Daniele Summerfield

Ever since I finished my classes to achieve my GREEN designation early this past October, I have been asked by several other Realtors what the big deal is about the designation. Well....first I wanted to know what I can do to live a little greener and help show others how they can reap the rewards of living a little greener as well.

Fate so has it that I am working for a builder that is also thinking along the very same lines as I am. The builders name is HILCO Construction, and he's a Certified Green Professional which is a designation awarded by the National Home Builders Association. He is the exclusive builder of Sills Creek Estates in Mooresville off rt 152 just past the Mooresville Dragway. He's building homes as I remember them being built when I was a child. Keeping the trees and natural landscaping and removing only what needs to be removed, recycling materials, using energy-efficient designs and building a neighborhood with the look and feel of, what seems like so long ago, a NEIGHBORHOOD. Not the street lined track homes that are so easily "knocked out" these days.

So whats the big deal with "Going GREEN"? Well there's numerous reasons for going green and your probably already living a little greener already and don't even know it. If you have Energy Star appliances, that's a start. If you purchased those long life spiral shaped light bulbs, thats another... my mother and her friends were into cleaning with citrus at one point as well as using Simple Green, and almost everyone I know recycles, so you see, living green is really easy, and this is the simple stuff.

If you want to REALLY go GREEN, then you can look into one of HILCO's homes. He's building homes that aren't just good for the environment, they're good for you. He's using designs that are sustainable and installing today's technology to enhance the overall quality of life for the homeowner. Air quality will be improved, water filtration systems will be used as well as rain water collection barrels to help with irrigation. When the US Green Building Council reports that buildings are consuming 14% of potable water (thats 15 trillion gallons of water that we can drink), 40% of raw materials (3 billion tons) and 39% of the energy in the US alone.... we have GOT to do something to cut back, and why not? Cut back on your energy usage is just the same as putting money back in your pockets so you don't have to cut back on the activities you love because your paying those high energy bills. Seems pretty much like a no brainer to me.

So when you're raking the leaves...again...that have fallen from your maple tree in the front lawn this fall, be thankful for it has probably shaded your home during the hot summer months aiding in the reduction of your overall home cooling bill.

Ahhhh.... Beautiful Providence Downs South. One of the most majestic luxury communities near Weddington, NC. With roads named after some of the more famous horses like Giacomo Dr, Smarty Jones Dr, Funny Cide Dr, Strike the Gold Ln and Sir Huon Ln. The most discriminating buyer will find something here they will enjoy.

Home sites start around $199,900 where you can hire some of the best builders in Charlotte like Arcadia Homes, Avallon, Holevas & Holton, Stylecraft, Persis-Nova, or Trident builders to name a few, and start living within a resort style estate community.

The Gated entrance lets you know there is something special in this neighborhood. Extra wide streets, Tennis courts, A large beautiful Clubhouse, Exercise cabana and wooded estate lots, but if your a Realtor in the Charlotte area, you know that Providence Downs South has had it's fare share of losses.

I was approached by a builder back in February when most listings were over the 1Million dollar price point. I'm not going to mention any names but he had an agent representing 2 of his homes for quite some time and he was interested in switching when the contract expired later that month. I, of course, said I could chat about a future contract with him and took a tour of the homes. He asked me ar what price I believed the houses would sell at. I know this community very well and have been tracking it's progress for quite some time. I never took a listing here because of the length of time the homes remain on the market and the inflexibility of the sellers. This builder was no exception. I gave him a range somewhere around $400,000 less than what he was asking for.

Yes. Our tour ended there and he never asked for me to take his listings, but I was going to stick to that figure never the less.

Jump ahead a few months to May. The market is really getting bombarded by the housing cirsis and prices in this community are starting to drop like flies, 3 and 4 listings per day, just so builders can stay afloat; but alas there are still no sales.

Today. July 13th there are 55 active listings here, one of which is a whopping 12,000 square foot, to be built, estate with a staggering $3,495,000 price tag. This is not the builders home I was speaking about. His homes have been humbly reduced to a little over $850K & $950K with the same agent and now at over 700 days on the market.

There IS light at the end of this sad story. In the past 3 months there have been 8 sales ranging from $700,000 to a little over $950,000. Can I see the future? heck no, I just proved that if you watch a community for long enough you can be ahead of the curve, and that's the name of the game so few Realtors seem to grasp.

Providence Downs South may have been stagnant, but seeing this recent activity, I believe it may be high time to start taking a listing or two here....

Listings to me are like the little Jack in the boxes you carnk the handle on the side as it plays pop goes the wesel... You keep working and working until who know when "POP" here comes a buyer and the place is sold.

I feel the frustration and can't let my sellers see it. I feel I am doing everything short of hanging out in the condo's parking lot in a bikini shouting "buy this condo" Maybe I can make a sign and hang out at the pool... (head shake)Anyway...

The seller doesn't want open houses public or private so that's out. I advertise on every concievable internet site and to every agent I have listed in my contacts list (at the moment it's 4,000 and growing) SOMEONE has to have a buyer that wants to live in a top floor condo! Flyers have never worked for any listing I have had and I post postcards on the public post boards i come across.... nothing.

The Location is prime, the price is right and the condition is prestine! What am I missing??? One idea that came to me as I was writing this was to market to other states. This condo would be a perfect 2nd home or for someone on business trips. Is a great home for an empty nester or retiring couple or an investor looking to rent it out. There was a flight attendant in one of the other units....

Hmmm.... any other ideas?

Local sellers taking less for their homes

Posted:07/07/2009 6:55 AM (By Andrew Dunn, andrewdunn@charlotteobserver.com)

Amy Spurlock listed her Cornelius home for $220,000, what seemed to be the going rate in her neighborhood six months ago. Then the foreclosures started.

"Houses around here started getting foreclosed," she said. "That lowers everybody." She soon dropped her price about 14 percent - to $189,000.

As the Charlotte-area housing market continues to struggle, sellers increasingly have to drop their prices to make a sale. Last May, the average difference between the listing price and the selling price was about 6 percent. This May, it was about 11 percent.

Beginning last September, when the economy began its nose-dive, the numbers imply that sellers have started to shave asking prices in order to make a sale.

"That's part of people coming to the reality of how much their house is really worth," said real estate broker Jeff King, who works mostly in NoDa and Midwood in central Charlotte. "People are used to the value going up every year. They're having a hard time adjusting to the fact that it might be worth less this year."

He said that while there's always been some disconnect between what sellers thought their homes were worth and what buyers were willing to pay, the downturn has exacerbated it.

Area sales prices dropped 10 percent in April compared with April 2008, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released last week. It marks the Charlotte region's worst month for home sales prices since the downturn began, but the drop is still less severe than many of the 20 markets measured by the index.

For the first part of 2008, homeowners were still able to put homes on the market and sell them for close to the asking price. It wasn't until September that the bottom dropped out, UNC Chapel Hill professor Roberto Quercia said. "Early last year was a different mindset," he said. "People knew the market was softening up, but they didn't know there was a crisis."

In September, big economic news began putting people on edge. It put uncertainty over major banks, including Charlotte-based Bank of America and Wachovia, two of Charlotte's largest employers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government, Bank of America snapped up Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, AIG got an emergency loan and Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo.

Now, as Charlotte continues to struggle with layoffs and pay cuts, home sellers are becoming less optimistic.

Sellers of more expensive homes are coming off their asking prices as they find the market nearly saturated.

The number of homes selling for at least $1 million could satisfy demand for 10 years, said broker Lars Hedenborg. There are about 1,200 on the market, he said; it's a good month if six or eight are sold.

"A lot of people hold onto the fact that Charlotte was a strong market two years ago," Hedenborg said. "Charlotte was doing (better) than most of the country. It takes time to turn."

Jim Sudderth's Dilworth home has been on the market for a year. Originally listed at $2.1 million, it's dropped about 5 percent, to $2 million. "It's horrible," he said. "There aren't buyers."

Some may decide to ride out the market. Spurlock, in Cornelius, said she won't go any lower: "I'm not going to give the house away."

To keep in line with my January report and for those following the South Charlotte Report, here is the February report


These monthly areports follow areas 5, 6 and 7 or to be more specific, Zip codes

28277, 28226, 28210, 28134, 28209, 28273, 28217and 28211.

The Big Picture - February

On average, areas 5, 6&7 had 756 new listings come on the market which is up by 237 when compared to January. As sellers are starting to come in line with market values, the average list price in February was $379,132 which is $11,606 less than in January. On average 291 homes went under contract with an average list price of $351,936. That's 129 more and an $86,818 increase from January. This is a good thing to see. The homes that have been under contract since December of last year are starting to close and that number is also up by 130 from 97 closed to 227 with an average sale price of $312,472. Up $80,846 from January.

Could these rising numbers be a direct result from the presidential change?

The Breakdown - Area 5

432 new listings, average list price of $625,774. 157 under contract, average list price of $563,693. 122 sold with 77 days as the average time on the market and a sale price of $535,623.

The Breakdown - Area 6

104 new listings, average list price of $316,054. 38under contract, average list price of $314,792. 38 sold with 86days as the average time on the market and a sale price of $241,123.

The Breakdown - Area 7

183 new listings, average list price of $195,569. 96under contract, average list price of $314,792. 67sold with 96 days as the average time on the market and a sale price of $160,671.

Overall area 6 & 7 show signs of improvement with area 7 being the one still in decline when compared to the month of January. However in from December to January, area 7 saw an increase in list to sale price and shorter time of the market when compared to November.

Thanks for reading!

More information to come on areas 5, 6 & 7 on a later blog!

This information was taken from the Charlotte MLS and is believed to be accurate but not guaranteed