Here in Chapel Hill the market is less robust than it could be, but nothing to cause any great concern. However, that is not true in many areas, such as two of my former places of residence California and Florida. It seems things are bad enough that some entrepreneurs are creating business based on teaching people the best way to walk away from their mortgage. I have even read where banks are walking away from properties in some areas of Cleveland, leaving the property to the government rather than pay taxes and fines on a property they can't unload. I prefer to be optimistic, it just makes for a better life. In the areas that saw unrealistically high prices, has the market stabilized? Is business turning around or are seminars on doing short sales more popular than ever?

One of the most frustrating experiences of the electronic age is sending an email, waiting for a reply and later discovering they never got the email. Such mishaps can cost you business, in other words, money. Likewise, it can cost you money when you use email for notification. You send it, call and confirm they got it, discuss the content of the message; and now they claim it never happened or they claim the message was different from what you claim. Electronic communication is easily altered by those technically inclined. You can use paper to avoid the issue, but it is much slower and more cumbersome.

I suggest a good alternative for emails with monetary implications is registered email. A company called RPost has a system to verify an email was received, the time it was received and the content of the message. Just as with regular mail and registered mail with the USPS, it is not something to use on every email, but for truly important emails it provides legalproof of delivery and content. It doesn't take much imagination to see where this system can be of significant benefit to those of us in the real estate industry.

Well after several months of planning, I am now back in North Carolina and open for business. I relocated from Florida to Chapel Hill the first of August. (Sorry about bring the heat with me. Hopefully it will go away soon.) I cannot express how nice it is to enjoy the hills, real dirt and song birds. The adjustment to seeing many more houses with basements and very few with swimming pools is a welcome change. Florida is not a bad place to live, but North Carolina is a nicer place to live, IMHO. Give me a call and let me help you with your appraisal needs in the beautiful Chapel Hill and Durham areas.

After just over three years here in Florida, my family has had enough of the flatlands. We are going to move back north, to North Carolina that is. We will probably settle somewhere in the general area of Charlotte or Raleigh since that is where my wife and daughter have friends. I would appreciate any comments on the real estate markets there at this time.

The market here in Orlando would actually be very good were it not for the after effects of the speculator "locusts" we had in 2004/2005. From what I have read, North Carolina was spared that plague.  Anyone have a recommendation on choosing between Charlotte and Raleigh? They are both great places to live.