SELLERS FARE BETTER WITH AGENTS....

Survey: Sellers Fare Better With Agents
Sellers have a better chance at getting their house sold by using a REALTOR® than opting for the do-it-yourself approach, according to a survey of 1,000 homeowners by HomeGain.com, an online real estate resource. In the survey, -Nearly 60 percent of homeowners who used a REALTOR® to sell their home were successful compared to 39 percent of FSBOs. -83 percent of homeowners said they used a REALTOR® to sell their home, whereas 17 percent said they tried to sell it themselves. “It is especially striking that homeowners fare significantly better in selling their homes using a REALTOR® than selling on their own,” says Louis Cammarosano, general manager at HomeGain. “Due to that relative success, the level of satisfaction in the home selling process is also higher for home sellers utilizing the services of a REALTOR® than those who try to sell their homes on their own.” Among the findings in its For Sale by Owner vs. REALTOR® survey: -88 percent of homeowners who sold their homes using a REALTOR® said they would use a REALTOR® again. -24 percent of FSBOs eventually contacted a REALTOR® to help sell their home. Source: NAR

Spring has Sprung in Wilmington NC

Check out these gorgeous spring blooms right down the block from me.... This home always has dozens of daffodils to see. It is such a welcome sight after a long and chilly winter.

Wilmington Neighborhoods: Woodberry Forest

Are you looking for that perfect family friendly neighborhood? Well here it is in Woodberry Forest. It is located in mid town Wilmington and is a great location whether you are considering shopping, schools, access to roads, or the beach. It is just 20 minutes to everywhere. 20 minutes to shopping, schools and the beaches. It is a large subdivision with well built roomy homes great for families. You can find the rambling large 4-5 bedroom home with frogs(finished rooms over the garage) here or small one floor brick ranchers. There is a great selection of homes for sale here. The schools are very good - Hoggard, Roland Grise and Holly Tree. Most children in the neighborhood can walk or bike to Holly tree which is rare today.

There is a tennis club very close with a pool and many courts for people to join.

The wide streets support the many walkers and dog walkers who enjoy the Carolina Blue skies... You can too. Let me know and I will help you find your dream home..

What's Happening this Saturday in Wilmington NC

Lots Happening this Weekend in Wilmington, NC: Check it out and come to town....


Saturday, February 19, 2011

Brewery Tour, Fun, Front Street Brewery, Downtown Wilmington, 3 pm, FREE

Featured Exhibit: Photography in Focus, Fun, Cape Fear Museum, Downtown Wilmington, Admission

Learning Center: Astronomy Adventures, Kids, Cape Fear Museum, Downtown Wilmington, 1 to 4 pm, Admission

African-American Quilts from Montgomery FA, Arts, Cameron Art Museum, Midtown Wilmington, 11 to 5 pm, Admission

Crackers Comedy Tour, Comedy, Nutt St. Comedy Room, Downtown Wilmington, 7 pm Doors/8 pm Show, $7

Dueling Pianos, Music, Hell's Kitchen, Downtown Wilmington, 9 pm, No Cover

Aquarist Apprentice, Kids, NC Aquarium, Kure Beach, 2 pm, Preregister

Firepower Program (in depth), History, Battleship North Carolina, Downtown Wilmington, 9 am to 4 pm, $95/85

Foodies Tour with Liz Biro, Tour, Liz Biro Foodies Walk, Downtown Wilmington, 2:30 to 5:30 pm, $38

Fraktured Faery Tales for a Mid-Winters Eve, Theater, Thalian Hall, Downtown Wilmington, 3 pm & 8 pm, $11

Full Moon Goddess Gala, Fun, Projekte artistic studio, Downtown Wilmington, 2 to 5 pm, $5

Ghost Walk, Tour, Riverfront Park, Downtown Wilmington, 6:30 pm, $12/$10

Haunted Pub Crawl, Tour, Black Cat Shoppe, Downtown Wilmington, 7:30 pm, $15+Grog

His Girl Friday, Theater, Brown Coat Theater, Downtown Wilmington, 8 pm, $10

Hollywood Location walk, Tour, Riverfront Park, Downtown Wilmington, 2 pm, $12/$10

Hospital Dancing, Music, Soapbox, Downtown Wilmington, 9 pm Doors, No Cover

Jazz with Joe Tese, Music, Costellos, Downtown Wilmington, 10 pm, No Cover

Kids@CAM, Kids, Cameron Art Museum, Midtown Wilmington, Noon to 3 pm, $3/$5

Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (opening weekend), Theater, Thalian Hall, Downtown Wilmington, 8 pm, $25

Live Music, Music, Treehouse Bistro, Carolina Beach, 8 to 10 pm, No Cover

Lobby Hero, Theater, Red Barn Theater, Downtown Wilmington, 8 pm, $27/$25

Mommy and Me, Kids, NC Aquarium, Kure Beach, 9 am, Preregister

Movie Studio Tour, Tour, EUE Screen Gems Studios, Midtown Wilmington, Noon & 2 pm, $12/$10/$8/$5

NC Jazz Festival concert, Music, Hilton Riverside Inn, Downtown Wilmington, 7:30 to 11:30 pm, $50/$25/$15

Parent's Night Out, Kids, Carolina Gymnastics, Midtown Wilmington, 6 to 10 pm, $6.25

Polar Plunge (for Special Olympics), celebration, Carolina Beach Boardwalk, Carolina Beach, 11 am Doors/3:05 plunge, Donation

Remembering BIG, Arts, Cameron Art Museum, Midtown Wilmington, 11 am to 5 pm, $8

Shinobi Ninja, Music, Soapbox, Downtown Wilmington, 8 pm Doors, $8 Adv/$10 Day Of

Story Tellers Open Mic, Literary, Old Books on Front, Downtown Wilmington, 7 to 9 pm, Free

Susan Werner, Music, Thalian Hall, Downtown Wilmington, varied, $25

The Sound Down Shore, Music, Juggling Gypsy, Midtown Wilmington

Threepenny Opera, Theater, City Stage Theatre, Downtown Wilmington, 8 pm, $24/16

UNCW basketball ESPN Bracket Buster, Sports, Trask Coliseum, University Area, TBA

UNCW vs Jacksonville (baseball), Sports, Brooks Field, University Area, 2 pm

Wine Tasting, Fun, Wine Sampler, Midtown Wilmington, Noon to 5 pm, Free

Carolina Beach, NC and Kure Beach, NC - Market Update

Looking for a beach house, 2nd home or investment property?

This could be your view year round but you need to know a little about our market here before you buy. Consider the following:

There are currently 387 single family homes for sale and this represents little change from January 1, 2011 and 8.2% of our total WRAR inventory. The average list price is $390,006 and decrease of about $12,624 from January. In January there were 21 homes sold, divide that by the homes available and you have a 18.4 monthly supply of homes in Carolina and Kure Beach. The average sold price for the month of January was $230,953 and is down $37,893 from last month. When we look at a rolling 12 months for Carolina & Kure Beach we are up by 61 units and our sold prices are down 7.1% from the previous rolling 12 months.
Information collected by David Flory of Cunningham Mortgage Company.

Wilmington NC: Hollywood Production Buzzing in Town

With gorgeous locations such as these including the beaches why would Wilmington be left out by the film community? They haven't been especially since the NC legislature increased the incentives for films. Wilmington is booming with Hollywood film production teams. Of course we have One Tree Hill in town for filming their 8 th season. We do hope they will be back for their #9th season. They bring lots of money to town in terms of purchasing and spending power not to mention the number of people they employ in the general area and the " Star power" to boot including the Rock among other stars in town for the work.

We do have a number of films starting up in the area. At EUE/Screen Gems Studios the 3D feature " Journey 2: THe Mysterious Island" is in full production. The Warner Brothers Studios/ABC Family Movie titled "Cinderella Story" is filming in town this month. Also a new television show "playing with Guns" will have its trucks moving cameras and other equipment around town.

I did get calls from one production assistant to help with location shots for some filming. They scout locations all over Wilmington for shots. This is an exciting time for our area...

WILMINGTON NEIGHBORHOODS - HISTORIC WILMINGTON

These gorgeous old specimens are part of a downtown Wilmington area known as the Historic area. This area comprises many city square blocks with old historic homes. Many are very well maintained and have been lovingly cared for and updated through the years. The yellow house pictured was the scene of the movie CAPE FEAR which was almost entirely filmed on its porch. These grand ole dames are well sought after for filming and tv shows as they have great film potential. One of the B& B's on 7 th street had a room where Oprah picked the wall paper. Kinda of an odd bit of nostalgia but true according to these owners. If you interested in the purchase of these older homes you be aware of old construction, electrical wiring, etc. You need to conform to guidelines established for any renovation on these old beauties set forth by the Wilmington Historical Society. You must adhere to their rules for house color selection, window design and almost any kind of renovation that you plan to make to houses in this designated area. These houses tend to beautiful but are very costly to maintain. They are well recognized in the community by their use in the Azalean Historical home tour, Historical Wilmington candlelight home tour, secret garden tourand Kitchen tour. These old ladies are very grand but are very large by todays standards and many represent craftsmanship rarely available today.

WILMINGTON NC REAL ESTATE UPDATE: FORECLOSED PROPERTIES TO HIT MARKET THIS SPRING

Get ready for a burst of foreclosed homes hitting the market this spring.
After holding back for a while, the big banks and Fannie Mae "will take their fingers out of the dam" that's holding back the huge volume of foreclosed homes, national real estate guru and speaker Steve Harney said this week.
It's a way that, from time to time, the enormous supply of bank-owned real estate can be brought to market without destroying the market, he said.
It's a view shared by Intracoastal Realty President Jim Wallace.
Prices will fall here in the quarter beginning in April as those foreclosed homes hit an already weak market, he said, and they won't make it back to present levels until this time next year.
Harney, who was in town to speak to Intracoastal agents, and Wallace sat down this week at the real estate firm's corporate offices to discuss the struggling housing market in terms both sobering and hopeful.
For example, "A house that was priced on the water for over $1 million sold for $500,000," Wallace said, though he wouldn't give the location.
Both men repeated the old real estate saw, "It's never been a better time to buy a home," but this time the agents and their bosses really mean it.
Why? Selection, price and interest rates, both Wallace and Harney said.
At the height of the boom in 2005, there were 900 homes on the market here, Wallace said. Today there are 3,000. And, the ones that are selling now have 2003 prices, he said.
If buyers are waiting on the fence, they should consider rising interest rates.
"If interest rates go from 4.5 to 6 percent, (buyers) have lost 20 percent of their buying power," Wallace continued.
Also, lenders have loosened up on requirements to qualify for a mortgage, Harney said.
Wallace said that homeowners who lose on the selling side will make it up on the buying side.
One of the reason that sales and prices in the Wilmington area have slid is "because people in the Northeast have been historically one of our main buying elements," Wallace said. "They haven't been able to sell their homes."
But he said that the latest measure of consumer confidence was the highest since May. "That's because other areas of the economy are improving and that will translate into letting them sell their houses," he said.
When they sell, however, they'll get less for their homes than they once thought, and when they come here they'll be buying less expensive houses than they once would have, Wallace said.
Houses priced above $300,000 have been hit the hardest here, he said. "The lower priced houses have really been the strongest market in the last several years." There are, however, "some encouraging signs in the upper end now," he continued.
"The fastest growing segment of the real estate market in the U.S. is homes that are selling for more than $1 million. People are more confident that the market is turning," Wallace said. "And they are really savvy buyers, so they realize that we are at or very near the bottom."
Though prices are weak, Harney said we are in a run-up in sales across the country, and he foresees eight straight quarters of increases that began in the fourth quarter of 2010.
"There is no question that there's a lot of cash on the sideline, and while the sales are not as brisk as we'd like," Wallace said, "last year we sold 2,662 houses in New Hanover County. That's a lot of homes.
It's still less than half of what it was in 2005, "but some people think it's a good time to buy."
Wallace admitted that some attribute his optimism to his position as a head of a major brokerage here.
But then he cited John Paulson, the hedge fund trader who scored hugely when he bet against real estate in 2006. "He said it was a bubble," Wallace said.
About a month ago, however, Paulson was giving a speech at New York University" and Wallace quoted him. "He said ?this the best time to buy a house in 50 years. If you don't own a home, buy; if you own a home, buy another one; and, if you can, buy a third. Loan money to your relatives so they can buy a house.'
"A guy who is that savvy is telling you that it's the bottom," Wallace continued, "It's pretty believable because he had it right the first time when it was going down."
Wayne Faulkner: 343-2329