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

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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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

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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…)

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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…)