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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
St. James Planning Board recommends rules for residential solar panels
Article from State Port Pilot:
The St. James Planning Board on Thursday recommended guidelines for residential solar panel placement and installation.
The guidelines are consistent with those that the St. James Plantation Property Owners Association architectural control committee (ACC) currently requires, but are more detailed, providing guidance such as specifically how far the panels can be placed from the edge of the roof. For months, the planning board has been discussing how much, and in what ways, they can legally regulate solar panels, and the benefits and drawbacks to having a town ordinance with essentially the same wording as the ACC guidelines.
After board members voiced their support for the guidelines, zoning administrator Josann Campanello asked them to clarify how the review and approval process would work.
Property owners planning to build in the St. James Plantation development, the boundaries of which closely but not completely mirror the boundaries of the Town of St. James, first present plans to the St. James Plantation POA. Once the ACC approves the plans, they are brought to the town, which ensures the plans conform to town ordinances.
The new guidelines don’t contradict the ACC regulations, but Campanello pointed out that home plans potentially could pass the ACC guidelines in all areas but then face problems when coming before the town. She said in some cases the information the plans would need to show for the ACC to make a determination might not be enough for town officials to determine if the plans abide by town ordinances.
The guidelines still must receive approval of St. James Town Council before they become official, and council member Bruce Maxwell, who serves as liaison to the planning board, suggested that the council at that time work with staff to send a letter to St. James Plantation POA officials, asking them to request certain information when solar panels are installed, to help reduce the chances for miscommunication later in the process.
The motion to recommend the ordinances passes unanimously.
Board members also briefly discussed potential changes to ordinances regarding signs and temporary use permits. Town staff recently became aware that ordinances regarding signs were more vague than they ideally would be, and after a complaint from a resident, board members and staff became aware that ordinances regarding temporary use permits were confusing as well. Discussion about both items is expected to continue at the next planning board meeting on Thursday, August 8.
Ken Keegan
Real Estate Broker
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Housing markets where cash is king
Article from CNN Real Estate:
In June, 58% of the sales in the state were made in all-cash, according to a report by RealtyTrac.
But it's not just Nevada. All-cash deals in Florida comprised 57% of home sales during the month; in the state of New York, it was 51%, and in Vermont, a whopping 80%.
In markets like these, lingering foreclosures and depressed home prices are attracting private equity firms and other investors looking to buy before home prices go much higher, RealtyTrac said.
In other markets, where there are fewer distressed properties, the all-cash deals are a lot less prevalent. Nationwide, cash deals comprised 30% of home sales in June, down from 31% a year earlier, RealtyTrac reported. But in states like Texas, Utah and New Mexico, such deals were practically non-existent.
"The U.S. housing market is slowly but surely moving toward a more normalized and sustainable pattern after a flurry of institutional and cash buyers flocked to residential real estate last year, pushing up prices and picking clean the best inventory available in many areas," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.
The biggest metropolitan hotspot for investors right now is Atlanta, where all-cash deals represented 42% of sales in June and investors represented 27% of buyers, the highest ratio in the country. Atlanta is still struggling with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, making it a prime target for investors.
Hit hard by foreclosures when the housing bubble burst, Phoenix was one of the first places investors flocked to. A year ago, 25% of all homes sold went to deep-pocketed investors. In June, that percentage dropped to 13% as most of the low-priced, prime properties had already been sold.
"Prices in Phoenix are just too high now," said Tanya Marchiol, founder of Team Investments, a real estate investment firm based in the area. "Last year, I could buy a foreclosure, needing just new carpeting and a paint job, for $80,000, put $5,000 into it, and flip it for $120,000."
With fewer opportunities in her hometown, she has been buying and flipping in Orlando, where 53% of sales were all-cash deals last month, according to RealtyTrac. Other Florida metros ranked even higher for cash sales. In Miami, 64% of deals were done in cash and in Tampa, 58%.
A larger share of the deals in Florida, however, are going to individual buyers, according to Blomquist. Retirees come to the state looking to buy with the proceeds from the sale of their former home or cash from their retirement funds. There's also a huge cash-rich international contingent, especially in Miami.
The New York metro area is also something of a special case, said Blomquist. Not only is there a large number of international buyers, but there's also a very limited inventory of homes for sale in the high-demand areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Even buyers who prefer to finance purchases may be forced into cash deals in order to have their bids taken seriously.
"To compete in a market like New York, cash is king," said Blomquist. To top of page
Ken Keegan
Real Estate Broker
(910) 523-0903 mobile
Click here for more information on Brunswick, County Real Estate
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday!
Ken Keegan
Real Estate Broker
(910) 523-0903 mobile
Click here for more information on Brunswick, County Real Estate
Monday, July 1, 2013
May Pending Home Sales Reach Highest Level in Over Six Years
The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 6.7 percent to 112.3 in May from a downwardly revised 105.2 in April, and is 12.1 percent above May 2012 when it was 100.2; the data reflect contracts but not closings.
Contract activity is at the strongest pace since December 2006 when it reached 112.8; pending sales have been above year-ago levels for the past 25 months.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said there may be a fence-jumping effect. “Even with limited choices, it appears some of the rise in contract signings could be from buyers wanting to take advantage of current affordability conditions before mortgage interest rates move higher,” he said. “This implies a continuation of double-digit price increases from a year earlier, with a strong push from pent-up demand.”
Yun upgraded the price forecast for 2013, with the national median existing-home price expected to rise more than 10 percent to nearly $195,000. This would be the strongest increase since 2005 when the median increased 12.4 percent.
Existing-home sales are projected to increase 8.5 to 9.0 percent, reaching about 5.07 million in 2013, the highest in seven years; it would be slightly above the 5.03 million total recorded in 2007.
The PHSI in the Northeast was unchanged at 92.3 in May but is 14.3 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index jumped 10.2 percent to 115.5 in May and is 22.2 percent higher than May 2012. Pending home sales in the South rose 2.8 percent to an index of 121.8 in May and are 12.3 percent above a year ago. The index in the West jumped 16.0 percent in May to 109.7, but with limited inventory is only 1.1 percent above May 2012.
The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. For additional commentary and consumer information, visit www.houselogic.com and http://retradio.com.
*The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.
The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months.
An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined. By coincidence, the volume of existing-home sales in 2001 fell within the range of 5.0 to 5.5 million, which is considered normal for the current U.S. population.
Ken Keegan
Real Estate Broker
(910) 523-0903 mobile
Click here for more information on Brunswick, County Real Estate
Micro Apartments
Interesting article & video from CNN on Micro-Apartments:
Ken Keegan
Real Estate Broker
(910) 523-0903 mobile
Click here for more information on Brunswick, County Real Estate
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