Build on a Beautiful Hilltop

• 2 acre homesite on the edge of Pittsboro
• $40,000 surveyed, 3 bed septic poss+
• printable flyer here
• proposed site plan here

original tract

I am currently assisting a Client in subdividing another lot (4th one so far) off of his original property.

conceptual only

w/ well already installed
very good soil - septic evaluation scheduled

This lot will be available for sale very soon.
The other lots we did previously will be in my archive section soon.

As of late November, more than 7.2 million families held subprime loans, with an outstanding value of $1.3 trillion. About 14 percent of holders of subprime loans are in default or behind on payments. That number is expected to surge next year, when many adjustable-rate loans issued in 2006 — the year when lending standards were weakest — reset to higher prices. The U.S. had one foreclosure filing for every 617 households in November, RealtyTrac said.

It bothers me as well, that listings and values are often quoted in terms of price / house sqft. Kudos to Cyberhomes for posting land area in sqft with their property records. Their are other factors as well. Value, other than emotional, is what income it can produce. Farming, parking, storage units, rental housing, office spaces, etc. is all about “how much can be generated.” Land by itself is useless and thus not valuable unless there is infrastructure to go with it. Thus its the Developer that adds value to a property. As my Uncle observed, the tide has turned to Urban, and this is true for investing as well.

“… there’s a good chance that the price of the land your house is built on is more valuable than the house itself.”
“We don’t have a good read on the price of land. As Shiller observed today, even the federal government calculates land prices by starting with the price of houses and subtracting out the price of construction.”
The housing bust is really a land bust
Posted by: Peter Coy on November 27
Hot Property blog on BusinessWeek website

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October residential sales totaled 2,599
November residential sales totaled 2,084 = more than just a seasonal timing thing
Chatham County had 66 sales, most notables are Cole Place Townhomes with 6 sales at a price point of $167,500 There were 17 sales in the 250k price range, and 16 sales over 500k.
Apex area 15 had 41 out of 48 sales from 134k - 339k
Johnston County had 201 sales under 385k
Knightdale had 41 sales all but 1 under 270k
Cary - Apex - Morrisville had 51 sales in the 200k - 400k range

Hospitals scurry to build satellites
The Triangle’s three largest hospitals are accelerating their race to set up satellites in fast-growing sections of the metropolitan area. Late last week WakeMed, UNC-Rex Healthcare and Duke Health Systems filed plans with state regulators to add or expand new facilities. The proposals would supply an area with a booming population of affluent patients, expected to pass 1 million residents by 2012.

single-family sector actually fell by 7.3 percent to an annual rate of 884,000 units
applications for new building permits fell 6.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.178 million units
multifamily activity, which represents less than one-third of total construction, surged by 44.4 percent in October, but that gain came after a 35.9 percent plunge in September.

The City of Raleigh is considering several proposals tohat Council member Philip Isley condemned as “the most far-sweeping policy decision that we’ve ever looked at on the City Council.” He said it would “have the greatest negative impact on every resident in Raleigh that owns real property.” Opponents argue the proposal will dramatically decrease the value of residential property, limiting homeowners’ rights to expand their own homes.
1. They want the city to approve temporary measures to last until city planners return next year with permanent regulations. “My professional preference is that we study the impact before a text change is introduced so I can respond to pros and cons,” Planning Director Mitchell Silver said in an interview.

2. A “PUBLIC HEARING” before the City Council and the Planning Commission is scheduled tonight. Some grumble that the public hearing is set on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, when some can’t attend.

3. Then the Planning Commission will review it and make a recommendation to the council.

4. The measure came up after the October election when Meeker gained several allies on the council. The new council takes its seat next month and will make the final decision on the proposed regulation.

5. The proposal for temporary restrictions, to last until city planners return next year with permanent regulations.

Cities Evolve Organically

The trend of tearing down older homes and replacing them with much bigger, taller homes is driving the proposal. Critics say it’s ruining the character of the city’s established areas. Implementing policies to appease folks that are afraid of change can interfere with and be in contridiction to other societal objectives. Raleigh has begun a new “Comprehensive Plan” process that will take some time to complete. The broader goals and objectives of this endeavor will not be accomplished when this kind of micro management takes place. I see many other conflicts by the Raleigh Rulers, that are going to cause serious problems to quality of life that these do nothings so badly want to maintain. Unintended consequences result when public opinion interferes with professional designs. My soapbox is for “Proactive Planning.”

Here’s a plug for my Client George Farrell, who is expanding his self storage business with just such a product offering. http://www.farrellstorage.com/

Together we designed a new kind of commercial real estate project, at McGhee Commons, that takes a wholistic look at the growth cycles of a businesses space needs. This development site will allow a business to start out in a 5×10 unit and grow to a full retail operation, without losing customers by relocating. A little something for evrey type of business is available here, convenient to Chapel Hill, Cary, Governor’s Club, The Preserve and Jordan Lake.

Rising sales of boats, recreational vehicles - up 18 percent - boost self storage facilities’ revenue.
People spend big bucks on their boats and RVs, so they are more than happy to pay big bucks to protect them.
Storage for boats, RVs, motorcycles, classic cars or anything in your over stuffed garage. Homeowners Associations and town ordinances say you can’t park them in the street or anywhere on your property because it is an eyesore and devalues the neighborhood.

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/778511.html

You can hire an Appraisor or a Real Estate Agent, but hire one that can think outside the box, because looking at JUST statistics can be blinding to the truth. We specialize in this kind of market research analysis.

Average house value goes from $100,000 to $138,000 = annual residential value increase = 4.75%
County (not including City)
property tax goes from $674 per year to $731.4 per year = net residential tax increase = 8.5%

State law requires local governments to make public what tax rate would be required to raise the same amount of money from property taxes after a revaluation as the year before. Wake County’s current rate, 67.4 cents, predicts this “revenue-neutral” tax rate for 2008 will be 53 cents per $100 of assessed value. But even if county commissioners and municipal councils don’t vote to raise taxes beyond the revenue-neutral rate, the tax bill for the average homeowner will go up because of revaluation.

It has taken nearly two years for staffers at Wake’s revenue department to reassess the value of the county’s more than 325,000 real estate parcels. The work was accomplished by dividing the county into 4,463 “revaluation neighborhoods.” (311,212 property owners)

All property owners have the right to appeal their property’s new valuation, and a form for initiating an appeal is included with the mailed notices. However, successfully winning an adjustment requires the property owner to document significant damage or improvement to the property not considered by the county, or proof that recent sales of nearby property are not in line with the county’s revaluation.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/777600.html