5 Reasons Listing your Home this Fall is a great choice!
August 13, 2012 By Ilona
Every year we see a surge of listing activity in the Spring, as expected, and then another surge again in the Fall. These are by far the two best times to have your home on the market. Statistics prove that activity is greater in March, April, May and again September, October, November.
So if you’ve thought about selling your Outer Banks home, it’s definitely time to get started! Take a look…
- You’ve collected all the rental income! Why carry the home through the winter?
- If you’re facing a Capital Gain, right now the tax rate is 15% which is scheduled to change to 20% starting January 1, 2013.
- Why go through the hassle of winterizing and re-preparing the home next year? Sell now and let the buyer take care of that.
- Inventory is down 24% and number of sales up 17% compared to this time last year. That’s a much better environment to sell your home in!
- Buyers get the bug while on vacation and then come back in the Fall when access to the home is easier. You’ll have eager buyers ready to deal so they can spend the holidays here.
Consider these facts, then give me a call/email for a FREE analysis of your home.
Best Buys on the Outer Banks for the week of August 13th, 2012
August 13, 2012 By Ilona
Contact Me About Any of These Properties!
Best Buys on the Outer Banks for the week of August 6, 2012
August 8, 2012 By Ilona
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19 Athletes from North Carolina are Competing in the 2012 Summper Olympics!!
July 26, 2012 By Ilona
The Olympics
The Olympics starts this Friday! Love the summer Olympics and the opening ceremony. Here is the link – http://www.london2012.com/ if you want to keep up to date with all that is going on with the Olympics for the next few weeks.
I tried to discover if there were any competing athletes with ties to the Outer Banks and was not successful. I did find that out of 600 competing American athletes we do have 19 athletes representing North Carolina. Most of these athletes we may or may not see, but it will be fun to cheer for someone from our state.
Ricky Berens – Is a swimmer that competed in Beijing and was part of the winning 800 meter relay team. He swam the third leg of the 800m freestyle relay final at the Water Cube, where the U.S. won by more than five seconds over second-place Russia and third-place Australia. The time of 6 minutes, 58.56 seconds also set a world record.
Marko Blazevski – Is also a swimmer and will be competing in the 400-meter individual medley. He is a rising Junior at Wingate University in Wingate, NC.
Cullen Jones – He won a gold medal in Beijing for a 4×100 relay. He will be swimming in the same relay but will also race in the 50 and 100 meter freestyle.
Nick McCrory – is one of the best divers in America. He grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and went to Duke University. He is 20 and this is the first time he has made the Olympic team, he will be competing in the 10 meter platform individual even and synchronized diving.
Shalane Flanagan – is long-distance runner that currently holds the American record times in the 3000 m, 5000 m, and 10,000 m. She is also the Bronze Medalist from Beijing in the 3k, 5k and the 10k. Shalane is a graduate of University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She will be competing in the marathon.
Hunter Kemper – will be competing in the triathlon. He competed in 2000, 2004 and 2008 as Triathlete in the Olympics. He was born in Charlotte and attended Wake Forest University. He is the only American male that is ranked as the number one triathlete in the world and will be the first triathlete featured on a Wheaties Box.
Other Notable Athletes with North Carolina Ties are:
Dremiel Byers – Wrestling
Casey Eichfeld – Canoe/Kayak
Eric Hurd – Canoe/Kayak
Caroline Queen – Canoe/Kayak
Nick Thoman – Swimming
Rachel Dawson – Field Hockey
Katelyn Falgowski – Field Hockey
Tobin Heath – Soccer
Heather O’Reilly – Soccer
Caroline Lind – Rowing
John Isner – Tennis
Charlie Houchin – Swimming
Chris Paul – Basketball Lauren Perdue – Track & Field
GO USA!!
Outer Banks Update July 24, 2012
July 24, 2012 By Ilona
Sales activity continues to be higher than last year. June finished with a 19% increase of sold properties over June 2011. Properties going under contract are still on the rise as well. Typically the summer months see a bit of a slow-down in activity, which we have, yet still maintained the increase. I suspect the Fall Market will be very strong indeed.
Pricing seems to be stabilizing. Some towns are still declining while others are holding steady. For specific information on your location send me an email and I’ll get you a report.
The study on erosion in Duck is underway and the results of Phase I of this study will be presented to the public on August 15th at 1 pm. For more information click here.
There is no new news on the Mid-Currituck Bridge. We’re not expecting any updates until the end of this quarter.
As you can tell, I have a brand new website launched! This site is very user friendly and should provide you with all the searching tools needed to find out what’s for sale on the Outer Banks. I encourage you to check it out and take a look at my blog. If you haven’t done so already – follow me on Facebook, Twitter & / or Linkedin!
Doing a short sale in North Carolina is about to change. The NC Association of Realtors recently made several revisions to the Short Sale Addendum. For a quick video on the most impactful changes click here.
That’s all for this month. As always if I can answer your real estate questions please contact me!
Best Buys on the Outer Banks for the week of July 23rd, 2012
July 24, 2012 By Ilona
Contact Me About Any of These Properties!
Short Sales are about to change on the Outer Banks
July 24, 2012 By Ilona
Doing a short sale in North Carolina is about to change. The NC Association of Realtors recently made several revisions to the Short Sale Addendum.
For a quick video on the most impactful changes watch this:
Remembering Andy Griffith
July 10, 2012 By Ilona
Andy Griffith passed away from a heart attack July 3, 2012. He was 86 years old and a longtime resident of North Carolina.
He is best known for his role on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock”. In the Outer Banks he was known for starting his career in the 1940’s with “The Lost Colony” before moving on to movies and television.
Andy Griffith was one of the founding members of The Outer Banks Community Foundation which was “organized in October 1982 as a public charity to meet local needs in the Outer Banks area not ordinarily within the province of other charitable organizations, religious institutions, or government.”
With the passing of Andy Griffith we have had Brad Paisley’s music video “Waitin on a Woman” resurface.
The video was filmed in the Outer Banks and contains scenery from Cape Hatteras and Nags Head as well as the Outlet Mall.
From an article in the LA Times Brad Paisley reminisces about how he reached out to him for the music video. Paisley wrote a letter that said, “This song epitomizes your character as well as the values and things you celebrate, and I wonder if you wanted to be in a music video.
Before they filmed the video the Paisley family came to spend the day with him and a friendship was formed. While shooting the video Brad Paisley remembers the part when he goes to sit on the bench he said “Here comes this legendary actor and he sits down and says, ‘You waitin’ on a woman?’ I look over at him and I never in my life had a more surreal moment than that first take.”
They became friends and one time while Brad Paisley was putting on a concert in Virginia Beach he was able to brighten Andy’s day by setting up a jam session at Andy’s home for an afternoon since Andy had been sick.
Andy Griffith had a love of music throughout his life and even was a high school music teacher in Goldsboro, NC and the president of the University of North Carolina’s Men’s Glee Club. Through the years he sang in different roles and produced southern gospel albums as well as a Christmas album.
Later in life Andy kept to himself and valued his privacy. He had a strong love for this area and was laid to rest on his beloved Roanoke Island. We will miss you Andy!
