Triangle, North Carolina.  Triangle jobless rate down again.  The eight county Triangle region jobless rate fell to 3.7% in August from 3.8% in July.  The state rate was 4.8% and the national average was 4.6%.  Various areas of the health and technology fields are fueling the demand for jobs throughout the Triangle.  However, as I have previously reported the malaise in the housing sector is slowing the local housing market as well.

The Parade Of Homes in this area starts today with about 400 new homes open for viewing.  The Parade dates are Sept. 29 and 30, Oct. 5,6,7 and Oct. 12, 13 and 14.  The following is the number of homes one can view in the various price ranges: $119,800 to $199,990 - 17 - - $201,000 to $299,900 - 52 - - $301,490 to $399,900 - 75 - - $401,259 to $499,900 - 70 - - $500,399 to 599,900 - 39 - - $608,900 to $699,900 - 36 - - $700,000 to $799,900 - 28 - - $814,000 to $899,900 - 15 - - $924,900 to $998,900 - 13 - - $1,045,000 to $1,985,000 - 33 - - $2,295,000 to $4,495,000 - 13  Happy viewing!   If there is any information you would like concerning the Parade of Homes call me or send me an email at the number and/or address below.

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

Wake County, North Carolina.  Kings Ridge offers special features.  If you job location is such that you need or want to live in southern Wake County, you will want to look at homes in Kings Ridge.  It has 73 homes sites and a current inventory of 13 homes.  If you are tired of homes on postage stamp lots you will find that Kings Ridge lots provide you with some elbow room.  Nine of the 13 available homes have lots that are slightly more than two-thirds of an acre while the other are slightly more than an acre.  The current inventory includes three one story homes.  Ten of the homes are three bedroom and three of the homes are four bedroom.  Sizes range from 2668 sq. ft. to 3390 sq. ft. and prices range from $362,900 to $479,900.  You will find that most of these homes have granite countertops, stainless appliances, custom cabinets, tile backsplashes, ceramic tiled bathrooms, extensive hardwood flooring, heavy trim, screened porches and many with fiber cement and stone or fibre cement and brick combination exteriors.  The Kings Ridge building team consists of Michael Brown, Scott Gottfried, Keigh Manning, Oliver Ries III, Tim Stevens, John Strong and Chris Woodall.  For more information about these homes or any other homes in the Triangle area call me or send me an email at the telephone number and email address given below.

Location: Take 401 south from Raleigh, left on Ten-Ten Road, cross over Old Stage Road, righ onto Holland Church Road.  The Kings Ridge entrance is about a mile and one-half on the right.  They have Parade of Homes entries.

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

Success breeds Success.  Impact Properties, developers of Cameon Pond, Weycroft and Highcroft are coming on board with South Lakes in Fuquay-Varina.  At 500 acres and 1000 homes it will be their largest development to date.  Homes are already under construction in Julian Village, the first of the the developments three neighborhoods.  Julian Village is named after Alexander Julian and Megan Julian who designed the villages homes.  Alexander Julian is the Alexander Julian of fashion designer fame.  The Julian homes will have 8 plans and 3 varied exterior treatments.  The homes sizes will range from 1800 to 3000 square feet and prices will range from the $240s to the $300s.  You can view three of these homes this week-end.  The grand opening of South Lakes is set to coincide with the opening day of the Parade of Homes which is on Saturday, September 29.

A second neighborhood, Vanderbilt, will offer homes that are roughly the same size and in the same price range as those in Julian Village.  The custom builder for Vanderbilt will be Biltmore homes.  The third neighborhood will feature one level homes.  The builder in the third neighborhood will be Impact Design-Build. 

South Lakes will eventually include offices, shopping, daycare, an elementary school, a church and the amenities that will be provided are junior olympic pools, water fun features, cabanas and toddlers playgrounds.  South Lakes has 5 lakes and ponds that are from 4 to 30 acres in size.  They are stocked.  For more information about the homes in South Lakes or homes of any price in any area of the Triangle, 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 

Raleigh, North Carolina.  PRA International moving to Raleigh.  PRA, a medical clinical trials frim will move from Reston, Va. to Raleigh.  Their emphasis in on oncology, allergy and respiratory, central nervous system and cardiovascular disorders.  During the next two years the company will hire nearly 400 people for their Raleigh operation.  The company was founded in 2001 and has some 30 offices worldwide.  Their projected revenues for 2007 are $330 to $350 million.

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

Durham, North Carolina.  Duke Receives $35 million from David Murdock.  On Monday David Murdock pumped $35 million into the blood stream of Duke University’s medical school.  It will be used to track genetic data of thousands of people in the Kannapolis area of North Carolina.  The study will focus on heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis and ehpatitus C.  Kannapolis is also the location where Murdock has commited to spend $1 billion for a medical research campus.  The researchers at Duke will have at their disposal the university’s clinical database and tissue banks.  They are among the largest in the world.  This will be of great value as they seek patterns in treatments in disease risks.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Lat Purser & Associates purchased Holly Park.  Holly Park Shopping Center was sold to Charlotte developer Lat Purser & Associates for $17 million.  The 148,000 square foot center will be renovated. 

PARADE OF HOMES BOOKS - As per usual this time of year I get a raft of calls asking for Parade of Homes books.  The Home Builders Association Advises me that they won’t receive them until Wednesday of this week.  They do their frantic last minute pre-Parade delivery to the Brokers just as the builders do their Keystone Cops rountine of getting their Parade entries ready to show right up to very last minute.  If you want to be certain you get a Parade book call your broker and line up a copy NOW!

A McDONALDS DISAPPEARS! - In the for what it’s worth department, Sherlock Holmes would be very disappointed in me.  Every day, going to work and going home I pass by a McDonalds restaurant on Creedmoor Road.  On Sunday as I drove by - it was gone!  I know that they didn’t mash up and throw away the kitchen and other equipment so they must have been closed and moving things out to get ready for the tear down for some time.  Also, this means that there would have been no cars in their parking lot for some time.  How observant of me not to have noticed.  I have seen a lot of restaurant chains come and go and some individual units of the the “biggies” get replaced.  Certainly even some McDonalds units must, from time to time, bite the dust.  It’s just that I have not seen it happen.  Whether it will be replaced with a bigger and better McDonalds or something totally different I don’t know.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Habitat for Humanity has new 50,000 square foot facility in Wake County.  Habitat for Humanity’s new ReStore location is in Lincoln Park Central just off the Beltline at Capital Bouevard in Raleigh.  Their grand opening is planned for November 3.  Last year HFH diverted more than 2,000 tons of building materials from landfills.  Perhaps, at long last, people are coming to a realization of the need to recyle goods, resources and - people.  The ReStore is a large clearinghouse of new and used materials in North Carolina.  With a new facility to stock, they would be greatly appreciative of doanations of structurally sound building materials.  Item-wise they are in particular need of lighting fixtures, tables and chairs, kitchen cabinets, sinks, sinks and toilets. 

In May of this year the 300th Habitat home was dedicated in Wake County.  That translates into shelter for more than 1,000 people.  Assistance to Habitat can be in the form of financial donations, materials, or a volunteering of time and muscle for a deconstruction or building crew.  Anyone about to tear down a home can call the chapter’s deconstruction cew.  The resueable materials will all be put to good use.  The organizations goal is to be able, by 2012, to build 40 volunteer homes annually. 

This brings to my mind Rich Schefren and his - Strategic Profits.com blog post of September 20.  He discusses the push and pull of building an online business and he poses the question to those owners, “With regard to your online business would you rather have respect or attention?”.  He quotes a Rodney Dangerfield joke (whose comedy was based on ”I don’t get no respect”) that said ”My fan club broke up. The guy died.” So, no respect and no attention.  The blog goes into more depth on the question than I can here.  It is well worth reading and I would recommend that you do so.  He closes by saying, “So what would you do if 100,000 prospects turned their attention to your online business today?  Would they still respect you in the morning?  Better yet, could you convince them to become your customers?”  How does this relate to Habitat for Humanity?  There has been an unfortunate amount of misuse of funds people give to what they hope are worthy causes.  I think, at least locally, Habitat for Humanity certainly has strong “proof of the pudding” and is deserving of any assistance one might be willing to give.  Both locally and nationally Habitat is gaining the attention it deserves because it has done the work necessary to gain respect.  The saying goes, “charity begins at home”.  While it hopefully doesn’t stop there, in some instances at least, it is an excellent place to start. Hooray for the good guys (and gals)!.

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

Triangle, North Carolina.   Triangle existing home sales slid 9% in August.  During August the sale of existing homes in the Triangle were down 9%.  Year to year they are down 1.9%.  Unsold inventory is up 20.9%, pending sales are off 15% and showings are down 9%.  On the other hand the average home price was up 7.2% to $247,582.  Divided up Wake County was up 7.1% to $272,977, Durham County was up 8.7% to $199,729, Johnston County was up 5.3% to $181,348 and Orange County was up a whopping 19.3% to $379,777.  As an indicator of what the future has in store, Wake County building permits were down 5% vs. last year while in Durham County they were down 30.3%. 

TIP - If you are looking for a good buy in either a new or resale home determine your price range, determine the area you want to live in, check the Days on Market for the available inventory, the price reductions (per MLS History) and the new home incentives being offered.  Stear clear of the “you must use our lender” requirement of the regional and national home builders.  Also, please be advised that BEFORE you get in the car with me to look at any homes I will require that you talk to my lender to determine what you can handle in the way of a home.  While I think he is the best available you certainly are not required to get your loan through him.  You are, however, required to talk to him.  You need to know what you can honestly handle in the way of down payment and monthly payments and I need to know that we not just going out “joy riding”.  Buying a home is not a game it is serious business.  I treat it that way and I require that you treat it that way as well.

DOWN MEMORY LANE - When I was Ralphies age I did not lust after a BB gun.  My mouth watering slavering desire was for bigger game.  I wanted a - - - - Chris-Craft.  I knew that unless the blud bird of happiness pooped a golden egg on my pillow my chances were zip but that’s what dreams are for.  My dad had a friend who had one and on a couple of occassions I had a chance to ride in it.  Also, if you had enough long green you could rent one at the lake.  The polished wood, the glearming brass and chrome, the roar of the engine, the rooster tail behind the boat when you took off from the pier, the “look ladies it’s me” (that came a little later) were a thrill beyond simply shooting Black Bart in the rump. THE GOOD NEWS.  On Sunday, Sept. 29 the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill-Triangle chapter of the national Antique & Classic Boat Society is having its second annual boat show at Lake Wheeler from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  More good news.  It’s free. THE BAD NEWS.  It’s so dry in these parts you have to get primed to spit!  Unless we get a lot of rain before the show the city might have to close the lake.  Should that happen they will remain tied up along the piers.  However, as the wolf might say, “The better to look at them up close and personal my dear!”.  For more info try www.vintageboat.org  (You’re a piker Ralphie!).

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Raleigh News and Observer reprint?  While I am not in the newspaper business I would guess that most newspapers could save a lot of money by printing most of the sections once, including the front page, and then just redelivering them every day.  As long as the sports section and obits were new most people wouldn’t know the difference.  My proof of this statement is derived from two facts:  (1) The number of people who watch soaps on TV  (2) - The headlines and sub-headlines in today’s paper. 

Our Traffic Misery Is Just Getting Worse - - No!   Really?!

Navy Checks Out Landing Field Sites - - - - No!   Really?!   (You have to be from North Carolina to appreciate this one)

Meddling Alleged In War Fraud Probes - - - No!   Really?!

State Doctor Has Sex Crime On His Record - - - No!   Really?!

Subpoenas Served To 13 In Congress - - - - No!   Really?!

Raleigh Chambers New Chairman Urges Members to Vote in Favor of Wake Bond Issues Totaling $187 Million - No!  Really?!   (You REALLY have to be from the Triangle to appreciate this one)

State Banking Officials Are Looking Into COmplaints That National Home Builders With Operations In The Triangle Area Are Violating Federal Lending Laws - - - - - - No!   Really?!

More Slowing Expected In Housing Starts - - - No!   Really?!

Crude Oil At Record Level - - - - - - - - - - - - No!   Really?!

Thank God there’s there’s the sports page.  At least the stories in it change:

O.J. Simpson Faces 10 Felony Charges - - - - No?   Really?!   Hmmmm.  Then again, maybe not!

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

Raleigh, North Carolina. “Teardowns” change subdivisions.  Recently there have been a number of newspaper and magazine articles about builders tearing down older homes and replacing them with much larger and more expensive ones. Residents in the subdivisions say they are out of keeping with the character of their neighborhoods. For the most part the subdivisions are located in what is known locally as “inside the beltline.”  I think this is the business of the homeowners being “impacted” so I won’t get into the debate other than to say that I think, for the mostpart, it increases the value of their homes.  I will, however, make a couple of  comments as to the why of it. 

Very simply, the forces of supply and demand are at work.  The massive growth and renovation of downtown Raleigh is making Raleigh’s core area and the areas surrounding it more and more desireable as a place to live as well as to work.  The number of people projected to work downtown during the next five years is skyrocketing.  More corporations are housing their offices in the buildings being built there. More restaurants, shops and stores are opening to meet the needs of these people.  It is only natural that more and more people want to live close to their place of work and escape a long daily commute.  As many of them have high paying jobs a sizeable number want single family homes rather than condos and town homes. 

The core area blight that has infected many of our major cities has certainly been a problem for Raleigh as well.  Fortunately, we have people some forward thinking leaders who are doing something about it and the change that is taking place is nothing less than astounding.  As the core area growth continues the replacing of slum and semi-slum areas in south-east Raleigh that are close to it will, I think, gain momentum as well.  While Raleigh’s slum areas are certainly not nearly as extensive as those of many cities our size they do, none-the-less exist.  I would not minimize the problem.  There are many homes in south-east Raleigh that are in very bad condition and approximately 80 are totally boarded up.  The demand for living space by those that can afford it usually has the effect of displacing those that can least afford it.  Along with displacement comes a lot of anger and resentment.  The efforts of organizations like Habitat for Humanity are to be applauded but they do not being to meet the needs or solve the problems of people who live in such areas.  Because of the forward looking attitude being evidenced by some of our city planners and because of the size and number of medium to large sized corporations that are in and moving to the core area, it is my guess that they will band together to create some kind of master plan to make major inroads into the problem.  None-the-less, the “haves” who are living in established neighborhoods surrounding the core area see them being replaced with larger homes and more businesses and activity.  The “have nots” who are either being displaced or feel that nothing is being done to solve their problems see the growth as no benefit to them. One way or another, both are going to continue to feel the squeeze well into the future.  Frankly, I would rather or city be in a position of replacing bad with good and good with better than either do nothing or fight to try and stay even.

Home owners inside the beltline are not the only ones seeing homes being torn down and replaced with larger and more expensive ones.  North Ridge, an area whose commerce is also experiencing tremendous development, expansion and renovation is also seeing the same thing happen; especially in the North Ridge Country Club area.  Three or four years ago one of Raleigh’s top residential builders more or less got the ball rolling in that area when he tore down a golf home and replaced it with one that is far larger than the homes in both its immediate and surrounding areas.  It sat on the market for several years without being purchased.  Without going into the reasons why suffice it to say that someone always has to be the leader.  The area is a natural for it and in the intervening period the same senario has played out many more times.    

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