Outer Banks Market Report » Coldwell Banker Market Reports

Preparing to Buy an Investment Property

Gordon Jones — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:25:17 +0000

Via ColdwellBanker.com… It’s hard not to hear the rumblings. Experts and talking heads repeatedly say real estate can be a lucrative investment, especially for home buyers who buy at the right price and secure affordable financing. However, for someone who has never done it before, real estate investment can be a tricky topic. Bankrate.com offers a few tips for homeowners who think they are ready to become a real estate investor.

Determine goals

The term “real estate investor” covers a wide breadth of roles. There are people who want to be a landlord and dote over their own property’s day-to-day care and management. Others simply want to purchase the property and let someone else handle the management. Still others may be interested in fixing up run down properties and re-selling them, or starting from scratch, buying undeveloped land and building something on it. Bankrate.com reports the first-time investor may want to stick with residential investment until they become more comfortable with the concept.

Don’t be short on funds

Home buyers may want to speak to a financial advisor to see if they actually have the capital needed to invest. Whether they’re becoming a landlord or commercial investor, a home buyer needs substantial cash reserves to cover periods of time when they won’t have tenants or the market is slow, according to Bankrate.com.

As always, location, location, location

Just as they would if they were buying a home to live in, real estate investors need to focus on location. High-population areas are ideal for the home buyer-turned-landlord, since they attract renters looking for easy access to work, retail locations and public services. An ideal investment opportunity would be situated between shopping centers, schools and public transit, Bankrate.com reports. Such a property would also attract future buyers if an investor decides to sell the property down the line.

Look for an experienced real estate agent

Bankrate.com reports a home buyer considering property investment should partner with a real estate agent who knows the local investment climate and can find them a property that will bear substantial returns over time. Additionally, the investor should plan to keep a strong relationship with that real estate agent, since they could help them re-sell the property and find a new investment opportunity in the future.

Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report

Gordon Jones — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:30:41 +0000

The Home Listing Report (HLR) serves as a “snapshot” of local real estate markets across the country. It provides the average listing prices for four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in more than 2,300 North American markets that appeared on coldwellbanker.com between September 2010 and March 2011. The infographic below allows you the ability to compare home values in more than 2,300 real estate markets.

Click image for infographic

“REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL!” said Jim Gillespie, CEO of Coldwell Banker. “So when Coldwell Banker issued our annual Home Listing Report (HLR), we kept that in mind.”

Newport Beach, Ca topped this list as most expensive, with a four-bedroom, 2-bath listing for $2.5 Million, while Niagara Falls, New York came in as most affordable, with a listing price of $61,000. For most people, $2.5 million is out of the price range, but 1,545 markets had average listing prices of less than $300,000 for a four-bedroom, two-bath home.

“At the end of the day, the housing market is about buying a particular house, on a particular street, in a particular neighborhood. It’s hyper-local, and I’m so proud that our trusted agents can help buyers going through this process understand what’s going on in any given market,” Gillespie said.

The full report, complete with market rankings and an automated formula to find out comparable prices for your home in other U.S. and Canadian markets, is available on http://hlr.coldwellbanker.com.

Outer Banks Real Estate Market Report – Q1 2011

Gordon Jones — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:39:25 +0000

Outer Banks Real Estate Market Report – Q1 2011

Summary – It would be an understatement to say that March was a good month for sales because March was, in fact, a fabulous month. March 2011 sales are at their highest levels since March 2006 and sales are 34% higher when compared to March 2010. It should also be noted that sales on Hatteras Island have shown a 58% increase over March 2010 sales. The number of listings placed in an under contract status continues to rise with sales being up 20% from March 2010. The specifics are detailed below:

2010 Outer Banks Real Estate Market Report – Year End

Gordon Jones — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:34:21 +0000

Outer Banks Real Estate Market Report - Q4 2010

2010 Year End Report

Total Property Sales – A total of 1672 units were sold in 2010 which is a 21% increase over 2009 sales with residential property leading the way (see below). Total Volume Sold for 2010 was also up by 19% over 2009 with a total volume of $504,568,644. For historical perspective, sales in 2010 were approximately 57% of what the sales were at their peak in 2004.

o Residential property - Sales in December were up 16% from November and up 22% for the year and the sales volume was up 18%.

o Land – Sales in December were down slightly (3%) from November but were up 19% for the year.

o Commercial – Sales were down 26% for the year; however the sales volume was up by $838,475 (12%)

How Sold – Buyers were looking for different / unique ways to finance their purchase. The data showed that the numbers of “Cash” sales were up 54%, “Other” sales are up 312%, “Conventional” loans are up 17%, “VA” loans are up 18% while the number of “FHA” loans were down 6.7%.

Distressed Properties – Distressed properties accounted for approximately 16% of residential property inventory while sales of distressed properties accounted for 38% of all sales in 2010.

Under Contracts – The number of listings placed under contract took a dramatic downturn in December (-46%) when compared with November 2010; however, this appears to be a seasonal trend. The number of listings placed under contract in 2010 was up by 19% from 2009.

Inventory – The total number of active listings declined 10% in December and 15% for the year. Overall, residential listings declined by 11%, land listing declined by 21% and commercial listings declined (23%). The majority of the current active residential listings fall in the following price ranges: Price Range	Number of Listings	Price Range	Number of Listings
$1 – $99,999	58	$600K – $699K	140
$100K – $199K	252	$700K – $799K	69
$200K – $299K	309	$800K-$899K	64
$300K – $399K	323	$900K-$999K	49
$400K – $499K	233	>$1M	175
$500K – $599K		167

Outer Banks Real Estate Market Report – 3rd Quarter 2010

Gordon Jones — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:12:19 +0000

Outer Banks Market Report Q3 2010

Highlights of the 3rd Quarter:

* There were 417 units sold in the 3rd Quarter of this year:
* Bank owned: 121
* Potential Short Sale: 30
* Distressed properties accounted for 36% of all units sold in this quarter, compared to 19% for the same period last year
* Listings for the 3rd Quarter were down 21% over the 3rd Quarter of 2009 but unit sales were up 23%
* Pending sales were up 15%

Featured Information

10 Reasons To Buy a Home

Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership. Brett Arends explains why owning a home is a good thing.

1. You can get a good deal. Especially if you play hardball. This is a buyer’s market. Most of the other buyers have now vanished, as the tax credits on purchases have just expired. We’re four to five years into the biggest housing bust in modern history. And prices have come down a long way- about 30% from their peak, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 big cities. Yes, it’s mixed. New York is only down 20%. Arizona has halved. Will prices fall further? Sure, they could. You’ll never catch the bottom. It doesn’t really matter so much in the long haul. Where is fair value? Fund manager Jeremy Grantham at GMO, who predicted the bust with remarkable accuracy, said two years ago that home prices needed to fall another 17% to reach fair value in relation to household incomes. Case-Shiller since then: Down 18%.

2. Mortgages are cheap. You can get a 30-year loan for around 4.3%. What’s not to like? These are the lowest rates on record. As recently as two years ago they were about 6.3%. That drop slashes your monthly repayment by a fifth. If inflation picks up, you won’t see these mortgage rates again in your lifetime. And if we get deflation, and rates fall further, you can refi.

3. You’ll save on taxes. You can deduct the mortgage interest from your income taxes. You can deduct your real estate taxes. And you’ll get a tax break on capital gains-if any-when you sell. Sure, you’ll need to do your math. You’ll only get the income tax break if you itemize your deductions, and many people may be better off taking the standard deduction instead. The breaks are more valuable the more you earn, and the bigger your mortgage. But many people will find that these tax breaks mean owning costs them less, often a lot less, than renting.

4. It’ll be yours. You can have the kitchen and bathrooms you want. You can move the walls, build an extension-zoning permitted-or paint everything bright orange. Few landlords are so indulgent; for renters, these types of changes are often impossible. You’ll feel better about your own place if you own it than if you rent. Many years ago, when I was working for a political campaign in England, I toured a working-class northern town. Mrs. Thatcher had just begun selling off public housing to the tenants. “You can tell the ones that have been bought,” said my local guide. “They’ve painted the front door. It’s the first thing people do when they buy.” It was a small sign that said something big..

5. You’ll get a better home. In many parts of the country it can be really hard to find a good rental. All the best places are sold as condos. Money talks. Once again, this is a case by case issue: In Miami right now there are so many vacant luxury condos that owners will rent them out for a fraction of the cost of owning. But few places are so favored. Generally speaking, if you want the best home in the best neighborhood, you’re better off buying.

6. It offers some inflation protection. No, it’s not perfect. But studies by Professor Karl “Chip” Case (of Case-Shiller), and others, suggest that over the long-term housing has tended to beat inflation by a couple of percentage points a year. That’s valuable inflation insurance, especially if you’re young and raising a family and thinking about the next 30 or 40 years. In the recent past, inflation-protected government bonds, or TIPS, offered an easier form of inflation insurance. But yields there have plummeted of late. That also makes homeownership look a little better by contrast.

7. It’s risk capital. No, your home isn’t the stock market and you shouldn’t view it as the way to get rich. But if the economy does surprise us all and start booming, sooner or later real estate prices will head up again, too. One lesson from the last few years is that stocks are incredibly hard for most normal people to own in large quantities-for practical as well as psychological reasons. Equity in a home is another way of linking part of your portfolio to the long-term growth of the economy-if it happens-and still managing to sleep at night.

8. It’s forced savings. If you can rent an apartment for $2,000 month instead of buying one for $2,400 a month, renting may make sense. But will you save that $400 for your future? A lot of people won’t. Most, I dare say. Once again, you have to do your math, but the part of your mortgage payment that goes to principal repayment isn’t a cost. You’re just paying yourself by building equity. As a forced monthly saving, it’s a good discipline.

9. There is a lot to choose from. There is a glut of homes in most of the country. The National Association of Realtors puts the current inventory at around 4 million homes. That’s below last year’s peak, but well above typical levels, and enough for about a year’s worth of sales. More keeping coming onto the market, too, as the banks slowly unload their inventory of unsold properties. That means great choice, as well as great prices.

10. Sooner or later, the market will clear. Demand and supply will meet. The population is forecast to grow by more than 100 million people over the next 40 years. That means maybe 40 million new households looking for homes. Meanwhile, this housing glut will work itself out. Many of the homes will be bought. But many more will simply be destroyed-either deliberately, or by inaction. This is already happening. Even two years ago, when I toured the housing slump in western Florida, I saw bankrupt condo developments that were fast becoming derelict. And, finally, a lot of the “glut” simply won’t matter: It’s concentrated in a few areas, like Florida and Nevada. Unless you live there, the glut won’t have any long-term impact on housing supply in your town.

Outer Banks Real Estate Market Update – Fourth Quarter 2009

Gordon Jones — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:44:52 +0000

Below is the Outer Banks Real Estate Market Update for the fourth quarter of 2009 provided by Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty.

Please double-click the images to enlarge.

Coldwell Banker on CNBC

Gordon Jones — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:37:26 +0000

Jim Gellespie, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker, appeared on CNBC last night to discuss the state of the housing industry.

1st Quarter 2009 Outer Banks Market Report

Gordon Jones — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:22:46 +0000

Real Estate is a complicated investment, and current market data is crucial to making informed investment decisions.

View the 1st Quarter Outer Banks Market Report