Triangle Housing Market.  Pick the information you like best from the following list and do with it what you will.  On the one hand the sale of exiting homes in Triangle declined for the third consecutive month in December.  Comparing year to year December figures, the number of sellers reducing their listing price increased 7 1/2%, buyers closed on 13% fewer homes and unsold inventory was up 6%.  On the other hand total sales for the year were up 4% to 30,259.  The average sales price increased 5%to $235,300.

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

RTI International.  RTI International is a think tank known throughout the world.  It has 2,100 employees in the Triangle and another 500 spread throughout 40 other nations of the world.  It is the second largest nonprofit think tank in the U.S. The Largest, Battelle, is based in Columbus, Ohio.  RTI’s rapid expansion comes with a price.  They are about to spend $100 million on their 180 acre campus to add more space, renovate existing space, relocate 600 workers who now work in leased space in buildings outside their campus and accommodate 100 additonal workers per year.  RTI, for the most part, provides services for federal government agencies.  For example, last year they received two contracts totaling $230 million to devise better ways to deal with tropical diseases and to control malaria.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Between 2000 and 2005 the Raleigh/Cary population increased by 19 percent which made it the 18th fastest growing region in the U.S.  So, where do all the people coming to the Triangle come from?  According to the IRS the five counties in the nation that provided us with the most people during that period were: Fairfax County, Va. (2,397), Los Angeles County (2,089), Cook County, Ill. (2,034) and Suffolk County, Long Island, N.Y. (1,875).  The leading reasons for coming here were the job market, affordable housing and less crime.

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

Cary Luxury Homes Subdivision.   Creedmoor Partners has yet another subdivision of luxury homes underway.  It is called Renaissance at Regency and is next to Symphony Lake off of Ederlee Drive.  The subdivision will have three sections:  The Estate Homes, The Manor Homes and the Cottage Homes.  There are 34 one-half to one acre sites that range in price from $275,000 to $415,000.  There have already been 13 presales.  The building team is comprised of Rufty Homes, Inc.  SilverCrest Homes, LLC, Ted Keith Builder, Inc., Dixon/Kirby & Company, Inc., Bost Custom Homes, Ange Construction Co., Nearson Custom Homes and Properties, Inc., 1st American Builders, Bluestone Builders, LLC, Sundance Signature Homes, Huntley Design Build, Inc. and Thomas Gipson Homes, Inc.  The minimum size homes in the part of the subdivision is 5,000 square feet and price will start at $1.5 million.  The Manor Homes will offer 65 lots of one-third to one-half acre and homes will be priced from the $900,000s.  Lot prices will range from $180,000 to $330,000.  The builder team will consist of KJ Construction, Mangum Design-Build, Inc., Southern Elegant Homes, Inc., Upright Builders, Inc., J.T. Sullivan Custom Builders, Inc., Taylor Custom Homes of N.C., Inc., Timberline Builders, SilverCrest Homes, LLC, Huntley Design Build, Inc., Ted Keith Builder, Inc., Poythress Homes, Inc.   The Cottage Homes section is designed for Maintenance-free living.  Connected by a gatehouse leading to a private garden area, these homes will be built by Premiere Homes, Inc. There are 114 home sites and prices for these homes will start at $690,000.  The location is truly superior.

For more information please feel free to call or email me at any time.

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

Durham Apartments.   In November Sentinal Real Estate, a New York investment group, purchased the 352 unit Lofts at Lakeview apartment complex at 2616 Erwin Road from the Houston based Hanover Co.  The sale price of $63.5 million is the higest price paid ever paid for an apartment complex in the Triangle area.  That price equals $180,398 per unit.  The previous record was the $47.5 million UBS Realty Investors of Hartford, Conn. paid for the North Hills Alexan apartment complex in Raleigh.  That price equaled a tidy $159,933 per unit.  For the year investors shelled out more than $1 billion for Triangle apartments which far exceeds the previous record of $755 million set just last year.  Another record of note was the total sale of all types of commercial real estate in the Triangle for 2006.  It exceeded $2 billion which was 25% greater than 2005’s record $1.5 billion.

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

New Raleigh I-540 Segment opens.  The long awaited north Raleigh segment of I-540 from Triangle Town Boulevard to the U.S. 64/264 Bypass in Knightdale opened at 11 A.M. yesterday.  This segment will make travel a lot easier and faster for many people.  It will make traveling from Rocky Mount, Wilson and even Goldsboro much faster to RDU airport and to all areas of north Raleigh.  Of course it will help shorten the daily communtes of people living in Clayton, Knightdale, Garner and other communities east of Raleigh into and through the Raleigh area as well.

New RDU to Denver non-stop service.  Business and pleasure travelers from the Raleigh area to Denver will be happy to hear that on April 24 United Airlines will inaugurate a daily non-stop service.  Currently, about 400 passengers per day use connecting flight between Raleigh and Denver.  The flight will leave Raleigh at 4:52 p.m. and arrive in Denver at 6:49 p.m.  This service will increase the number of non-stop destinations from RDU to 39.

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

Raleigh Dream Homes.  What do you get in Raleigh for $1,000,000?  One new million dollar home gives you 4 bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, 4565 finished square feet, Dining room, Family room, Office/Study, Kitchen, Breakfast room, Hearth Room, a 3 car garage and a 1.095Ac lot.

What do you get for $4,000,000?  How about 7 Bedrooms, 8 Full Bathrooms, 1 Half Bath, 10558 finished square feet above grade, 4854 finished square feet below grade, Living room, Dining room, Family room, Office/Study, Kitchen, Breakfast room, Bonus room, Theatre, Exercise room, Billard room, Nanny Suite, 2 wet bars, elevator and an interior 72 x 30 sports arena (basketball court if you will!) and situated on a 1.32 acre golf course lot.

What do you get for $32,000,000?  How about a 20,000 square feet main home and a 3,500 square foot 3 bedroom guest home.  The main home has a 40-foot-high-ceilings, 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 5 half baths, a 1930s style movie theater, built-in cigar humidor on a 14 acre tract.  In addition there are approximately 57 more acres that have been divided into 27 smaller lots for high end home development - should the buyer wish. This Raleigh home is owned by Peter Loftin, founder of a telecommunications company, who purchased the Florida home of Gianni Versace and now spends most of his time there. 

If you find such homes to be of interest let me know.  However, to view the second and third homes, verified ability to purchase is required.  Obviously, it would be my pleasure to show them to you. 

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

Triangle lot prices increase.  Single family lot prices have tanked in some areas around the country.  Commercial broker Grubb & Ellis report that areas across the country, including Naples, Fla., Boston, Washington, D.C. have seen lot prices decline as much as 29%.  Larger tracts have felt the pinch as well.  They say that the median price of parcels averaging between 40 and 94 acres is $162,000 per acre, year-to-date, which is 28% below the price in 2004.  Volatility in lot prices is also much greater because of zoning laws, environmental regulations and other market forces. 

On the other hand, in Houston the oil and gas industry is booming again and the median lot price, during the third quarter of 2006, was up 15.8%.  Market Opportunity Research in Rocky Mount, NC says that lot prices in the Triangle increased nearly 12% during the third quarter of 2006 with an average lot going for $66,555 vs. $59,439 a year earlier.  Emmett Curl, Wake County Revenue Director, says that larger tracts of land for residential development have increased 10 to 15 percent ANNUALLY since the late 1990s.  He sees this appreciation to continue for the foreseeable future.  One reason we see extremes in land price swings is because lot supply is not as flexible as the supply of homes for sale.

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

Rolesville, North Carolina.  Another Triangle Area city is surrounded by the flower of growth.  How sweet the smell of that flower is depends on your point of view.  Granite Falls Boulevard is a new three-lane road, with a center turn lane, that has just opened.  It provides a connection from Rogers Road to West Young Street.  It is just about parallel to U.S. 401 (Louisburg Road) and, to the relief of everyone who drives 401 every day, will take a lot of traffic off of 401.  The road makes possible the Granite Falls Subdivision (237 homes planned) and Williow Crest (173 homes planned) which are both north of it.  THe Granite Ridge subdivision (300 homes on 26 acres and already approved) will be on the west side of Rogers Road, from where Granite Falls Boulevard will, in the future, extend to Burlington Mills Road.  Other new and planned Rolesville projects are the new Sanford Creek Elementary School will open later this year, a new State Employees Credit Union and an athletics facility with indoor pool and day care center.

For more information about the area and to see homes in the area call me or send me an email.

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

Knightdale North Carolina.  Knightdale has a population of 8,372 and is projected to grow to 10,078 by 2011.  As with all other projections of Triangle area growth, that will probably turn out to be very conservative.  The Knightdale growth drum roll should really get load later this month with the opening of the next section of Interstate 540.  The new section will take traffic from Capital Boulevard to the U.S. 64/264 Bypass.  A quick review of some of the subdivisions and commercial project that are planned or already underway in Knightdale will give you some idea of what is happening.

* Churchill Subdivision - 544 units planned, 152 built or under construction.  * Langston Ridge Subdivision - 226 units planned, 0 units under construction.   * Mingo Creek Subdivision - 488 units planned, 281 built or under construction  * Princeton Manor Subdivision - 446 unit planned, 209 built or under construction  * Widewater Village Subdivision - 258 units planned, 258 built or under construction  * River Estates Townhomes - 47 units planned, 47 built or under construction  * Widewaters Commons Apartments - 332 units planned, 332 built or under construction.    COMMERCIAL -  * Crosland Commercial - 195,000 commercial square feet planned  * Shoppes at Midway Plantation - 420,699 commercial square feet planned  * Village Park Commons - 430,650 square feet planned.

If you would like more information about Knightdale, or any other area of the Triangle, call me or send me an email.  The living and investing possibilities in the Triangle are well worth investigating.

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