Murphy, North Carolina has experienced quite a bit of new construction to come on the market in the past 4 years. Everything from chalets, log cabins, cabins, ranches - you name it. We should even have condos coming soon if the project takes off. We've been blessed with a great new inventory giving real estate buyers more choices on new homes.

Many builders have become a bit nervous and have drastically cut their inventories. This has left buyers with fewer choices on new construction homes. Even so, many of the reputable builders still have quite a few they are building as I write this. Those are the best to buy.

As I read the Wall Street Journal (August 1, 2007), it references that inflation rose just 0.1% in June from May. It also mentioned labor costs increased 0.9% last quarter. That number is a national number that even affects the local real estate market. However, I believe home builders will find that labor will drop as many sub contractors find less jobs are available. We may find general contractors will do more of the building process and sub out less.

I personally feel that would be a great change because the whole affect dominoes the cost of building a new home. A cost plus contractor (costs 100k to build a new home so the contractor would make, say, 15% of that) can do more and will not be paying a profit to a company that installs the hardwood floor for example. If you're not paying profit on profit, then your total building cost will go down.

All in all, it should be a good thing for labor costs in local construction to go down. It will weed out shady or fly-by-night sub contractors that should be there in the first place. If you are looking to build in our market, let us know! We would be more than happy to point you to a reputable builder who you can trust will be here for years to come.

John and Jessica Poltrock - RE/MAX Mountain Properties - Murphy, NC - (828) 837-3002 - (866) Murphy-NC