If you spend a little money to correct outdated wallpaper and albatrosses, the quicker you move your house. And generally speaking, the sooner you get an offer, the more you get for your house. (more…)
September 2005
Monthly Archive
25 Sep 2005 06:06 am
25 Sep 2005 06:03 am
It’s little surprise that John Beal considers real estate the best investment a person can make. During the past five years, the Leesburg resident said, he has bought about 10 homes in fixer-upper condition — they needed new hardwood floors, fresh paint jobs, modern carpets, new windows — spruced them up and then sold each one for a sizable profit. (more…)
23 Sep 2005 06:49 pm
With interest rates virtually certain to rise from 40-year lows, debt pressures on borrowers can only get worse, pushing some to the brink. Given all that gloom and doom, you’d think that homeowners’ growing financial challenges and leadweight debts would be visible in their payment performances on their mortgages, with growing numbers of borrowers falling behind, paying their mortgage lenders late, maybe even sliding toward foreclosure. (more…)
23 Sep 2005 06:47 pm
But the latest Federal Reserve rate hike has government-chartered lender Freddie Mac saying that the market should lose some strength and mortgage rates should rise going into 2006. So how can homeowners protect themselves from debt exposure and retain the most value from their investment, whether real estate comes in for a soft landing or goes belly up? “If you have a variable rate mortgage, now is the time to refinance and lock in a fixed rate to protect yourself in the long run,” said Gary Ambrose, a director at Personal Capital, Inc., a unit of National Financial Partners, recommending that homeowners lock in a rate for at least 25 years. (more…)
23 Sep 2005 06:45 pm
Wake County meets about Lenovo
Wake County commissioners met in closed session this week to consider incentives to lure Chinese computer maker Lenovo, a sign that the company may be leaning toward moving its 1,900 local jobs out of Durham. (more…)
23 Sep 2005 05:45 pm
Bigger Capital Gain, Bigger Tax
I am writing for elderly friends who are selling the house where they lived for 20 years and now want to buy a smaller house. Their accountant advised them they will owe a huge tax, even after their $500,000 principal residence sale exemption. But I disagree, because they are buying a less expensive home. I’ve enclosed the numbers. Who is right? (more…)
23 Sep 2005 05:43 pm
Putting The Squeeze On Real Estate Boom
When Alan Greenspan warned that the stock market was displaying signs of “irrational exuberance,” share prices collapsed — four years later. Now the Federal Reserve chairman says he can glimpse similar frothiness in housing prices. Does that mean that investors who have benefited from sharp rallies in sectors tied to real estate, not to mention homeowners, will get a free pass for four years? (more…)
23 Sep 2005 04:26 am
Goldsboro NC Winn-Dixie owner looking for new tenants
The owner of the former Winn-Dixie store in Ashley Plaza on Berkeley Boulevard said he has some potential tenants considering leasing the 37,390-foot building. The store closed several weeks ago, one of three Winn-Dixie stores in Wayne County that closed when the grocery giant shut down all its North Carolina properties in a massive consolidation move. (more…)
23 Sep 2005 04:20 am
Haunted Places in North Carolina
Before reading this article, we didn’t realize that so many ghosts may actually exist in North Carolina.
The following accounts are provided by The Shadowlands. Juicee News does not neccesarily support the existence of ghosts or hauntings. The following stories should be considered folk tales and nothing more.
23 Sep 2005 04:16 am
Coldwell Banker 2005 Home Price Comparison Index
The annual Coldwell BankerHome Price Comparison Index, which is an
“apples-to-apples” comparison of homes sold in typical, middle-management
neighborhoods, found that the seaside community of La Jolla CA topped the charts
at $1,875,000. The HPCI evaluated average home values for a single-family dwelling measuring approximately 2,200 square feet with four bedrooms, two and one-half baths, a family room (or equivalent) and two-car garage. The snapshot study examined 344 total markets across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Also included are two North Carolina cities, Wilmington, NC and Greensboro, NC. (more…)