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How great is it to be talking about “pre-recession” numbers? That’s what appears to be going on in the Charlotte real estate market according to the Charlotte Regional Realtors Association. Based on their number crunching, they are happy to report that closings across the 10-county area shot up whooping 22.2 percent during the month of July from the same time a year ago. That follows 2,657 closings in the Charlotte area in June which was a nice bump from the 2,330 of closings that happened in June 2011.
There’s also good news about price points as well. The average sale price increased by 3.4% in July. That makes the sixth consecutive month of increases. “Pending contracts have always been seen as a gauge of demand,” says Jennifer Frontera, association president. “Contract activity has been elevated for nearly a year now. The fact that contracts are falling at this time of year shows that the market is now performing in a similar fashion to the way it did before the recession, with contracts and closings peaking in midsummer and falling as the selling season winds down.”
You can sum all of this up to mean that the Charlotte real estate market is bounding back. That puts realtors in the hot seat as they scramble to lock down listings. As a realtor are you playing it safe or thinking outside of the box? Thinking out of the box might have you considering foreclosed listings. A savvy realtor would connect with a bank or lending company to take over the old listings and any new ones that might crop up in the coming months. The banks might consider these “toxic assets” but there’s gold in every one of those houses if you know how to “mine” it properly.
We all know the value of staging a home but a foreclosed property might need a bit more work to get it ready for that phase. That’s where a company like Junk King Charlotte can come into play. Junk King specializes in professional junk removal. Home owners and apartment renters have turned to Junk King to help them clear out the clutter of their lives. As a realtor, you can tap into the same resources and have Junk King clean up a foreclosed property. Don’t worry about the condition of an abandoned home. Junk King has seen it all and they’re not afraid of a little hard work.
While the Junk King Charlotte crew is clearing out a property you can focus on preparing the listing and getting the word out about this terrific opportunity. In fact, Junk King will probably get that house cleaned quicker than you think. Hire them on a Monday. Clean up on a Tuesday and by the weekend that house will be ready for viewing by potential buyers. Make Junk King a part of your sales team today!
A big shout out should be given to the Environmental Protection Agency for their Energy Star program that has been around for several years. The goal of Energy Star is to encourage manufacturers to make products which run on less energy. Less energy means lower bills for your and natural resource savings for everyone. Buying a refrigerator or stove or any other electrical appliance with the Energy Star rating means you’re doing your part. But what happens when you unplug that device and get ready to toss it out? Should the concern about the environment stop? Absolutely not. Which is why GE has teamed up with the EPA’s second major program WasteWise.
Unlike the Midwest or Northeast regions of the country, Charlotte is not really considered “basement” territory. Part of the reason is all that wonderful red clay that is so much a part of our state’s heritage. That same clay is extremely dense and retains water like a sponge. Those are two conditions which don’t make for decent basement building. A lot of new homes will have what they call a “walk out” basement which are often built on plots of land that have a slope to them and can support this kind of construction. In older homes, you’ll find more cellars than basements. Even though both of these spaces are under the house, a cellar is used more for storage than as a family room. There are also rooms built on top of garages which are referred to as “Charlotte basements.” If you’re fortunate enough to have a home with a basement, be it a cellar or above a garage, then you still might find the need to clear out the junk.
For this year’s Earth Day celebrations the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has reason to be very proud of themselves. Last year the campus broke their own record by recycling over 2,000,000 pounds of garbage. If you know a college aged student then you can appreciate how much garbage they can generate! UNC also was able to divert 39% of the campus trash away from landfills. This year the UNC Charlotte’s Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling Projects say that they are on target to break their own record once again and plan to hold a huge party on Earth Day.
There is a unique program coming to Charlotte as part of Holocaust Remembrance gatherings. There are 18 violins that had been repaired by a special shop in Tel Aviv. These violins are no ordinary musical instruments but instead were once owned by Jewish musicians who played them in the death camps and ghettos of World War II. For the last several years Amnon Weinstein has been on a quest to find these special instruments and has scoured the attics and basements around the world. Now these fully restored violins will be part of a musical celebration honoring their previous owners. All of this points out that there may be some very special treasures in your own attic that should be brought down from the dust and cobwebs.
The wacky weather that has hit the country this year has brought spring into the Charlotte area a lot sooner than anyone anticipated. The result is that pollen is everywhere. It’s covering Lake Norman, dusting cars and the ground. By some estimates this is the worst season for pollen in over ten years.
Recently the Charlotte Fire Department responded to an early-morning fire that began in a garage and spread quickly to the rest of the home. This occurred on Lockley Drive in Eastover. Fortunately, the couple who lived in the house was alerted to the fire by smoke alarms. It was suspected that lightning might have been the cause of starting his fire as rolling thunderstorms crept through the neighborhood just before the fire started up. In order for lightning to start a fire there needs to be some “kindling” to strike. While there is no mention in this particular case that this garage was overflowing with junk, it stands to reason that it certainly wasn’t sparse. This is a primary reason for clearing out junk in your own garage or home: removing a potential fire hazard.
Here’s some good news for those Charlotte residents who consider themselves to be a bit of a “green thumb”: the Southern Spring Home and Garden Show is heading to Charlotte. This is an exciting expo which will have over 400 exhibits covering topics such as home improvement, green living and garden showcases. This annual event provides all kinds of wonderful inspiration for Charlotte homeowners as they get ready to welcome spring. You can’t help but pick up a lot of helpful gardening tips by spending the day at this expo. To get you ready here are a few tips you could share with some of your fellow gardeners:
If you live in a city like Seattle, Philadelphia or San Diego you know that going green is actually a law. That’s because all of those cities require mandatory recycling be conducted by all of its citizens. Anyone who forgoes the recycling rules you could be fined or not have their garbage picked up at all. While this might sound a bit extreme most folks in those cities have embraced the recycling programs because it takes very little effort to manage. The city has provided all residents with recycle bins that have to be filled up with the proper items and put on the curb along with the regular trash. The result is that tons of garbage is diverted away from those cities’ landfills and put to much better use.