Neighborhood Spotlight: Vanstory Hills

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Fayetteville is Vanstory Hills.  Vanstory is made up of about 500 homes that range in value from $180,000 for a small ranch to just under $900,000 for new construction.  It's location close to shopping, restaurants, churches, and downtown make it an ideal place to live for those who like to enjoy what Fayetteville has to offer.  My wife and I live in another wonderful neighborhood, Murray Hill, which borders Vanstory.  Because of the larger size of Vanstory it is a convenient place for us to run, walk, and ride our bikes.  There are always other active people taking part in these same activities. The residents of the neighborhood take alot of pride in their homes and especially their landscaping. 

Currently in Vanstory there are 17 homes for sale, 2 homes under contract, and 18 which have sold in the last year.  The average sales price for these 18 homes is $287,269.  Just four years ago in 2007 the average sales price of the neighborhood was $239,621. During that year 27 homes sold.  In my opinion Vanstory is a great place to buy a home.  It is a nice place to live and homes should continue to appreciate in the future. Here are some examples of homes currently for sale in Vanstory.

330 Westview Dr. 3 Bedrooms 3 Baths $219,000

407 Mirror Lake Place 4 Bedrooms 2 1/2 Baths $319,000

2612 Bennington Rd. 4 Bedrooms 3 1/2 Baths $365,000

436 Foxhall Rd. 3 Bedrooms 2 Baths $195,000




Click here to view all homes for sale in Vanstory Hills as well as additional information about the homes above.



Closing on Your Home

photo courtesy of www.propertyissueresolved.co.uk

Once an offer to purchase is accepted the goal of the buyer, seller, and Realtor is to get this house to closing.  There may be some bumps in the road and some deals may fall apart.  I wanted to write a quick post that would hopefully clear a few things up about a real estate closing. 

First of all, in North Carolina real estate closings take place at an attorney's office who represents the buyer.  The attorney will prepare the seller's documents as well but ultimately the due diligence of the attorney is to the buyer.  As a buyer you should be prepared to bring in a certified check written to the attorney for the amount of your down payment plus any closing expenses that you may owe.  You may not know what this amount is until the day before closing or sometimes even the day of closing.  The attorney will have the buyer and seller sign all document relating to the settlement of the property.  The most important point that I want to get across here is that the buyer does not own the home until the attorney gets the deed recorded which is typically the next business day.  Therefore, the buyer should not be given keys and should not move in the home until the deed is in fact recorded.  If the buyer insists on moving in on the day that the documents are signed then a buyer possession before closing agreement should be signed by all parties and both the buyer and seller should inform their insurance companies.  You may ask why this is so important.  Well, most of the time everything should be ok.  But lets say that a closing took place on Friday morning and the attorney was not going to get the deed recorded until Monday.  Over the weekend the kitchen catches on fire and half of the house burns to the ground.  The buyers insurance company will not take care of this issue because the buyer does not technically own the home.  The sellers insurance company will not cover this because the seller who they insure does not occupy the home.  My advice, you have waited this long to buy or sell your home, now wait the extra day or two to avoid a costly mistake.

photo courtesy of www.ihs.gov

Yeah! I Sold My House, Now What?

photo courtesy of www.dreamstime.com

So you just accepted an offer on your home and you are thrilled that it has sold! Or has it?  Getting a contract on your home is just the first step of what can be a long nerve racking process of getting your home sold and closed.  In fact I was once told by someone who works for the Fayetteville Association of Realtors that 1/3 of all homes in Fayetteville that go under contract do not make it to closing.  As a listing agent I would say that 40% of my value is marketing a sellers home and getting a contract on it and 60% is getting the home from contract to closing.

On January 1, 2011 the North Carolina Real Estate contract changed and became a due diligence contract.  The way the contract is now, the buyer and seller first agree on the terms of the offer which include price, a closing date, and how much (if any) of the buyers closing expenses the seller is willing to pay.  The buyer and seller also agree on what is called a due diligence date where the buyer will have until that date to complete all inspections and repair negotiations with the seller.  The buyer has until this date to back out of the contract for any reason or no reason at all.  This date also has price associated with it, where the  buyer pays the seller an agreed upon amount of money and the seller agrees to take the home off the market for a certain period of time.  If the buyer backs out of the contract this fee is kept by the seller.  If the home goes to closing this fee is credited towards the purchase price of the house.

The two main reasons that a contract on a home would fall through are #1-the buyer is unable to get financing and #2- the home inspection creates issues where the buyer and seller can not agree upon repairs.  These are two things that can easily be avoided.  By making sure that the buyer is pre-qualified by a reputable lender you can avoid financing becoming a problem.  Much the same way that a buyer can become pre-qualified, the seller can pre-qualify their home by getting a pre-market home inspection and fixing any issues that show up on this inspection.  Certainly there may be other circumstances that can prevent a contract making it to closing but these are the two most common.

Why Getting Pre-Approved is So Important

Photo Courtesy of: southernutahrealestateagent.com



Getting pre-approved for a loan is the first step in the home buying process.  It is also something that sometimes I have a hard time getting people to do.  Many people feel they know what they can afford and know how much a certain house is going to cost them.  When my wife and I were looking for a home we learned while being pre-approved that we could not use her income to qualify.  The reason was not because she had bad credit but because she had no credit at all.  It took six months for us to establish a credit score for her and shortly after we were able to purchase a home.  The truth is that the lending industry changes daily.  I take that back, it can change by the minute.  One change taking place right now is that mortgage insurance is almost doubling on FHA loans.  This can cost a borrower hundreds of dollars more a month.

By getting pre-approved you and your realtor will know exactly how much you can afford.  You also will learn about all fees associated with a home purchase and will know what your monthly payment will be.  In addition to this your pre-approval letter will make your offer a much stronger offer because the seller will know that you can in fact afford the house.  Personally I would never recommend that one of my sellers accept an offer without a pre-approval letter.  I would also like to see the pre-approval letter be from a local lender who preferably does their own underwriting.  It is much easier doing business with people in town  then calling someone four states away who doesn't even know who you are.

Assessing Your Home's Value

photo courtesy of www.goodhousekeeping.com

Whenever I am on a listing appointment the #1 thing that everyone always wants to know is, "How much is my house worth"?  With all of the negative news by the national media this is also a question that can cause anxiety to every homeowner.  Many websites like http://www.zillow.com/ provide estimates or in this case "zestimates" of your home's value.  Zillow takes into account several factors when providing you this data including recent sales and tax values of properties close by.  While it can be fun to look at this it should not be used to price your home for sale.  Zillow does not do a good job at finding comparable homes.  In many places, including Fayetteville, you can have two homes similar in size and close to one another but can be tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars apart in home value because of updates that may have been made to one house.  Many times you may even have neighborhoods that may seem similar to someone unfamiliar with the market but in reality the houses in one neighborhood can be far more expensive than the next.

When I was in real estate school I learned that you find out how much a house is worth by doing a comparable market analysis (CMA).  When doing a CMA you find 3 similar homes to the house you are trying to find the value of that have sold in the last 6 months and make price adjustments for several things including square footage, age of home, and number of bathrooms.  While a CMA is important in finding a home's value, it is in no way a full indication of how much your house can sell for in today's market.

When I am finding the market value of a home I will first do a CMA but the next step is to look at what is called absorption rate pricing.  Unlike the CMA, which only looks at what has sold in the past, absorption rate pricing takes into account what is currently on the market for sale.  It is in essence the law of supply and demand.  For the sake of this post I am not going to give an explanation of how to perform absorption rate pricing but rather explain to you how you should look at it. 

photo courtesy of www.superstock.co.uk

Let's say your realtor has performed a CMA for you which shows your house to be worth $250,000.  They then should look at how many similarly priced homes have sold in the past year and how many are currently for sale.  I would probably examine the price range of $235,000 to $265,000.  Lets say that in the last year 2 homes sold in this price range and there are 9 homes currently on the market.  This would not be good for you as a homeowner.  If only 2 sold again this year there is a good chance that your home will not sell. On the flip side if 9 homes have sold in the last year and there are only 2 currently on the market then you have a good chance of selling your home and selling it fast.  When absorption rate pricing does not look like its in your favor, you will be forced to lower the price of your home to make it more attractive to buyers.  You should look at what homes are actively on the market and how they compare to your home.  If a home on the market seems superior to yours then you need to be priced below it if you intend to sell.  If you have the nicest home on the market then you may not have to be as aggressive in pricing your home.  Keep in mind that almost everyone always thinks that their home is the nicest and best home available.  Because of this you should listen hard to what your realtor recommends for you.

If you would like a complimentary market analysis of your home which will include absorption rate pricing email me at vancet@townsendrealestate.com