Holly Springs, North Carolina.  John Wieland Homes, Preston Development and Impact Builder Group On GO For WoodCroft.  In the face of Triangle sales that are down about 28%, John Wieland Homes and Preston Development have turned the shovel on WoodCroft in Holly Springs.  Of the 800 homes that will eventually be in WoodCroft John Wieland Homes will build 400.  Wieland will offer three separate collections of homes ranging, overall, from the $380s to the $700s.  The three collections are the PRESERVE, the OVERLOOK and the GLEN.  The PRESERVE collection is underway.  It consists of homes of 3,300 to 3,900 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths and priced from $430s to the $500s.  Exteriors are cement fibre, brick and stone combinations.  Interior first floor ceilings will be 9′ while bonus room ceilings will be 10′.  Interiors will have hardwood floors, dining room chair rail, heavy moldings, gourmet kitchens, first floor granite counter tops, custom cabinetry and many other quality features.

Homesite reservations are now being accepted for the Wieland OVERLOOK collection.  Many of these homesites will accommodate basement homes.  Overlook homes will range from 3,200 square feet to 3,800 square feet and be priced from the $550s to the $650s.  They will be mostly brick or stone exteriors.  The first floor ceilings will be 10′ and second floor 9′.  Masters will have trey ceilings and kitchens will have stainless appliances.  Homes in this collection will become available by the middle of June.

In July homes of Wieland’s GLEN collection will come to market.  These homes will range in size from 3,300 square feet to 3,800 square feet and be priced from the $380s to the $430s.  Porches and fibre cement exteriors will be the order of the day for these homes.

More than $3 million will be invested in the spectacular Resident’s Club.  It will have a fitness facility, a lounge, a community meeting room, a kitchen and a game area for children.  There will be a large outdoor pavilion with fireplace, swimming pool and waterslide, basketball court, lighted tennis courts, a children’s playground and walking trails.  The club is scheduled to open by the end of the year.  At the moment there are three MLS listings for WoodCroft.  One of them, 996615, has an exterior photo of the home.

WoodCreek’s location places it near Highways 55, 1, 64, I-440 and the proposed I-540.  Current school assignments are Holly Ridge Elementary, Holly Ridge Middle and Holly Springs High.  To get to WoodCreek take Highway 1 south to Highway 55 (exit 95) and turn south.  Go a mile and a half to left on E. Williams street.  Go about one mile and turn left at the traffic light onto Sunset Lake Road.  WoodCreek is 2.3 miles down on the right.  For more information call me or send me an email at the telephone number or email address given below.

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  13 County Region Has Slowed But Is Still Ahead Of The Game Plan.  During 2007 new jobs rose by only 17,463 (+2%).  By the same token the region, during the last four years, added 102,000 jobs which puts it well of the of the five year plan to add 100,000.  Also, new and growing businesses announced future investments of $817 million which should help keep things moving along economically.  The 13 county region has a population of 1.8 million people.  During the next five years that number is projected in increase by 264,261.  With regard to wages, they increased by 4.2% during 2007.  In the corporate recruiting department, 44 prospects, if gathered in, could add new investments to the tune of $1.6 billion and add 15,000 jobs.

Have a great, safe and enjoyable Memorial Day week-end.

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  March Sales Of Existing Homes Down 28 Percent Vs. 2007.  Wake, Durham, Johnston and Orange county sales totaled 1,875 homes.  That’s the ninth month of declining sales is a row.  Unfortunately, future sales indicators are not very promising either.  Pending sales for March were down 27 percent.  Unsold home inventory, swollen by foreclosures, increased 24.4 percent to 14,492.  That number is equal to a nine month supply.  Wake building permits slid to 510 for the month.  That’s a high dive of 47 percent.  Showings were down 15 percent.  Furthermore, 42 percent of owners dropped prices on their listings.  Last year that figure was 32 percent.

On the plus side the average Triangle home sale price squeezed out a 0.6 percent increase to $235,175.  Not too surprisingly spec inventory, despite lending problems and everything else, was up almot 12 percent year to year.  Why?  National builders have been cutting back on starts for quite some time but local custom builders have existing loans to repay as well as paying for lots that have contracted for.  They know the gamble but they each hope their homes will be the ones that sell.  Average spec home prices are a far cry from the average sale price of Triangle homes.  The average spec home price in March was $608,822 in Orange county, $434,810 in Wake County, $289,091 in Durham county and $249,213 in Johnston county.  Homes selling for under $300,000, in particular, are still enjoying strong demand.  During several prior blogs I have discussed home staging and the wisdom of seller’s doing it.  Those who are doing a good job of it are reaping the rewards of better sales prices and faster sales.  So, those of your trying to save money by just “straightening up” take notice.  In this market that is penny wise and pound foolish thinking.

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  Existing Home Sales Down Eighth Straight Month.  February existing home sales in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties totaled 1,590.  That’s a decline of 16 percent vs. a year ago.  While that is considerably better than January’s 29.6 percent drop future indicators don’t indicate that things will get much better anytime soon.  Pending sales were down 23 percent, withdrawn listings increased 29 percent, average days on market rose to 96 days vs. 83 days and unsold inventory of homes is up 27.2 pecent; all figures vs. the previous year.  The unsold inventory figure is equal to a 10 month supply.  Another figure that is not pleasant is that residential building permits were down 34 percent from January-February of last year in Wake county.  While that will help reduce the inventory of homes the market will have to wade through in the future it certainly hurts builders and all the people and trades who depend on them. 

Of course the factors behind these declines are slowing job growth and foreclosures both nationally and locally as well as the problems of the credit markets.  Existing home sales in the Triangle are down 22 percent from the peak quarter in 2006.  BY comparison Las Vegas and Miami are down 65 percent while Sacremento is down 58 percent.  However, home prices, at least for the time being, continue to increase in the Triangle.  The average existing home price increased 3.1% in February to $244,363. 

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  January Figures Not Rosy.  During January the unemployment figure for the eight county Triangle area of North Carolina increased to 3.9% from 3.8%.  By the same token the state’s jobless was the same as the nation’s or 4.9%.  The nation’s housing malaise, again for January, was a drag on the Triangle as well.  January Triangle home sales were down 29.6%.  The next report of labor market figures for the Triangle will be released on April 2 while Triangle home sales for February should be available in the next few days.

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  Average Triangle Area Home Closing Prices For 2007.  In my post of February 8 I listed the month by month sales during 2007 in Durham, Johnson, Orange and Wake Counties.  They comprise the sales for the counties that account for most of the sales in the Triangle area.  The following is a listing the Average Residential Closing Prices in the same counties (Durham, Johnson, Orange and Wake) during 2007.

Wake - January - $242,275   February - $264,355   March - $255,238   April - $253,649   May - $265,936   June - $270,481   July - $276,412   August - $272,977   September - $265,662   October - $261,279   November - $265,911   December - $252,981   Durham - January - $201,172   February - $201,298   March - $199,190   April - $194,259   May - $199,538   June - $199,001   July - $192,988   August - $199,729   September - $192,696   October - $191,503   November - $197,170   December - $216,620   Johnston - January - $173,305   February - $179,526   March - $174,714   April - $174,356   May - $178,942   June - $176,816   July - $191,599   August - $181,348   September - $186,175   October - $183,779   November - $184,345   December - $179,583   Orange - January - $342,815   February - $322,695   March - $315,779   April - $319,394   May - $326,241   June - $344,894   July - $331,239   August - $379,777   September - $375,762   October - $396,985   November - $317,788   December - $358,208

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

Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Orange County Shopping Center Planned.  The center would be near Mebane and the size would be approximately 1.1 million square feet.   That is approximately the size of the Southpoint center.  The plan was submitted by Summit Consulting Engineers of Hillsborough.  The 128-acre site is located at I-40, I-85 and Buckhorn Road.  There would be three areas within the center.  The first would be a regional retail center, the second a group of stores with the small town look like those at Southpoint and the third would contain a retail and entertainment area.

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

Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Shopping Center The Size of Southpoint Planned.  A center of approximately 1.1 million square feet near Mebane is on the boards.  The plan was submitted by Summit Consulting Engineers of Hillsborough.  The 128-acre site in Orange County is located at I-40, I-85 and Buckhorn Road.  The plan calls for three areas within the center.  One would be a regional retail center, one a small-town group of stores like the one at Southpoint and the third would contain a retail and entertainment area.

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

Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Blue Heaven Centers Sold To “Outsiders”.  Madison Marquette of Washington, D.C. paid $13.1 million for Rams Plaza and $40 million for University Mall.  Rams Plaza is 115,000 square feet in size and University Mall is 366,000 square feet.  The buyer specializes in renovating older retail centers.  The purchases push the value of shopping center sales in the Triangle for the year to $523 million.  That’s five times the annual average over the last five years. 

Morrisville, North Carolina:  LED Follow-Up.  LED Lighting Fixtures of Morrisville has developed a lamp that uses 5.8 watts of power vs. 60 watts for an incandescent bulb of equal brightness.  The new fixture uses less than 9 percent of the energy used by regular incandescent bulbs and 30 percent less that used by flourescent bulbs.  Their best current product uses 15% of the energy and incandescent bulb uses and 50% less than used by a fluorescent bulb .  The company hopes to introduce the more efficient and brighter lamps by the end of 2008.

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

Morrisville, North Carolina.  The Mount Everest Group buys The Waterford Apartment complex in Morrisville.  The Centerville, Ohio buyer paid $24.8 million for the 300 unit apartment complex.  That’s about $82,666 per unit.  The seller MLQ-MLL  LLC from Texas rounded up about 30% more than they paid only two years ago.  Not a bad days or two years work.  

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