Lake Norman Real Estate ~ Diane Aurit

Lake Norman Gardens

If you drive north along Perth Rd. on a regular basis you may have noticed the quiet evolution of a garden center and nursery on the right just before you get to Fern Hill. Unless you have taken the time to stop inside and talk with local owner Robbi Grayson, what you won't know is just how special Lake Norman Gardens is now and how very exciting it is going to be very soon!

What started as a lawn and garden center focused on "bulk products", according to Robbi, has evolved into "Perth Road Community's one stop shop for all things one needs to create inspiring outdoor rooms". Their recently approved rezoning plans will include:

• A park-like arboretum
• A new, protective greenhouse
• A safer mulch yard
• A tree nursery
• Expand their ability to carry retail plants

If you are a garden enthusiast like I am you will love their variety of perennials and their creative displays of plants with garden art. Plus, their friendly staff is happy to special order to fill your unique requests.

Inside their large shop is an incredible array of indoor plants, decorative art and accessories and even some fun, upscale Vietri Italian pottery. Lake Norman Gardens is truly a mecca for house warming gifts!

From outdoor furniture to chimes to statuarys of all kinds, I always come away inspired with a new list of ideas for my garden and patios.

It you get on their mailing list (Lake Norman Gardens) you will receive Robbi's weekly emails which announce all of the new plants that have arrived, weekly specials, news, as well as upcoming events like their Vietri event on July 21st from 5-7pm during which they will be serving Bella Cucina gourmet foods and a Vietri ambassador there to sign their pottery.

Robbi recently hired landscape designer Keith Stallings who will be starting full-time on July 1st, just in time to plan your fall landscape projects.

We are all very fortunate that Robby Grayson and her parents had the vision and enthusiasm to take this 4-acre site that was once an unsightly tavern and dump site into what is evolving into an exceptional garden center that will inspire even those of you who don't have a green thumb.

Lake Norman Gardens

1453 Perth Rd.

Mooresville, NC 28117

704.528.1919

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Relocating to Lake Norman

Whether you are a potential home buyer considering the greater Lake Norman area or a Lake Norman homeowner trying to determine the best time to sell, it has never been more important to be informed in every possible way about our local Lake Norman real estate market. The housing market was in the news throughout the country with so many different perspectives and interpretations.

Our Lake Norman housing market continues to change rapidly. What was true even a month ago may not be true today. That said, here is the summary of Lake Norman single family home sales and statistics for this past May. (The period ending yesterday):

Active Listings: Our total number of active listings decreased slightly. While they are high, considering this is Lake Norman's peak selling/listing season at a time when we might expect increased inventory, this is a VERY good sign. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for Lake Norman's inventory to drop.

Contingent Sales: This represents the number of homes that are under contract but are contingent upon the buyers selling their own homes. In a buyers market, this is not a strong position for a seller as it may take months for the buyer's property to sell. This number is double that of last month which in my opinion indicates the more sellers are willing to take a risk in order to sell their homes

Conditional Sales: At 56, the number of homes under contract that are in the early stages of negotiations with conditions for loans and inspections is 51% higher than last month. This is an indicator of future closed sales. There most certainly has been an increase in showings so we may see some higher closed sales over the next few months.

Pending Sales: 94 pending sales is 12% higher than last month. These are sales that are just waiting to close which would indicate that our June closings should be higher than this month.

Closed Sales: I must admit I was a bit disappointed to see our closed sales at only 67. Closed sales actually dropped 3% versus last month.

Summary versus 2008: Lake Norman home sales volume dropped 26% compared to May 2008. The average price of the homes sold dropped 21% compared to 2008 and the average days a home was on the market increased 36%. The most important of these three numbers is the drop in the average price of the homes sold. Throughout the country it has been the drop in prices that has resulted in an increase in sales. Bargains are selling and are what will continue to drive our Lake Norman market until consumer confidence returns.

5-Year Comparison of Lake Norman Home Sales By Month

	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
January	24	69	87	102	105
February	45	50	105	98	88
March	42	71	151	153	136
April	69	90	120	143	152
May	67	90	152	182	157
June		82	169	227	172
July		101	147	166	191
August		74	144	180	233
September		69	105	135	163
October		66	98	117	184
November		46	84	88	145
December		62	64	132	134
Totals:	247	916	1492	1743	1860

* 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.

**While my totals on this chart for 2008 sales is 870, when I search on our MLS for the entire year they give me a slightly higher number of 916 so I will use that as our official number for the sake of this analysis.

Summary: With 67 closed sales and 1598 active listings in the Lake Norman area, we still have a 23.8-month supply of homes for sale. While this is substantially better than the last quarter, a balanced housing market should have about 6-8 months of inventory so we still have a long way to go to achieve a solid housing market. If you look at the chart above it is a bit sobering to realize we sold three times as many homes in May of 2006 as we did this past month!

For more insight into the Lake Norman real estate market:

Lake Norman Real Estate: Why is it so hard to buy a home right now?

Lake Norman Real Estate's April 2009 Sales Analysis

Lake Norman Real Estate: The Big Picture

One day last summer while taking some clients out on Lake Norman we happened by this wonderful rock formation. Obviously, I was not the first person to see the image of a creature as someone had carefully painted in the eye. It looks to me like it is having a fresh green bush for lunch!

I thought it would be fun to choose this for my June Lake Norman calendar instead of highlighting one of the many sports or fun activities that are in full force by June.

To make this your desktop calendar, go to my Lake Norman Real Estate Blog. In the right hand column on the home page you will see this photo. Click on this smaller image of my Lake Norman photo. A larger version of the calendar will come up. Then, right click and select "set as background".

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...

Yes, it is a buyers market here in the greater Mooresville and Lake Norman area. We have at least 4 times the number of listings as we should.

Given this, one would expect that it would be easy to be a buyer in Lake Norman but in fact more often than not it isn't. In the 4 sales I had this past month, I represented buyers in three of them. And, all four transactions were much harder/more tedious than the typical sales. Why? Because the national and local economies are erratic AND because in a downward trending real estate market and an extremely tight lending market as we have right now it is as much about the listing being saleable as it is the buyer being qualified.

The reality of our current Lake Norman area real estate market can be easily conveyed by sharing my own experiences and observations during this past month. I have broken it down by 6 common types of sellers and the challenges each represents as well as the additional hurdles buyers may face getting a loan. Of these 6 types of sellers, 4 represent properties that are truly not readily available to purchase.

Today's Lake Norman and Mooresville Area Sellers

Banks: Bank-owned properties are actually one of the easiest to sell right now. Potential challenges include:

• Banks control the process and each has their own contracts and/or addendum
• There will be no repairs or home warranties so inspections become critical
• Utilities must be turned on for inspections (This can be more challenging than one might think!)
• Buyers much be prepared to replace missing appliances, light fixtures and even cabinets in some cases plus repair damages of all kinds.
• Buyers in most cases are facing a lot of cleaning, painting and yard work just to make the home livable

Short Sales: In this case the sellers are unable to pay their mortgage off at closing due to some financial hardship. Challenges include:

• The waiting game. While the seller has accepted the fact that they are going to have to walk from their home, the decision as to the ultimate purchase price and terms will only be negotiated between the banks and other lien holders and the listing agent after the buyer makes an offer that is accepted by the seller.
• The process is cumbersome and may take months, all the while the buyer waits not knowing if they will get the home.
• During the waiting period there is no way of knowing where interest rates are headed, if your loan will be approved and when you will have a closing date. Buyers must be extremely flexible. Short sales are not an option for buyers who truly need or want to move within a given time frame.

Seller is "upside down" but does not qualify for a short sale: In this case the seller owes more than the current value of the home but has a job and is technically capable of paying their monthly mortgage:

• This is one of the most common situations in our Lake Norman and Mooresville housing market right now. In many cases I will do a comparable market analysis for my buyers to determine what price to offer only to be told by the listing agent that the seller can not go below a certain amount because they do not have the money that would be necessary to bring to the closing table.
• If you are a typical buyer who decides to make a higher offer in order to help the seller because you really want the home, you will most likely not be able to finance the purchase with a traditional mortgage because the appraisal will not come in high enough and the seller is unable lower the sales price and make up the difference owed to the bank.
• In reality, these home are really not for sale because the sellers are truly unable to sell them without negotiating a short sale and they don't qualify for one.
• Sadly, my guess is that many of these listings will end up in foreclosure when the sellers and listing agents see that the property won't sell at their bottom line price.

Seller is "upside down" in that they paid more for the property than it is now worth but think they can get "their" price: In this case the seller has the money to sell at a lower price but they are not willing to loose money.

• Like the scenario above, in reality these homes are not available to buyers because the seller still thinks they can get a price that is higher than any appraisal will support. Hence, a buyer would not be able to get a loan at the price the seller is willing to sell.
• These are the sellers that have myriad reasons why their home/property is better than all of the recent comparable sales. I had one offer declined because the seller thought their home was worth $15,000 more than the property just down the street because they had added a large rear patio and had painted the interior. Their home needed new carpet and didn't have as many upgrades as the home that sold. This is the Ostrich seller! By the time they grasp the reality of the market they will most likely sell for even less than my buyers offered.

Seller purchased many years ago but has an unrealistic expectation of the value of their home: In this case the seller could sell at just about any price.

• Again, in reality these homes are not available to buyers as the asking price is too high and a low offer is not welcomed.
• One of my buyers made an offer on a home that had been on the market a full year and was vacant. Their offer was 16% below the asking price or about $27,000. The sellers countered down just $2,000. Even after a whole year the sellers would rather loose money each month than drop their price!
• Like the past two scenarios, this property most likely will not appraise any where near the asking price so the buyer is wasting their time. (Mine moved on!)

The property that is for sale has no good, recent comparable sales: In this case, the seller is willing to sell, the buyer is willing to buy, but the lender is not willing to lend.

• With so few recent sales, it is not uncommon for a property here to have great difficulty with appraisals. Underwriters have been throwing out appraisals and ordering "review" or "field" appraisals which may come it quite a bit lower than the agreed upon purchase price merely because the lender does not allow for subjective value to be considered. I had this problem with a beautiful, historic home in Mooresville. While the final appraisal did come in, my buyers had to walk from another home in the same general neighborhood because the home would not appraise.

Appraisals: Even if a home is not unique, appraisals are a huge hurdle right now for both buyers and sellers. Lenders are more conservative than I have ever seen them in my 18 years of selling real estate!

Difficulty in getting jumbo loans: As I have mentioned before, loans over the $417,000 level backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are very hard to get and if a buyer can get them the rates can be at least 1% higher than a "conforming" loan.

By no means am I trying to discourage buyers from buying, I just want you all to be prepared. It may take several offers on several different properties before finding a home that not only meets your wants and needs but that is truly qualified to sell. All three of my most recent buyers now live in homes they truly love and they purchased them at reasonable prices. A little patience goes a LONG way in this market!

View of the golf course and the Great Smokey Mountains

View of the Grove Park Inn in the Spring

The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa

Just about a month ago my husband and I took a quick trip to Ashville and stayed at my absolute favorite Grove Park Inn. The reason I love it so much is the historic Craftsman architecture, furniture, light fixtures and total ambiance. It really is an incredible place in the beautiful Great Smokey Mountains. I even had time to have a wonderful visit with one of my favorite friends on AR janeAnne...our Eco Steward!