful shoreline, The Point has more than its share of multi-million dollar homes.
Would it surprise you to know that there is a lovely ranch home on a waterview lot currently for sale for only $495,000? Now that's affordable housing at The Point! In fact, as of today, there are 114 active listings in The Point. While their average price is $1,338,142, there are 5 active listings under $600,000 and another 10 active listings under $700,000! There is a total of 50 homes for sale in The Point under $1 million.
A community that has a perception of being out of reach for most home buyers may actually be affordable after all!
How would you like the current scoop on the affordability of The Point?
It turns out that since this past January 1, 2009 only 19 homes have sold in The Point half of which sold for under $1 million. Since their highs a few years ago, waterfront homes are now selling under $300 per square foot depending on the quality of the water. With 38 months of supply of homes based upon current sales and inventory, we are seeing many price reductions and even foreclosures and short sales at The Point, something that would have been unheard of a few years ago.
Sure, these prices may not be affordable to all, However, compared to their peak, this may be the best opportunity to buy in The Point before our Lake Norman housing market comes back to life AND the widening of Brawley School is completed.
Lake Norman is poised to set a new world record at the mega "Raft Up" party tomorrow, July 25th! And, this in not the first time as Lake Norman has long held the record for a Raft-Up until local officials thought it was too dangerous and stopped them in 2005.
If you are new to Lake Norman and/or aren't settled here yet, you may be wondering exactly what is a "Raft-Up"?. Well, according to one Lake Norman local on the Lake Norman Sail and Power Squadron website a raft-up is:
Lots of fun with your boat sitting still in one place on the water! Members bring their boats together at a selected location on the lake and tie together with an anchor boat. Then a really a great "cocktail party and dinner" on the water begins. We all share stories, food and beverages while enjoying the gentle rocking of the boats and possibly even some swimming.
This year's "Lake Norman 2009 AquaPalooza" is free for all and runs from 10:00am - 4:00pm. While the main attraction is the world record setting tieing up of boats that will stretch from Lake Norman's Midway Marina just south of the NC 150 bridge south, there is a full day of fun planned including an on-the-water concert from 1-3pm by the Sponge Tones of Charlotte. And, there will games for kids as well.
If you are brave enough to want to join the actual Raft Up, you can register your boat at the Aquapalooza website. I believe the current record is well over 1000 boats! For more information you can also call Tom Riemann at 704.892.9676. For some great photos, check out the Lake Norman Sail and Power Squadron website. The event headquarters is Midway Marina at the 150 bridge.
So, if you love to party and love boating on Lake Norman, you simply can't miss this day of fun and craziness. Have fun but be safe!
Josh's Farmers Market in Mooresville Lake Norman
If you have reason to be on Williamson Road in Mooresville on Thursday - Sunday you might have seen a crowded parking lot nestled in some trees on the east side of the street just south of Highway 150. This is where Josh Graham and his wife Alicia own and operate their popular Josh's Farmers Market which sells seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables from local growers and from Columbia S.C.
It's truly like an entire farmers market all under one large tent. The day I took these photos I bought some of the North Carolina peaches which were ripe, and incredibly sweet as I have found all of their fresh fruits to be. What a difference from store-bought fruits!
Besides seasonal fruits and berries, Josh also has a great variety of vegetables, fresh corn, and of course, several varieties of juicy red tomatoes, some grown on their own land!
Every week they drive down at 2:00am to Columbia SC to "get the freshest produce" according to a recent article in the Mooresville Tribune. "There's not many places that you can go when the squash or blueberries were picked an hour before you buy them" according to Graham.
Most locals know that the best time to visit Josh's Farmers Market is on Thursday or Friday in order to get the best selection before they sell out!
Josh's Farmers Market also sells local honey, jams and canned vegetables.
New this year, The Shrimp Connection has joined Josh and is selling fresh fish which from what I have been told is fantastic.
While I love the fresh fruits and produce, I can never resist taking home one of their freshly baked, to-die-for, pies or some cookies and Amish bread.
Josh's Farmer's Market is open seasonally and then sells pumpkins for Halloween and Christmas trees in December.
During peak season they are open Thursdays - Sundays at about 10:00am
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Lake Norman Hot Sheet: July 13, 2009
There has been so much speculation in the economic news about the U.S. housing market that I decided we needed a reality check. There is nothing better to shed some light on our Lake Norman Real Estate market than a visit to our Multiple Listing Service. The above chart is today's "Hot Sheet" from the Charlotte Multiple Listing Service for single family homes in all of Lake Norman (Area 13). These numbers represent a real time snapshot of the past two week's activity. As always, I have included the past 6 months so that you can put these numbers in perspective.
Here are some highlights:
New listings decreased by 22%...the lowest number this year! After a peak last month there are consistent signs that our inventory levels are heading downward. This is one key component of a bottom. Once our inventory is drop to a 6-8 month of supply we will be back in a balanced housing market here in Lake Norman.
The number of listings coming "Back on the Market" due to a canceled contract is still extremely high. Considering our pending and contingent/conditional numbers are dropping, then more homes fell out of contract than went under contract in the past two week. This is again a sign of the tremendous challenges involved in loans, appraisals and perhaps a lack of buyer's confidence in the economy and/or housing market.
The number of price changes are back down to our April levels. This could be simply because the decreasing number of active listings is in line with the decreasing number of price changes when compared to their peak last month.
Pending home sales dropped 18.5% compared to last months high. If you follow the national housing market you will know that there is always much focus on pending sales since these are sales that are past conditions and contingencies and are waiting to close. Pending sales are looked at as the best indication of future closed sales. These have been strong nationally which is one reason why some of the media has been optimistic about the national housing market hitting bottom. However, here in Lake Norman, all numbers are pointing to the fact that June was perhaps the strongest month we will have this year and that sales will continue to decline through the end of 2009.
The number of closed sales remained equal to last month's hot sheet. What I find interesting is that despite last month's high pending sales of 54, we in fact only closed 44 in the past two weeks. Last month's strong pending sales numbers did not result in higher closed sales this month, probably due to the number of contracts that failed to close.
Unfortunately, the number of new contracts, conditional and contingent sales, dropped for the second straight month. This further supports my feelings that our July and August numbers are going to be lower than June's.
As always, I will close with a note about our months of supply of active listings. If we presume that we will close about 80 sales in July and we currently have 1582 active listings, we still have about a 20-month supply of homes for sale. It is still a buyers market here in Lake Norman!
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Those of us who live down Lake Norman's infamous Brawley School peninsula know only too well that construction is well under way on the two-year widening project. The large, orange sign "warning, expect delays" blinks at us daily although by now we pretty much know what to expect.
One of my fellow Brawley School friends/clients asked me at lunch yesterday whether I had seen any renderings of the completed project and details as to whether there would be bike lanes, landscaping and other details which I hadn't.
So, today I made full use of Google and uncovered some fairly well-hidden information on the North Carolina Department of Transportation's website and contacted John R Cook, Resident Engineer, Statesville Construction who provided some prompt and exciting information as well.
Here are the Brawley School Road Widening Project Highlights:
The Design and Public Hearing Maps are available from this website as PDF files so you can see in great detail what the process will involve and what the end product will look like in 2011.
Mr. Cook, in response to my inquiry, provided unexpectedly good news:
If you would like more information, John R. Cook can be reached at #707.876.3543.
Short term, it is a bit of a pain in the neck but the end result is going to be well worth it!
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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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