SNOW!

The past couple of months have been like riding a weather "rollercoaster" here in the Charlotte area. One day we're all bundled up, and the next we're turning on the a/c. The weatherman has been keeping us on our toes to say the least.

Well, we got a wonderful surprise yesterday morning, and something that (in my opinion) has finally made it feel like Winter. SNOW! Not enough to last through today, but just enough to shut down the schools and give our little one's some exciting scenery. Today we're back into the upper 40's-lower 50's, and you would hardly know we were seeing white yesterday...but there is some good news...we're supposed to wake up to more SNOW tomorrow morning! They're calling for 2-3 inches of wet-packed snow, which will hopefully give us a snowman or two this weekend!

Monday will most likely have us back to our predictable cold, then not so cold days, but that's okay...at least we won't have to shovel our way back to work :-)

High Rise Living Comes to Concord, NC!

Yep....you read it right. Concord is welcoming it's first luxury residential high-rise (and a pretty good one if I may say so!). Arcadian Residence & Resort is the name, and it is being described as "The Pinnacle Of Contemporary Luxury."

Standing thirteen (yes thirteen!) stories high, it is staking it's claim on Speedway Boulevard, across from the beautiful new Embassy Suites, and right between Lowe's Motor Speedway and Concord Mills. New Arcadian residents will only be seconds away from Rocky River Golf Course, and I couldn't have picked a better spot myself!

Some of the amenities offered will include a main floor restaurant, retail, VIP club, theater, fitness center, terrace level pool (complete with a "cool down" bar), a putting green, and an oh so important secured parking garage.

Several floor plans are being offered, ranging from 1,300sqft up to a 4,100sqft penthouse, with prices ranging from $395,500 upwards of $ 3million. Corporate suites are available as well starting in the $730's.

We've taken a peek at some of the features and materials that will be standard in these luxury condo's, and they are gorgeous to say the least. There doesn't seem to be the need for costly upgrades, unless you're heart is already set upon that certain counter top you saw in last summer's Homes & Garden.


Arcadian Resorts could break ground as early as May we're told, but we will believe it when we see it. So keep your eyes open Concord...it should be fantastic!



*all information is derived from Arcadian supplied literature, and Arcadian sales representatives, as of January 2008.

Charlotte IS STILL a Great Market!

I was looking at a fancy new Whirlpool washer the other night, telling my husband about all the fabulous things it does, when a sales lady walked over and greeted us. She continued to explain the features and show me colors and options, and then I thanked her for her time. When I started to walk away, she pulled out her business card and said "here take this, we work on commission". I took the card and said "I'm a Realtor, so I understand working by commission", and she got a sour face and replied "Ooh bad time right now...I can't wait to get out of here."

UGH!

Well, I couldn't just let her think this way so I smiled and said "No, it's not a 'bad time' right now...we're still growing and doing good....have you looked at us compared to the majority of the country?" "Ofcourse things seem a little slower right now, but it's a mixture of the time of year, all the media trying to scare people out of buying houses, and the people who are waiting for interest rates to go down (who can complain about those 5%-6% rates that are everywhere??)"


So this morning I came in and spent some time gathering data(January 2005-January 2008) from our MLS and put it into perspective. It's below for all of you who have a little doubt about our market...hopefully it will help us here in the Charlotte area understand that we ARE fine and we WILL BE fine. We also just added a chart to our homepage at http://www.nc-living.com/ showing that the Charlotte area is ranked #5 by the NAR...go check it out!



Carolina Multiple Listing Service (includes Charlotte and it's surrounding cities)

01/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
Avg Sales Price: $217,678

01/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
Avg Sales Price: $229,084 (+5.24%)

01/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
Avg Sales Price: $240,057 (+4.79%)

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Charlotte

01/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
Avg Sales Price: $219,003

01/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
Avg Sales Price: $229,579 (+4.83%)

01/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
Avg Sales Price: $244,209 (+6.37%)

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Concord

01/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
Avg Sales Price: $162,058

01/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
Avg Sales Price: $175,219 (8.12%)

01/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
Avg Sales Price: $188,716 (7.70%)

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Matthews

01/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
Avg Sales Price: $270,730

01/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
Avg Sales Price: $282,781 (+4.45%)

01/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
Avg Sales Price: $295,318 (+4.43%)

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Cornelius

01/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
Avg Sales Price: $365,433

01/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
Avg Sales Price: $400,813 (+9.68%)

01/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
Avg Sales Price: $426,691 (+6.46%)

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Rock Hill

01/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
Avg Sales Price: $170,601

01/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
Avg Sales Price: $178,968 (+4।90%)

01/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
Avg Sales Price: $191,019 (+6.89%)

*the above information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. Derived from the Carolina Multiple Listing Service Jan 11, 2006