Tuesday is a special day for the Linda Craft Real Estate Team.  I fondly call it Team Tuesday. It is the day we all pile into our wrapped passenger van and ride around the Triangle area previewing our new listings in the Greater Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, Garner, Clayton, Apex and Holly Springs areas.  We sharpen our  Triangle Real Estate market knowledge,  share ideas and information for approxiamtely 3 hours every week.   A think tank of top professionals sharing their best practices. 

This past week one of my buyer agents,  JV Lavery, mentioned that prices on large tracks of land had dropped significantly and what a great time it was to buy land and hold it. He is so right but, I don’t know many developers  with $500,000 to a million dollars cash in the bank to buy land in these tight economical times. We all know land has always been a great investment and everyone I know is looking for something to buy cheap and hold onto for high profits later so we started brainstorming who could buy this well priced land.

Here Are Some Ideas On How To Buy Land:

1.   A group of individuals could buy the land to use as a hunt club. For the price of a yearly membership they could own acreage together. Use it to hunt now and hold it for a later sale when the value increases. Now that is a great real estate investment with no risk.

2.  A church could buy land now to hold for a future church plant

3.  A group of individuals could buy land to hold for future development or to sell when the next housing boom hits

4.  A family could buy land and put it into a family trust which would benefit their children

What are some other ideas you may have?  If you are interested in finding out about the best tracts of land for sale in the Greater Raleigh area please contact my team, JV Lavery or myself.  We would love the opportunity to work with you.

Have a great weekend,

Linda

Over the past two years I have met with many Raleigh area home sellers who wanted to sell and buy a new home. However, the declining Raleigh real estate market wasn’t going to allow them to net enough money from the sale to be able to purchase a new home. The Government  has now stepped up and is helping Raleigh area move up buyers by giving them a $6,500 tax credit if they buy before April 30, 2010.  

How Will A Raleigh Homeowner Benefit?

The $6,500 tax credit will really help many sellers offset any depreciation they may have experienced in the Raleigh Real Estate market and will give them the extra funds they need to buy a new home. When selling a home you have to deduct the mortgage pay off, property taxes, real estate commissions, revenue stamps and other miscellaneous charges for selling a home. The remainder after everything is paid is the net proceeds. Or better described the check the seller gets at closing to spend on their new house. The Government is giving them an additional $6,500 tax credit to help home sellers in Raleigh buy new homes. This is pretty exciting especially when you consider mortgage interest rates are still around 5% for a 30 years fixed rate mortgage. The low interest rates and the tax credit will help many homeowners get into better houses than they ever dreamed.

Raleigh Mortgage Lending Guidelines Have Changed

Today in order to buy a home most lenders require a minimum of 5% down. We can usually negotiated to get the mortgage closing cost paid by the seller but, when the Raleigh housing market hasn’t appreciated over the past several years it makes it really hard to sell and be able to net enough money from the sale for the down payment on a new home. The $6,500 tax credit will put many home buyers in the market now that could only sit and wait before. Here are some details:

Who is Eligible   Read the rest of this entry

Just before Thanksgiving I met with 11 of the Top Real Estate Agents in the greater Raleigh area. We are all members of the Triangle Area Luxury Home Marketing Group. This group represents several real estate offices throughout the Wake County area. We meet once a month to tour each others homes for sale that are priced $750,000 and up. I have been a member of the group since it began in Raleigh back in 2004 and we always share what we are seeing in the market place.  

What is Happening With Luxury Homes Here in Raleigh?

This past meeting I asked everyone what percent they believe real estate values have fallen in the Raleigh, Cary, Apex and Triangle area. We all agreed prices have dropped 15% to 20% in the upper end and at least 10% drop in other price ranges. This is so much better than other areas of our country but, still very painful to folks who need to sell now. 28% of American home owners are under water and that number is expected to be in the 45% by the end of 2010.

If you know of anyone who needs to sell and finds themselves in this negative situation have them call me or visit my web site to learn about some of the solutions available. Several years ago we all believed Raleigh homeowners would be mostly bullet proof when it came to declining real estate values.   Now we know different. Ouch it really hurts!

First time homebuyers are busy looking for great houses under $300,000 in our Raleigh Real Estate Market.  Here are a few homes that have just come on the market or have had recent price changes:

For more properties in the Greater Raleigh Area feel free to check out my raleigh real estate website where you can create your own search.

This week my real estate office has been very busy with several out of state families who are relocating to our Greater Raleigh area.  One of the neat things about having a large real estate team is that  we all work together sharing our knowledge and experience to best meet the needs of our clients.  When families relocate to the Triangle sometimes their needs are more complexed than just which Raleigh area home or neighborhood they want to live in. They need to know where to find the best doctors, playgrounds and daycare options just to name a few.    Many of our Team members have children and have relocated themselves so they are a great resource for families. We know that Moms and Dads have so many things to take care of in a move and my Team loves to all pitch in to help relocating families in their transition .  Here are some tips you may want to know or share with someone relocating with children.

A Few Quick Moving Tips For Raleigh Area Families:  Read the rest of this entry

One thing I get asked alot by home sellers in my listing appointments is what they need to do to get their home sold.  Many people know to go ahead and pack away unneeded items, repaint the walls into neutral colors and others hire a professional home stager.  Staging has been the huge buzzword with Raleigh Home Sellers ever since HGTV hit the air waves. Triangle Real Estate Agents  know that to get a home sold in a Buyers Market that a well-staged home has to be the rule rather than the exception. When you hear the word staging our minds image decluttering and furniture placement. However, with 10 houses for every one Raleigh home buyer that is not enough. “Refreshing” is the new trend for home selling success. Read the rest of this entry

Beware of Candy from a Stranger

As parents we teach our children to never take candy or get into a car with a stranger. Yet everyday around the world strangers call into real estate offices and ask the eager 100% sales commission based real estate agent to meet them at a house so they can see it. What happened from childhood to adulthood that we forgot the lessons our parents taught us?

This month in the Greater Raleigh Area, a female real estate agent was held at knife point and raped in a vacant new home. Every year somewhere in the country reports are sent from the National Association of REALTORS and local real estate board office telling of another tragic story of rape, robbery or murder. Last year a female agent who was raped and stabbed multiple times survived because she was wearing a Blue Tooth and had Read the rest of this entry

Over the last several months many people have asked me if home sales have been picking up for the Raleigh real estate market.   While we have seen an increase in appointments scheduled to view our current inventory of  Triangle area homes for sale, we have not seen them turn into equal sales.  Home sales around the Raleigh region are still very sluggish and the luxury market  has been hit the hardest. 

The Biggest Real Estate Problem We Have in the Raleigh Region

is that we are not seeing many move up buyers. This is causing many sellers to compete for a sold sign and has driven home prices down. The listing inventory of homes for sale is still high and many sellers have reduced their home prices several times and still are not sold. The average home list price to sales price is  96% if sold in the first 30 days and 89% if price reductions occur. With declining home values, low interest rates and tax credits you would think real estate here in the Greater Raleigh area would be booming but, it isn’t. Everyone is busy showing a lot of houses but, the truth is Triangle real estate home sales are still lower in 2009 than they were in 2008.  

Let’s Look At Some Contributing Housing Market Factors

1.  First Time Home Buyer and Tax Credit   Read the rest of this entry

Every day in the Raleigh  area I meet with perspective home sellers.  However, in the current real estate market I find myself practicing “tough love” and being more of a counselor and consultant. I try to educate my home sellers to make sure they have realistic expectations so they do not end up with regrets in the end. Many times during the initial consultation I talk sellers out of putting their homes on the market and encourage them to wait until a better time. I show Raleigh area sellers the absorption rates for their location, age, square feet, architectural style, features and price range. I explain experimenting just to see what happens in a buyers market is another real estate listing about to fail.

Read the rest of this entry

Yesterday I called one of my clients and she was in an absolute panic. She had lost her wallet and was on the phone trying to cancel all of her credit cards. If this has ever happened to you then you know the fear, stress and dread she was feeling.

Here is a quick tip that will help ease your mind and take some of the work and panic out of the process.

Go to your nearest copy machine today. Open up your wallet and copy the front and back side of everything in it. Put the copies in a safe place such as a locked file cabinet or safety deposit box. If you lose your wallet it won’t be fun but, you will be able to protect yourself quickly and rebuild the contents without losing sleep over what you may have forgotten.

If your wallet or purse is stolen or lost for an added measure of protection you can also do the following:

1. File a police report in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc were lost or stolen. This prove to the credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first stip toward an investigation if there is one.

2. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizatons to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the social security fraud line. Placing this alert means all creditors will have to contact you before they can authorize new credit.

a. Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

b. Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

c. Tran Union: 1-800-680-7289

d. Social Security Administration fraud line: 1-800-269-0271

I hope this never happens to you but, sooner or later it probably will. I have had a car stolen with my purse in it and my car broken into on vacation and my purse was stolen out of it. I’ve learned the hard way to  never leave my purse in the car and I have a copy of my wallets content locked in a safe place just in case I drive off from a gas station pump and leave my wallet on top of the car like one of my employees did last week.

Linda