Not only do we use the latest technologies, we pay our agents 100% commission and just take a transaction fee.

What does this mean to the consumer (Homeowner)? Our agents are not giving a substantial amount to us (the Broker) allowing them to negotiate how they want to ‘get the deal done’!!

These savings can be used on both the seller and the buyer seller. There are a couple of legal ways to pass this savings on to YOU!.

All you need to do is call us (704 237 0875 or 704 451 7051) and ask how!

You see expired and withdrawn listings in the Lake Norman area are not the product of smaller companies. They are a part of the business of selling real estate for all companies.  However, with a firm like ours, the agents have SO many tools at their disposal, including negotiating with our own money. You see our agents keep the bulk of it and as we all know, Money is Power!

Let’s make 2012 the year Charlotte Real Estate bounces back…

Lake Norman at Night

The picture above was taken from my car on I77. This is another example of the beautiful views of the lake at night. Imagine firing up the boat, heading out to dinner on the lake and seeing this view. Kind of like being on vacation year round!

This website and the one I created named Lake Norman Communities gives you tons of information about our beautiful lake the homes for sale around it.

In late February Carolina Living Property Management had 2 applicants for a home we are/were managing in Mooresville, NC.

We vetted the two Vietnamese applicants and everything came up positive.  The main red flag was the applicants desire to pay in cash and to also pay 6 months up front + security deposit.   The explanation was that they were scoping out a place to open a restaurant and they had cash from a restaurant they have in California.  ”Restaurants deal mostly in cash”

Since that was somewhat questionable, the applicants invited he owners and the myself over for a dinner to cook an authentic meal.  The dinner was awesome.

Once in the home, the tenants invited neighbors over for the same type dinner, walked the neighborhood and essentially conned everyone into believing a new restaurant was imminent

All this was done in March.  In early April the I visited the home to check on things and ensure everything was going well.

Low in behold by the 3rd week in June, we were called and told the K9 drug sniffing dogs were on site.

This is where it got interesting.  The Narcotics division had gotten a tip and had knocked on the door to just ask questions.  Once there, they smelled something strong and asked to enter.  The tenants tried to block the door.  BIG Mistake!  Given this probable cause, they did a quick look around and handcuffed 2 people and waited for the official search warrant.

Subsequently, while waiting, another car circled around the home a couple of times.  The officers coyly left (but not really).  They left someone close by and drove down the street.  As stupid criminals usually do, the stupid car came back again!   Immediately the narcotics officers raced back from close by and with guns drawn and arrested the two new arrivals.

Needless to say, the neighbors were getting the Reality show of their lives!

Once we were able to see the home, we found a home that was amazing and heartbreaking at the same time…

Here is what they did.

They ripped up all the carpet.

They hung copper wire from the one wall to the other to hang ultra violet lights.

They built new circuit boxes to create a huge number of additional outlets to plug lights and the numerous fans they needed.

They drilled big holes in the ceiling of the closets to run new duct work all the way to the attic.

In the upstairs bedrooms they did not pull up the carpet but they did tape plastic down on the carpet and also created all the electrical havoc.

In the bathrooms there was a lot of chemicals we believe were being used as fertilizer.

In all 700 plants were pulled from the home.

Needless to say the tenants are in jail, for a long time… Enough Said.

NOTE:  Insurance is covering the damage.  Renting your home?  Call your insurance agent!

These homes have all the upgrades like granite, stainless appliances and more.  The location and prices coupled with the financing available and developer incentives makes this area one to consider if looking to buy a home at ‘deal’ prices.

Prices range from $189,900 for 3 bedroom 2.5 homes to $99,900 for 1 bedroom 1 bath homes.  According to the preferred lender (Sherry Connor at Myers Park Mortgage, USDA 100% financing is available as are other affordable options.

Contact your Carolina Living Agent to get the assistance you need.

Starting with this blog which has all kinds of miscellaneous information about Lake Norman, from boat slips, to understand waterfront purchases.

Our company website Carolina Living Real Estate, has information about our company and information about the Charlotte area, from the arts to sports.

Lake Norman Communities has home listings for most of the communities surrounding Lake Norman.  Search by community and Lake Norman Waterfront and see all the active listings in the area.

Lake Norman Foreclosures has foreclosure listings all around the lake.  You can see home listings of Lake Norman foreclosures by price and by waterfront listings.

Birkdale at Lake Norman has home listings and miscellaneous information all about then Birkdale Golf Community and Birkdale Village which are two of the premier communities around Lake Norman.

Finally, Lake Norman Property Management is one of the premier property management companies in the area.  Our website displays many many rental listings as well as defines our services.

We had a minor glitch in one of the homes with a toilet not flushing but we were able to walk the tenant through fixing it themselves.  Saved the tenant time and the homeowner money!

The rental market is phenomenal around Lake Norman and Charlotte.   We are averaging at least 10-15 calls or emails a day of people looking for homes.   We really can’t accommodate all of them but we try to point them in the right direction.  Most of our attention is coming from our Property Management Website.

We also are getting 1-2 inquires a day on people considering renting their homes.  We advertise on various websites and again our property management website gets TONS of traffic.

At Carolina Living Real Estate all of our websites are home grown.  I personally train all our agents that are interested how to build their own blogs/websites.   This is important because of traffic!  Having a website is great but meaningless if no-one ever sees it!   We work hard on that.  Our growth is evidence of that!

WOW, yesterday ( Saturday, 3/13/) was  Doosy!   I manage a home in the Gastonia area that in recent months has been a problem from the aspect of collecting rent.   The tenant ( a single mom ) lost her job and has been depending on the ex-husband paying child support go make rent.

Approximately 10 days ago, I went to the home to inspect it and to collect the rent.  I reported to the homeowner that  I did not see anything out of the ordinary.

Yesterday, the homeowners husband went to home to do yard care.  He noticed that behind the home a damaged door was leaning against the house.  He asked for and go permission to enter the home.

From that standpoint, things escalated quickly.   He found a recently created whole in the wall from a door being slammed open.  He found a bedroom door had been replaced with a less than adequate replacement.  He also found a brand new kitten.   None of these things existed 10 days ago.

Also, the homeowner went to the police station to ask about their options and found that the police had been called about 10 times to come to the house to remove the ex-husband or answer an disturbance.

Instead of going into every detail I will summarize.  An hour later, I got a call from the wife demanding that I meet at the home immediately.   Being with other clients, I informed her I could not do that.  She proceeded to start to use some of the foulest language imaginable and worse yet, threatened me with physical harm on behalf of her husband.

Well;

I will not be meeting with anyone that threatens me with  physical harm.

I will do as instructed and begin eviction proceedings.

I will not be managing this home in the future.

I Will;

Continue to be a property manager as this is a small percentage of the kind of people I deal with.

Going forward, be very selective of the homes I agree to manage

Continue to do what I am doing as I know I am providing a great service.

Finally;

My advice for those that don’t really want to be landlords but have no choice.  Think long and hard about what service you want and then decide on whether to manage it yourself.  I doubt you will ever find a property manager that can babysit the home daily, weekly or even monthly.

The 1st thing to mention is that even though some of the experiences are somewhat painful, we are not complaining nor are we hating the business (although at times…).  However this will be a very informative for those thinking of managing a home themselves or those considering getting into the business.  We are gaining a lot of experience in dealing with issues and more importantly avoiding them as much as possible.

To actually begin this chronicle, I will go back two days to 3/9/2011.  We are managing a home on the Northeast side of Charlotte in a very nice neighborhood.  This home has averaged about 2-3 calls a day every day because of location and price ($1200 a month).  After finally being able to qualify someone via our credit and background checks,we had a lease signed and partial security deposit to hold until move in date ( Mistake never to be made again ).

I had a 9:00am appointment at the home to collect rent and the remaining security deposit.  At 9:15, I sent a text to the application concerned about their whereabouts.  At 9:20, I called them, still to no avail.   At 9:25 I sent a text that I was leaving.  About a minute later, I did get a call that they were on the way.  I proceeded to lecture them on the importance of my time and on being respectful.

At 9:45 they show up and proceed to tell me they did not like my tone.  Again, I just told them (her), it was about respect for each other.  Within minutes the application put on her best Betty Davis interpretation.  She had some sort of shaw on ( not being a woman, I don’t know what you call it) and she slung it over her shoulder, turned her back to me and told me she just could not look at me anymore.  ”Our relationship was forever tarnished”.  Her words not mine!

I asked her if she was sure because we had spent weeks getting this done.  She absolutely would not look at me and she kept saying.  ”Don’t look at me”.  I was so amused but I did my best not to laugh.  I never used profanity (pat me on the back), and I did my best to stay calm.  I was just mad that she showed no respect for me or my time (or the DirectTV guy that was also waiting on her).   So, she backed out.  Lost what deposit she had put down just because I told her in a direct way that she could have at least called me ( yes she does have a cell phone ).

We have since found another renter and I am a believer that things happen for a reason. Sooo,  thank goodness Betty Davis changed her mind.

Stay tuned….it will get good!

Looking for a Property Manager in the Lake Norman and Charlotte areas?  Lake Norman and Charlotte Property Management.

We have converted many difficult to sell listings in the Lake Norman area into very successful rentals.

We can list homes for sale and for rent simultaneously whether we are the listing agent or we co-list with another firm.  We have a very low management fee and ZERO start up fees.

We have found that many sellers unwilling to walk away from their homes and  are willing to convert it into an income producer or a situation where they can cover the mortgage.  This can be a viable alternative to a difficult market.

If you are struggling with a home sitting, it might be time to think about renting.  The rental market is unbelievable.   The calls and emails keep pouring in for Lake Norman rentals.

Click  Carolina Living Property Management to learn more about our services.

There are 104 active listings in the Lake Norman area 13.  Of these 104, approx. 65% of them have had a recent price reduction!

There are 26 listings that are under contract in the same area.

So far in the first 20 days of 2011, there have been 3 ‘special condition’ homes sold in the Lake Norman area.

‘Special Conditions’ in these statistics can be defined as:  Homes in the foreclosure process, designated as a short sale, or lender owned.

On these sold homes the average sold price to list price percentage is 95% with the highest being 100% and the lowest 87%
Interestingly, if you look at the percentage of active listings that have had a price reduction, you can tell that even though the average sold price to list price percentage is just a snapshot in time. If you see a home that you are interested in, let’s see how many times, if any, the price has been dropped. We can then use this info, with other analysis, to see if you are really getting that deal you are looking for!

The average days on the market was 60 days with the lowest being 5 days. This home is in The Peninsula and was purchased in 2007 for 715,000. It recently closed for $650,000.

If you would like to the foreclosures for sale in the Lake Norman area, please visit these sites we have created for you. Want to see and investigate any? Call Roby at 704 451 7051.

Free List of Lake Norman Foreclosures

Free List of Charlotte Foreclosures