Triangle Business Journal reported on February 26ththat foreclosures in North Carolina only increased by 14% in January 2008 compared to January 2007. This foreclosure rate was significantly below the 66.5% increase that RealtyTrac reported for all of 2007. Nationally the foreclosures increased 57% from January 2007. What does this all mean?
The North Carolina real estate market is not as bad as the media makes you think it is. We have such a good area for relocation we are going to bounce back faster than other parts of 
the country. My prediction is stable prices the rest of this year and prices starting to rise (slowly) next year. First increase will be in the prime locations of Raleigh and Cary, followed 12 months later in other areas. The further your home is from prime the longer the bounce back will take. Don’t worry however, in time it will be a sellers market and we will see 6% to 10% appreciation again.
Raleigh Home Buyers
It is a great time to buy. If you are thinking about a new home do it now! Interest rates are low and there are a lot of homes priced well to choose from. When the spring market hits, sellers who are not educated to this market will offer their homes for sale at traditionally higher spring time prices. So find your home now while winter pricing is still up for grabs.
Raleigh Home Sellers
You can sell but, you are not going to see any huge gains. In fact, your sales price today will probably be what it was worth in 2006. Your home has to be aggressively advertised, show well inside and be priced competitively or you are not going to sell. You have a lot of competition. It doesn’t matter what something sold for a year ago. It is all about today’s competition. If you are on the market now and struggling to sell, take action. Don’t sit. Try stagers, look at your competition online and drive by them. Remember new homes sell for 5 to 10% more than re-sales and buyers are looking for good values. Do everything to make yours one of the best, make sure they see it advertised and your sold.
Raleigh Foreclosures and Short Sales
I am seeing more short sales than foreclosures in the market right now and this is good. It means that sellers have learned that they have other options than foreclosure. If you are going to buy a short sale you will need to be patient. It can take 4 to 6 weeks to get an answer from the lender. If you are selling your home as a short sale you need to call your lender every day or two to speed the process up. When you call Loss Mitigation I want you to imagine a room full of people with many desk piled sky high with thousands of short sale requests. This is really what the Loss Mitigation department looks like. The file on top of their pile will get the most attention. Call them, call them and call them again. Every time you make a call your file is pulled out of the stack and it is back on top. Your request will get lost in the pile if you do not stay on top of this.
Hope you have a great weekend,
Linda