Chatham County Real Estate. Jim Goodnight, Tim Smith and “Bubba” Rawl are at it again.  Preston Development has purchased 2,000 acres South of Pittsboro and have an eagle eye on 1,000 more.  About all Tim and “Bubba” will say about their plans for the acreage is that it will have 2 golf courses.  As you know Tim and “Bubba”, with the backing of SAS Institute founder Jim Goodnight, developed Preston in Cary and put together the acreage package that is now Wakefield.  Jim is backing them in this venture as well. 

If you haven’t been keeping up with what is going on in Pittsboro it’s time you did.  Newland Communities, a developer out of San Diego, has an approved subdivision called Briar Chapel which will have 2,389 homes on 1,589 acres five miles South of Chapel Hill off of U.S. 15-501.  There will also be two schools and more than 500,000 square feet of commercial space.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina. One of the nations largest builders of condominiums, Epcon communities, has built condo communities in 27 states through its 125 franchise partners.  However, until now it has never expanded its own construction program outside of its home state of Ohio.  Most of their projects have approximately 100 units in 25 buildings.  One of its franchise partners, Cornerstone Homes of Richmond, Va. is planning to do condo communities in Wake Forest and Apex. It is currently awaiting approval of a 144 unit complex off Capital Boulevard.  The Apex complex would have 23 buildings with 92 units at Peachtree Landing off of U.S. 64 north of Haddon Hall. 

In 2005 there were 853 new condo sales in the Raleigh-Durham metro area while there were 1,235 resales.  This is up from 426 and 945 (respectively) in 2002.

Epcon condos range from 1,300 to 1,990 square feet, are built four to a building, are single story, have either two or three bedrooms, an attached two-car garage and either an enclosed veranda or a patio.  They are built in a pinwheel design. 

While these units are targeted toward active, older adults who don’t want stairs or yard maintenance, Epcon does not have any age restrictions.  This type of facility doesn’t exist in large numbers in this area. 

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

Research Triangle Home sales were down for the second straight month in July.  Also, building permits in Wake County declined almost 24%.  Even so, the Triangle should end the year with another increase.  In the six county area (Raleigh, Durham, Orange, Johnston, Chatham and Franklin) lot sales are down 2.3% for the year.  A number of reasons account for the overall continued strength of the areas housing market: good jobs, continued inflow of people looking for jobs in the area, continued historically good interest rates (despite the increases of the past few months) and the fact that while sales continue strong, there hasn’t been the speculative spiral of prices here that have hurt other areas.  Yes, some subdivisions have seen strong appreciation because of particularly desireable locations but the entire area has been very stable.

As I talk to people who are coming into this areas from cities all around the US, and who are intending to do so, it becomes obvious that one item the papers are not picking up on (with regard to the slowdown in local sales) is that people who would like to come here from other areas are finding it harder to sell their existing homes.  While local listings are up both national and local builders are cutting back on the number of homes they are building and intend to build. This reduction in new home inventory coming online will create more demand for existing homes.  How difficult it will be to meet the demand for new homes during the next six to twelve months will depend on the nation’s overall economy, the direction of interest rates, and the lag time between the time it takes to reduce production now and increase it and bring more homes on-line when the decision is made to get more aggressive again. 

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

One of my favorite people is no longer with us.  Maynard Ferguson passed away yesterday.  I grew up with the magnificent big band sounds of Maynard, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington to name but a few.  Another thing that has disappeared, along with most of the big bands, is the great ballrooms I used to go to, to see them.  I remember dancing and listening to Maynard at the Val-Air ballroom in DesMoines.  At that time Maynard had a full size big band rather than the smaller groups of later years.  To me, both will be greatly missed - but not forgotten.

It occurs to me than quite a few of my favorite musicians and actors are from Canada.  Maynard, The Boss Brass, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Robert Goulet, Oscar Peterson, Glenn Gould, Captain James T. Kirk (alias William Shatner), Hume Cronyn, Glenn Ford and Lorne Greene.  Those are people who come to mind and I know that there are many, many more.  One, whose music was not my cup of tea but without who New Year’s eve wouldn’t have been the same, is Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians.  To me, Guy was as much what New Year’s eve is all about and remembered for as the crystal ball coming down above Times Square.  Of course, there were the movies I enjoyed about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the radio program about the same.  Was it Captain Preston of the RCMP?  I think his dog’s name was King.  If that is not correct credit it to time catching up with me.

Many Canadian companies have good sized operations in Raleigh and the Research Triangle.  An article in the News and Observer said that there are at least 600 Canadians living in the Raleigh area.  I recently had the good fortune to work with a Canadian couple throughout the process of both looking for a home and subsequently building one in Raleigh.  I am now working with another great Canadian couple who will be building a very fine home in North Raleigh. May I just say - “Y’all come!” and welcome! 

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

Raleigh, North Carolina. The GlenLake office park, just west of Crabtree Valley Mall, will lease 28,000 square feet to Pepsi Bottling Ventures.  The demand for office space in the area is strong and getting stronger.  Highwoods Properties, the developer of GlenLake Park, has 70% of the building Pepei will be in preleased and is now considering a third building in the Park. 

Grubb Ventures is building 110,000 square feet of office space about two miles away from the GlenLake site while the Soleil Group will be building both a 42 story hotel with high priced condos at the top of it along with an offer tower (in concert with the Triangle Development Group) just across the steet from Crabtree Valley Mall.

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

Triangle Home Sales. The Fed which, in my opinion, has never understood the overall impact of home sales on the economy continues to dangle the threat of more interest rate increases.  The national inventory of unsold homes in July hit 3.86 million.  Based on the rate of current sales it would take more than 7 months to get rid of it and that is the longest period since 1993.  The Fed may not like the idea that the appreciation most home owners have seen in their homes is the main source of capital for the spending they do for major items; but if they want to kill off that source and still hope to see the consumer continue to spend to shore up the economy I would to know what other source of funds they have in mind. 

In the Triangle area home sales continue to be very strong without the dizzy increase in appreciation values some other areas have seen.  If you have done your homework and know how that translates downline you should be looking long and strong at Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and the surrounding areas. We are seeing more and more investors catching onto the fact that they should be giving the same attention to this area that major corporations, both domestic and foreign, are.  Are you?  For information about homes and other information concerning this area call me, John Fish, 919-696-3474 or send me an email with what information you would like at marvmax@mindspring.com.  It’s FREE so you can’t beat the price. 

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

Raleigh, North Carolina. The agency responsible for the RBC Center, the Centennial Authority, is spending $1.5 million for a new luxury section.  It will overlook the arena from high above the north end, seat 330 and be called the “Champions Club.”  A $5,125 season ticket will get you posh surroundings, a great view of game action, four free glasses of wine or beer, lounge chairs, 14 high-definition TVs, and (if you pony-up for 2 season tickets) VIP parking as well.  If you want great surroundings for games and/or do a lot of corporate entertaining you might want to give serious consideration to this seating.  The club will also be available for N.C. State’s men’s basketball games for a season ticket price of $876.  For more Champions Club season ticket info. call (866) 645-2263 or go on-line to www.carolinahurricanes.com.  For N.C. State men’s basketball games call (919) 865-1510 or go on-line to www.gopack.com.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Between 2000 and 2005 the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Region grew by more than 19% to about 950,000.  I have read several growth reports that claimed to report the population of given Metropolitan Statistical Regions.  However, there was a variation in the reports of the areas covered so what has been included or left out of this one I cannot say.  Suffice it to say that the growth has been strong - and continues.

Speaking of growth, Holly Springs is projected to nearly double its population to just over 31,000 during the next decade.  If that is as accurate as most projections around here have been during the last ten years it will prove to be on the low side - perhaps by a considerable amount.  Novartis, the drug maker, is bringing 350 jobs to Holly Springs, Wal-Mart will be building a store across the street from Novartis, Harris Teeter is expected to be the anchor of a 250,000 square foot shopping center, Boylan will build a mixed-use development of 90 townhomes, 17 single family homes, 150 condos or apartments and 40,000 square feet of shops with the same amount of offices above them.  There several other projects in the works that will add substantially to this.  Since activity follows activity Holly Springs should be an area alive with growth for a long time.

THe name Moog may or may not have meaning to you.  Bob moog invented synthesizers that turned electric currents into sound in the 60s.  Music, for better or worse, has not been the same since.  Moog Music is headquartered in Asheville and has annual sales of more than $3 million.  They manufacture and ship synthesizers, theremins and other electronic instruments all over the world.  Bob passed away a year ago and his family and friends are setting up a foundation to honor his memory that will endow scholarships at Berklee College of Music in Boston and at UNC-Ashville.  There are many examples of people who have done well in life giving to others to celebrate their good fortune.  These are the things, in my opinion, that deserve headline attention rather than endless ravings about who did what to who.

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

Dog Paintings.  For those of you who love dogs and art I would recommend the September-October issue of Veranda magazine.  It goes into detail about and shows a number of photos of famous paintings of dogs.  It also details the showings of dog paintings, photographs and sculptures that have been featured by the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut and that will be featured by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.  The title of these exhibits is “BEST IN SHOW: THE DOG IN ART FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO TODAY.”  The Bruce exhibit ends the 27th of August while the Museum of Fine Arts exhibit starts on October 1 and runs through the end of the year.

While on the subject of art exhibits, Veranda also has a feature article on the forthcoming exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.  It is called LOUVRE ATLANTA, starts October 14 and will feature, for the next three years, 400 works of art from the Louvre that have never before been exhibited in the US.  The loan fees for the exhibition will be used to help restore the Louvre’s 18th Century decorative art galleries that are now closed to the public.  The art works are not limited to paintings.  Porcelain, antiques, drawings, tapestries and decorative arts will be displayed as well.

I can’t leave the current issue of Veranda without directing your attention to the article and photos of a marvelous home in the mountains of North Carolina at Cashiers.  Hal Ainsworth and Winton Noah furnished the home they had designed for them.  They opened retail shops in Atlanta in the seventies and have done many marvelous interiors since then as well.  The majority of their clients are designers.

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

Triangle Area, North Carolina.  Wal-Mart has 14 stores in the Triangle and is in the process of adding four or five more.  A new store will be under construction in the near future in Knightdale and will replace the existing store.  A 72-acre shopping center near Raleigh’s Triangle Town Center may be anchored by a Wal-Mart.  Construction will start later this year or early next year on a store in Morrisville while in 2007 a store will get underway in Holly Springs.  Wal-Mart is also awaiting approval from the city of Raleigh for a store in South-east Raleigh at the corner of Rock Quarry and Sunnybrook roads.  The company is also interested in placing more stores in Cary and Apex.  Het um up - move um out! 

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