THIS JUST ADDED 6/30/11: North Carolina is ranked as the #3 best state for businesses by CNBC!

Yes, as shocking as this may be, I actually have some very good news to share with you all; mostly related to our Lake Norman area economic present and  future. 

Probably the most exciting news this past week was the announcement that California water bottling company Niagara Bottling LLC  plans to build a $45 million plant in Mooresville to serve as their Mid-Atlantic distribution center.  The plant will be built on 60-acres in the Mooresville Business Park and will employ 66 people when it opens in early 2012.  Mooresville was chosen over sites in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and West Virgina according to an article in the Mooresville Tribune.  In a second article in the Mooresville Tribune they focused on the “huge” revenue expected to be generated from this facility including $425,000 per year in water revenue as stated by Mayor Pro Tem Chris Carney.

Another good news item is this week’s unveiling of Mooresville’s Campus of Mitchell Community College’s $5 million classroom addition.   This addition is the third in recent years reflecting the growth in our greater Mooresville and Lake Norman communities.  According to the Mooresville Tribune, this building will include “two science labs, a cyber cafe, 12 staff offices, 14 classrooms and a multi-purpose auditorium/lecture hall allowing the center to seat another 1200 students.”  70 parking spaces were also added. 

As excitement grows for the 25-diamond baseball complex America’s Park being built in Mooresville, the Town of Mooresville is looking at expanding the original Cornelius Road Small Area Plan including an emphasis on “service” businesses, restaurants, hotels, and most importantly plans to create an I-77 interchange at Cornelius Road.

Land clearing  has begun at the long anticipated Langtree at the Lake development.  You can see it from the south bound lanes of the I-77.  Construction is now slated to begin this fall.  We’ve heard this before so we will have to wait and see!

Taking a glimpse into the future of our Lake Norman area,  Charlotte/Gastonia/Concord metropolitan area is ranked 10th in the “Top 10 real estate boomtowns: 2020″ in the country according to census data projections form the data analysis firm Proximity One.

Yes, our Lake Norman real estate market is still struggling but it is nice to share some signs that the future is bright!

Other Articles of Interest

A Glimpse Into Post-Recession Lake Norman Real Estate

Lake Norman Relocation Resources 

Lake Norman Participation Sports Resource Guide

How to get the Lastest Lake Norman News, Events and Coupon Savings!

Lake Norman’s Charlotte Multiple Listing Service made a exciting announcement this week and YOU are going to benefit the most!

They are officially expanding the currently allowable search parameters for consumers to include the following criteria:

Special Conditions:

• Bankruptcy
• Estate
• In Foreclosure Process
• Subject to Court Approval
• REO (Real Estate owned or Lender Owned)
• HUD
• VA
• Short Sale/Subject to Lender Approval
• Relocation

And, for the growing emphasis on “Green” housing, they are also adding the following criteria:

Green Certifications:

• LEED home
• Energy Star
• Environments for Living
• EarthCraft House
• NC Healthy Built Homes
• NAHB( National Association of Home Builders) National Green Building Standard

Energy Efficiency Rating:

• HERS (Home Energy Rating) Index

Every real estate website has a choice of what they will offer to their readers.  In keeping with my Lake Norman Real Estate’s effort to provide as much data on our Lake Norman housing market as possible, you will be able to search for all of the above criteria starting today, September 20th which is the first day it is available!

Don’t forget that you can search sales data by clicking on the “Research” button on each listing as well.

Progress is exciting!

RELATED ARTICLES

Lake Norman Real Estate’s August 2010 Sales Analysis 

Lake Norman Real Estate’s How Green Is Your Home

Lake Norman Relocation and Resource Guide

On June 10th, 2009 we got some stunning news regarding our Lake Norman real estate market.  Mega developer Crescent Resources LLC announced that they had filed for Chapter 11.  Crescent Resources, a joint venture between Duke Energy and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, has been responsible for creating and developing Lake Norman’s most prestigious and popular communities including The Point, The Peninsula, The Harbour at The Pointe, The Farms, Sailview,Northview Harbour and their latest venture Falls Cove.

It wasn’t until July 15th 2010 that Crescent Communities broke their silence and sent out a news alert to Realtors announcing that they had emerged from their Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on June 9, 2010, touting their still developing communities of The Point and The Farms and announcing some interesting changes and news regarding their struggling, newest venture, Falls Cove located north of Mooresville.

With the exception of Falls Cove, I am constantly showing property in all of the Crescent Communities.  For buyers looking for upscale communities with great amenities the Crescent communities are some of the best available on Lake Norman on both the east and west sides of the lake.

I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of these 7 communities’ sales and homes on the market as of today, August 26, 2010 to see if the numbers reflect my own experiences:

* All of these numbers are from the Charlotte Regional Multiple Listing Services

** These numbers include waterfront and non-waterfront listings

Active Listings/Months of Supply: If you look at the months of supply, you can see that The Farms and The Harbour at The Pointe are slightly out performing the others. However, considering that The Point and The Peninsula have many $1 million plus waterfront homes, they are actually doing quite well and all four of these communities are out-performing our overall Lake Norman real estate market.  What is worrisome to see are the months of inventory of Northview Harbour and to a lesser degree Sailview and Falls Cove.

Closed Sales Year-To-Date 2010:  Again, Northview Harbour stands out (in a bad way) with only 2 closed sales in the past 8 months.  From my perspective, Mooresville leads the Lake Norman sales activity in general these days which is reflected by the sales in The Point, The Harbour at the Pointe and The Farms.  Popular schools, low taxes, an ever growing supply of restaurants, shopping and services and the light at the end of the tunnel for the widening of Brawley School Rd. all contribute to this trend.  Sailview, which is in Denver on the southwest side of Lake Norman, is still a popular location because of its convience to Charlotte and the newly completed Hwy 16.  That leaves Sherrills Ford kind of hanging in the wind.  Located on the northwest side of Lake Norman, it is farther from shopping and amenities and doesn’t seem to have the draw the other communities have.  It is best suited as a second home or for those empty-nesters who want to get away from it all.

Days on Market (DOM): Despite being a slightly older community, The Harbour has consistently out-performed most Lake Norman communities even before the recession.  Today their numbers support the fact that this is simply a great community in which to live.  On the other extreme, Falls Cove, which has barely begun to be developed, has suffered the most during this recession.  The higher numbers in the most upscale communities of The Point and The Peninsula are partially a function of the number of very high-end waterfront estates which tend to take substantially longer to sell.

% Listing Price to Selling Price: What is most interesting about all of these numbers is that the lowest is still very high at 93%.  In our Lake Norman housing market, we see less of the low-ball sales than I have observed in other parts of the country.  Here, overpriced listings will sit until they are reduced to near market value before selling. Only well-priced listings are selling because buyers are so nervous about over paying in this market.  It is rare to see a sale that isn’t a “bargain” or at least perceived as a good value.

$ Per Square Foot:  I actually just included these numbers as an FYI.  Because The Point and The Peninsula have recently had some $3 million+ sales,  and more $1million + sales their numbers are skewed when compared to the rest.

This is simply a general overview.  When considering buying or selling, I highly recommend that your Realtor do a more fine-tuned market analysis focusing on the specifics of your Lake Norman home!

RELATED ARTICLES

Is ‘The Point’ Lake Normans Ulitmate Luxury Home Community?

The Peninsula, Cornelius’s Luxury Lake Norman Community

 The Farms, A Crescent Community in Lake Norman with a more Casual Feel

The Harbour at The Pointe; A Popular Lake Norman Subdivision

Relocating to Mooresville NC

Lake Norman Relocation Resources

Truthfully,  2009 was a pretty easy year to predict real estate trends in our Lake Norman area. (See my 2009 predictions).  Prices came down, foreclosures and short sales dominated our market, new construction ground to a screeching halt putting many of our local builders out of business, and lenders made everyones’  lives extremely difficult. Yes, it was a tough year for home sellers and home buyers.

However, looking forward in 2010 I am not seeing a lot of black and white but rather a medium shade of grey. 

For our Lake Norman real estate market 2010 will be a turning point.  The question is, how bumpy will the road be, how far down the road will we hit the turn, and will it be a gentle, hardly discernable curve or a pronounced change in direction?

The Big Picture:

To a certain degree, our Lake Norman housing market’s ability to begin to stabilize will depend on the national financial policy makers.  Our national financial uncertainly makes it extremely difficult to make solid predictions for our local market.  Here are some of the major issues that will play a significant role in our housing market this year:

• At the end of march, the Federal Reserve will end its $1.25 Trillion program backing the mortgage market and helping to keep interest rates low.
• FHA is currently working on legislation to tighten their underwriting standards although progress is being made to modify and soften their original requests.  This tightening was initiated by a need for capital reserves due to losses FHA has absorbed since the recession began.
• Only a modest rebound in housing starts is expected.  Builders who have survived are still finding it nearly impossible to get loans for new projects and spec building is almost not existent.
• The homebuyer tax credits will end April 30th – June 30th. 
• There is expected to be another wave of  resets of adjustable and interest only loans, especially on jumbo loans, which means sharply higher monthly payments for those homeowners.  This may trigger another wave of shortsales and/or foreclosures.

Regionally:

Our Lake Norman housing market is also going to be impacted significantly by regional economic components, especially jobs. 

• North Carolina’s population growth was the third highest in the US  according to the Charlotte Business Journal.  Lake Norman is still a destination for people throughout the US.  While many of my out-of-state buyers have had to delay their moves here, very few have actually canceled them.

• Jobs play a huge role in our recovery.  The jobless rate in North Carolina started to lessen in November however unemployment rates in Mecklenburg and Iredell Counties remain higher than the state average.  North Carolina pundits seem very mixed in their economic vision of 2010 but they do seem to agree that unemployment has peaked and that we will see improvement by the end of 2010 if not sooner.  But everyone agrees that we must see job improvement before we see any significant change in our housing market. 

My Predictions:

• Bargains will continue to drive the market.  More and more homebuyers who have been sitting on the fence will realized that these bargains, once gone, won’t necessarily be replaced so they will be more confident and motivated in 2010. 
• A year of  foreclosures and short sales.  Sellers who have been hoping to sell at a price that allows them to at least break even are going to run out of time. We will continue to see active listings slowly evolving into short sales or foreclosures. 
• Shadow Inventory?  One of the biggest questions I have is just how many Lake Norman homeowners are either waiting to sell until they see a turn in the market or have withdrawn their homes from the market (which accounts for our drop in inventory) while planning to bring them back on the market once they see signs of improvement.  If, just when our inventory of homes gets down to a good number (6-8 months of supply), a large number of sellers who have been waiting  jump into the market, then we will again face high levels of inventory and a second round of a buyers market.
• A year of stabilization more than recovery is what most everyone is saying throughout the country.  Personally, I don’t think it will be an exciting year with significant changes but rather a slow, methodical road towards recovery.  2010 may hold some surprises but for the most part it will be a year of righting the ship and preparing to sail slowing forward in 2011.

I would love to hear your thoughts and predictions. Please leave a comment!

Related Articles

 Lake Norman Real Estate’s Fourth Quarter 2009 Sales Analysis

Lake Norman Real Estate’s Fourth Quarter Sales Analysis 2008 

 Lake Norman Real Estate:  Why is it so hard to buy a home right now?

Lake Norman, Our Inland Sea 

Lake Norman Relocation Resources