It's good to be #1

Well it sure was nice to be home this past weekend. After several weeks on the road I finally got to stay put and spend some time around Raleigh. It's nice living in a town so close to where I went to school, in only two nights I saw a lot of faces that I haven't seen in a while.

This past Saturday was our season ending Lawn Wranglers cookout. That's the softball team I was playing on for those wondering. At first I was pretty disappointed I couldn't be in attendance because of a day long open house. In a way that couldn't of worked out any better, I got the house sold on Friday and was back in control of my weekend.

Shannon had some mint growing in her garden so we drank mint juleps, cooked on the grill and played some yard games. We also surprised Lars with a gift the girls made him for coaching this season, a gold shiny cape. He will certainly be the only pitcher wearing one on the mound next year, but after this season it will be tough surprising any teams with our dress code. From BK Knights, to jean shorts & yellow jump suits, we may not have been the best team but it sure was fun.

Over at the office, a Triangle newspaper recently had it's readers vote Fonville Morisey as the #1 real estate company in the triangle. It was no surprise either that Kiplinger's has just rated Raleigh as the #2 place to Live, Work, & Play. Their rankings involve criteria like local economy & activities, but also what potential they see in a city. With all the downtown revitalization going on it is clear why it made the list. I was a little skeptical of it all when I saw Fayetteville at #7, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

I have seen our local market making some nice improvements over the last few months. The average home is selling in a weeks less time than when the year started. As other markets have battled depreciation and foreclosures since 2007, we have seen about a $6,000 increase in the average sale price. However, in May of last year about 1,000 more homes were sold, and in 10 fewer days. There is plenty of room for improvement and I see these changes starting to happen. I can say that I am open and ready for business, and glad to see it's coming in.

I wanted to say congratulations to good friends James & Brooke Kirkpatrick who were recently married. They had a splendid wedding & reception in the bride's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Best wishes to you both.

For those of you wondering where the koozies are, don't fret. They got off the press as of about an hour ago and should be arriving in you mailboxes in no time at all.

Fore!

Hope everyone is doing well. It's time to get back to work for me. I've had the benefit of being able to visit the beach the past couple weekends; it's so hard to get in the car and leave on Sundays. I'm usually with clients on the weekends so it's nice to get some time for these things. This past weekend I was down in Myrtle Beach with a group of friends and I spent Memorial Day weekend down at Topsail Island. Talk about two different places.






We had perfect weather for golf this past weekend. The squirrels at this course were especially friendly, this guy rode in our cart for the back 9. I've played quite a bit of golf lately, I hit an eagle a few weeks back and thought I was on my way to being a decent golfer. I proved to myself this weekend that I was mistaken.

We had our company golf tournament not too long ago and it was a blast. There were plenty of trophies given out, but none to our foursome. All the proceeds for this event went towards MS.

So here is the new place, a good size bigger than the old cottage. I've got a lot of work along with a lot of moving to do this week. We got the truck unpacked on Wednesday but took off for the weekend so the place is still a mess. It doesn't quite feel like I moved yet, I've barely spent anytime there so far. I will say it was nice to go 1 minute up the road for Char-Grill burgers & shakes the other night, food doesn't come much better than that.

Up until now, I've spent plenty of time in Raleigh but this is my first time living here. I'm excited to start spreading out my business. I'm going to remain based out of the Chapel Hill office for the time being. I really like the people there, and we have 13 other Fonville Morisey offices I can use. I'll have to tour some of the other offices soon and see which one I'd like to make my regular stop. My goal for the time being is to learn a little more about the Raleigh market, and just how to get from place to place for that matter.

I wanted to also give a quick mention to my new roommate and attorney at law Rob Hale. I had a closing scheduled with him last week and the lender botched things beyond belief. We thought the closing was never going to occur, but Rob got us in his office last minute and made it happen. It was the type of service I couldn't have gotten anywhere else, so he'll be getting a lot more of my business in the future.

Oh, almost forgot, I'm at the Kiosk today. Maybe it's just a slow day, but I'm pretty sure this was a waste of time for me. No one even seemed to approach the darn kiosk, oh well.

Attention Shoppers...

Welcome back. This past weekend seemed to fly by as usual, it always seems to when there's a lot going on. My folks took off for the beach Saturday, so I spent Friday with Mom & the rest of the family. The rest of the weekend was spent showing houses and celebrating some friends' graduations. Congrats again to my friend Andres, good luck out west!

So my company has decided to get a kiosk over at Southpoint Mall. Of course I signed up at the first opportunity, I think I'm going to be there for some 3-6 afternoon sessions in the coming weeks. I'm not sure what to think of it, but I figure it's worth a try.

Just so I'm not next to the kiosk where they try and re-use that sand stone on your hands when you walk by. Otherwise I will be forced to voice my opinion on the sanitation issues related with their whole marketing strategy. The folks at the massage kiosk seem pretty dedicated to their craft. Maybe I'll be next to them.

I talked in the last blog about listings & having home owners wondering why in the world their place won't sell. Aside from the fact that showings are down, I feel many agents are actually expecting the same thing. Put the house in the MLS, let it show & sell. I don't feel there is ever a time for that, especially now.

You could sell real estate for 40 years and have trouble explaining exactly what sells a house. I was selling one home some folks came to see & passed. The owners put in new switch plates all over the house in the time being. When the buyers came back a couple weeks later they decided to make an offer, "because the recent upgrades looked great" their agent went on to say.

This is what makes selling homes such a challenge and each one unique. For the long list of strategies I use and all the different marketing I'll put out, you rarely know what exactly captures each buyer. This is one way I've been trying to separate myself from the competition. I'm using every tool I have to market my listings and reaching out to every buyer that walks through that door.

As for the Land Transfer Tax I urged you folks in Orange County to vote against, well the results are in and it was overwhelmingly rejected. Still shaking my head that the council spent $100k of our tax dollars promoting it. http://wral.com/news/local/politics/story/2830778/

Unfortunately I will be ending on a sad note. Our family dog Murphy passed away recently, she was a week shy of 15. We are all grateful she

lived such a long & happy life. She truly was a miracle dog that gave us a few good scares over the years but just kept on truckin'.
You'll be missed Murphy.

A Blog is Born

Well hello there. Here goes my first blog, even though I'm not quite sure what a "blog" is supposed to be. I know with the industry I work in it is highly encouraged, anything to get peoples attention I guess. Hey and if your reading this, I guess that's a good start.

I'll try to catch you up on my year so far. I've been living in a one bedroom cottage right in downtown Chapel Hill. It's the first time I've lived alone, and it's not as bad as I anticipated. I thought it may be a bit boring, but I think it actually forces me to get out a lot more. For example, last year I went to the gym maybe 3 times. So far this year I've been running & at the gym about about 3 times a week. Truth be told, my real motivation has been to hit a homerun in our co-ed softball league. Sadly, I don't think this is going to happen. Our record is 1-5, so I probably need to just try and get some base hits.

2008 started quite slow for a lot of Realtors. Our market has seen good numbers in 2007 while other markets tumbled, however 2008 has started with one of the worst first quarters in over a decade. Some way or another during this time I became busier than I have been in the past couple years. I have been listing homes here in Chapel Hill, but a large portion of buyers I have been working with are in the Wake County area. That trend along with a need for some change has led me to plan on a move to Raleigh. Don't get me wrong, I love Chapel Hill and anticipate a return in the not so distant future.

There is a phrase in real estate that "If you list you last". In my opinion, right now if you list what you have is a lot of sellers getting impatient and not a lot of answers. The inventory is growing, and the number of showings & closings is lower. Our area home prices are staying strong however, increasing in many areas of the Triangle. We have an increase in job growth here, and the interest rates are low, so why aren't homes selling?

In my opinion these other markets are the factor. You bought a house in Depreciationville, FL and you are dying to move to our area, you've heard so much about it. But wait, the house you paid $525,000 for is listed at $500,000, it's been on the market 5 months and you haven't received an offer. I could list many reasons, like the fact we'll be facing $4 a gallon this summer, but home sales outside our market play a big factor. So pat your local realtor on the back for pricing homes with some sense over the years, providing our market a long history of solid but steady appreciation.

You can vote early, so please do.
In Orange County, please Vote No on the Transfer Tax. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/orange/story/1048063.html This tax would force very few to pay for the benefits of so many. It has strongly been opposed, but the City Council has an agenda of it's own I guess. I bet the guy who steals my business cards off the table at Peak Fitness will vote yes, because he obviously isn't thinking clearly (don't let me catch you guy).

Should have a new entry every couple weeks, thanks for reading.