From $239,900 to $6,000,000: What Can You Buy Now in Southern Orange County?
It is March, and we are entering the spring housing market.
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Supply and Demand: A Housing Conundrum in Southern Orange County
2022: A Housing Market Review in Charts
Are Home Prices Dropping in Southern Orange County?
Trends in Home Sales Prices: Where We’ve Been and Where Are We Going?
Real Estate Spotlight: Land and Lots in Southern Orange County
Real Estate Spotlight: Is the Housing Market Finally Slowing? Part 2
Real Estate Spotlight: Is the Housing Market Finally Slowing?
Price Reductions and Financial Considerations in a Red-Hot Market
Are we nearing a housing bubble?
Several recently-published national articles have posited that a housing bubble is coming.
Buying a Home “Sight Unseen”
In this hot real estate market, it can seem like every house is bought before it is even available to be toured.
Homeowner Associations in Southern Orange Home Sales
The presence of a homeowner association (HOA) can be a surprisingly polarizing aspect of the home search.
2021 Housing Market Review
It comes as a shock to no one reading this article that 2021 was a hectic year for real estate.
A Home for the Holidays?
It seems to start earlier and earlier each year. For some it happens as early as October, even before Halloween and trick-or-treating.
Are iBuyers a Significant Factor in Southern Orange County?
Some of the biggest recent news in real estate came when Zillow announced last month it would pause its purchases of homes as part of its ZillowOffers program, and then just a week and a half later announced it would be stopping the program entirely and would be laying off 25% of its employees.
A Look at Condos and Townhomes in Southern Orange County
What is a condominium? What makes a particular residence a townhome? It is not always immediately clear, when looking at a property,…
Across the Decades: Comparing Sold Homes by Build Date
“Aren’t all the old homes going to be too small…
What Type of Homes Are Selling in 2021?
In the multiple listing service (MLS) Realtors use to broker the sale of homes, each entry is categorized as a particular “property type.” In the MLS, there…
Analyzing Available Home Inventory
There is a meme making its way around the internet that features a fictional buyer’s agent submitting an offer on a home with an email that says, “Hi…
Proposed Short-Term Rental Law Would Have No Teeth
Under a proposed land-use management ordinance, hosts for short-term rentals in Chapel Hill would be required to get a permit and follow certain rules to operate their rentals.
Preparing Yourself for Mortgage Pre-Approval
Homeownership is a common goal in the United States and is often seen as a key goal to building generational wealth (that is, wealth that is passed from generation to generation).
Council Lowers Standards for Affordable Housing
When I served on the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, another board member complained at a meeting about people advocating for Community House…
List Price vs. Sold Price
You have probably heard that the housing market is very competitive this year. Maybe you know someone who has been looking for a new home who has been outbid. Perhaps you heard that your neighbor’s home sold for well above asking price. Possibly you have seen…
Property Revaluations Hit Northside Hard
The 2021 Orange County property revaluation saddled residents of the Northside community with, on average, a 50 percent increase in the value of their homes…
Changes Afoot at Little Gray House Downtown
Tony Hall & Associates operated out of the little gray house at 311 West Rosemary St. for 26 years until Feb. 18, when the real estate company moved to 901 Willow Drive in Chapel Hill.
Which Southern Orange County Subdivisions Have the Most Sold Homes?
Within the last 24 months, at least one home has sold in each of the more than 265 subdivisions within the five ZIP codes that make up…
Was January a Slow Month for Real Estate?
It is easy to assume that the month of January is slow for real estate. The theory goes that everyone is recovering from the holidays and focused on staying bundled up for the winter and hibernating through at least the Super Bowl.
2020 Housing Review: A Year of Bidding Wars
Nearly every recap and review of last year will begin with some variation of this sentence: 2020 was an unusual year. In place of “unusual,” it may say “unprecedented” or “difficult” or some other pejorative, but without a doubt, 2020 will be remembered.
Neighborhood Focus: Lake Forest
There is a lake in Chapel Hill that lights up around the holiday season. The annual Light Up the Lake experience in the Lake Forest neighborhood not only brings a beautiful display of illuminations, but also results in helping others in the area.
Buying and Selling in the Age of COVID
On the first day of showings for Stacy Berlatt’s former home in Florida, she could not help but be curious. She and her partner Jay knew listing their home in the middle of a global pandemic came with risks.
Neighborhood Focus: Colony Woods
“Halloween is pretty stellar in Colony Woods,” says resident Jenn Mallen. “We draw folks from other neighborhoods.”
Neighborhood Focus: Ridgefield / Briarcliff
Anthony Edwards, who lives in the Briarcliff neighborhood of Chapel Hill, says the residents there show considerable care for each other.
Buyer’s market or seller’s market? Yes.
The old saying, “may you live in interesting times,” would probably ring true if you have been in the market to buy or sell a home in southern Orange County in 2020. With the impact of COVID-19, low housing inventory and the dramatic drop in interest rates, the housing market of 2020 so far has been a wild ride.