As the housing crisis deepens in many parts of the country, a growing number of potential home buyers are turning instead to the rental market. While builders and real estate agents are feeling the pinch, the apartment industry is savoring its recent prosperity. The fastest rent growth is occurring in the West, where housing prices tend to be the highest and the number of foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies are concentrated, while the South (except Florida) had the lowest rent growth. While many renters are concerned about the increasing costs of their monthly housing expenses, they are demanding amenities comparable to what home buyers want. More than 36 percent of respondents to a recent survey said that air conditioning is the one amenity they could not live without.

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search for : rental market, monthly housing expense

A property’s picture appeal or attractiveness in photos posted in online listings, is important. Eighty percent of home buyers used the Internet last year to search for a home, and nearly 25% reported that the Internet is where they first found the property they purchased, according to a National Association of Realtors survey. Without pictures buyers are less likely to go see a house. In most cases — 85% of the time — online photos are the first view of a home. Poor pictures tend to turn buyers away. Photographs are powerful bait. Good ones can lure buyers; poor ones can do the opposite. Follow these tips to create flattering photos of your property.

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$5,850,000

MLS Number: 50913

City: Valle Crucis, NC
Stories: 2
Bedrooms: 4 Baths: 4.5
Area: Boone-Blowing Rock, NC
Year Built: 1990
Plus Five fully furnished 1,400 sq. ft. Rental Cottages. Each built in 1996 on approx. 1/2 acre sites. Current cottage average annual rental income $150,000.

39.4 acres with 360 degree view of Blue Ridge Mountains.

5,200 sq. ft. main house built in 1990 on 1.24 acres.

No restrictions and no zoning offer many other options:

* Family compound
* Corporate retreat
* Religous retreat
* Horse farm / Dude ranch
* Recording studio
* Cottages can be sold separately
* Land can be further subdivided if desired

Contact Elizabeth Carter, 336.973.5594 or Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email eacarter@charter.net

click here for more information

We all have more stuff than ever before and unfortunately a lot of that stuff gets crammed into the closets. Then, when you put your home on the market, prospective buyers reach for a closet door and are greeted with an overstuffed, unorganized mess. They don’t see your valuables as prized possessions; instead what they see is too much stuff and too little space. Being organized on the outside of your home creates curb appeal that gets prospective buyers in the door. Then keeping them there long enough to decide they can’t live without your home requires careful, well-thought-out organization inside your home.

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As people age, the home that has been so easy to navigate can become an obstacle course, particularly to walker and chair-bound individuals. But there are ways to prepare a house for the needs of the disabled without making it look like a geriatric ward. For example, when renovating a bathroom, it makes sense to install a shower stall that does not have a high step. And if a new bathtub is being installed, getting a model with a built-in seat is a good idea. If work is being done on the bathroom walls, it pays to reinforce them so that grab bars can be installed later if they become necessary. If drawers and cabinets have small round knobs, they can be replaced with D-shaped handles that are easier to grasp.

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search for : chair-bound, geriatric ward

Homeowners dislike paying private mortgage insurance (PMI). The idea of the mortgage holder paying an insurance premium to protect the lender just doesn’t sit right. Using a piggyback loan structure to avoid paying PMI on the first mortgage is an option. The downside to that is the interest rate on the second mortgage is often at an above-market rate, especially if there was no, or little equity in the property. There are some other options as well. Consumers can shop for a first mortgage that doesn’t require PMI, called a self-insured mortgage when the lender prices the default risk into the loan. These loans usually command a higher interest rate than a conventional mortgage.

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Mortgage lenders indicate that the last thing they want to do is foreclose. Seizing a delinquent borrower’s house costs then money in lost revenue and increased (employee) overhead. The key to keeping the house is to make it less expensive for the lender to work with you than to foreclose on your loan. In about half of foreclosures, the delinquent borrower never talked to the servicer. The lenders biggest challenge is getting folks to respond to the late notices. Embarrassment and shame keep delinquent borrowers from talking to the servicers. Maybe it’s because the borrowers are financially unsophisticated, so the whole process is intimidating to them. They feel that if they just ignore it, it will go away.

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search for : Mortgage lender, delinquent borrower, foreclose