Author Archive
Trouble for the “exurbs”?
Living the rural lifestyle The Chapel Hill area of the Triangle includes some wonderful rural communities that have been extremely popular over the last 30 years or so as homeowners seeking a more rural lifestyle traveled 20-30 minutes outside of the Triangle where they could own some acreage and settle into country life. Because the [...]
Timing is everything
Just like any real estate agent, I love to sell houses Nothing is more thrilling than having a buyer find the perfect house on the first day, or getting that perfect offer on a new listing during the first week of marketing. But it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes a buyer loses the [...]
Raleigh is #2 city for wedded bliss!
In a survey by Rent.com to determine the best cities for newlyweds, Raleigh took one of the top scores. The folks at Rent.com surveyed not only couples’ attitudes but also looked at the unemployment rates and mean income levels of each city. Young professionals and new families are drawn to Raleigh for its affordability, friendliness, [...]
Reading the small print: Do the mineral rights under your home belong to you?
What the frack? The process of extracting natural gas through hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a big issue across the nation and in other countries as well. The Triassic Basin, which I described in my previous post on local foundation issues, is being targeted as a source of shale gas that can be extracted using [...]
Foundation problems in the Triangle: a true story
It starts with the clay The Chapel Hill/Durham area is famous for its shrink/swell clay soils, and it’s not uncommon to have settlement cracks around sheetrock corners and windows. Sometimes we see cracks in foundations, and if a house is brick the cracking becomes even more obvious. This is especially true in an area called [...]
Don’t let this happen in your yard!!
North Carolina is full of ivy. And kudzu – we have lots of kudzu. I’ll be posting lots of kudzu monster photos this summer. Then there’s poison ivy – the Southern kind that if left untended turns into great snakes of vine-y badness that wraps all over everything. But for now we’re talking about [...]
Have we turned the corner? Chapel Hill area real estate, 2012 edition
Multiple offers for the first time in years We have thirteen listings right now ranging in price from $179,000 to $1.3 million, in Chapel Hill, Durham and Chatham County which gives us a pretty good sense of where the market is going. Over the past few weeks we have had three in-town Chapel Hill listings [...]
The effect on real estate of the new 3.8% Medicare tax
What is this transfer tax? In 2010 Congress passed a new tax to help fund the health care and Medicare overhaul plans. This is a 3.8% transfer tax on the sale of some investment income. Like most taxes, how it works and who it affects is complex and if you think you are affected you [...]
Celebrate Black History in the Triangle
Photo from Hey to your Mama, a great photo site about African’American history in North Carolina. The Triangle area of North Carolina has a rich African-American history that deserves to be celebrated every month, but Black History month offers an opportunity to highlight the many cultural opportunities available to residents and visitors. Unfortunately I am [...]
The appeal of a tiny house
Maybe it’s the notion of a small place to hide away from the world. Maybe it’s nostalgia from childhood when I used to crave a small home of my own. Maybe it’s just because they’re so darned cute. Whatever it is, this collection of small houses and “micro-dwellings” have really captured my imagination. I can [...]
