Lake Norman Real Estate & Living

How is the housing market doing in the Lake Norman Area?
The following are the sales numbers for The Peninsula, The Point, River run and Birkdale. In each community sales are down from the previous years due  to ...

1.  Lack of liquidity and the difficultly to get a loan. Communities such as The Peninsula and The Point are impacted more heavily because in most case it requires a jumbo loan to purchase a home. Those loans are harder to get and are more expensive,

2.  Many of the people wanting to live in the Lake Norman area are from other parts of the country especially the north and south east where homes are very difficult to sell; therefore, they cannot sell their present home to purchase a home in this area.

 12 homes sold last quarter. There is  21.7 months of inventory

9 homes sold last quarter. There is 41.4 months of inventory.

34 homes sold last quarter. There is 7.6 months of inventory.

18 homes sold last quarter. There is 9.8 months of inventory

1. Homes in foreclosure reach record highs. While some markets have started to show improvement, the number of homes in foreclosure continues to rise to unprecedented levels. According to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, a record 1.2 million homes were in foreclosure in the second quarter of 2008. This number is expected to reach 2 million by the end of the year, analysts say.

2. Home prices continue to fall. But because real estate is local, the rate of decline varies on your market. And in some high-demand markets, prices are still climbing, though at a slower rate. According to the Case-Shiller Index — a survey of home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas — prices nationwide fell 15% in the second quarter of 2008 compared with last year. Despite the national numbers, some regions are starting to make a comeback. Some say the trend in falling home prices will mean lower divorce rates because a couple is less willing to sacrifice their equity.

3. Borrowers will have a harder time getting a mortgage. During the housing boom, mortgages were easy to come by — too easy to come by. Risky lending practices have come back to bite companies who profited from millions of bad loans, and many mortgage companies (including industry giants Countrywide, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and investment bank Lehman Brothers have fallen apart. As a result, U.S. banks have tightened their lending standards, limiting non-traditional loans such as interest-only mortgages and getting rid of subprime mortgages.

4. Bad real estate agents will get weeded out. In the past, homes practically sold themselves, and enterprising people became part-time real estate agents. Nowadays, home sellers are looking for premium service and expertise from Realtors in exchange for the 6% commission. And savvy buyers want an agent who offers insight and knowledge not available on the Internet. So be selective — only the best Realtors will succeed in this market.

5. Mortgage rates are still at historic lows. After the government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rates of 30-year fixed rate mortgages plunged from 6.35% to 5.93% in a week, the biggest weekly drop in more than 28 years. However, some analysts believe mortgage rates will rise if the government has to borrow money to finance Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But remember before the 1990s, interest rates were in the double digits.

6. Urban areas are making a comeback. The U.S. experienced a mass exodus to the ‘burbs after World War II, but homebuyers are now regaining interest in downtown areas. Urban core homes are often more expensive per square foot than their suburban counterparts, but many buyers are willing to pay a premium to avoid long commutes and urban sprawl.

7. Bigger is not always better. While the size of the average American family shrunk from 3.1 people in 1974 to 2.6 people in 2004, the size of the average American home increased from 1,695 square feet to 2,349 square feet. However, many home buyers looking to save money on utilities, taxes and maintenance are now foregoing McMansions and instead opting for smaller homes.

8. Buyers are going green. Eco-friendly attributes such as radiant floor heating systems, Energy Star rated appliances and on-demand water heating units are all the rage with homebuyers right now. For sellers, promoting your home’s green features will give you an edge in the competitive market.

9. Technology and social networking are changing how we buy and sell homes. Listings, home valuations and other information previously only available through real estate agents are now available on the Web. Because of this, agents have had to rethink their roles in the real estate world and adapt to the times. For buyers and sellers, more technology means alternatives to the traditional route of selling through an agent, such as home swapping and online auctions.

10. Flipping is out, buying and holding is in. Falling prices and a large inventory of unsold homes mean there are more potential bargains out there. Real estate investors are taking advantage of current conditions, knowing that a down market is the best time to get a good deal.

As fall approaches our thoughts turn to other activities besides boating, swimming and picnics. I want to share just a few of the activities that have happened during the month of September in The Peninsula ... a wonderful golf community on Lake Norman 25 minutes from Charlotte and the airport.

Happy Hour is a happening the first Friday of each month. This event is open to all Peninsula Club members It is a great chance to meet, greet and chat with neighbors and friends. Newcomers find this to be one of the best and most popular ways to get acquainted.

          The Peninsula Club House - where all the fun takes place. Meet your friends and have some good cheer!

        Another wonderful opportunity for women to meet other women is Ladies Night Out. This group gathers at a Peninsula resident's home the second Monday of each month. All women who live in and close to the Peninsula are invited. Just bring a salad, appetizer, dessert or a bottle of wine and come to enjoy an evening of commaraderie, fun and information about your community.

                     Chatting, eating, seeing old friends and making new friends is what Ladies Night Out is all about.

We are so fortunate to have so many talented people in our community that love to share their talents with the rest of us.  

Friday evening eleven of us were guest at the home of Jill Dahan for a gourmet cooking class. She prepared a Asian shrimp martini appetizer,  Mushroom,Pancetta stuffed Beef Tenderloin, Potato Daphinois, warm Feta Dressed Spinach Salad and Tres Leches Cake. She created and demonstrated each dish for us and then we dined and wined to our hearts content. It was a memorable evening. For more information about Cooking with Jill, e-mail her at sunninghilljill@aol.com.                                                                                                                                

Meet Jill Dahan ... our instructor for the greatest cooking class we have ever taken, good food, good wine and good friends.                                                        

Sunday we were agained awed by the talent of one of our residents, Manny Rashet and many of his students. Manny Rashet is a retired Pediatrician who creates beauty on a canvas. He is a very popular oil painter and has opened a studio where he teaches art classes several hours a week. Sunday, September 21st, he and his wife, Nancy, held his first art exhibit in their home featuring many of his paintings and paintings of his students. It was attended by people near and far.

    Manny Rashet is the handsome guy holding the glasses  Beautiful painting!

This is just a small smattering of all the exciting activities and events that continually take place in this wonderful community of The Peninsula. Come and join our lifestyle!

... because we meet so many wonderful and interesting people from all over the country. Recently we worked with a couple from Connecticut. They will be retiring in 18 months. They have been looking for a warmer climate with change of seasons, water and a vibrant lifestyle for all ages. They had looked in several states and decided the Lake Norman area was a perfect place for them. After identifying the area, they got on the computer and went to several real estate websites, landing on ours with it's complete array of information and "user friendly" capabilities... LuxuryLakeNormanHomes.com and sent us an e-mail requesting our services. After listening to their critieria for a lake home several were identified and away we went .... by boat .... Our clients got a first hand glimpse of how all these homes looked from the water side on a beautiful sunny North Carolina afternoon. They loved the vastness of the lake and the panoramic perspective. We stopped for lunch at a popular lake side restaurant where everyone is so friendly. They were impressed.  We were having fun.

The next day we toured these homes by car, now they could get the whole lake picture from land and water of a waterfront home. We had lunch at the Peninsula Yacht Club on their old fashioned porch over looking the marina filled with sail boats..       We finished the day celebrating the sale of a awesome waterfront home in the Peninsula by enjoying a glass orf wine on our deck before going to dinner at the The Peninsula Club ... and, they call this Working??????

Are you thinking about retiring? Do you like to entertain? Do you want your grandchildren to visit? Do you like to have fun?

              If you answered "yes" to these questions, Lake Norman is the place where you should live.

We just finished three weeks of fun with six Grandchildren (ages 4-16, two families) at Camp Ziegler on Lake Norman. Days began with breakfast of pankcakes, eggs, fruit and bacon. Then it was out to the lake for jet skiing, tubing or just playing in the water. Lunch time came way too quickly. Everyone needed a little rest and then back to more fun on the water or some days there was a afternoon trip to the Peninsula Club pool to make use of the "cool" slide. Back home there might be time for one more round of tubing before dinner. Dinner comprises of the kid's favorite foods ranging from burgers and cheesy potatoes to the more sophisticated (and expensive) steak and shrimp. One evening we had a hot dog  roast on the beach.  Everyone loves those smores. To vary the activities a bit, we went to Lowe's Motor Speedway to watch the young kids race and, of course, there was always time for tennis and golf. Many of evenings were filled with cards, dice games and hot tubbing.

 We are already taking reservations for the 2009 Camp Ziegler season. We are hoping to have some additional campers next year.

We are the luckiest grandparents ever and you can be too!   

 First time down the big slide .... solo!  Good for Matt.

Father and daughter enjoying themselves at the pool ....

 How proud to play with Alex  ... he is quite good  and you should see him play hockey!

 What fun we all had at the Tea House in Cornelius. Every grandmother should be so lucky!

Current Market Conditions:

How is the Market Doing in the Lake Norman Area?

The following are the sales numbers for the first six months of 2008 for The Peninsula, The Point, River Run & Birkdale with a four year history for the same time period for each of the communities. Every community's sales are down from previous year. Business is SLOW, but not DEAD!!