Cruising Guide to IBX Real Estate
Check here periodically for articles and pictures on lifestyle and real estate in the Inner Banks of North Carolina.
First Quarter 2011 Market Results
The real estate market in the Inner Banks in the second quarter of 2011 continued to make marginal improvement. Compared to a year ago closings in both homes and lots are up. However, prices remain low and the truly discounted properties constitute the majority of sales.
In Pamlico County we had 15 closings in the first quarter and 13 pending sales. The median sale price was $163,000. Coldwell Banker participated in 4 of the top 6 sales and Nancy and I participated in 2 of those 6 sales, so again, we were among the most productive agents in the county. The properties that represent real waterfront value in price disappear the quickest.
The lot sale picture remains very slow. We had 11 closings in the first quarter. Strongly discounted lots remain the story. We had the highest waterfront lot sale at $110,000, but that lot had come down over 2+ years from the $229,000 level. It is truly a good time to buy a waterfront lot as prices remain very low.
The picture, as with last year, was considerably brighter in Craven County. Last year available homes and sales almost equaled each other, with approximately 1700 units for sale and just above 1700 units sold during 2010, with a median price of just around $160,000. For the first quarter of 2011 I show 1136 available homes, with 348 closings and a median price of $250,000 > all numbers considerably better than last year. This would indicate that the housing market in Craven County has less than a one year supply of homes, quite an improvement over 2010. Lots remained weak with 649 available lots and just 21 sales. However, there are considerably fewer waterfront lots so the median lot active listing is an interior lot at $55,000. While many good homes at great prices remain in this market, the gap between list price and selling price is narrowing markedly.
Late First Quarter Surge in Buyer Interest – Nancy and I continued to spend advertising dollars in the internet and adding market reach to find more buyers, and it seems to be paying off. We joined Carteret County MLS in February to be able to advertise select listings in Carteret County and to be able to directly serve the buyers we are developing through our continued spending on the internet. There are very few agents that are members of these 3 MLS systems. We revised our personal home page to be able to capture more buyer contacts and so far that has been working.
Last year I felt we were the most productive individual agents in the county with 14 closings, 8 residences and 6 lot sales. In the first quarter we closed 6 transactions, 2 lots, including the highest lot sale, and 4 homes including 2 of the top 6 sales. This was much better than 2010. However, starting in late February and early March we started seeing many more buyers. We already have 8 properties in contract for the second quarter and we are seeing new buyer contacts almost every day. We hope that this is not just spring fever, and certainly the improving economic conditions are fragile. However, we are hoping that this trend continues and it looks like we are on course to have almost three times the closings we had compared to 2010.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE INNER BANKS, NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO LOOK, THE PRICES ARE LOW AS ARE INTEREST RATES, BUT THE GOOD DEALS RECEIVE A LOT OF ATTENTION AND THE MARKETS ARE IMPROVING!
Market update - On Sunday night we received a call for a showing and it appears we may be in contract for the last Cribbs Cove unit. The good properties are being gobbled up!
March 23, 2011 Spring Has Sprung in the Inner Banks of North Carolina - We are experiencing a beautiful spring in the Inner Banks. After a winter where we had no snow accumulation we started seeing signs of spring in February, with days of 60 degrees+ and plants starting to bloom. One of the more unique sights was giant fields of as much as 50 to 80 acres blooming in purple clover. This was truly startling and pretty when you would come across one of these fields.
By early March we started to see the Bradford Pear trees and daffodils bloom. The Red Fox Horse Farm was dramatic with their driveway lined in trees full of white flowers. By March 20th, the pear trees had begun to turn green, but we are starting to see the redbud and cherry trees blossom out in their brilliant shades of red. Within a few days I also expect to see the azaleas start to come out in all their glory.
March 23, 2011 Signs of Improvement in the Inner Banks Real Estate Market - Nancy and I have been aware of slow improvement in the Inner Banks real estate market since the low in early 2010. However, this month we have had our most dramatic evidence of the change in market conditions. Two weekends ago we had 4 different out of state buyers and we worked with them in 4 different counties in the Inner Banks. Better yet, from these buyers we received 3 offers on real estate ranging from $300,000 to $625,000. We are in contract on one of these deals and the two others are still in negotiation. Finally, in the context of markets of yore > 2 of the properties had multiple offers in the same week! We were stunned. Our offer did win out in one situation. The other we are still negotiating.
Our markets are slowly changing. The past few years where all offers were just aggressively low by 20% to 30% of list may be dissipating. We still have low prices. They have not started up yet, but the gap between list and sale price is diminishing if the property is properly priced in the first place. Our study on two of these offers for the Buyer showed that the sale prices compared to list for similar properties during the past year was 92% of list. The crazy days of the market bottom may be over for our area.
