Monday, September 13, 2010

Free waste disposal at Brunswick County landfill

Brunswick County residents will be able to get rid of unwanted items that are not typically picked up with regular trash service this week.

Brunswick County's fall clean-up week started today. Residents can dispose of all materials, except regular household trash and land clearing debris, at the county landfill in Bolivia... for free.

The event is designed to encourage proper disposal of waste and save people money in the process. There will also be a household hazardous waste collection, a clothes drive and even an electronic recycling event at South Brunswick Middle School on Saturday.

Even though it's the first day - a lot of people have been taking advantage of the service.
"It's been busy it's been very busy...alot of people are utilizing this people are getting used to it and are looking forward to it every spring and every fall," said Kimberly Thompson of Brunswick County Solid Waste & Recycling.

Businesses and anyone driving commercial vehicles and trailers will be charged the regular fees. The event is only for Brunswick County residents, so make sure you have proof of residency to show at the landfill.

Landfill hours are Monday through Saturday from 8 am to 4 pm.

Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Bookseller in Brunswick County knows her niche

For Susan Warren, reading isn’t just a pleasant pastime. It is her passion and her profession. And she has parlayed it into a very nice business.

As the owner of Books ‘n’ Stuff bookstore on Long Beach Road near Southport, Warren has the distinction of having the oldest bookstore in Brunswick County. She’s been at it for 23 years.

Technically speaking, Warren is a bookseller. But to her customers, she is an invaluable resource for suggesting a good read for the beach or for book groups, for the intellectual or the lighthearted, and for everyone between.

Books ‘n’ Stuff carries some 50,000 books, about 94 percent of which are used paperbacks.

“I’m in the used paperback book business,” she said. “Read it, enjoy it, trade it in and get another one.”

Warren’s business model is very simple: Sell new paperbacks at a discount. Buy them back by issuing a credit slip for a fraction of the cost, and then resell them.

She sells new paperbacks at a 25 percent discount, then buys them back, as well as all other paperbacks that meet her criteria. She gives the customer a credit slip for 20 percent of the original cover price. She then resells the books for 50 percent of the cover price. It plays out like this. A new paperback with a retail price of $20 would sell for $15. The customer brings it back, and gets a credit slip for $4 to be spent on used books only. That locks them into spending more money in her store. She now has another used book to sell for $10, she has “the newest used books,” and she doesn’t have to pay for her inventory.

A large sign above the cash register spells out all the details.

For example, books with clipped covers or with a missing front or back cover are not accepted.

Books on CDs are becoming an increasingly important part of her business, and the same rules apply here for the sale and purchase of used CDs.

“Books ‘n’ Stuff” was originally located on Oak Island, however that came to an end when Warren’s landlord wanted to use the space. “It turned out to be the best bad thing that ever happened to me,” she said. The move changed her target market from a reliance on seasonal tourists to a year-round population. “I went from beach reads to book club reads, more men, more mysteries, spy novels and military books.”

Another shift in her business occurred a few years ago. She no longer carries miscellaneous items and accessories because they didn’t sell well, she said. That is with one exception – bookmarks. “I can’t keep them in stock.”

When asked what she expects e-books will do to her business, she said, “Nothing. I’ve got customers that have e-readers, and they still want the book. They want to put it on their shelf or they want to give it to a friend.”

Warren augments her bookselling business with ancillary services. She is a professional editor for fiction manuscripts, offers a typing service and provides faxing capability. But she is quick to say that her core business is selling used paperbacks, and her competitive edge is she knows her market and she knows her books. “I read three or four books at a time,” she said, “and I have this weird, quirky mind that remembers all the books I have read.”

Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Sea Coast "Scoop Off"



Wilmington's real estate community is squaring off in a a "Scoop Off" to benefit the American Heart Association!

Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty president Tim Milam will be scooping Italian ice and frozen custard at Rita's in Wilmington's Lumina Commons on Wednesday, September 8, 2010, 1:00-3:00PM.

Rita's will donate all of the profits from all of Milam's scoops to the American Heart Association's Heart Walk.

To heat up the cool contest, Milam will be competing against Intracoastal Realty's Jim Wallace to see who can serve up the most scoops for charity.

Bring your friends, family, and co-workers to cool off with some frozen custard or Italian ice for a great cause. Rita's is located in Lumina Commons at 1982 Eastwood Road in Wilmington.

Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Pending Home Sales Rise



Following a sharp drop in the months immediately after expiration of the home buyer tax credit, pending home sales have modestly risen, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator, rose 5.2 percent to 79.4 based on contracts signed in July from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June, but remains 19.1 percent below July 2009 when it was 98.1. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautioned that there would be a long recovery process. “Home sales will remain soft in the months ahead, but improved affordability conditions should help with a recovery,” he said. “But the recovery looks to be a long process. Home buyers over the past year got a great deal, and buyers for the balance of this year have an edge over sellers. For those who bought at or near the peak several years ago, particularly in markets experiencing big bubbles, it may take over a decade to fully recover lost equity.”

Yun added, “Affordability could reach a generational high in the second half of this year because of rock-bottom mortgage interest rates, helped partly by the Fed’s very accommodative monetary policy. The loan underwriting standards are tighter, but home buyers can improve their chances of getting a loan by staying well within their budget.”

The PHSI in the Northeast rose 6.3 percent to 62.5 in July but is 21.1 percent below a year ago. In the Midwest the index increased 4.1 percent to 66.7 but remains 25.7 percent below July 2009. Pending home sales in the South rose 1.2 percent to an index of 86.3, but are 15.6 percent lower than a year ago. In the West the index jumped 11.6 percent to 95.0 but is 17.6 percent below July 2009.

The national index had fallen 29.9 percent in May and another 2.8 percent in June.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

*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. There is a closer relationship between annual index changes (from the same month a year earlier) and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons.
An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.

Existing-home sales for August will be reported September 23 and the next Pending Home Sales Index will be on October 4; release times are 10 a.m. EDT.

Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com

Undeterred by Earl, tourists flock to region for holiday weekend

If the lack of parking and the heavy traffic at Wrightsville Beach on Monday afternoon are any indication, the looming hurricane that ended up missing the Cape Fear region didn't keep the tourists inland this Labor Day weekend.

Official numbers are not available yet, but area accommodations officials say despite the threat of the storm, tourists turned out for the sunny weekend.

“If anything, it drew people's attention to the beach that it was going to be a wonderful weekend,” said Jason St. Clair, general manager of the Blockade Runner on Wrightsville Beach.

Like the Blockade, some hotels in New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties reported being fully booked for the holiday weekend despite Hurricane Earl. The storm threatened the East Coast all last week but spared the region Thursday as it headed north, brushing the Outer Banks.

That's not to say Earl didn't make a local impression.

Several out-of-town tourists waited until the last minute to book their trips, and some who had planned to come Thursday waited until Friday to be sure the storm had passed, area hotel officials said.

Anne Marie Hartman, general manager of the Holiday Inn Resort on Wrightsville Beach, said it ended up being just as busy as the Fourth of July weekend.

Buddy Rudd, vice president of Margaret Rudd and Associates Inc. in Oak Island, said the weekend turned out well “despite the Weather Channel trying to destroy it.”

Connie Nelson, communication and public relations director for the Wilmington Cape Fear Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau, said out-of-state tourists might have gotten the impression from national media outlets that the entire North Carolina coast would be in Earl's path.

As soon as it was clear that Earl had passed without scathing the Cape Fear Coast, Nelson said, the bureau sent out news releases and notified people via social media that the area would be open for business.

“It's always a challenge to try to get the word out that everything's OK in spite of what people might have seen and what might have been implied in national media forecast,” she said.

Nelson expects to have surveys from hotels in New Hanover County back by late Tuesday to see how many people made it to the area.

The hope, she said, is that people booked at the last minute after they realized Earl was a nonevent.

That was the impression Tiffani Blowers got at Tiffany's Motel in Surf City. The reservationist said the motel got a lot of last-minute travelers.

“But it was beautiful out and everybody showed up,” she said, adding the motel was booked.

Nelson said this trend of waiting to book vacations until the last minute is not specific to Earl. She said in the past couple of years and this year especially, people are waiting to plan their trips. Because of this, the bureau has created a website called www.sunnysavers.com for local hotels to post last-minute deals.

Nelson said the trend is a product of the poor economy and people not knowing month to month if they can afford trips. She said the ability to track hotel availability online is also feeding the procrastination trend.

Article



Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com

Landscaping for Curb Appeal

A well-landscaped yard creates curb appeal and helps your property retain maximum value.

A beautiful yard is a head-turner, no doubt about it. The good news is that even if you can't tell a tulip from a turnip at the garden center, you can still create eye-catching curb appeal by paying attention to the basics of good landscaping. Ignoring your yard--or doing something that's out of character with the neighborhood-can jeopardize the assessed value of your home.
"We have several categories for design and appeal," says Frank Lucco, a real estate agent and professional appraiser in Houston. "That's where we make those adjustments. Poorly maintained landscaping can be as much as a 5 or 10% deduction."
Appraisers are quick to praise the allure of a well-tended lawn and good-looking landscaping when it comes time to sell your home, but most do not assign any specific increase in monetary value for upkeep.
"Landscaping is going to add to the appeal of the property and it may sell quicker, but it's hard to determine value," says John Bredemeyer, president of Omaha-based Realcorp. "You have to have a number to compensate someone if you drove into their tree and killed it, but is it really market value? Probably not."
Nevertheless, most professionals agree that curb appeal and a well-maintained appearance prevent your property from losing value. Here are the top suggestions from real estate agents, appraisers, and landscape designers for boosting the curb appeal of your yard:
GREEN UP THE GRASS
If your house has a front yard, make sure it's neat and green. You don't want bare spots, sprawling weeds, or an untrimmed appearance.
"It's so simple to go to Home Depot, buy fertilizer, apply it every six weeks, and water it," says Mitch Kalamian, a landscape designer in Huntinginton Beach, Calif. "It will green up."
If the yard looks really scruffy, you may decide to invest in some sod. According to the National Gardening Association, the average cost of sod is 15 to 35 cents per sq. ft. If you hire a landscaper to sod your yard for you, labor will add 30% to 50% to the total cost of the project.
Another alternative is to plant low-maintenance turf grasses. Turf grasses are durable and drought-resistant. Expect to pay $18 to $30 for enough turf grass seed to plant 1,000 sq. ft. of lawn area.
ADD COLORFUL PLANTING BEDS
Flower beds add color and help enliven otherwise plain areas, such as along driveways and the edges of walkways. In general, annual flowers are a bit cheaper but must be replaced every year. Perennials cost a bit more but come back annually and usually get larger or spread with each growing season.

If you're not sure what to plant, inquire at your local garden center. Often, they'll have a display of bedding plants chosen for their adaptability to your area. Also, they'll be inexpensive because they're in season, says Peter Mezitt, president of Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, Mass. Try pansies in the summer, and asters and mums in the fall to add vibrant color. "That's what we do around the entrance to our garden center," Mezitt says.
Valerie Torelli, a California REALTOR; who dresses up her clients' yards to sell their houses faster and for more money, says that in her market, she can put in a bed of colorful annuals and bark, as well as cutting down overgrown shrubs, for less than $500. "We can buy gorgeous plants for $3.99 to $15.99," she says.
ADD LANDSCAPE LIGHTING
For homeowners who have made a sizeable investment in landscaping, it makes sense to think about adding another 10% to 15% to the bill for professional lighting. "You can't see landscaping after dark," says Brandon Stephens, vice president of marketing for a landscape lighting firm in Lubbock, Texas, "and buyers are not always looking at houses on a Saturday afternoon."
The cost of a system runs from $200 for a DIY installation to more than $4,000 for a professional job. If you're doing it on your own, the key is to light what you want people to see, such as mature trees and flowering shrubs.
PLANT A TREE
The value of mature trees is particularly difficult to determine. Lucco says that in his market, mature trees contribute as much as 10% of a $100,000 property's overall value. In addition, a properly placed shade tree can shave as much as $32 a year on your energy bills. Expect to pay $50 to $100 for a young, 6- to 7-foot deciduous tree.
You can make your own initial assessment of the value of your property's trees by visiting the National Tree Benefit Calculator. For example, a mature Southern red oak tree with a diameter of 36 inches in the front yard of a house in Augusta, Ga., would add $70 to the property value this year, according to the calculator.
Georgia-based freelance writer Pat Curry writes extensively about housing and real estate for consumer and trade publications. While a fair hand at remodeling, she is hopeless as a gardener. As a result, her landscaping is made up of plants that thrive on neglect.
Article From Houselogic.com

By: Pat Curry

Published: March 25, 2010


Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Pending Home Sales Post Surprise Jump in July

Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose unexpectedly in July, an industry group said on Thursday, suggesting a tax credit-related housing market decline was close to bottoming.

The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in July, increased 5.2 percent to 79.4 from June.

June contracts were revised to show a slightly bigger 2.8 percent decline instead of the previously reported 2.6 percent fall.

Compared to the July last year, pending home sales fell 19.1 percent. Economists polled by Reuters forecast the index, which leads existing home sales by a month or two, falling 1.0 percent in July.

Home sales and building activity have dropped sharply following the end in April of a popular tax credit for home buyers.

"Home sales will remain soft in the months ahead, but improved affordability conditions should help with a recovery," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

Article

Ken KeeganReal Estate Broker(910) 523-0903 mobileEmail Mewww.KenKeegan.com