New Lots, a Park, and a Pond at Heritage Wake Forest
May 14th, 2008 Categories: New Construction Homes, Wake Forest
I was just out at the sales center for Heritage Wake Forest and found out about some exciting new developments. If you’ve always wanted to be in this awesome community and were afraid it might sell out before you were ready, fear not.
In addition to the 121 new construction homes in inventory right now and the 67 re-sale homes, over 200 brand new lots have just been released. Opportunities for new homes for sale in Heritage will be going on for a while.
The other neat thing I found out is there is a brand new park with a very nice pond feature that is just about complete. I drove by it and it will be an really nice park area for the neighborhood. I didn’t have time for photos, but I promise to take some in the next few days and write another article.
Click here to take a look at some of the homes for sale in Heritage Wake Forest?
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What Happens If My New Home Is Delayed?
May 9th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home, New Construction Homes
Builders contracts favor them and do very little to protect the buyer. That’s simply a fact. One often glossed over term in a builder’s contract is the amount of time allowed for delay of construction.
I sell a lot of new construction homes in the Raleigh area, and therefore, get the pleasure of reading sales contracts of all shapes and sizes. Please understand that most builders do not use the standard North Carolina Real Estate contract, which does not favor either buyers or sellers, but does a pretty good job of allowing the transaction to occur without either party harming the other. Most builder’s contracts are very different from our standard contract.
There are some fairly scary terms in these things, but none quite as frightening as the one that deals with what happens if either the buyer or the builder delays closing. Did you know that each of these causes for delay are handled quite differently?
What happens if the buyer delays closing?
This is very simple. According to the vast majority of builder’s contracts I have read, the buyer owes the builder money for each day closing is delayed. The amounts typically range from $50-100 per day. A 30 day delay, caused by the buyer, could cost you $3,000.
Hmmm… so that must mean that if the builder causes a delay in closing the buyer also gets monetary damages, right? Not exactly.
What happens if the builder delays closing?
This is simple too. The builder has two years to complete the home. How would you like to put a new home under contract, schedule it to close in August of 2008, and later discover that the home would not be ready until August 2010?
It’s interesting that whenever I challenge this term with a builder’s representative they usually respond that there’s nothing to worry about and that this has never happened to any of their deals. Well, if it never happens, let’s take it out of the contract.
Sometimes I can get this term excluded as part of the negotiations. It is a little easier to negotiate this now because sales are down and inventory is high. It is also easier to get the exclusion if the home is near completion.
Builder’s contracts are binding. If you sign one, you are bound by its terms and conditions. You either need to be a very good negotiator, or have someone representing you who is, if you plan on getting any modifications.
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1131 Bungalow Park Drive in Scotts Mill - Apex NC
May 8th, 2008 Categories: Apex, Homes For Sale
Great 2BR townhome in popular Scotts Mill
Price: $150,000
Sq. Feet: 1334
Bedrooms:2
Bathrooms: 2.5
# of Floors: 2
Subdivision: Scotts Mill/Bungalow Park
Year Built: 2002
This lovely home has it all, inside and out. The living area is open and features designer colors. The entire downstairs area has crown molding and there are smooth ceilings throughout the entire home.
The kitchen is a very generous size and has lots of counters & 42` maple cabinets. The black appliances really complete the look. Speaking of appliances, the refrigerator, washer and dryer are included.
This home comes with 2″ blinds throughout, so you can move right in.
Each bedroom has a private bath & walk-in closet. The master bath has a separate shower & dual vanity.
The craftsman style front porch is plenty big enough for rocking chairs and a table. This townhome is across the street from a natural area and offers a great view from the front porch.
Want to be the very first to walk on brand new carpet in your next home? The seller will pay to have carpet replaced if buyer doesn’t like existing color.
A one year home warranty is offered as well. Don’t let this one get away!
Need more details or want to schedule a showing for this lovely home? Call Bob at 919-602-7000 or send me an email.
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Home for Sale in Wake Forest - Dansforth Neighborhood
May 2nd, 2008 Categories: Homes For Sale, Wake Forest
Want huge rooms and a real yard? You’ve got to see this one! Just listed this home in the swim community of Dansforth in Wake Forest. It is in immaculate condition and full of upgrades. Check out the photos in the real estate show below.
Price: $400,000
Sq. Feet: 3063
Lot Size: .46
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 3
# of Floors: 2
Garage Size: 24×20
Subdivision: Dansforth
Year Built: 2006
The gourmet kitchen is as big as they come and features granite counters, huge center island, tons of custom cabinets, recessed lighting, hardwood floors, and an eat-in breakfast area overlooking the fenced in back yard. The kitchen is open to the large family room which has a ceiling fan and gas fireplace, and plenty of windows to view the awesome, private back yard.
There are separate formal dining & living rooms for those special occasions.
The master suite is huge and features a large sitting room, trey ceiling, walk-in closets, and a luxury bath.
There is a guest bedroom on the first floor with a full bath. As a matter of fact, this home has 3 full baths.
The large fenced back yard has a huge patio and custom deck and is plenty big enough for pets and kids to play to their heart’s content. The sellers will even leave the custom play equipment for you.
On yeah, there is a custom irrigation system to keep the beautiful lawn looking great with minimal time on your part. Welcome home!
Need more details or want to schedule a showing for this lovely home? Call Bob at 919-602-7000 or send me an email.
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New Home Community - Bellemont at Cary Park
April 29th, 2008 Categories: Cary, New Construction Homes
A new community has opened in the popular Cary Park area. It is a small neighborhood of 64 home sites called Bellemont at Cary Park. I was just there at a broker open house a few weeks ago and was quite impressed.
Piccola Builders is building custom homes at Bellemont with lots of attention to detail. Prices start in the mid $300s. These homes feature upgrades such as screened porches, unfinished walk-up attics, tankless water heaters, granite countertops, gas stoves, trey ceilings, hardwoods in the living areas, and ceramic tile in the bathrooms. Some homes even have basements. A rare find in our market. The models we toured feel well built and look great.
Here is a list of homes currently for sale in Bellemont at Cary Park
2925 sq/ft, 3BR/2.5BA, basement, $408,174
3120 sq/ft, 3BR/3.5BA, basement, $440,772
3120 sq/ft, 5BR/4.5BA, $408,870
2999 sq/ft, 5BR/4.5BA, $393,500
There are currently up to $10,000 in discount options and up to $3,000 in builder paid closing costs available for a limited time, with certain restrictions.
This location cannot be beat, especially if you work in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area. Folks who work at IBM, Cisco, Ericsson, SAS, or any of the other high tech employers at the park will really appreciate the short drive to work.
And there are plenty of amenities nearby too. The Cary Park Club with 2 pools, a waterslide, playground and clubhouse is available to all Bellemont residents. There is also a 28 acre lake nearby and 2 miles of walking trails. Just a few blocks away is the brand new Cary Park Village Center which I’m told will be home to very good assortment of restaurants and shops.
If this sound like a place you want to know more about, just give me a call at 919-602-7000, or send me an email.
Search all Cary homes for sale
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The Salute To Our Troops in Downtown Raleigh - The Photo Edition
April 28th, 2008 Categories: Downtown, Odds and Ends
The Salute To Our Troops parade and celebration in Downtown Raleigh on Saturday was awesome. It was a humbling moment standing there and watching this huge tribute to the brave men and women who are willing to voluntarily put themselves in harms way, if need be, and make the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I can be safe and free.
We have lots of military bases here in North Carolina. Even so, it’s easy to forget that these guys and gals, our neighbors, stand ready to serve whenever called upon.
I do not know what words I might write here that would be sufficient to express the gratitude that I feel towards our armed forces. So, I’ll try quoting something that was said a long time ago.
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
Enjoy the photos… and yes, that is Senator Elizabeth Dole on the Harley.
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Salute Our Troops Parade and Celebration in Downtown Raleigh
April 26th, 2008 Categories: Downtown, Odds and Ends
I’m headed to downtown Raleigh to enjoy the Salute The Troops parade and celebration this morning. There will be a military flyover at 10:00am followed by a parade that starts at Fayetteville Street and continues down Salisbury Street past the Capital building. After the parade there will be lots of military equipment and the like on display. There will even be several NASCAR teams there, displaying some race cars I presume?
This is a really cool event. In addition to all the fun and sights for civilians like me, There is a whole bunch of special stuff for active military and their families. Just for our military families, there are dozens of games and activities, a nice catered lunch, free access to Marbles Kids Museum, and free access to the opening night Carolina RailHawks (professional soccer) game.
I hope to see you there as we take a few moments to celebrate all that our military service men and women do to keep us free and safe. I’ll take my camera and post some photos later on.
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New Home Search Tool Up And Running
April 25th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home
I am so excited. I have installed a brand new home search tool on this blog that you’re just gonna love. Now I know what you’re thinking… this guy doesn’t have much to get excited about if he is all worked up over a new home search tool. Hey, keep reading, this thing is really cool and just might get you excited too!
It is a software service from Best Home Pro that features a map based search along with decision making tools that can help you sort and sift through the hundreds of homes that might typically show up in a search. When set up properly, this awesome tool can produce a pretty impresive top 10 list of homes that fit the exact criteria you specify.
If you register your email address, the system can send you an update whenever a new home is listed that makes it into your top 10 list, or when a home sells and allows another home to move up to the list. It does this using a direct link to the Triangle MLS that is updated daily so that you are seeing very fresh information on homes listed for sale.
I’ll be writing more about Best Home Pro in the coming weeks. If you want to get started right away, click the link below, or the Search For Homes button over on the right. Enjoy!
Search ALL Triangle Homes For Sale
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Back To Normal
April 25th, 2008 Categories: Odds and Ends
Last night I saw one of the most beautiful sights I have witnessed in a very long time. I logged on to this blog and saw that all of my content had been fully restored. That was a really big sigh of relief for me.
The more I thought about all the hours I had put in writing the four months of articles that have been missing for over a week, the more panic I experienced. The people that host my blog, The Real Estate Tomato, had been telling me all along not to worry, that it was all safe and sound. But I didn’t listen. I worried anyway.
I just want to say a public thank you to Jim, Molly (you know who you are!), and everyone at The Real Estate Tomato for doing such a wonderful job of recovering from the attack that a bunch of us bloggers suffered almost two weeks ago.
Now back to blogging and selling houses!
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The Times They Are a Changing - Pricing Homes To Sell
April 24th, 2008 Categories: Selling a Home
I did a market analysis today for a new listing and the very first thing I looked at was comparable active listings. Last year I would have looked at comparable sold listings first. That was before we had 9,000 plus active homes listed for sale in Wake County.
The name of the game today is beating the competition. And there’s plenty of it too. Buyers have choices. Lots of them. Last year I could list a home and sell it in a couple of months, maybe a couple of weeks, as long as I priced it in line with recent sales.
Recent sales are still important for setting a max price. But the competition must be beat if you want to sell a home in the Raleigh market today. The value proposition, condition for a certain price, is king. I can get a little more money for my clients and sell their homes a lot faster if the home looks better than the competition.
As important as pricing is, presentation and marketing are just as important now. All this stuff has been important in the past. It’s just that now I can almost predict the order houses will sell in a neighborhood based on price and condition.
Preparation will make you money. Staging is money well spent. Inspecting your home and making repairs before putting it on the market helps too.
Thinking about putting your home on the market any time soon? Don’t take anything for granted.
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