For Sellers: Cary, North Carolina Neighborhoods
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
Selling your home is a big undertaking. For homeowners in Cary, North Carolina neighborhoods, there are a number of keys for successfully presenting your home to prospective buyers. Think of your home as a setting in which you and your real estate agent seek to make buyers feel welcomed, comfortable and at ease. Read on to find out easy ways to accomplish this.
Buyers aren’t going to want to enter your home if the outside isn’t attractive. In fact, many buyers do drive-bys before they contact an agent for a showing. So plant some flowers, keep the lawn mowed. Be sure that the plants in your landscaping are healthy. Spruce up your driveway and walkways with a good power-washing. You can rent a power-washer at many home centers. The key is to make the outside attractive without making it seem that it requires a lot of maintenance.
Inside your home, think like a buyer whenever getting ready to sell. A good tip is to stand in the doorway of each room and survey it honestly. It’s essential for a room to give a positive impression as the prospective buyer enters it. Rearrange the furniture, spruce up the walls and adjust the lighting for the maximum favorable effect from the moment you step through the door.
Clean your home thoroughly and when you’re done, go over it again, paying special attention to small details. Be sure the windows are sparkling, inside and out. Go over the kitchen appliances and don’t forget to clean the inside of the stove and refrigerator. Even if you’re not selling the appliances with the home, it’s important for the kitchen to appear spotless. Attention to small details proves to buyers that you’ve taken good care of the home. Finally, de-clutter everywhere you can. Clutter makes rooms seem smaller. Besides this, clutter interferes with buyers’ ability to imagine their furnishings in the home.
The neighborhoods in Cary, North Carolina have a great selection of beautiful homes. To successfully sell yours, be sure to present it as a “top shelf” property.
North Raleigh, North Carolina Neighborhoods – Tips for Sellers
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
If you have a home or own real estate in North Raleigh neighborhoods and plan to sell, read on for some handy tips that will help you get the best price for your property.
Long before you put your home on the market, take a hard and honest look at it, trying to imagine what a prospective buyer would see. Chances are there are a number of improvements you can make to improve the saleability of your home. These improvements can be large or small, but must be made if you hope to sell your home quickly at a good price. Here’s where real estate professionals can help. These experts are in touch with the market and also with trends and pricing. Perhaps the most important service a real estate agent or broker can perform for you is to prioritize the improvements you need to make your home attractive to buyers.
Once the improvements are out-of-the-way, you can set the selling price, again, with the assistance of your agent or broker. In fact, it might be a good idea to have him or her do a competitive market analysis to determine the right price to ask for your home. Your agent has the experience and insight to help you set a price that’s fair to both you and the buyer. One important aspect of setting the price is analyzing the price of “comparables,” other homes in your neighborhood or area that are similar to yours. This puts your home in a context that shows buyers that it’s a good value.
Neighborhoods in North Raleigh, like many other neighborhoods in this vibrant region, are great places to find excellent values in a variety of price ranges.
Why Not Consider a Home in Holly Springs, North Carolina?
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
Real estate in Holly Springs, North Carolina both varied and affordable. Holly Springs itself is a great place to live and work, having been ranked by Money Magazine as #22 on it’s “Best Places to Live” in 2007. Holly Springs is centrally located in the Raleigh, NC metroplex near the towns of Cary, Morrisville and Apex.
Holly Springs is an affluent town with a median family income of about $81,000 per year. Since a median age of only 32 years, Holly Springs has a youthful outlook and culture. Holly Springs is an upscale and stable community where nearly 70% of the residents are married and 79% have completed some college. With only a median 30 minute commute to major employment centers, Holly Springs residents spend less time on the road and more time with friends and family. The crime rate is low and the sales and property tax rates are reasonable.
The average home price in the Holly Springs real estate market is about $243,000. A typical home priced in the mid $200,000s will have 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and over 2000 square feet of living space. Many homes in this price range have hardwood floors, fireplaces, cathedral ceilings and ceiling fans. Designer touches may include chair rail and crown molding in the dining room. Kitchens are spacious – many have breakfast nooks. Lot sizes can range up to 2/3 acre and concrete patios are common. Also expect to find 2-car garages with loft storage space in this price range in Holly Springs, along with nearby major highways, entertainment and shopping venues, churches and schools.
Great Opportunities Exist in Morrisville, North Carolina Real Estate
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
If you’re looking for a home in North Carolina, be sure to consider the charming town of Morrisville. The Morrisville real estate market is vibrant and varied, so there’s sure to be a perfect home for your preferences and budget.
Morrisville is centrally located and convenient to population centers like Raleigh (about 12 miles away), Durham (about 9 miles away), Apex (about 8 miles away) and Cary (about 6 miles away). The town has a population of about 13,000 residents. Since 2000, the population has grown by about 140%. The median age is about 30 years, which gives Morrisville an active, dynamic and youthful character. The estimated median income of about $65,000 has increased by about $10,000 in recent years.
Real estate in Morrisville is value-priced. The market is active and robust. The median house or condo value is about $220,000. For that price you can expect to find a 3 to 4 bedroom single family home with 2 to 2.5 baths and about 2000 to 2300 square feet.
In addition to being just a short commute from Research Triangle Park, a major employer in the region, Morrisville has a number of unique attractions. Chatham Hill Winery produces well-crafted wines made only from grapes grown in North Carolina. Lake Crabtree County Park occupies 215 acres. Lake Crabtree’s 520 scenic acres offer plenty of opportunities for boating, fishing and swimming.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, is a repository for European, American, African, Oceanic and Judaic art and exhibits. Finally, the JC Raulston Arboretum is a nationally acclaimed garden that houses an extensive collection of temperate zone plants.
For Buyers: Advice for Successful Real Estate Transaction – Part 2
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Once you’ve established a good working relationship with a real estate agent, it’s time to let him use his skills and expertise to find a home in the Cary NC real estate market that suits your requirements and budget. Most realtors will use the MLS (Multiple Listing System) to locate suitable properties for you. Some realtors can also set up a private website exclusively for you so you can view matching homes online and provide feedback to your agent about the Cary, North Carolina real estate he finds for you. Communication is very important at this stage of the process. Be sure to give your realtor honest opinions of the homes he’s selected for you to view. If one particular home seems especially attractive, it’s time to move the process to the next step: visiting the property in person.
Your realtor will schedule appointments to view one or more of the homes you’re interested in. Then, as you tour the homes, he’ll point out the positive and negative features of each property, again drawing from his experience to give you a realistic picture of the home. He’ll also know how popular or desirable the neighborhood is, since this has a direct effect on the home’s price. And as far as price is concerned, a good real estate agent will also be able to determine whether the asking price of the property has room for negotiation or not. As the process evolves, both you and the agent will work as a close-knit team to find just the perfect home.
For Buyers: Advice for a Successful Real Estate Transaction – Part 1
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
Buying a home is often the single largest financial transaction most people will make in their lives. Doesn’t it make sense, then, to be proactive and informed so that your home purchase transaction goes as smoothly as possible? Here are a few tips to help you get started buying real estate in Cary NC.
First, make a firm, well-informed decision to buy. While this decision may seem self-evident, there are a number of important factors to consider, not the least of which is financing. Put another way, decide how much house you can comfortably afford. A good general rule is that your monthly mortgage payment shouldn’t exceed 1/3 of your monthly income. Another critical part of the decision to buy is to establish some requirements, such as number of bedrooms, number of baths, lot size, etc. Never forget, though, that your requirements should never exceed what you can afford.
Next, contact a professional realtor. With your requirements in hand, talk to a realtor. Realtors are in close touch with both the market for real estate in Cary, North Carolina and mortgage market. One of the most valuable services a realtor can perform is to help you pre-qualify for a mortgage. This enables you to know exactly how much house you can afford and signals sellers that you’re a serious buyer. Realtors are also a wealth of information about neighborhoods, school systems, shopping districts, taxes, cost of living and a host of other factors that may effect your buying decision. Finally, a realtor can advise you on how market trends will effect the value of your home in the future.
Real Estate Facts from the North Carolina Association of Realtors
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Fact #1: Real estate trends in NC are not linked to the downward trends that have been reported in other areas of the country. According to the NC Association of Realtors, “all real estate is local,” so prospective buyers and sellers should not be swayed by “national” trends. Rather, they should study the NC real estate trends, prices, sales volumes and inventory at the local level. Along with this, buyers and sellers should also know that home prices in North Carolina grow at about 4% per year. Since 2000, average home prices have risen more than 25%. And in 2007, North Carolina had the 7th highest rate of increase in home prices nationwide.
Fact #2: Demand for housing in North Carolina is steadily rising. In recent years, there have been as many at 125,000 existing home for sale in the state. Real estate trends in NC are driven by the fact that North Carolina’s population is growing. In fact, it’s expected that the population will increase by about 400,000 residents by 2010. Related to the housing demand trend is the fact that most people who purchase a home plan to live in it and not to flip it. According the NC Association of Realtors, people buy real estate “to live in it, to establish their roots, to raise a family and to build on the American Dream.” The pursuit of this dream, they say, results in “strong communities, civic pride, comfortable retirement, and a higher quality of life.”
Fact #3: It makes sense to use a North Carolina realtor. There are about 45,000 real estate professionals in the state, all of whom subscribe to a strict code of ethics. Whether you’re a buyer or seller, a strong and honest relationship with a realtor is beneficial because realtors are aware of market trends and conditions. Also, realtors are in touch with pricing trends (both current and projected) and can give sound and effective advice to both sellers and buyers.
UncategorizedSome of the Great Neighborhoods in Apex, North Carolina
Posted by RealEstate_Guru
Apex, North Carolina is a great place to live and work. Centrally located in the well-known and highly sought-after Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area, neighborhoods in Apex feature beautiful homes in a variety of newly developed or well-established areas. Here’s some brief information about three of the most popular Apex neighborhoods.
Sunset Hills is a beautiful development with spacious lots up to 1/2 acre in size. Homes range in size from about 1400 to about 2000 square feet, which makes them great for both singles and families. Sunset Hills also offers both 1 and 2 story homes with 3 to 4 bedrooms and 2 to 2 1/2 baths. Every home has a garage. The neighborhood features a swimming pool and clubhouse and is close to shopping venues, schools, parks and employment centers in Holly Springs, Cary and Raleigh.
Peakway Village is an attractive and centrally-located neighborhood with 36 exclusive homes. Despite it’s exclusivity, Parkway Village offers a good variety of floor plans, including ranch and 2 story homes with 3 to 4 bedrooms. This vibrant community is close to schools and shopping areas, including the 475,000 square foot Beaver Creek Commons shopping center that is home to several nationally-known retailers like Target and Lowe’s. Restaurants, both casual and fine dining are also close by, along with elementary, middle and high schools. Homes in Peakway Village also feature master suites and gourmet kitchens with hardwood cabinets.
Orchard Villas is a great neighborhood for people over 55 who are looking for carefree living in an elegant setting. The Orchard Villas development has modest floor plans starting at 1900 square feet with 2 to 3 bedrooms and 2 to 2 1/2 baths. This neighborhood in Apex offers several models, including some with cathedral ceilings. Attached 2 car garages are included, along with optional fenced patios. Amenities include a country club and golf course, 20 miles of walking trails, fitness center, swimming pools and tennis courts.
Apex NC Real Estate Uncategorized