Raleigh, North Carolina.  Bungalow style homes.  Just Molly and me and baby makes three.  We’re happy in my blue heaven.  That’s from a song that goes back a lot of years and no it doesn’t refer specifically to UNC or Chapel Hill.  The blue heaven of that day was very likely a bunglow in anywhere USA.

With the Parade of Homes coming up at the end of September there is a lot of talk about home styles.  Point out a home anywhere, on any street and ask ten people at random what style it is. Most of the time all you will get is a wrong answer or no answer at all.  Most homes being built in Raleigh, Wake County or most other areas of the U.S. today are not, strictly speaking, a specific style but rather a mixture of styles.  Many “specific” styles are no longer being built.  When they are built they are usually a highly modified version of the original.  With this in mind I thought I would, during the next few days, describe a few of them.

I think a good place to start is with the bunglow mentioned above.  Sears, Roebuck, through their mail order catalogs, sold an early version of pre-fab homes by offering a “bunglow by mail” if you will.  It was a very complete package that included the materials, fixtures and building instructions.  You could even select from several designs. 

Bungalows spread throughout the nation in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.  There was even a revival of sorts during the 1990s.  In Raleigh there is a fairly large group of bungalows in the Five Points area that are constantly in high demand and command prices well above what homes of comparable square footage bring in other locations.  Yes, they are “inside the beltline” which means they command higher prices anyway but the fact remains that they style that is liked and quite often specifically asked for.

Bungalows are basically one story. They have a front facing gable and a low pitched gable roof.  The lower section of the roof covers a good sized front porch.  Siding is often wood singles or stucco but can be darn near anything.  They have wide overhanging eaves.  They have a front stoop, quite often a fireplace and the front door almost always either opens directly into the living room or a small, office-style foyer.  Interiors, especially in the 20s, 30s and 40s, featured natural wood finishes.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  In Sunday’s News and Observer there was a very interesting article by Sarah lindenfeld Hall about ranch style homes in Wake County.  In a recent blog I mentioned the success KB Homes and Martha Stewart are having in the Cary subdivision of Twin Lakes.  A section of that subdivision is devoted to ranch style homes.  While ranch style homes fueled the the post  World War II boom in home building all across the U.S., in more recent years the two story box has replaced it as the style of choice mostly because they are more economical to build. 

The item I found of most interest was Sarah’s chart showing the number of single story vs. multistory homes built in Wake County in ten year increments.  It is as follows: 1950: single story - 1,859  multistory - 144   1960: single story - 2,636  multistory - 39   1970: single story - 1,595  multistory - 261   1980: single story - 1,335  multistory - 957  1990: single story - 1,235  multistory - 2,574  2000: single story - 2,807  multistory - 6,594  2006: single story - 1,481  multistory - 10,291

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.   For those of you who are interested in records (of shorts) here are three for you to use, consider or pitch into the pool of forgetfulness.

(1) - Raleigh Population.  Raleigh just became the 50th largest city in the U.S.   (2) - Wake County Birth Rate - In counties of 500,000 and above Wake County, during 2006, had the third highest birth rate in the nation.  The total was almost 13,000 or 35 new borns per day.  (3) - State of North Carolina Budget - As Raleigh is the state capital of North Carolina it is altogether fitting, proper and disgusting to report a dubious record in the making.  The State Legislature is about to pass a record state budget in the amount of $20 billion.  One of the definitions of “budget” in the Oxford Dictionary is - - “the amount of money needed or available for a purpose”.  Our State Legislature seems to have totally ignored the word “available”.  Need I tell you where the shortfall is to come from?

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

Durham, North Carolina.  TME Associates sold a 182,165 square foot warehouse to Meridian Development Group.  The sale price was $6.2 million or $34 per square foot.  The warehouse is on 14.3 acres at 4400 Emperor Blvd. at Imperial Center.  The warehouse is fully leased.  The sale price was 51 percent more than TME paid for it in 2002. 

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Pre-Marketing Your Home.  We often hear about Ben Franklin’s “yellow Page” approach to decision making.  He would take a sheet of paper (I don’t know if it was yellow or not) and draw a line down the center.  On the left he would list all the pros he could think of in taking a proposed action and on the right all the cons.  The one with the greatest number of items supposedly determined his course of action.  If you are going to be putting your home on the market within the next three months to a year you should do the same thing AND as quickly as possible. The more time you give yourself to take care of problems or to make your home more presentable, and SELLABLE, the better.  In this day of slower sales and more competitive offers it is imperative.

When making your list be objective.  Tell the truth about what needs to be done - even if it hurts.  When you think you have thought of everything call a real estate agent and have him or her look at your home.  If you don’t know one call the office nearest you of a large firm and ask the office manager to recommend an experienced one.  Tell him it may be some time before you are ready to sell and don’t sign any listing agreement until you are ready to put your home on the market.  Also, you might want to think about asking him if you can hold an agents open house.  In doing this he would set a time for agents to show up and go through your home.  You would provide coffee, soft drinks and cookies.  They would provide their time, expertise and thoughts about what you should do to get your home ready to sell.  If you opt for an individual agent do not tell them what YOU think.  You don’t want their thoughts and information to be colored by your thinking. 

The importance of an experienced agent is that of knowing what the current market wants, expects and is buying in your price range and in both your city and your specific subdivision or area.  Ask the agent if he/she/the office has a list of recommend contractors to do any work that might need to be done.  Also, ask the agent who he or she suggests as a home inspector.  You are well advised to have a home inspection done.  Depending on the size of your home and the area you live in that can run from $250 to $400 - or more.  If you call one ask what he charges before saying yes.  Before you call find out what the square footage of your home is because you will be asked for it.  Most of the time this is money well spent.  A prospective buyer of your home will, in most cases, have an inspection done (which they pay for) so the more you know what to expect about your home’s problems and what an inspector will suggest that the buyer ask that you have fixed - the better.  Sometimes an inspectors report can be used to your advantage when you want to show that you know your home’s condition and that you have had needed repairs done.  How to use it should be gone over with your agent prior to being shown to the buyer or buyer’s agent.  There are times when you want that information to only be available to you.  

There is much, much more that can be gone into about getting your home ready to put on the market but this is a good base to start with.  If you are getting ready to put your home on the market why not call me.  I would be happy to assist you.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Towne North Plaza shopping center at Creedmoor and Strickland Roads was sold to AEW Capital Management of Boston.  They paid $21.4 million for the 103,500 square foot center.  The sellers, Craig Davis Properties of Cary and their partners Hawthorne Capital of Charlotte, recently renovated the center.  The price they received was 2 1/2 times what they paid for it in 2005.  It would be nice if all face lifts (of whatever kind) did as well.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Office space demand and rents rise.  Grubb & Ellis/Thomas Linderman Graham reports that in the three months ended June 30, quality office space in the region averaged $21.69 per square foot - a record.  That’s an increase of $1.25 from the first quarter.  There was a 12.1% office vacancy in Wake, Durham and Orange counties which was a six year low.  Rising gasoline prices, increasing steel and labor costs, demand for space by businesses and investors are all combining to cause rents to rise.

Rents at 3700 Glenwood are about $26 per square foot and a twin is advertised at $28.95.  GlenLake Office Park is asking $23.00 per square foot and a twin is asking $24.50.  While there is still a lot of space to fill there is, at this point, a short, medium and long-term need for considerably more.

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

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.  Network Appliance purchased 72 acres in the Wake County portion of RTP.  The property is at the Southwest Corner of Kit Creek Road and Louis Stephens Drive.  NetApp paid $12.5 million or $172,081 per acre.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com   Webbsite: wwwJohnFish.com

Raleigh, North Carolina.  This area’s educational needs will get a further shot in the arm with the opening of Wake Tech’s Northern Wake campus on August 15.  Even the names of the streets it is on speak of what it will deliver: Success Way and Excellence Drive.  Initially the school will offer classes for the Associates in Arts degree in majors including English, math, accounting and religion.  Next Spring it will add an Associate in Science degree.

The first of the two buildings opening on August 15 is a 52,700 square feet building that will house classrooms, facilities for Student Services and multi-purpose lab areas. The second is a 64,500 square feet building that contains computer labs, classrooms, faculty offices and work areas, science labs, an individual Learning Center and a student lounge.  These two buildings will hold all classes while other buildings are under construction.  Northern Wake Tech will be the first community college campus in the state to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

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

Morrisville, North Carolina.  RDU Property Investments sold a 580,000 sq. ft. warehouse at 900 Aviation Parkway to Macfarlan Captial Partners of Dallas for a cool $20 million.  That is more than double what they paid for it in 2005.  Not a bad ROI!  

Today is the birthday of this blog.  My first blog was July 21, of 2006.  I hope you have found it interesting and useful.  Some changes in it are planned to make its reach and usefulness much greater.

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