Raleigh, North Carolina.  Home Of Red Hat Co-Founder Sells For $5 Million.  Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat software company sold his home inside the beltline for a cool $5 million.  The name of the out of town buyer, has not been disclosed.  Bob and his wife Nancy purchased the 65 year old Oberlin Road home for $1.75 million in 1999.  It is an 11,530 square foot Georgian style home with 5 bedrooms.  During their ownership they have made extensive renovations to the home.  The purchase price of $5 million is the largest amount ever paid for a Wake County home.  Since January 1 there have been 14 closings of homes at $1.5 million and above and there are 5 more under contract ranging from $2 million to $5 million.  Yes there is a lot of expensive inventory on the market but there are also high value sales.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Case Shiller Index Down 10.7% In January.  This Standard and Poors service show the largtest drop in its twenty year history.  Charlotte, the only North Carolina city in the index, managed a 1.8% rise against the otherwise grim tide.  It was also the only city on the list to post a gain.  While not on the list, Raleigh showed a gain of 3.6% vs. the prior year.  The hardest hit cities were Miami and Los Vegas which were both down 19.3%.  Another figure in the red in February was the median price of existing homes sold.  It was $195,900.  That was the greatest year-to-year decline since 1999.  The one positive figure in February was the unexpected increase in the sale of exisiting housing.  That was the first increase in six months.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

Wake County, North Carolina.  When is record appreciation not too much?  Much of the pressure on real estate prices around the country is due to runaway appreciation over a long period of time.  When you consider the growth of the Raleigh, Wake Country and Triangle area markets you would think we must certainly have had that same kind of runaway pricing.  Not so.  The demand for homes has been met by the availability of homes and thus, while we have had good and consistent appreciation we have not had ”galloping” appreciation.  This is one of the factors that causes the Triangle area to be rated, by many, as the number one real esate market and one of the top, if not the top, places to live and work in the U.S.

Stacey Anfindsen (staceypeter@smapublications.com - - website www.smapublications.com)  says, “2006 was a very good year if you owned residential real estate within Wake County.  Our current average appreciation of 4.36% is the highest that it has been in the 15 years that I have been tracking re-sale prices.”  He further states, “My predictions for 2007 would include the average appreication rate for the county passing the 5% mark, re-sale housing located ITB (Inside the Beltline) passing the 8% mark and re-sale housing located in North Raleigh, Falls Lake and CAM (Cary/Apex/Morrisville) passing the 6% mark.”  In my opinion Stacy’s knowledge of the Triangle residential real estate market is second to none.  Thus, while the market for new and resale homes has been and continues to be good, it holds promise of becoming a VERY strong indeed.  The same is also true of the local commercial market.  Is anyone listening?  If so, let me know.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

A client has asked me to do a current thumbnail sketch of new North Raleigh homes in the $500,000 to $600,000 range. In doing this for them I included Wake Forest as part of the north Raleigh statistics and I included listings of homes listed as built in 2005 and 2006.  A few of these homes are, therefore, resale homes.  For those of you not familiar with the Raleigh, the area I used was from the inner beltline north through Wake Forest but does not include the so called inside the beltline area (given as area #1 on agent maps).  I thought the results of this search were worth passing along to others and I may do a series of these thumbnail sketches; especially since the North Raleigh portion of Wake County represents the largest number of any price gouping of homes in the $400,000 and above range. The search for new homes, 2005 and 2006, in the north Raleigh area in the price range of $500,000 to $600,000 produced 69 listings.  Obviously a price range of $100,000 can somewhat skew the figures, especially toward either end of the range but they are of value none-the-less. 

First of all, the average finished square footage of these homes is 3,633 sq. ft.  Of these 2 are three bedroom, 47 are 4 bedroom and 20 are 5 bedroom.  There are 41 main floor masters and 28 second floor masters.  One home has 2 full baths, 39 have three full baths, 27 have four full baths and 2 have five full baths.   Of the 69 homes 6 have unfinished basements (partial or full) and only 3 have finished basements (partial or full).  As to garage space, 52 have a two car garage, 16 have a three car garage and 1 has a four car garage.  As to heating systems, 56 have natural gas, 10 have electric heat and 3 have LP gas.  As to types of homes, 1 is one story, 3 are 1.5 stories, 62 are two story and 3 are 2.5 stories.  As to exteriors in this price range, 21 are fibre cement, 18 are some combination of fibre cement, shake, stone or brick, 1 in vinyl, 2 are hardboard masonite, 20 have brick fronts (the balance usually being fibre cement), 2 have at least two sides brick and 2 are listed as all brick, 1 is stone, and 2 are fibre cement and stone.  All of this information comes from this areas Multiple Listing Service listings and I do not vouche for the accuracy of it.  It is, however, close enough to provide a pretty accurate picture of what you can expect to get, new construction wise, in that price range in North Raleigh.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

The caption would imply an almost wholesale decline in the price of Raleigh high end homes.  Not so. Raleigh and the rest of the Research Triangle is blessed with a continued strong housing market and a record number of high end presales (people contracting to build their dream homes).  The problems we do have stem, mostly, from the difficulty people moving to this area are having in selling their homes in the markets they are leaving.

The Raleigh housing market has been new home driven for many years; especially in homes of $800,000 and above.  Yes, resales are good but the availability of excellent lots in find subdivisions cause many potential existing home buyers (both new and resale) to say, “Well, if we are going to spend this much money why don’t we build our dream home?  For this reason the high end home builders quite often find that they have more presale business than they can handle.

This sometimes creates difficulty in getting some reasale homes and even some builder homes sold. This presents a unique opportunity to buy some very fine homes at very good prices for savvy buyers.  I am talking about fine, quality homes not junk.  Three homes come to mind immediately.  The first can be had at $900,000 below its initial listing price!  The second $300,000 below its initial listing price. The third $225,000 below its initial listing price.  So, those of you who can handle a home of from $1.4 million to $2.1 million and who like to have an excellent deal as well as a great home, I would be happy to provide information on these homes for you and to arrange showings as well.

John Fish (919) 696-3474    Email: marvmax@mindspring.com     Website: www.JohnFish.com

This coming week end is the first week end of the 2006 Parade of Homes.  The center of attention, of course, is on the many new homes in all price ranges that are open for the public to see.  Because of the growth the Triangle area continues to enjoy, couples who can afford homes of $1 million and above are primarily looking at either new homes or for a lot they can build their dream home on.  That is all well and good.  However, in the process many resale homes are overlooked and surprisingly a number of them represent above average values.  I say surprisingly because the comparative value vs. either a new home or the cost of one to be built clearly favors the resale home.  If you are a local resident thinking of something different or if you will be moving to this area you might want to ask for a copy of my “Top Value Homes” (done by price range). What constitutes a “Top Value Home”?  It can be a home priced below comparables, it can be a home of high quality in an excellent area that should have sold more quickly than it has and therefore might be available at a more satisfactory price than its current listing price, etc.  These homes may be nearly new or twenty years old.  If you are interested in a copy please ask by price range: $1 million to $1,250,000, $1,250,000 to $1,500,000, $1,500,000 to $2 million, $2 million to $3,000,000, $3,000,000 and above.  Either call me at 919-696-3474 or send me an email:  marvmax@mindspring.com.  Also, if you would like my “Best of Show” picks, new or resale, just specifiy the price range you are interested in.    John Fish - (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Web:  www.JohnFish.com

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.  Welcome to the premier Raleigh-Durham online real estate blog.  It is designed to inform consumers on how to be a pro in the real estate market and avoid common pitfalls that are costly. It is also designed to keep you informed as to what is going on in residential and commercial real estate throughout the Triangle area.  The articles and tools throughout the site are FREE, with zero strings attached. My name is Johnf Fish; I cover Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, Apex, Morrisville, Garner, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Knightdale, Louisburg, Zebulon, Clayton, Wendell, Durham, Chapel Hill, and surrounding areas. 

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website:  www.JohnFish.com