Recently our daughter, Lindsay, married a grand young man, Patrick. Happily, they’ve started their lives together and immediately wanted to put down roots. After a bit of travel, much research and balancing options like job, climate and the all important access to me, they decided to remain in Knoxville, TN, where they have lived and worked for the last year or so. They’re just over the mountains from us - about 4 hours by car - and that’s great. Of course, not as great as if they had given in to my not-very-subtle requests that they move to Greensboro and buy a house next door.

Why, oh why, would a young couple not want to be next door to me and Mr. Durango? That’s a question for another day.

The point of this already rambling post is that Lindsay & Patrick have been working with a Realtor in Knoxville to whom I am grateful for guiding them so well. Also, this agent has a kicking website. Patrick was so pleased he wrote up props for her on his well read blog.

Understanding that it takes an artist to create but real genius to steal, I’m boosting some of her ideas. (I advised her of such and she said she was cool with it. Thanks, Suzy)

I’m irritated with myself for not having posted more stats before. Not that numbers are the be all and end all of research, but it does give one a framework from which to build.

All that having been written, let’s move on to some data:

Stories about foreclosures are all over the news and have been for a few months now. While Greensboro and surrounding areas in Guilford County haven’t been clobbered as have some other regions of the country (California, Michigan, Florida we pass along our good thoughts for things to improve soon) there have certainly been properties that have been taken back by the lender and put up for sale.

Looking at 2008, below are the number of listings of single family houses that were listed each month*”

Single-family houses listed as foreclosures in Guilford County 2008

*All info is pulled from the GRRA MLS for Guilford County only, single-family houses.

Well, that’s icky to see.

But the good news is that most of these houses (that is, those listed this year) have SOLD.  When we overlay the properties that have closed (that is, all papers are signed and new owner takes possession) it looks a bit more positive:

Showing foreclousures that have closed. Look at October!

Below, we can see the trend of foreclosures that are now “pending”. which means the seller and buyer have come to agreement on terms and the sale is awaiting final closing.

As you can see, there were few that went under contract during the first months of the year but the number has increased precipitously in the last couple of months:

Adding the number of properties that went under contract each month.

What does all this tell us?

First - There are many, many people who have been through some really rough months. They are more than stats on a chart. And we should all hope that our country never goes through this on the present scale again.

Second - There are many motivated sellers out there. And banks are included in that as they have no motivation to own these houses.

Third - LOTS of buyers are stepping up to take the opportunity to buy.

And keep in mind that these foreclosures are only a small percentage of the houses currently on the market. There are plenty of great buying opportunities out there. Interest rates (hovering below 6% this morning) are good.

Suffice to say that this is a Buyer’s Market like none we’ve seen in decades. No joke. If you have decent credit and the hankering to own a home, start your engines.

If you’re in the Knoxville, TN area and need a Realtor, call Suzy Trotta. And if you see Lindsay & Patrick, newlyweds and new homeowners, tell them to give this ol’ woman a call. I miss them!

Tags: foreclosures, Greensboro real estate, real estate statistics

Wow. The news is really hard to hear and read sometimes, even when you’re being quoted directly!

I recently was contacted by a reporter for the New York Times and asked about the real estate market here in Greensboro, NC. He had apparently come across this very blog, thought I had some interesting things to say and wanted to speak directly to me.

I was pleased to do so. After all, getting me to talk is only slightly more difficult than getting me to eat.

And he, Nelson Schwartz, asked good questions, some of them pointedly about the effect of gas prices on home-buying (not much, in my experience), whether foreclosures have worked their way into more upper priced neighborhoods (yes, but not in a “wholesale” way as can be found in some other parts of the country) and so on.

I spoke to what I’ve been seeing and how it ranks in comparison to my experience. Pithy comments, thoughtful commentary, wit all the way around it seemed to me. He asked if I might know of others to whom he could speak - appraisers, lenders, etc., I passed along several names, after confirming with each that it was ok to be contacted by the reporter. And he got other names from other contacts.

Due diligence done right.

The next week Mr. Schwartz came to town and met with many, many people, including me. It was really interesting to see him take notes, which questions he pressed on. Let’s face it, some dude from the New York Times shows up and wants to hear your opinion is cool. It was to me, anyway.

Nice fellow. He called to confirm a quote he was going to be citing, the spelling of my name and what “title” should be used for me (’broker”, “real estate agent”, “Realtor”.

I suggested “Real Estate Queen”. He settled on “Broker”.

And on Sunday, sure enough, there was an article about our city on the front page of the business section of the New York Times.

Most of the people who read it and talked to me about it thought it was nice to get a mention in the Times. And it was hardly news that things are slow, that there’s higher than usual inventory and that some buyers are getting good deals.

But there are some folk - namely, other real estate agents - who are less than enthusiastic about the article. Not because they don’t know that things are tough if you’re trying to sell a house right now. But because there were more negative stats than positive. Because all the numbers don’t reflect that houses are continuing to sell. Because the article doesn’t reflect the many positive things that are going on around here.

I may be persona non grata for a bit, having gone on record stating that buyers are making offers lower than they did a year or so ago. But I’m quite sure I’m not the first person to notice this. It would be hard to miss - like my rear end.

Facts are facts, and as I’ve been writing here for many months, all this translates into this is a fantastic time to buy.

And it’s about time buyers got a break, eh?

So, my 15 minutes of fame didn’t even make that threshold. More like 9 seconds.

**shrug** It ain’t nothin’ but a thing, as we say ’round here.

Tags: NY Times article, real estate market in Greensboro

Here’s a chance to get a home in Oak Ridge, NC - a community that has always been popular and is getting more and more so every year. The price is VERY good for this area, at $215,000.

And being in Oak Ridge, the tax rate is lower than in Greensboro or Winston-Salem. That is, this same house in Greensboro would have an annual tax bill of over $2,400 instead of $1,400!! (For an explanation of how taxes are figured in Guilford County, see this post…)

A few highlights:

• 3 bedrooms PLUS and office
• rocking chair front porch
• screened porch & deck overlooking woods
• stainless steel kitchen appliances
• new berber carpet throughout
• fresh paint in several rooms
• Master BR has two very large closets
• Master Bath has separate tub and shower and separate vanities
• 2-car garage with room for workbench PLUS extra storage room
• large pantry

SCHOOLS:

Stokesdale Elementary

Northwest Middle

Northwest High

Feel free to contact me for more information, or ask your Buyer’s Agent to get you the scoop on MLS #G467515.

CLICK HERE for a VisualTour of this listing.