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 | South Charlotte Real Estate Blog |
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Tuesday, 22 December 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
Buyers were racing to complete their sales before the original expiration date of a tax credit for first-time buyers that was scheduled to expire Nov. 30. Last month, Congress decided to extend and expand the credit to ensure the housing market could sustain its recovery.
"Things are stabilizing," said Pete Flint, chief executive of real estate Web site Trulia.com. "There is a significant amount of buyer interest out there."
About 2 million homebuyers have taken advantage of the credit so far, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The group forecasts that another 2.4 million will use it by the middle of next year. First-time buyers made up about half of all transactions last month, driving sales up 44 percent above last year's levels, a record jump.
"In the short run, its an effective stimulus," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. "If you give someone money to spend on something, they will spend it."
November's sales rose 7.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million, from a downwardly revised pace of 6.09 million in October, the Realtors group said. It was the highest level since February 2007. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 6.25 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Sales are now up 46 percent from the bottom in January, but down 10 percent from the peak more than four years ago. The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 1 percent to 3.5 million. That's a healthy 6.5 month supply at the current sales pace, the lowest level in three years.
The median sales price was $172,600, down 4.3 percent from a year earlier, and up 0.2 percent from October.
The housing market recovery, however, is still facing strong headwinds.
Unemployment is high and employers are going to be slow to rehire because economic growth is weaker than expected. The economy grew at a pace of 2.2 percent in the third quarter, which was lower than the initial 2.8 percent reading, the government said Tuesday.
What's more, mortgage defaults are still setting records, and lenders are regularly rejecting applications from borrowers who don't have good credit or enough money for a down payment.
Many experts warn that hundreds of thousands of foreclosed properties have yet to be put up for sale. Plenty of traditional sellers are also keeping their homes off the market, hoping for a better price.
"When they start thinking they can sell them, we could see a surge in homes for sale," wrote Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
In the meantime, home buyers can take advantage of record-low mortgage rates, deeply discounted prices and federal incentives. Besides the existing tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers, homeowners who have lived in their current properties for at least five years can now claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 if they relocate. To qualify, buyers must sign a purchase agreement by April 30.
Analysts expect that the new tax credit deadline means sales will drop during the winter months and recover in the spring.
Without the looming deadline, "buyers have no sense of urgency now," said Gary DeRosa, an agent with ZipRealty Inc. in Seattle.
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
New assets, broader appeal for uptown Charlotte
How marketing to region could put center city on the map
Charlotte Business Journal - by Erik Spanberg Senior staff writer
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photo NANCY PIERCE
The EpiCentre complex at College and Trade streets added a hefty mix of restaurants and nightclubs to uptown’s appeal.
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Find your center has found its audience — and it reaches well beyond the city limits.
Two decades ago, Charlotte landed big-league sports teams on the theory of regional drawing power. At the time, sports-marketing executive Max Muhleman drew a radius around the city and counted satellite populations throughout much of the Carolinas as realistic targets to buy tickets for NBA and NFL games if franchises located here.
Now the regional pitch is pushing Charlotte’s emerging cultural and entertainment districts. The city has added a slew of entertainment and cultural options in the past year, with several more slated to open next year.
From the EpiCentre near the NBA arena to the College Street bar district and over to the South Tryon Street cultural campus coming to life, the city now boasts concentrated areas where visitors can pick and choose from a variety of attractions.
When the night club Halo opened this summer at the N.C. Music Factory in Fourth Ward, 20% of the crowd during the first weekend came from out of town. The 6-acre Music Factory complex includes a 5,000-seat amphitheater and a 2,000-seat music hall. Those venues have brought everyone from B.B. King to The Fray to town — and pulled in audiences from the Triad, upstate South Carolina and elsewhere in the region.
Uptown boosters, developers and tourism leaders foresee an increase in regional visitors, spurred by more attractions. At the same time, they say the need to keep building that long-sought regional crowd is greater than ever.
“We’ve got to draw regionally,” says Noah Lazes, president of Ark Group, developer of the N.C. Music Factory. “Atlanta has done it for years and now (Charlotte) is right on the cusp of drawing from Raleigh and Greenville (S.C.) and Winston-Salem. People are realizing they can come to Charlotte for the weekend and enjoy downtown — and not just for the Panthers or NASCAR.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Charlotte Bobcats President Fred Whitfield. While 80% of the team’s season-ticket sales come from within a 25-mile radius, the NBA franchise also handles arena booking and operations. An alliance with entertainment company AEG has helped bring more concerts to the arena, filling seats and nearby restaurants and hotels. Metallica, Miley Cyrus and Bruce Springsteen have made appearances in recent months, with Bon Jovi and the Black Eyed Peas scheduled next year.
“When you have acts like that, they play maybe one date in the Carolinas, so we want to have them here,” Whitfield says. “People will come from all over North and South Carolina to see these acts.”
The EpiCentre opened last year, but developer Afshin Ghazi says it didn’t become a true destination until early-2009 when the movie theater and bowling alley opened. On a typical Saturday night — the busiest time of the week for the 300,000-square-foot complex — 10,000 people visit the various clubs, shops, and restaurants. With several more tenants to be added early next year, Ghazi is ready to launch his first regional marketing campaign, likely starting with Columbia and other cities that have fewer entertainment options.
Evidence of regional growth is anecdotal for the most part. The concert and sports venues track ticket sales to gauge their reach. A study two years ago by Charlotte Center City Partners found more than half the people in the surrounding five-county region on average travel to uptown 11 times per year for something other than work.
The real push — and ability to document center city’s drawing power — will start with the opening of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, two museums and the revamped Discovery Place next year.
Next month, the NASCAR Hall of Fame launches the latest phase of its marketing push, including an emphasis on outlying Carolinas cities. The $200 million hall of fame and racing museum, which opens in May, expects 800,000 visitors during its first full year, with 30% from Charlotte and the rest evenly divided between visitors from within a 700-mile radius and those from beyond 700 miles.
At the visitors authority, a combination of ad campaigns, social-media blitzes on Twitter and Facebook and other online promotions have aimed at strengthening the regional pull. The pitch has included themed cooking and dining weekends as well as a month-long, shop-in-Charlotte promotion.
A two-year plunge in corporate business makes leisure travelers much-coveted among restaurants and hotels. Through October, hotel occupancy fell to 53%, down 15.5% from the same period a year earlier, according to Smith Travel Research.
Nightlife and museums can spur interest and also make the city more attractive as a host site for major sporting events, giving visiting fans more options while they’re here. David Taylor, president at the newly opened Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture, points to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s basketball tournament as a prime opportunity. The audience for the CIAA tournament’s historically black colleges and universities is a perfect fit for events and tours at the Gantt Center, he says.
Next year, the new attractions should also benefit from the arrival of the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship in December. The football weekend, set for Charlotte in 2010 and 2011, is expected to kick in a $15 million to $25 million impact — and bring thousands of fans looking for diversions before and after kickoff. Also in 2011, the uptown arena will host the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Taylor, the Gantt Center executive, suggests a shared ticket program among the museums, including the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art that opens next month, the Knight Theater and the consolidated Mint Museum opening in the fall of next year.
Building on the momentum is a major emphasis of the 2020 Vision Plan now under way. Pulling in more regional visitors, adding two uptown parks in 2011 and focusing on continued transit expansion are key components. “This needs to be the place where people celebrate, a memorable destination,” says Michael Smith, Center City Partners president. “Our promise is to be the entertainment center of the Carolinas.”
Monday, 06 July 2009
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/420/index.html?media_id=4837479
Dana Rader's Golf Tips: Why Wrists Are Important
Dana Rader is founder of the Dana Rader Golf School, located at the Ballantyne Hotel. It is one of the Top 25 golf schools in the U.S., as selected by Golf Magazine. Video and production by Phillip Hoffman.
Friday, 03 July 2009
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-022009-mw-affordable_suburbs.3664e7a9.html
CHECK OUT NEWS STORY AND VIDEO
Best Affordable Suburbs 2009
by Prashant Gopal
Thursday, February 19, 2009provided by
State by state, the most affordable suburbs that offer the lowest crime rate, finest schools, and best quality of life for the dollar
Housing prices across the nation are being flattened by the worst economic crisis in decades. But it’s still not necessarily easy to find affordable suburbs with good schools, low crime, reasonable commutes, strong economies and a good quality of life. That’s where BusinessWeek can help. We’ve selected one affordable suburb near the biggest city in each state where residents can find the best quality of life for their money in 2009.
Editor’s Note: The selected suburbs were limited to towns within 25 miles of the most populated city, with populations of 5,000 to 60,000 people, median family incomes of $51,000 to $120,000, and lower-than average crime rates. We weighted a variety of factors including livability (short commutes, low pollution, green space), education (well-educated residents, high test scores), crime (low personal and property crime), economy (high job growth, low unemployment rate, high family income), and affordability (median household income, cost of expenditures). Affordability was most heavily weighted in our calculations. We penalized places with bad weather, a lack of racial diversity, high divorce rates, and few children. Household median income, which is derived from U.S. Census data, and the median home price are 2008 projections. The Unemployment rate comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is for 2007. The Violent Crime index, which is based on FBI crime statistics, is a weighted index of the most recently available seven years (“100” is the national average for violent crime, so “100” would be twice the national average and “50” would be half the national average). The commute time is the median travel time for residents in the area, and is not necessarily the time it takes to reach the largest major city.
10. Fort Mill, South Carolina
Nearest major city: Charlotte, N.C.
Population: 9,943
Median household income: $57,648
Median home price: N/A
Unemployment rate: 5.6%
Violent crime index: 93
Fort Mill, located just south of the North Carolina border and 18 miles from Charlotte, is home to the Charlotte Knights baseball stadium. About 36% of residents are married with children. Average commutes are 22 minutes.
Thursday, 02 July 2009
Charlotte ranked as a Top 10 sports city
More Information
The high attendance at Carolina Panthers games, Lowe's Motor Speedway, college football games and basketball events in Charlotte apparently hasn�t gone unnoticed.
Men�s Health Magazine ranked Charlotte as the No. 9 sports-obsessed city in the United States. The ranking of 100 major U.S. cities appears in the July/August issue of the magazine.
The magazine counted how many people in a given city attend college and professional baseball, basketball and football games in a given city. NASCAR attendance, the number of people vying for sports tickets and team apparel and the number of fans calling themselves foam-finger-waving fanatics also was taken into account, according to a news release from Men�s Health.
Arlington, Texas, was rated No. 1, followed by Aurora, Colo.; Colorado Springs; Indianapolis, and Columbus, Ohio. Miami was ranked last in the survey.
In the Carolinas, Raleigh (18), Durham (33), Greensboro (35) and Columbia (83) also were included in the rankings.
Charlotte�s passion for the Panthers, auto racing and college sports apparently more than offset the Bobcats� struggles. But before Charlotte civic leaders pump their chests up too big over the ranking, they need to look at the entire list.
Coming in at No. 10, just one spot behind Charlotte, was the thriving sports metropolis of Anchorage, Alaska
Friday, 12 June 2009
Tega Cay receives money for 2 projects
Work will start soon on sidewalk-walking trail, Hubert Graham Way.
By Toya Graham
tgraham@fortmilltimes.com
The side of Tega Cay Drive that's unfriendly to pedestrian traffic won't be that way for long, thanks to $400,000 in federal stimulus money.
Another federal windfall separate from the stimulus fund will finance the long-awaited Hubert Graham Way road project.
The stimulus money will go to build a combined sidewalk and walking trail from Gold Hill Road at First Properties of The Carolinas to Watertrace Drive and Turner Athletic Field, City Manager Grant Duffield said.
“There is no sidewalk or walking trail on that side of Tega Cay Drive,” Duffield said. “Yet, we have many homes on that section of Tega Cay Drive where we have no pedestrian access.”
An existing sidewalk ends at First Properties, he said. The $400,000 will extend that sidewalk by nearly 3,200 feet, Duffield said.
Work is slated to begin within 60 days and take about that long to complete, Duffield said.
Tega Cay also will receive nearly $750,000 to help complete work on Hubert Graham Way, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-York.
Spratt was able to get $712,500 in the new omnibus spending bill to help pay for the new road.
Work is expected to kick off in 90 days, and construction is slated to take up to a year, Duffield said.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
1,014 new jobs announced at Charlotte nonprofit
By Jefferson George and Rick Rothacker
jgeorge@charlotteobserver.com
Gov. Bev Perdue is in Charlotte this morning to announce 1,014 new jobs at the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a nationwide nonprofit, the governor's office said.
NACA plans to invest $4.5 million in Charlotte as part of an expansion over the next five years.
Charlotte Chamber President Bob Morgan, Perdue and local elected officials are gathering on the fourth floor of 5855 Executive Center Drive.
Based in Boston, NACA is a national affordable lending program that focuses on low- and moderate-income families and properties. It offers loans with no down payments, closings costs or fees to customers.
The nonprofit's leader, Bruce Marks, is a self-described “bank terrorist” known for holding protests against banks that the group deems to have poor lending records in minority and poor communities.
Charlotte-based Bank of America has partnered with NACA since 1995 and in 2004 committed $6 billion to its lending program.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
The Ballantyne Hotel is starting a weekly party inspired by the chic gatherings often hosted poolside at South Beach hotels like the Delano.
The new Thursday night party, which kicks off this week, coincides with the unveiling of the luxury hotel's new outdoor pool (about half the size of an Olympic-length pool) located just off the spa.
Guests can mingle on the pool deck overlooking the golf course or lounge on the cushy chaises while DJ Lotta Noize provides the music from the second level terrace. Two bars will serve cocktails and the pool menu will be available until 10 p.m.
The party, which is open to the public, starts at 6 p.m. and runs through Sept. 3. (If sunbathing is more your thing, the pool is also available to members of the public for a $50 daily fee or it's free to use with a spa service.)
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