My seller owes $202,000 but the market value on the house is $160,000.  We have a contract for $163,000 with the seller agreeing to pay closing costs of $4800 and provide a warranty. 

My clients have tried borrowing the money from several banks but of course, no one is lending money right now...especially without collateral.  So our only real option is to have the lender agree to a short sale.

There is a first lien for $137,000.  That one can be paid by the proceeds from closing.  The second mortgage is for $65,000 with Countrywide.  That's the one we're trying to arrange a short sale with.

After selling expenses including commissions, revenue stamps, and assorted other fees, the seller would need $55,000 to be clear. 

So today I gathered together the sales contract, listing agreement, current CMA, net sheet, showing history and price reduction history.  I faxed those things in to Countrywide and now we wait while it travels through the system.  Countrywide says an accurate estimate is 30 days or so to get it done.  We'll see.

I think the CMA will help convince them that our contract price is good enough to go with.  The buyer is strong and willing to work with us.  The seven comps I found include two new construction sales (which are the highest prices) and five foreclosures.  The average sales price after adjusting for square footage is $160,000 while the average of the five without the two new construction homes is in the $140's.  Since we listed it on June 23rd, we've had four showings.  The first one didn't occur until two price drops and three months later.  It was listed before me since February, so there were five total price drops along the way. 

So the market is definitely challenging for this particular house. It was a CP Morgan house to begin with.  That's the first strike.  Then the sellers refi'd to pay some debt.  Which was basically just prolonging the inevitable.  Strike two.  Then the market for financing got crazy.  Combined with the less than ideal location and this one has been a struggle.

I'm just hoping the short sale is approved and this whole thing happens in 30-45 days.  We're thinking of doing a rental agreement in the meantime so the buyer can go ahead and get out of the apartment she's in with her four kids while still protecting both parties in case the worst case happens and the short sale doesn't work.

If anyone has any advice or comments, I'm always open to it.

Let me tell you about a website I've been visiting for a couple of years now.  I just realized it might be helpful to others on here.  It is called www.GeekBrief.tv and it's a video podcast about the latest developments in tech gadgets and services.  I've enjoyed it because it is a brief snapshot of upcoming gadgets and tech news by a young couple who have made it their career.  Neil and Cali find products new to the market, test them out and give their opinion on how well they do what they're supposed to do.  Included in their assessments is everything from the latest Apple Computing devices, external hard drives, cameras and other hardware to software and services like Twitter.

They have also posted a list of the equipment they use and have used in producing their show.  This includes cameras and microphones that they've found work best for podcasting.  The video camera they recommend for beginners is about $700 and features digital and an external sound option.  It is the Canon HV30 and can be found at Amazon and other online stores as well as Circuit City.

They've been podcasting for a few years now and I've always enjoyed surprising people with information on some random gadget I heard about in advance on their site.

Take a look and let me know how this site has helped you start a conversation or relate to your tech-savvy clients (or kids!)

Here's something I did recently at an open house to generate interest.  I'll be using the bounce house more often for such things as it makes a big spectacle which is what we really want for those exciting open houses! 

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 Bring the kids and let them enjoy the castle bounce house at 3063 Hawick Commons Drive Sunday October 12th from 2PM until 5PM.  While they're playing, you can enjoy viewing the open house. 

The home has 3 bedrooms and a single car garage and is situated on a large, level, fenced lot in popular Hawick Commons.  Just a short drive to Harrisburg and Concord, this home offers convenience to Lowe's Foods and Bloom supermarkets, Walgreen's and CVS pharmacies, Tru Value Hardware and restaurants like Soho Cafe, A.J.'s, Pizza Hut, NYPD Pizza, Zaxby's, Harrisburg Family Restaurant and more.  This home is also close to Highways 49 and 29 for easy access into Charlotte or Concord. 

The school system is highly rated and you are also only minutes away from Frank Liske Park on Stough Road.  Frank Liske offers tons of walking trails, baseball and soccer fields, playgrounds, fishing pond with paddle boats, picnic shelters, tennis courts, miniature golf and acres of lawn to play on. 

In the nearby Harrisburg Town Center, the YMCA is located on the second story of the Town Hall building for a convenient workout.

So come on out and take a look.  We'll also have information available on other local listings.  We'll also have loan options that will show what your monthly payment would be.  We look forward to seeing you on Sunday! 

Here's a brief thumbnail sketch of what's been happening with real estate in Hawick Commons over the past year.

• There are total 159 total homes in Hawick Commons.
• Right now there are 7 homes for sale
• 1 home is under contract or "Pending"
• 17 properties have sold within the previous 12 months. 
• Average Sale Price:         $134,797
• Average Asking Price:      $138,410
• Average Days on Market:  58
• Average S.F. of those sold homes:  1395 (Heated/Cooled not including garages)
• Sales to List Price Ratio:  97.4%  (sellers sold for this much of their asking price)

What is the Absorption Rate?  By looking at a community's absorption rate, you can learn how competitive a market is.  With 17 homes sold in the past 12 months, that means there was an average of 1.42 houses sold every month.  Right now there are 7 active homes on the market.  That means Hawick Commons has almost 5 months of inventory.  In other words, if no other houses went up for sale in the neighborhood right now, it would take 5 months for all the current homes on the market to sell.

What do these things mean to you?  To put it in perspective, in the entire Cabarrus County market over the past 12 months, there were 2096 sold properties.  Right now there are 1696 Active listings. 

•·      Right now there are 1696 homes for sale in Cabarrus County overall

•·      2096 properties have sold within the previous 12 months. 

•·      Average Sale Price:         $199,197

•·      Average Asking Price:      $205,528

•·      Average Days on Market:  90

•·      Sales to List Price Ratio:  96.9%  (sellers sold for this much of their asking price)

That gives us 9.7 months worth of inventory.  So again, if no more houses were listed as of today, it would take almost 10 months to run out of houses for sale.

So Hawick Commons is better off than the overall Cabarrus market by 2 times.  In other words, there are half as many months of inventory in Hawick as in the whole Cabarrus market. 

Also, the sales to list price ratio for the entire Cabarrus market is 96.9%.  So homes in Hawick are selling for more money on average than in all of Cabarrus. 

In today's market, with the media predicting the end of the financial world, this is a ray of light.  Our market will improve.  It's not nearly as bad as the newspaper would have you believe.  What it means to sellers is that in order to get top dollar for your home, it needs to be clean and decorated in neutral tones so every single showing counts.  Sellers also need to pay attention to pricing strategy and make sure they put their home on the market so that it doesn't sit with no showings.  If you build in too much "negotiating cushion", the result is often far fewer showings.  That doesn't mean you'll lose money necessarily.  It just means you have to watch the market's response to your price.  If you aren't getting a certain number of showings every week, adjustments need to be made. 

The days of "995 pricing" are in the past as well.  We've all seen homes priced at $139,995 or $147,900.  It made sense at the time because car dealers did it and shoe stores did it too.  But in this day and age, over 85% of buyers use the internet when searching for their home.  If your house is worth between $130,000 and $141,000, you would get far more potential buyers if you priced it at $140,000 (even) rather than $139,900.  This is because some buyers might begin their search at $140,000 and therefore miss your house altogether if you're priced at $139,900.  You wouldn't even show up on their radar screen and they may very well be interested in your house even though it's at the lower end of their price range.

There are other factors to consider as a seller in today's market as well.  A good, full-time REALTOR can discuss these issues with you to make sure you get top dollar for your home in this competitive market.  If you would like to get a more specific picture of your home's value, look to the upper left of this site and request the automated Market Snapshot.  Our Market Snapshot will be created for your house and show you what other homes have sold and how many days it took.  This service is free and without need to talk with an agent.

If you would rather speak with a seasoned agent about your particular home selling needs, feel free to email or call me and we can set a time to chat about your specific circumstance and how we can get the most money for you.

As a recent disciple of running, I've been online checking out the various running related gadgets designed to improve one's time and ability in that sport.  I had found a site called www.REI.com which sells apparel and equipment for various outdoors activities like running, hiking, kayaking, camping and the like. 

Then while driving past NorthLake Mall a few weeks ago, I found a brand new REI store in my area and got to touch lots of things I'd only seen online so far.  I bought the Amphipod hand held water bottle (excuse me, "hydration container" :) as well as one that fits at my lower back on a belt.  I've run with both of them a couple of times.  I definitely like the hand held better, but can see value in the belt one for longer runs.

I also bought several brands and flavors of gels to try them out before the half marathon I planned to run on October 4th. It was the Triple Lakes Trail race in Greensboro (www.triplelakesrun.com) .  I didn't want any rude surprises in case my digestive system didn't care for a particular brand.  I tried three of them before the race (GU, PowerBar gel,and another I can't remember) and each went down fine with no craziness. 

About two weeks before October 4th, I tapered down in my runs to make sure I had time to rest and recover.  I never did fit in a 20+ mile run.  I did 16, 15, 13, 12, 11 and several 8's and 9's.  It was too late to try the 20 miler, so I just worked on speed and tempo runs within reason.  I felt good that my cardio ability was there.  My big concern was with knees and ankles, but I've only ever had one bad ankle sprain before.  No knee issues besides occasional popping sound when squatting. 

The day of the race came and I woke up at 5 AM with butterflies in my stomach.  I had packed a bag the night before so all I had to do was shower and hit the road.  I ate a light breakfast of a 3 egg white omelet and headed out.  About two hours before race time (6:30AM), while driving, I ate a peanut butter sandwich.  The drive was an hour and 15 minutes and I arrived over an hour before the start of the half marathon. 

In another post I'll outline the rest of the details.  Overall, it was a wonderful first race experience and since then, I've run a 15K (9.3 mile) road race.  That too went well and now I'm officially hooked.

I read the articles on www.RunnersWorld.com as well as google different runners I learn about.  I'm learning about training techniques and pacing and recovery.  This has become something very important to me as it has taken the focus off of simply "losing weight" to something much more interesting and fun.   Concentrating on getting faster or going further is much more exciting than weighing every week wondering if I'm going to be depressed or not just because I didn't lose another pound.  With running, the weight just takes care of itself.  I began running on June 29th weighing 232 pounds at my 6' height.  Now, I'm maintaining a weight of 208-211 with the occasional dessert or chocolate treat a couple of times a week.  I feel good in my clothes and have dropped from a size 40 waist to size 34.  That's a great feeling, but I think by the time I'm at my maintenance weight after continuing to run at a comfortable pace, I'll drop another ten pounds and get to a 32 waist.  Either way, I'm no longer concerned with those numbers. 

In the past two weeks, I've returned to the weight room for 2-3 times a week just to make sure my weight loss doesn't affect muscle growth.  It's important to keep muscle mass while doing endurance exercise, so I want to lift to maintain muscle tone.

In the future, I will post my progress as well as things I learn that may help others interested in running and exercise. 

It's been interesting since I've begun this journey.  At least four times in the past couple of weeks, I've talked with someone about the running and either at the end of the conversation or within a couple of days, they've said something like "Wow, you've inspired me to start running again" or "Now I want to exercise."  That is the true payoff to what I've been doing.  Making a difference in the lives of others' health is so much like the rewards of making a difference in their housing and financial needs.  It is a feeling that is almost indescribable. 

I'd love to hear from you about your exercise journey.  If you have questions or comments, please share them.  Sometimes it just takes one random word of encouragement to get someone motivated.  Let's be that for one another.

Have a healthy day!

   Run Forrest Run!!!    

After years of being slightly averse to running more than a mile or so, I've recently become a bit obsessed.  It all started on June 29th when I went to Concord's Frank Liske Park and ran 3 miles without stopping.  I admit I was a little nervous about how hard it might be, but I felt pretty good after that run.  From that point on, I've maintained a regular schedule of 5-6 days a week running.  I did get off track during our little monsoon season a couple of weeks ago, but I still managed to go to the West Cabarrus YMCA and use the treadmill---and HATED it!  Yes folks, it seems I've turned into an "outdoor running" snob.  Don't get me wrong, the treadmill is okay in a pinch and it does go a little easier on the joints, so it certainly has its place. 

But there's just something about being outside in the fresh air, a breeze pushing you along, squirrels and rabbits scampering out of the way while you put one foot in front of the other one.  I find that I get lost in my thoughts or sometimes I don't even seem to think much at all during my runs.  Mostly though, my mind just sort of wanders in and around the various situations in my head.  If it's been a bad day, I'll think about what went wrong and what to do to fix things.  If it was a great day, I'll replay the best parts and think of how to recreate them again.  I'm also a wannabe writer, so lately I've found that running gives me a great session of peace and quiet during which I can work out ideas for novels or songs. 

Another great motivator that has fueled my newfound passion is the Nike Plus device for my iPod.  Nike Plus is a little transmitter (about the size of a quarter and as thick as two or three of them) that fits in my left shoe.  During my run, I plug in another small device (the receiver) into my iPod and it all functions as a sophisticated pedometer.  As I'm running and listening to music, a voice will let me know the miles left in my run or how many calories I've burned or how many minutes remain.  At the end, I sync the iPod to my computer and this data is sent to the Nike Plus website where I can view a graph of the run and see all my previous times and distances and calories burned.  I can join challenges with other Nike Plus users from around the world and compare my times with theirs.  It's quite addictive to watch those numbers rise.  I find that even if I don't feel much like running one day, I'll still do so just so I can stay on track to increase my miles run. 

So as I explore this newfound passion, I'll blog about gadgets I've found, gear I'm using, races I've entered, nutrition advice, training advice and the overall experience from one NEALTOR's viewpoint.  I'd love to hear your input and experiences about running, biking and most any outdoors activity.  Let's swap some great ideas!

Continued from "Motivation" post

So the day arrived and this past Saturday on October 4^th, I got up at 4:30AM, grabbed my bag I had packed the night before and drove the 75 minutes North to Greensboro.  The atmosphere was electric.  I'd always run either by myself or with one other person, so to be around so many other runners for the same cause was exciting.  And everyone was so nice.  I think that's because we all knew what sacrifice and discomfort (okay, sometimes downright pain) we, as runners, endure. 

 This particular half marathon (there was also a full marathon and a 40 mile race that day) was through heavy woods and trails, often only wide enough for one person.  There were steep hills and gulleys, exposed roots and precarious drop offs to the lake below.  I tripped four times and fell once, but didn't get hurt.  The scenery was beautiful as the entire half marathon course was around a large lake among tall trees.  I loved it.  The key to a long run is to not let yourself start off too fast so that you burn out at the end.  I kept this in mind, but it was hard to hold back because of the energy from all the other runners and the perfect temperature and weather. 

 Twice I thought I was lost, but both times a nice fellow competitor kept me on the right path.  Finally, I finished on my feet, running the whole way in 2 hours 7 minutes and 37 seconds.  I was 26^th out of 100 competitors, so I was happy with the result. 

 But now my next problem.  I'm hooked.  I've already found three more races I want to do this fall and winter.  The next one will be a 15K (9.3 miles) in about a week.  After that there is a half marathon two weeks later.  Finally in December another half marathon is in Charlotte.  Depending on how I feel after the next race, I might shoot for the full marathon in December.  I'm just staying attentive to my joints.  I don't want to end up having to stop training altogether just because something as primitive as a male ego caused me to get injured.

 So for me, a physically uninspired REALTOR in the first two quarters of 2008, the motivation of the Nike Plus iPod device made a difference.  It's amazing how something so simple as tracking results can keep us focused on a long term goal. 

 Best wishes to everyone as they find their own way to staying healthy in these next cooler months.

 We often get so caught up in the "busyness" of real estate that we slowly let our own personal maintenance fall by the wayside.  Eventually exercise is not a part of our week anymore (much less daily) and the pounds begin to sneak up on us.  At first, those pounds accumulate inside among our vital organs (visceral fat) and this is the most dangerous place it can be.  Since it starts inside, we don't notice the extra right away and we just keep on eating those desserts or fast food items and leaving out the walking or taking the elevator instead of the stairs. 

 I was guilty of all these things until June of this year (2008) when I took a good look at a photo from my birthday the previous April.  In it, I was wearing a button down shirt and dress pants, but my expanding waistline was not hidden by the clothes (even though the shirt was vertically pin striped ;).  That started the little voice in my head that said "you need to get back onto exercise."  I expertly ignored that voice and went about my way until finally it rose to a shout and on June 29^th, a Sunday, I decided to run at the park.  It was a challenge, but I completed the run and went back the next day.  For the next three months, I ran 4-6 days a week. 

 After my first two weeks, I found out about a neat little gadget that served to keep me motivated even on days when I was tired and didn't feel like walking, much less running.  It is the Nike Plus iPod Sport Kit ($30) and it consists of a small chip (about the size of a quarter) that goes in your left shoe and another small piece that plugs into your iPod.  Then while you're running or walking it will keep track of the miles you have left (or time, calories, etc.)  Once you've finished your run and go home, you sync the ipod with your computer as normal and it uploads your run workout data to the Nike Plus website.  This is the cool part.  You get to keep track of all the miles you've run, calories burned, dates of all these workouts.  Plus you can join from hundreds of "challenges" that other users have set up.  For instance there might be a "most miles in 30 days" challenge.  If you joined it, you would see the progress of your fellow challenge group members.  This caters to my sense of competitiveness.  Many days, I didn't feel like running, but I did it anyway so I wouldn't fall behind in my miles. 

 The sense of accomplishment from going a whole week and seeing that I completed 60 miles is hard to describe.  It truly keeps me motivated in those dark moments when I feel like taking a couple of days off.  Just as in the real estate business, our production grows when we track our results.  This is the ultimate results tracker.  (If only I could invent an iPod attachment that could just as easily track my real estate business activities.  I'd be a gazillionaire.  Just imagine if we could wear a sensor in our dress shoe and at the end of the day it told us everything we had done to be the most productive.)

 I run mostly at the park on the trails (easier on my joints), but sometimes I'll use the treadmill if it is raining or the road if the trails are muddy.  In August, I Googled "5k in charlotte nc" and other similar keywords.  I found several races and started thinking of which one I might do for my very first official race. 

 I also read a book by an amazing guy, Dean Karnazes, who ran 50 marathons in 50 straight days.  I don't aspire to quite so much volume of running, but it did make me tell myself "If he can do THAT, I can surely run a 5k, 10k or half marathon.  Maybe even a full marathon next year".  In the book, Dean said one of his top five most beautiful marathon locations was the Triple Lakes Trail in Greensboro, NC.  Immediately I checked on that one and sure enough it was scheduled for a month later, on October 4^th.  I trained with a purpose for that entire month.  I was nervous about tackling a half marathon as my first official run, but prepared by running several slow 15, 13, 12 and 11 mile runs around the park.  It would take two to three hours each time, but I overcame the sense of uncertainty and built up confidence.   (to be continued....next post "My First Race")

 From time to time, we find a great new construction deal where a builder will sell their model home to an investor and then lease it back from the investor while they continue to use it as their model.  If you like the idea of an investment where the tenant is extra motivated to keep your property in excellent condition, will pay a lease amount that gives you a positive cash flow, will rent for at least a year (and most times 2-3 years), then this investment vehicle may be for you.

 Just this week, we found a model home for sale with 6000 heated square feet (which includes a finished basement) for a total of four levels.  The window treatments will remain once the builder moves out.  The term is 18 months and then month to month.  The lease amount is at least $4000 per month but the sales price and lease amount are somewhat negotiable (according to our source).  Asking price is approximately $600,000.  The house is in the Craftsman style with a wrapped front porch.

 We find these opportunities every month but they rarely last very long.  If you'd like to be made aware of such opportunities, let me know and I'll be sure to include you on our list to receive the model home hotlist.

 In these situations, we represent the investor as a buyer's agent so the actual details and location of these homes is available to consumers only (not agents).

 Let me know if you'd like to receive notification of these deals before anyone else.  We'll include you on our short list of active investors so you find out about them first!