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Enjoy our Virtual Tour 275 Parker Road in Creston, NC. 

Completely remodeled vintage farmhouse on over 9 acres with fenced pastures, barn and flowing stream. Tons of charm! House has new siding, roof, windows, decks, refinished floors, timber-framed details, new tiled baths, expansive laundry, all new kitchen with Corian countertops and nice cabinets. Perfect opportunity to own your own farm. Owners had dairy goats and barn is set up for milking. Chicken coop built in and a nice hay loft. A beautiful crystal clear stream runs the length of property. Great southern exposure makes gardening a a dream. Nestled in a private cove with great mountain views.

Contact Liz Riddick today to learn more about this great property!
828-719-0120
Call or Text

lizriddick@gmail.com

See more virtual tours of our listings at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL6x6MprvTPITCAPzQSSRdA

Local Realtors Home Sells are Up from Last Year

Mortgage rates are at lows for the year

BOONE – The strong summer of real estate sales continued in September, and slightly outpaced last year’s rate.

Since May, local Realtors® have sold an average of 125 listings a month, according to the High Country Multiple Listing Service, which tracks activity in Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties. That’s just ahead of the same span from last year, when an average of 123 were sold.

Year to date, Realtors® have sold 973 homes in the region. That’s a 2.5 percent increase compared to last year through September, when 949 were sold.

Sales are likely being driven by long standing buyer’s market conditions. The median sale price this year – the point at which half of all homes sold above or below – is $184,000. That’s well below last year’s median sale price through nine months, $195,000.

The competitive prices are attracting buyers. Last month there were 139 Realtor®-assisted sales worth $33.33 million, and a median sale price of $195,000. It was the best September for sales since 2007, before the national housing collapse, when 161 homes worth $54.2 sold for a media price of $255,000.

There were also 310 new listings last month, the fewest since March. As of October 19 there were 3,167 listings within the MLS, a near high for the year.

“We are thankful for the slight increase in our market, which is directly related to a vast inventory and decrease in the median sales price,” said Laurie Phillips, executive officer of High Country Association of Realtors®. “The national home sales report reflects a decrease in sales, however, our area is unique and we are cautiously optimistic that the market will continue to stabilize.”

With regard to all property sold in the three-county area, including commercial lots and land, total sales are up 1 percent compared to this time last year. There have been 2,182 properties sold worth $389.36 in 2014, according to the monthly READReport. It also found inventory levels remain at a near all-time high.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates are at lows for the year. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.97 percent as of October 19, well below the average 4.53 percent back in January. The average rate for a 15-year mortgage, which is one of the most opted methods for people who are looking for refinancing, dipped to 3.18 percent from 3.30 percent.

Read the Full article at http://www.highcountryrealtors.org/2014/10/real-estate-report-sale-pace-slightly-ahead-of-last-year/

The Rise of the Young Buyer

A new generation is skipping the 'starter home' and betting heavily on high-end real estate.

Two years ago, when he was 26, Matt Winter paid a little over $1 million for a four-bedroom, Mediterranean-style house in Culver City, an artsy, formerly industrial section of Los Angeles. This month, the now 28-year-old Mr. Winter, who runs his own interior design firm, paid about $1.7 million for his second home, a three-bedroom, Spanish-revival in Westwood, a neighborhood near UCLA.
"I have always felt that having your money in property is the safest and best thing to do if you want to grow your personal wealth," says Mr. Winter, who founded his design company at 23. None of Mr. Winter's assets are in the stock market—he says the market "spooks him" and that he prefers to invest in real estate.
Mr. Winter is part of a growing group of wealthy young buyers who are making inroads in the world of high-end real estate, acquiring properties at prices, and at a pace, that brokers say they have never seen before. Real-estate agents say that young people are buying more expensive homes than previously. They are also more likely to buy several properties, and use one as an investment. Buying real estate has grown more attractive, these young buyers say, compared with the stock market, which appears riskier to a generation that entered the workforce during a market correction.


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Real Estate Trends

A New Study from Green Builder Media Shows Consumers Are Looking for Sustainable Green Building Products When Buying or Upgrading Their Home

When it comes to homebuilding materials, consumers increasingly want products that are American-made, sustainable and beautiful. In fact, according to a recent Green Builder Media (http://www.greenbuildermedia.com) study, almost 85 percent of respondents had a positive association with the term “green” and wanted to be known for having a green life.
Green Builder Media’s founder and sustainability expert Ron Jones explains that green living and products that are made in America go hand in hand on “The Daily Buzz,” a nationally syndicated morning show featuring news, weather and entertainment.
In the segment, Jones emphasizes that consumers are already participating in the green home revolution, with indoor air quality, water management, and energy efficiency leading their list of concerns. Many of these educated consumers also understand the importance of investing in U.S.-made products and manufacturing facilities that support the American economy and limit harmful emissions into the atmosphere by reducing the miles products need to travel to get to consumers.


The future is clear,” Jones says. “We need to produce durable homes with better indoor air quality, that are low maintenance, and that offer a better quality of life.

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Shutdown ends, but aftermath affects one Rockford area family

Over the last two weeks, we've shown who and what's faced impacts from the federal government hiatus. For one Rockford area family, a normal next step has had them following politics closely. While the shutdown is over, it's put the brakes on this family potentially buying a home.

This past weekend, Dan and Becca Jensen found the house perfect for their growing family. They say it's a short-sale that's been on the market for five weeks. Dan says the bank managing the sale requires Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, appraisal, which, for the Jensen's, didn't happen right away because FHA appraisers faced furloughs. Even though the shutdown is over, their home-buying process might still see a slowdown.

"We're still going to be delayed on buying this house because [the FHA has] to catch up now." -Dan explains.

He says his family is ready to call a house their own.
"It's tough because as a growing family, we're living in a two-bedroom apartment right now. We've got two two-year-olds and a third kid on the way and we've got no place to put a nursery. We have no place for the kids to play. We've got no yard, we've got a single-car garage with no storage and our house is literally just filling up with stuff our little apartment." -he says.

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The Price of Real-Estate Experience: $25,000

Can you put a price on experience? In real estate, you can. It is about $25,000 for the average house.

Veteran agents sell homes for an average of 12% more than their less experienced counterparts, says Bennie Waller, professor of finance and real estate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Veteran agents also tend to list more new properties, more townhouses and condominiums and larger properties.

The more experience you have, the more likely you are to sell the properties that you list, the more likely you are to sell it at a higher price and the less time it stays on the market," Prof. Waller says.

Prof. Waller, along with Ali Jubran, a student at Longwood University at the time, examined 10,065 real-estate listings in a mid-Atlantic multiple-listing service from March 1999 to July 2009. They divided the listings into three groups—ones listed by agents who have been licensed for two years or less (called rookies), agents who have been licensed for two to 10 years and agents who have been licensed for 10 years or more (called veterans). They controlled for property characteristics such as size and location to isolate the "experience variable," and then compared the results for rookies and veterans. The study was published in the Journal of Housing Research in May 2012.

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Find the Perfect Neighborhood!

How to scout out the best place to call home:

Once you've become pre-qualified for a loan, you should be ready to put your house-hunting efforts into full gear. But don't skip the important step of scouting out neighborhoods before you start your search for the perfect house.

The neighborhood in which you live will heavily dictate your whole way of life—things like walking to a nearby park with your kids, knowing your kids are attending good schools, feeling safe when your children play outdoors, being close to restaurants and shopping, enjoying a short commute, and knowing your home will appreciate at a healthy rate.

Of course one way to get started in your neighborhood search is to get in your car and explore, especially if you're unfamiliar with the area. Get an idea about the neighborhoods by driving around and seeing which areas appeal to you. Walk around, explore, and talk to some of the residents.

Take note of the general appearance of the homes. Are they well maintained? Are they nicely landscaped?

If you have children, you might be looking for a neighborhood with plenty of children around, as opposed to neighborhoods that attract more seniors or young singles.

Other factors you'll want to consider are the schools, crime, your family's specific needs, and appreciation - as in how much the value of the home is likely to increase.

 

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