$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

search for : Valle Crucis, NC, Blowing Rock, NC, Blue Ridge Mountains

One enterprising real estate brokerage has found an innovative technique to generate sales income. The Keenan Carter Group in Pismo Beach, CA, was recently featured on “Good Morning America” on ABC-TV and a segment with Neal Cavuto on Fox News.

Using a local tour bus company, riders are charged $20 a seat. The tour bus becomes a school bus between stops, serving up information packages on each property. Riders get spreadsheets on mortgage payment options, potential rental income properties could yield and refreshments.

Similar bus tours are offered in Florida, Las Vegas and other hard hit housing markets that have been flooded with foreclosures. Driving a bargain on a bus isn’t new, but using the strategy as a vehicle to move foreclosures is part of a current trend in special marketing designed to help turn the housing market around. (more…)

Prospecting has always been a valid technique that will lead to real sales success. Particularly in times like these, when real estate sales are slow, agents and brokers seek an approach that salespeople who hate pressure and force and rejection can use to get more appointments in less time and with less emotional stress on themselves.

But prospecting requires positive expectations. It requires a positive-results mindset, in part to overcome the influences of all the other agents who don’t prospect, don’t value prospecting, and stand by to negatively influence your vision and expectation of success. (more…)

WEST JEFFERSON NC MOUNTAIN PROPERTY

87.5 +/- Acres Available For Residential Subdivision Mountain Development, 7 miles from West Jefferson, NC

Paved Road and Bridge Built To State Specifications.

Average of $23,000 per acre.

This Property Should Retail For Approximately $50,000 to $60,000 per acre.

ALL PROPERTY HAS LONG RANGE MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Contact Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247

or

email Greg at grstike@charter.net

click here for more information

Originally announced on October 10, 2007 by Treasury Secretary Paulson and Housing Secretary Jackson Hope Now was created to save subprime borrowers from being pulled under by the weight of rising mortgage payments. Now the industry group is throwing financial life preservers to prime borrowers and others who also face being submerged by foreclosure.

The HOPE NOW collaboration of credit and homeowners’ counselors, mortgage servicers, and mortgage market participants was formed to

• Explore a variety of methods to reach out to at-risk homeowners, including a direct-mail campaign to encourage at-risk borrowers to call their mortgage servicer or a credit counselor.

• Work to improve communications between servicers and non-profit counselors to speed outreach and to develop and explain options for at-risk borrowers.

• Develop standards with investors to enable counseling sessions for homeowners to be funded by servicing contracts.

The most recent initiative occurred on February 20, 2008 with the nation’s largest mortgage servicers sending the fourth round of HOPE NOW letters to mortgage borrowers, urging them to call their servicer for immediate help. HOPE NOW alliance members have officially sent one-million letters to homeowners.

search for : subprime borrowers, foreclosure, credit counselor

Senate Democrats planning this month to address the troubled housing market with yet another housing bill. A tax break for home builders and higher caps on state mortgage-revenue bonds are among the proposals. Top Democrats said they intend to turn to a second package focused on housing-related matters, a potent political issue this election year.

Despite the bipartisan aura that sped passage of the first housing stimulus bill, some parts of this one are likely to draw criticism from Republicans, especially a change in bankruptcy law that would allow judges to alter the terms of certain mortgages. Some of Senate Democrats’ proposals are popular in both parties, such as a tax break allowing companies with operating losses this year or the two previous years to apply them to past years for a refund. That could please home builders, who attacked the first bill. (more…)

Short sale bids require some sophistication, skill and patience on the part of the investor. But, with a little study, and some experience, short sales and foreclosures can be the most profitable way to invest in real estate.

A short sale usually occurs when a seller can’t make his loan payments because of death, divorce, job loss or other hardship. When homes are rising in value, owners can sell the house and pay back the lender. A short-sale foreclosure is a lender accepting a loan payoff for less than the amount owed.

In today’s market, when home values are dropping and the owner hasn’t built up much equity, lenders will often accept less than the amount owed to avoid the hassle and expense of auctioning the house. (more…)

search for : Short sale bid, foreclosures, short-sale foreclosure

Vacation property, an investment for retirement or a permanent residence, this Lake James waterfront home may be your dream property.

The beautiful water front home is located in a private community with spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has a double deck boat dock, an enclosed boat garage and a private ramp to launch your own watercraft. The home was built originally in 1972 and totally renovated in 2002. A four car detached garage was built in 2002.

There is a total of 264 ft. of water front. Beautiful three tier sea walls accent this elegant home. Hard wood and tile floors, modern appliances and vaulted ceilings are only a few of the amenities that capture you with this home.

Private dock permit.

List Price: $1,800,000
Flexibility: Willing to finance
Acreage: .75 acres
Type: Waterfront

Floors: 2
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 4
Sq. Footage: 3700
Garage Size: 4.0
Year Built: 1972, totally renovated in 2002
School District: Nebo

Suitable Use: Residential

Topography: Rolling
Road Frontage: Private Road
Location: Lake James, Burke County, NC

Amenities: Waterfront, Fireplace, Central AC, Alarm, Wood Floors, Gas Range, Patio, Wheelchair Accessible, Nature/Bike Paths, Boating, Controlled Access, Spa/Jacuzzi

click here for more information

search for : Lake James waterfront home, Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake James, Burke County, NC

Many think that the current housing mess will be a relatively short-term affair that should see a return to normalcy within the next few years. But, a “generational housing bubble“, fueled by the same baby boomers who have been bidding up prices since 1970 as they moved up the housing ladder, may portend poorly for domestic real estate sales.

As retirees become more numerous than the working young, shifting into seller mode, researchers postulate that the market imbalance could come quickly around 2011, causing housing prices to fall. For most of the American life span, the rates of buying and selling remain closely related because those who sell one house typically buy another.

When people enter their late 50s and early 60s, as the leading wave of baby boomers has now done, buying and selling are in balance. When they reach their mid-60s, though, sellers start to outnumber buyers. And when they hit their 70s, sellers dominate. (more…)

search for : generational housing bubble, baby boomers

The National Association of Realtors expects soft market conditions to continue across much of the country, while isolated spots will continue to maintain their average sales numbers.

But, there’s also plenty of reason to be hopeful that new and existing home sales will increase by mid-year if not sooner. In some areas, buying conditions have improved.

In response to Fed cuts, Mortgage interest rates have dropped to near record-low levels and held under six percent almost the entire month of January and into February. Coupled with latent consumer demand, pending sales for January should make a good showing.
(more…)

search for : National Association of Realtors, Mortgage interest rates

In a rising trend, homeowners are abandoning their homes and their mortgages, rather than trying to keep up with rising payments on deteriorating assets. So many people are handing their keys back to lenders that a new term has been coined for it: jingle mail.

Current lending practices have created an environment where a measure as extreme as abandoning a home actually makes sense to some people.

Many buyers put little or no money down, so they don’t have much invested in them. That leaves them with little incentive to keep making payments when a home’s market value dips below the balance of the mortgage. (more…)

search for : lending practice

Beautiful Wilkes County NC Timber Frame Home and Mountain Property.

MLS Number: 51166, List Price: $898,500

2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 2 half baths, 2 car attached garage, full basement, and a barn on 5 acres of land.

These terms are used to describe thousands of homes and yet some things just can’t be described, they have to be experienced. This is one of those homes that really has to be seen to be appreciated.

This majestic Timber Frame home of the Bob Timberlake genre is not just another house, it provides a feeling of home that is not about walls and floors and windows and doors. It creates a feeling of the flow between your outdoor and your indoor environment that is seamless. Everywhere you look there is a view. Everything you touch feels natural and beautiful in a way that cannot be described, only owned.

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

click here for more information

Faltering home sales have resulted in increased popularity of real-estate auctions. Sellers unable or unwilling to wait are turning to live auctions for faster sales. While still only a small percentage of housing sales, the real-estate auction market climbed 5.3% in 2007, generating $58.4 billion, according to a recent report from the National Auctioneers Association.

Auctions can quickly sell your house and even fetch you a much higher profit than if you have listed your house. The first step in deciding if an auction will work well for your particular property is to research the field. Books such as the one shown here will allow your to find out the ins and outs of real estate auctions.

This guide will help you to understand just how to auction off your house or business property, choosing an auctioneer, whether or not you need a real estate broker, types of property best suited for auctioning and more. (more…)

search for : real-estate auction, real estate auctions

The first step, for those thinking of purchasing a vacation residence, is to review your debt history on your primary residence if you plan to borrow against it and deduct the mortgage interest on your federal tax return. Under the mortgage-interest guidelines, taxpayers are limited to the original acquisition debt, plus $100,000.

You can deduct the loan fees (”points”) paid to buy or improve your main home in the year of purchase. You cannot deduct these fees in the year you refinanced if you refinanced only to obtain a lower interest rate on your loan.

The tax rules and deductions for second-home owners who rent out their properties on a short-term basis depend on many factors, including how often you personally use your second home, how many nights or a percentage of the nights you rent out your home, and your personal adjusted gross incom. (more…)

Renting an existing home or vacation property comes to mind for many homeowners for a variety of reasons. Unable to make the monthly mortgage payments may be one, but not the best choice. After all, unless you move back in with your parents (ugh!), a monthly rent payment will still be necessary.

But maybe you’ve recently gotten married, receive an inheritance or buy a new house before you are able to sell the old one. That’s when turning your existing property into a rental makes sense.

Still, Is it worth hanging onto this property? Does it need major repairs, just to be rent-able? And, is your temperament suited to being a landlord. Tenants can be a major headache and in most locales, evicting a tenant can be a lengthy and arduous process. (more…)

search for : Renting an existing home

Section 1031 of the federal tax code allows investors to swap “like kind” properties without having to pay the hefty capital gains taxes they’d owe if they simply sold their real estate. With so many real estate investors engaging in 1031 exchanges, tax revenues on these sales have been falling.

To close, or modify this tax “loophole” a bill that’s already passed the Senate would narrow the definition of “like kind” in certain agricultural real estate transactions. This bill would force potentially large numbers of farmers to sell, rather than exchange, their properties and pay high capital gains taxes that they’d currently be allowed to defer. (more…)

search for : Section 1031, 1031 exchange

Home builders feeling the squeeze from the housing slump are looking for any advertising tactic that might entice buyers to choose their product. Some builders are aiming to save their customers money by reducing the choices they offer to buyers.

Lennar Corp., the nation’s second largest home builder, is whittling down options and moving toward a one design fits all model, seeing standardization and simplification as tools in a cost-cutting drive aimed at saving millions of dollars and surviving the housing slump.

The savings potential goes beyond simply substituting lower-quality kitchen cabinets or cheaper carpet. Limiting the number of faucet styles, for example, lets builders order earlier and negotiate bigger bulk discounts from suppliers. (more…)

search for : housing slump

Home staging experts tell us that one of the first steps in making your home “saleable” is to get rid of useless junk. Right now, if you are considering a sale in 2008, make it a New Year’s resolution to de-clutter your home and get rid of accumulated junk.

Usually such efforts require trips to the municipal dump or heated arguments between family members the night before garbage day. To sidestep such difficulties and get the job done swiftly, residential junk-hauling companies will come to your home and haul away all your unwanted items. Or you can enlist one of many free local services that can suggest a number of junk-seeking charities and individuals willing to haul away your items. (more…)

search for : get rid of useless junk, junk-seeking charities

Home staging experts tell us that one of the first steps in making your home “saleable” is to get rid of useless junk. Right now, if you are considering a sale in 2008, make it a New Year’s resolution to de-clutter your home and get rid of accumulated junk.

Usually such efforts require trips to the municipal dump or heated arguments between family members the night before garbage day. To sidestep such difficulties and get the job done swiftly, residential junk-hauling companies will come to your home and haul away all your unwanted items. Or you can enlist one of many free local services that can suggest a number of junk-seeking charities and individuals willing to haul away your items. (more…)

search for : get rid of useless junk, junk-seeking charities

Beautiful Wilkes County NC Log Home and Mountain Property.

MLS Number: 50863, List Price: $359,900

Bedrooms: 3, Full Baths: 2, Half Baths: 0, Est Total SqFt: 2600, Type/Style: Log Home, Area: Area 6, Middle School: Cntrl Wlks, High School: Wlks Cntrl, Construction: Log

Foundation: Combination, Roof: Metal Roof, Floors: Carpet/Hardwood/Tile, Garage/Carport: None-Garage, None-Carport, Interior Features: Master Bedroom, Main Level, Large Master Bedroom, Walk-In Closet(s), Hardwood Floors, Fireplace(s), Great Room, Exterior Features: Double Pane Windows, Wooded Lot, 1-5 Acres, Hot Tub, Subdivision: N/A, Lot Size: 2.47, Apx SqFt: 2600 – 2800 SF, Basement: None

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

click here for more information