Sep. 22, 2007 - Raleigh NC Real Estate>>Best Place to Flip a House in 2007

Forbes Magazine just loves the Raleigh NC Real Estate market!!  They are endlessly ranking our community as the best to live, best for jobs, best for singles, etc.  However, this ranking is a new one!! I wasn't sure I read the text correctly. 

Best Place to Flip A Home ???? Your kidding me, right? Forbes ranked the Raleigh Market the #3 Market in the County To Flip Homes!! #2.  The irony of this story is that the Raleigh NC Real Estate Market has never been a flippers dream.  There have been so many markets in the country appreciating at a much faster pace than the Raleigh Market which made "Flipping" a non-starter in this area.

Ladies and gentleman- the tide has turned!! The slow down in the real estate market across the country has lead to FLIPPERS starved for new business opportunities.  Just last week I met with a team of 4 investors from the Bay area looking for a strong real estate market that is now experiencing appreciation rates almost double what they were in the past 5 years!!  Forbes calculated whether a market is ripe for flipping by using data from Moody's Economy.com to come up with the rankings using the following criteria as a benchmark:

• Market appreciation rate vs.  current inventory
• Supply & Demand in the market
• Current new-home construction numbers through the end of 2008

The Raleigh NC Market is now posed, in certain optimal price ranges(less than $250k) as indicated by Forbes, to be a profitable market for flip properties.  More information can be found at Realtor.com Magazine Online or you may visit me at my website at www.TriangleNCHomes4Sale.com.  

Mar. 4, 2007 - Fuquay Varina NC Real Estate >>A Disquised Invesment Opportunity-Before and After

 I recently worked with a couple on the purchase of a home in Crooked Creek in Fuquay Varina.  My clients wrote an initial offer on a home in September but lost the house because they had to sell their home in Phoenix.  My clients closed on their home November 17th so they are now ready to move to North Carolina. 

I'd like to preface that my clients were looking for a good investment opportunity.  When I showed my clients homes back in September we went into a house that seemed incredibly spooky.  We walked through the house and there were holes in the walls, stains on the carpet (blood perhaps?), and video cameras up in the bonus room.  This is where my story begins.

A murder perhaps? An argument gone wrong?  A child molester upstairs with hidden cameras?  As you are aware, we as Real Estate agents do not have to disclose information about people dying in the home. I can understand dying of natural causes, but murder should be disclosed.   On the other hand, if I am representing my clients, I feel I have a fiduciary duty to determine exactly what went on in this home before my clients purchase the property.  The sight of the home was incredibly disturbing.  What happened in that house?

I did a lot of investigating and found out there was a disturbed couple living in the home and they went through bankruptcy, but other than that, the house was good to go.  Most of the problems in the home were cosmetic.  The home had what I like to call "good bones", it was in a great golf course community, and the home sat on a cul-de-sac lot.  The basement was not included in the square footage measurements because the previous owner did most of the work on his home and not the best work I might add.  I'm attaching the before photos and will post the after photos in another blog. 

The bottom line from an investment standpoint.  My clients purchased the home(it's all in the Wake Gov County Records) for $262,000, a real steal since all of the homes in that section of Crooked Creek are going for $400k plus.  In fact, the previous owners purchased the home back in 2002 for $330,000 with an unfinished basement.  My clients replaced the carpet, made some minor changes with the fixtures(cosmetic), repainted, powerwashed the front of the home, and refinished the basement.  They've now added over 800 square feet to the home in a matter of 45 days.  The difference is DRAMTIC.  They did put some money in the property but in the end they added over $150k in equity in a matter of 45 Days.  I'm not saying I can produce these kind of results for everyone(I preface the RESULTS NOT TYPICAL statement) but I do have an eye for a good investment opportunity.

Pictures will be reposted.