One of the most popular topics on this site is that of foreclosures. With all the carpet-bombing news stories about the distressed economic system, distressed banks, distressed real estate markets and distressed home sellers one could understandably be, well, distressed.

For sure, there is pain out there. True, real, flesh and blood people in tough positions.

But when we drill down to Greensboro foreclosure numbers*, we had another good week.

During the week ending 4/12/09, only 5 foreclosures were listed. That’s the fewest weekly total since tracking of the numbers started on this site. And of the 9 residential Greensboro zip codes, three have had no foreclosures listed in the last weeks. (27403, 27408 and 27455)

More importantly, there is a decided trend in the rolling 12-week periods of foreclosure listings. There were 12 fewer in the 12 week period ending 4/12 than the previous period. That’s a huge drop.

There has been a moratorium on foreclosures by some financial institutions, and those moratoriums are coming to a close. So perhaps the numbers will go the other direction in weeks to come. If they do, you’ll read it here.

But for now the trend is clear. There are fewer foreclosures in Greensboro than there were. And that means fewer stressed home sellers, which may lead to less stress on the real estate market, banks and the economy in general.

Let’s hope so because until they start putting Xanax in gumball machines, we all need less stress.

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities

Tags: Foreclosures in Greensboro, Greensboro, Greensboro zip codes, MLS, Multiple List, Multiple Listing Service, Real estate market

There are more listings in Greensboro this week. There are also more ‘pending’ sales. To be specific, of the 3045 houses on the market in Greensboro, 569 (19%) are under contract. Last week, that percentage was 18%. A couple of weeks prior to that, 17%. Two weeks for THAT 16%. What does all that mean?

It means, Grasshopper, that even as overall inventory of has increased, properties are selling at a faster rate than they’re being listed.

Can I get an “Amen”?

And, as you can see, the average list price is up – again. This is the 7th out of the last 8 weeks where the average list price has increased.

Here’s some more “graphitti”

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

_________________________________________________________

If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

Tags: Greensboro

I’m not trendy, but I know a trend when I see one. And there is a definite trend in the foreclosure listing activity in Greensboro.

It’s a downward trend, and that’s good. In order for the real estate market to rebound, there must be a reduction in inventory overall, and in the number of foreclosures specifically. That’s because foreclosures are the real estate equivalent of single celled organisms – not really productive in the grand scheme of things, taking energy the environment and are often slimy.

And I mean that literally. Some of these places look like they’ve been rode hard and hung up wet.

So, the first step towards economic evolution and advancement is to get these distressed properties off the market. And that’s what appears to be happening.

Looking at 12-week rolling periods, the week ending 3/1/09 has the lowest total since I started tracking, which was the beginning of September 2008.

That’s the first bit of good news.

The second is that, of the 146 properties listed in the last 12 weeks, the fewest yet are still on the market (comparing to other 12 week periods) and more are closed or pending than other periods.

Not only that, but of ALL the foreclosures listed since 9/8/08,  nearly 2/3 are closed or under contract..

This is a trend – unlike botox injections – behind which I can get.

[NOTE: It has been requested that I include numbers for  Summerfield, a 'bedroom' community north of Greensboro in Guilford County. I appreciate the suggestion and will start compiling the data and will post as soon as I have done so.]

For those who like to see the numbers for your zip code, here you go:

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

_________________________________________________________

If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Weekly fluctuations of the numbers can happen as the data is impacted by the promptness of input by members, properties that are temporarily withdrawn from the market, etc.,

Tags: Foreclosures in Greensboro, Greensboro, Guilford County, MLS, Multiple List, Multiple Listing Service, Real estate market, Summerfield

Credit: H. Scott Hoffmann / News & Record

[UPDATE: The addition of a 3rd runway at Piedmont Triad International Airport is nearly complete. It was built to accommodate the new FedEx hub. Here's a link to a Fox8 News story about it. Note use of the word "aerotropolis". Memorize it. Greensboro is becoming one.]

You may be a aware that for generations in Greensboro “Cotton Was King”. There was even a fine hotel named the King Cotton. But that building the textile industry itself, are memories.

The next logical industry for Greensboro is, of course…..aviation??

Greensboro has quietly become a center for many things airplane oriented (including my husband, but that’s a story for another post). And a prime example of that is the fact that HondaJet is opening it’s facility here. They’ve exceeded the hiring numbers they had projected and are talking of producing more jets than initially planned.

In addition to HondaJet there is airplane maintenance facility, TIMCO, supply house Aerosphere Aviation, and the coming FedEx sorting facility is preparing to open at Piedmont Triad International Airport. Greensboro is also in the running for aFedEx hub.

How did all this come to be in the land of cotton? I really don’t know, or I’ve long forgotten. But look this way. Look this way, look this way, to Dixieland – if you want to find an expanding industry.

Tags: Aerosphere Aviation, aerotropolis, FedEx, Fox8 News, Greensboro, HondaJet, Piedmont Triad International Airport, TIMCO

This audio was listed on a blog post by the editor or our city’s newspaper, The News & Record. It involves a bank robbery followed by a car chase with one of the suspects hanging out a window of the chased car, shooting at trailing officers.

Pretty dramatic in its own right.

But at about 5:45 seconds in, you can hear one of the officers advise they have initiated CPR on one of the downed suspects. One who had just moments earlier been trying to kill the officers.

Trying to save the life of someone who for no good reason was just trying to blow you away.

Now that’s drama.

Tags: bank robbery in Greensboro, car chase in Greensboro, Greensboro, Greensboro News & Record, John Robinson, police audio of car chase

A new element I’m adding to this site is periodic profiles of locally owned business establishments, artists and characters.

In my first such entry we find all three.

Vin Vin is a wine shop. But it is not what one usually expects from an establishment devoted to the grape. No pretense. No attitude. No ferns. Just really well-priced wine and two guys who know their stuff.

Fear not. Climb the stairs. Buy some good wine.

Not only do I never feel like an ignoramus when I enter, I sometimes feel overdressed. It is a most informal place – cinder block, concrete, lumber. And the whole space is kept at the ideal temperature for wine. The lighting is low tech. There’s usually a stack of empty boxes in the corner. And you you have to drive to the back of an industrial area to get there. Just climb the metal steps, ring the buzzer and enter.

But once you’re in, you’ll find Rob and/or Richard. And they really know wine.

They’ll take as much time as you need to help you come up with what you want – even if you don’t know what that may be. That’s what my situation usually is. I don’t know much about wine. So I’ll stop in and Rob will pick out a few bottles for me. And while they carry all price ranges, he knows that if the bottle costs more than about $10 I’m probably going to pass.

I’m a cheap date.

So around Rob goes, alternately talking to me and to himself, figuring out what I should try this time. He also has a record of what I’ve bought previously, so when I tell him “I really liked that white in the tall, skinny bottle” he can figure out which one that might have been.

Rob is apt to break into a Gaelic dialect, start explaining his take on the writings of Melville, and ask about your newly married daughter, all in one paragraph. You can sit on the red leather sofa and shoot the breeze while a wine expert loads up a box of various vintages for you.

They’ll even deliver to your home – for free. Even for one bottle.

There are regular tastings. They’ll have wine tastings in your home. And if they don’t have it, they’ll get it for you.

They carry a few wine accessories but only ones they feel good about. And they carry a very few food items. Rob says they’re planning on adding fine cheeses. I hope that happens. Richard really knows his foods, they both know their wines, they remember your name when you walk in, and it’s the only wine store into which I ever walked where I didn’t feel intimidated.

Rob and Richard are innovative, knowledgeable and adorable.

And they have wine!

Drop in and tell them Casey says “hey”. And that I’m digging that Wente white.

Tags: Greensboro, Greensboro merchants, Greensboro wine shop, local business, Vin Vin

Beauty – like symbolism – is everywhere. This shot was taken by a peer yesterday after a day of particularly scary and weird winter weather. Then, for just a moment, Greensboro was treated to a rainbow.

Now, back to work..

Tags: Greensboro, Rainbow in Greensboro

Here’s the weekly update on new foreclosures that have come on the market in Greensboro. As in previous posts, the information is drilled down to zip code, property type and weekly historical data

The numbers stayed relatively flat comparing the week’s new foreclosure listings (11) to the previous (10). But keep reading for some GOOD NEWS.

Here’s how it breaks down…

For Greensboro’s foreclosure listings during 12/15/08 – 12/21/08*:

Total new foreclosures listed: 11

• single-family: 9
• townhouses:    0
• condos:           2

by Greensboro zip code:

And if we look at those zip codes comparing the most recent 3 weeks:

The aforementioned good news comes when we compare “rolling 12 week periods”. The numbers for those 12 week periods show a downward trend.

Could this be a result of the holidays? Maybe, but unlikely. Misery doesn’t take holidays.

Could this be a result of a foreclosure moratorium?  (Citibank, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac advised they would halt foreclosure proceedings on homeowners in specific circumstances into January 2009)

Again, maybe. It’s hard to know how many of those owners fall under requirements set out by those lenders.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter why. If it is a result of the moratorium, great. It’s helping the inventory situation, which helps all sellers, as well as helping those borrowers who have a reprieve from foreclosure.

If the reduction in the number is just the natural result of what is inevitable – that is, that the housing market will reach ‘bottom’ and start turning upwards from there – even better. That may be wishful thinking, but I’m a positive type of gal.

Time will tell. Keep checking back with this blog and we’ll see whether I’m a cock-eyed optimist, or just cock-eyed.

Good or bad, you’ll see it here.

If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

Tags: Citibank, Fannie Mae, Foreclosure Moratorium, Foreclosures in Greensboro, Freddie Mac, Greensboro, MLS, Multiple Listing Service

This was what the fridge looked like AFTER a full day's worth of eating.

We are a fortunate family, and on so many levels. And we were all able to be together this past weekend as our newly married daughter came with her husband for a pre-Christmas visit, our older son took the train from Raleigh and traveled into the lovely Depot in Greensboro and our youngest is home for break after his first semester at college.

And we are doing okay throughout this frightful economic time. We all have jobs (except for Mr. College Student. His job is … college), we have roofs over our heads, we’re healthy, and we have food in the fridge.

Lots of food.

Too much food.

Buñuelos cooking in a cast iron dutch oven

We did it again this year and over bought and over cooked for the gastric needs of the family. Celebration is great.  But this was almost obscene.

It happens every December. The yummy treats baked by our daughter who has just started her own baking business, the great foods prepared by my Colombian husband (arepas, buñuelos, Sudado de Papas, arroz con aliños, beans, patacones. Ahhh patacones…..)

One gallon of my husband's fantastic salsa

But even as the jeans are swapped out for elastic waist pants and we swear we’ll be ill if we take one more mouthful of anything, there is something so great about our holiday rituals.

This leads to this week’s poll: How do you approach the indulgences of the holiday season?

Take the poll. It won’t burn many calories, but it might be the only thing you do this month that won’t impact your carb count.

Tags: Greensboro, holiday eating, Weekly Poll

A recent New York Times article makes that case for this being a good time for 1st-time home buyers to get in the game. I couldn’t have written it better myself – and actually have written it before.

The writer points out the upside of the downturn, namely:

• prices are low
• prices won’t always remain low
• 1st time buyers don’t have a house to sell in order to buy
• there are programs to benefit 1st time buyers

All good stuff. And true. And I’ll add again that we all have to pay to live somewhere (unless you’re claiming squatter’s rights in your parents’ basement) and you might as well be paying your mortgage rather than the mortgage held by your landlord.

But then there are the comments made by readers of the article.

Wow. It seems to me that many of them missed the point. And some thought the article was irresponsible.

True that no one knows what the immediate future brings. We never have. We do know that just as there are always cyclical peaks for any economic metric, there are valleys. We also know that what is true for some parts of the country are not true for all. The reality for California and Florida is not the reality for North Carolina.

As for the notion that it would be foolish to buy a home unless you are certain the value will increase immediately – even if that increase is modest – is short sighted.

Year after year, generation after generation has willingly and happily purchased cars that are guaranteed to IMMEDIATELY begin to lose value. Before the first payment has been made, the thing is worth less than when you were handed the keys.

Yet 1st time home buyers should not take advantage of low interest rates, plentiful inventory and lowered prices until those prices begin to go UP? This makes sense?

It does not.

I don’t advocate for everyone owning a home. Not all people are cut out to be married. Some should never be parents. Many shouldn’t have a pet. And some folks are simply not cut out for the responsibility of owning and maintaining a home.

But many are and want to. If you are one of these people and you have the means and the inclination, don’t let others scare you out of it. (There are those who thought Xeroxing would never catch on because we had all that carbon paper that worked just fine.)

Talk to your peers, friends who have bought, a good lender. Be sensible.

Just remember that sensible does not = scared.

So, is this a good time to buy a house? Yes.

Is this a good time to wait? Yes.

Ask questions, find out your options. Follow your instincts and your heart.

Tags: $7500 tax credit, 1st time buyer, Greensboro, New York Times article, time to buy house